November 4, 2024 • 32 mins
Stop adding to your chit! Get out your journals for this one, folks. Today, embark with us on a discussion on how to live the sutras. Jody and Dan guide us in examining how the integration of mind, body, and soul is vital to engaging meaningfully with ourselves and our surroundings. We dive into the critical aspects of ceasing mental noise and distractions—highlighted by the practice of pratyahara—to uncover our true nature amidst life's complexities.
In this episode, we explore how understanding our true selves involves more than just introspection; it requires a shift in how we perceive our conditioned responses and judgments. We delve into the role of the prefrontal cortex in spiritual growth, and how embracing neutrality can lead to a more authentic engagement with life. Jody and Dan share their collective wisdoms on challenging preconceived notions and conditioned beliefs, enabling us to navigate life's challenges with creativity and calmness. Our conversation is filled with questions for you to ask yourselves.
Mindfulness and self-awareness take center stage as foundational elements of the Yoga Sutras. The episode emphasizes the importance of concentrating on the breath to avoid getting lost in thoughts, and how mindfulness can help us meet life as it unfolds. We invite you to join us in questioning your own narratives, encouraging a pathway to self-discovery and growth through the timeless wisdom of yoga.
We would love to hear from you! Email us at becomeoneliving@gmail.com or reach out to us on Instagram at BecomeOne Living.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Welcome back to another episode of Become One
Living, where we're discussingtoday the sutras with Jodi
Dahmerstadt-Boysitz and me, DanBoysitz.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome.
In another episode we talkedabout the Yoga Sutras, and in
some books there's 196 withVasana and Krishnamacharya Some
there's 195, which is withpatanjali.
(00:46):
The history of yoga philosophyis a little all over the place,
so if some of the timelines donot match up, that's okay.
It wasn't really kept in goodtime.
Right, right, and there arescholars these days that will
(01:07):
also have these debates andlittle disagreements as to the
exact so the Yoga Sutras areguidelines and little aphorisms,
little short statements on yoga, and it's divided up into four,
one book for Padas.
(01:29):
Pada means foot, pada meanschapter.
So there's four differentsegments and the first segment
is about yoga.
Yoga Sutra is Atta Yoga AnushaSanam, which Atta means a gift.
I'm about to share this gift ofyoga with you, and we talked
(01:55):
about this on another episode,so feel free to go back and
listen to.
What I want to touch on beforeI move forward is this the word
yoga comes from the word yag,which means to yoke, but this
(02:15):
word yag has 150 differentdefinitions in Sanskrit.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Right, depending on context.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yes, and what was realized is the word in yoga
Sanskrit into English.
There isn't a word or a way todescribe it, so it became union.
Okay.
So, if your understanding is,the word yoga means union,
(02:45):
perfect, that's cool.
And there's another 150different ways to describe it,
and the one that always calls tome is relationship.
I love that one.
And it means relationship.
It means connection, it meansintegration.
And what are we integrating?
Well, we're, we're integratingthe body, the mind, the soul.
(03:08):
We're coming back home to thisidea of who we really are.
So yoga is about engaging thebody, the mind, to remember
spirit and soul.
Okay, so it's aboutrelationships.
The second Yoga Sutra says Yoga,chitta, verdi, narodaha.
(03:34):
Yoga, relationship, whateveryou're doing, whatever you're
eating, you're in relationshipwith.
Chitta means knowledge, verdimeans fluctuation, means
twisting, parvirti meanstwisting and Naroda means to
(03:55):
cease.
Now stay with me.
The third Yoga Sutra says whatdoes that mean?
It means when you stopattaching or creating tumultuous
(04:18):
, twisted stories and believingthem, then ta-da worries.
And believing them then ta-da,then drastu means to see, dristi
means to see or gaze.
You see the seer abides intheir true nature.
So yoga, in those three thingsI shared, not one thing about
(04:46):
the body.
Yoga is about getting into ahandstand, yoga is about a back
bend or a crow pose.
No, the definition of yoga isyoga chitta verti narodaha is
how can I stop creatingsomething that's not happening,
how can I stop adding stories orbeliefs to what's happening?
(05:07):
Because if I can stop that,neroda, cease that, then, and
only then, can I abide in mytrue nature.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
In another way you might say how can I see clearly?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yes, Vidya, a vidya Vidya to see, a vidya Ignorance.
So the practice of yoga isabout pratyahara.
Prata means turning away fromor going against, and hara means
food, and it doesn't meannecessarily food you eat, but
(05:52):
the food you take in what yousee, what you smell, Nurturing
yeah.
What you're looking at, okay,what you're reading.
It means turn away from all thethings your senses are looking
out towards and come back home.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Right, so I always go or jump right to turn within.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
But to gain that understanding it's like putting
the external influences anddistractions aside.
Yes, To go in.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yes, Before.
That is to even know you'reattaching.
Before, before, before, beforeall of this comes the human that
says, hmm, something's notright, Something's not working.
Every time I do this, Istruggle or I see this thing
(06:44):
repeating and it doesn't feelgood.
How can I, the engager, theparticipator, the creator, the
co-creator, how can I do itdifferently?
Well, now, in yoga it says well, you got to look at what you're
thinking.
What are you attached to?
What are you buying into?
What are you believing so muchthat you become, If you buy into
(07:10):
stories and then you havepeople around you in
relationship that say, yeah,screw them, or yeah, you're
right, they're wrong divisionand divisiveness, you now move
further and further and furtheraway from your true nature,
which is peace, calm, clarity,neutrality equanimity.
(07:37):
In IFS we call it the C'scompassion, connectedness.
When we're in story,divisiveness happens,
differences, judgment.
So the second yoga sutra is soimportant that you are invited
to and I wanted to say you needto, but I'll say you're invited
(08:00):
to find a practice toconcentrate all your energy in
one place, because we live in aworld that offers multiple
things to focus on in multiple,at multiple times.
I mean it feels like thatmultiple times.
It's like I got my phone, thecomputer, music in the
(08:22):
background.
I mean I don't.
People do All these thingshappening at once.
So until you say I'm donegossiping, I'm done eating late
at night, I'm done drinkingcoffee, until you realize the
things you do that feed yoursenses, realize the things you
(08:46):
do that feed your senses, notyour soul, not your spirit, but
the senses.
Once you say I'm done, that'swhen you start to inquire and
learn.
The sutra says ta-da means getexcited.
I always think of like ta-da,here it is, isn't it exciting?
Drastu means dristy to see theseer.
(09:10):
Abide means you sit in thisstate.
You become present in thispeace and this void that calls
for nothing and needs nothing.
It's just there.
And people say how can I livein peacefulness when the world
(09:31):
isn't peaceful.
That's the reason why you haveto learn to be peaceful in
unpeacefulness.
You have to learn to findcomfort in uncomfortability.
You have to learn to find calmin the rage and in the storm.
That's the practice.
No one that's not a numbing ora bypassing.
(09:52):
I'm not saying shut down andsay it is what it is.
I have people say that to meall the time.
It is what it is and I say no,it ain't.
No, it ain't what it is, it'smore than that.
What do you feel?
What are your senses tellingyou?
You want to experience all ofthat and then say I'm more than
(10:14):
this, these are my parts.
That's what IFS would say.
These are stories, and thepractice of yoga then becomes
not learning something new, butunlearning and unpacking the
stories that we were told who wewere.
(10:35):
I was told by a nun in catechismthat I was stupid and that I
should never, she said to me,read out loud because I was
illiterate.
That's what she told me BecauseI struggled reading as a child
and from that moment on Iwouldn't read out loud and I
wouldn't raise my hand.
(10:56):
All through school, from highschool, everything I thought,
and I was in remedial courses.
So in my mind I was stupid, andI was.
I was externally told that inmany ways, why can't you be
smarter?
What's wrong with you?
And I started to buy that story.
And then in college somethinghappened and I said wait a
(11:19):
minute, I'm not stupid, I don'tlearn like that.
And so I started to study.
I graduated with a 3.99, almosta 4.0.
I mean, I couldn't believe howsmart I was and what I was able
to do.
But that's what I mean by buyinginto a verti right.
You get told something or someexperience and then next thing,
(11:42):
you know, you live it, youbecome it, you believe it and
you'll fight for it.
You'll fight.
No, I have dyslexia, so I'mlike this and that's what I had.
So I'm not saying anythingabout anyone listening, I'm just
sharing.
When someone would say, oh, youcan't do this, the first thing
(12:02):
was well, I'm dyslexic.
That's why we will fight thestories, the verities, and we
then lose sight that we canabide in something different.
That's the healing of the mindand the softening of the body
brings us back into this placeof presence.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Are there tools that feature or highlight this for
you, like things that you do,practices that you do that bring
this to light, or yeah, yes, Iwant to share one piece, and
then I'll tell you how.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
So the third yoga sutra says you abide in your
true nature.
And then the fourth one saysyou're ready for this, and then
there's times you don't.
I love that it's like it's sopractical.
It's like sometimes you're init and you're in the flow state
and you're like, oh, and thenext minute you're like, I'm so
attached to that I'm I'm ahorrible human.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I suck, I stink to that I'm.
I'm a horrible human.
I suck, I stink.
I mean, where my mind goes withthat piece is, is, is, is the?
The beauty that?
That that the discipline ofbecoming one with something
brings, whether it's apartnership or or a relationship
with a guitar or relationshipwith writing poetry, the
discipline of focusing on thatact or thing to do or tool
(13:32):
yields, you know, a greaterunderstanding of that.
You know.
From that practice you get agreater understanding of how to
live.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yes, yes, the discipline of yoga.
So first is atta.
Here's a gift, here's thesystem of yoga.
Atta, sutra 1.
Sutra 2 says the first thing Iwant you to know is that yoga
really is in relationship witheverything.
And stopping these stories inrelationships.
(14:08):
Right the virtues.
Then that, only then you canunderstand your true spirit,
your true nature, and othertimes you will identify.
So it's really honest.
You'll identify in the fifthsand then, going further, stay
with me.
You'll identify it as painfulor non-painful, which means
judgment.
So we have to learn.
(14:29):
You asked for tools, so tools.
One offering is really becomingextremely aware of being
judgmental.
As soon as I start to makesomeone bad or good, I then use
that as a goal to know I'mcreating stories.
(14:52):
My chit is vertering.
My knowledge is really twisting,I'm twisting the knowledge so
it suits my needs to attack you.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Yeah, you see To blame, see to blame.
Yeah, oh my gosh, you know it'swhat?
What just came to me is how,how everything is in play.
Right so Right.
So I can do pretty well, butI'll notice that if I get tired,
(15:30):
my ability to maintain thosecapacities diminishes, right.
So it's interesting howeverything is a part of it.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Yes, well, because we live in nature, we're whole.
The way we look at life me andyou is wholeness right.
So you just said, when I'mtired I can't have that
awareness.
Yes, friends, when you getovertired, you're not a
superhuman.
So if you work from eight tillseven, or you get home from work
(16:01):
and you keep working and youdon't stop, you will not have
the resources to change, becauseyour default will be fight or
flight.
You now have no resources tomove to the prefrontal cortex,
because the front of the brainis where compassion lies, it's
where witnessing lies.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I have to plug in.
I think it's a piece of thatIFS part where it's like they
had a rating system or somethingthat you read.
There was a couple, and forcouples out there or people that
you're in a relationship with,it's like they had a rating
system where it's like, if youcome home at five o'clock and
you have very little resourcesto interact with your loved one
in the capacity of, like saying,making a decision or getting
(16:42):
something done, it's like you'vegot to say I've got like three.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Oh yes.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
I've got this much resources to do this.
Otherwise it could result inlike a misunderstanding and a
fight for no reason, justbecause you don't have the brain
power to interact at that level.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Yes, I don't know.
I'm sure Dan remembers this,because multiple times I'll say
to Dan, can you just do me afavor, I'll come with you, but
don't talk to me.
It would be like a weekend, 30hours after teaching, yoga
training, and he'll say, well,you want to come to Whole Foods,
the grocery store, and I sayI'll come, but don't talk to me,
(17:24):
because I knew I had noresources and I was cranky and I
felt depleted.
And I knew if he, if hisbreathing was off, I would snap.
I knew if he farted, if he, ifhe, didn't put his blinker on,
and so I, I also will do thatdecision-wise right.
(17:44):
When you're like, what do youwant to eat, I'll say I am so
tired right now I can't decide.
Don't ask again.
Please decide for us.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Right, and that I'm totally fine with, because
there's three places that youcan eat at.
It's not a big decision.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
That's true.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
But I love what you said, what dan and I share and
what we talk about all the time,and he's taught me this.
Dan has been my greatestteacher.
We're together 14 years now andhe has taught me it's not the
smoking gun, because I used toalways want to figure out what
was wrong with me.
I I had physical pain, chronic,mental, emotional,
(18:27):
psychological, and I would say Ifigured it out and he'd say,
joe, it's not a smoking gun,it's not what you think it is.
And what we're sharing is evenin the yoga sutras.
Oh, I just want to study yoga, Iwant to study.
There's a science behind it,it's a system, and so the tools
(18:48):
that you just asked, dan, is ifyou're not getting enough sleep,
if you're still running andgunning, if you don't listen to
your signals, you cannot changebecause you won't have the
energetic resources to tap intothe prefrontal cortex that lives
off of high fats and mostpeople don't change, not because
(19:11):
they don't want to, but theydon't have the resources because
it takes a lot of energy in thehuman body and caloric intake
to get you from this sugaryprimal response that's automated
, the sympathetic nervous systemall the way up to the
(19:31):
prefrontal cortex, which is inthe front of the brain.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
You know, would you say a spiritual journey, in that
, in just in what you weretalking about, it is a
prefrontal endeavor.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yes, yes, most definitely, it's highly, it's
more evolved and the moreinvolved discussion occurs in
the front of the brain.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Curiosity and advanced yes Sutras.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Coming back to the yoga sutras yes, we're pulsing
out and now we're going to comeright back in.
So reading the yoga sutras isnot suggested, doing them so you
asked how do you tadadrastusvarupe vastanam right, how do
(20:22):
you abide in your own truenature?
First thing I want to inviteeveryone to is what do you even
think true nature means?
That's what I would start toquestion before you go.
Start and teaching people likeyou.
Got to know your true self,your true one self, yeah, what
are the attributes?
Speaker 1 (20:41):
I don't even know what that means I mean and, and,
and that that that calls fortha whole bunch of questions in
terms of what any one person isin relationship at that point,
who they're in relationship with, what they like to do, what
they don't like to do, whathurts them, what makes them feel
good.
There's so many, so many things.
I always come back to theanalogy of a soup, the
(21:02):
ingredients of a soup.
There's there's not a pinningthe tail on the donkey.
There's not just exclusively achicken broth soup.
It's like life is a tapestry of.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
I agree, and though you have to have clarity if you
want to change.
So what I'm saying is there'smany ways to get there
absolutely.
Is there's many ways to getthere absolutely.
But if you don't know what truenature means, or self capital S
means to you, or spiritualitymeans, your brain needs
contexting.
So if you don't have areference point for those words,
(21:38):
you'll take one on and youmight not like what you're
taking on or you might not evenknow what you think it is.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yeah, no, I understand where I went with
that, like what you're taking on, or you might not even know
what you think it is.
Yeah, no, I I understand whereI went with with that is as how,
how groomed, uh little beingsare from you know, zero to 10 or
12 or 15, all those formativeyears.
There's so much laid on you interms of your name and who you
are and where you belong andwhat you stand for, so so that
(22:05):
right, there can be an unpacking.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
If you, if you don't, if you're not in good
relationship with, uh umsomething you know honestly that
your family stands for and youdon't feel it in your heart, or
that's just not your journey,you know uh it's, it's, it's,
it's a it's a bit of a thing toget to your true nature.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Oh, yes, but you asked me for tools, so I'm
sharing tools.
I'm not.
I agree it is huge, but thefirst tool is to question.
Any time you start judgingsomething as soon as you say
good or bad, I know I'm not inmy true state, because my true
state is neutrality.
(22:48):
Remember, the only meaningsomething has is the meaning we
make of it.
The only reason we know what aplant looks like is because we
were told what a plant lookedlike.
And then we look at it and wesay, well, that's a plant.
And then we have feelings Ikill all plants, I don't like
plants.
So that's not true.
It's not I don't like plants.
That's not true.
It's not I don't like plants.
It's I don't know how to carefor the plants.
(23:08):
The true nature is I'm lostwhen it comes to a plant.
It's this digging in underlayers where you come to the
truth.
And true nature is beingtruthful about the situation
you're in, and in that staterises a void where you can then
move into the, a pause where youeither attach to the object or
(23:33):
you don't.
The fourth yoga sutra sayssometimes you then relate to
that object and you're judgingand you're hating.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
And it's okay.
They're saying in the fourthsutra they say it's okay.
Then you retract and you say no, I don't want to.
So it is this dance, but youall have to get to the place
where you're able to dance ifyou don't know the steps.
And one is focus.
Set a timer for one minute andsit and just focus on your
(24:05):
breath.
I say this I'm breathing in,I'm breathing out, I'm breathing
in.
And then, as I breathe, I stopsaying that and I say to myself
inhale and exhale.
And I follow that.
And when I start thinking, um,I'm hungry, or Gabby, our dog, I
have to walk her, or I got toget to work, I come back and go
(24:26):
breath.
Breath is moving in, breath ismoving out.
I'm not meditating at thatpoint.
That's called focusing.
If you cannot focus your mindfor a minute, it's going to be
hard to catch yourself.
When you're buying into thevertes, the chit vertes, when
you're buying into the stories,okay.
(24:47):
So one is concentrate onsomething.
And two is am I judgmental?
Am I attaching to this object?
Am I buying into it?
And then am I employing peopleto buy into it with me?
You know division and attack.
(25:09):
And then to be gentle with thefourth yoga sutra is to be
gentle, if you attach to it ornot.
And then the fifth yoga sutrawe will not talk about, but
there's five things that tellyou if you're making up a story.
That's why the yoga sutras arereally cool.
(25:30):
When people say yoga's notcomplete and you need more than
that, no, you, you really don't.
You may need a therapist or anacupuncturist, but they're part
of the yoga system, becauseeverybody had yoga teachers and
yoga gurus, and a guru means theremover of darkness.
The guru means the weighty one.
(25:52):
It doesn't mean a person thatknows it all.
It's a person that sharesinformation, that sheds light on
something.
So I meet gurus all day.
We met a guy the other day atthe beach who was sharing about
building boats.
He was my guru in that moment.
He was telling us about an oldpier or something they made a
(26:19):
the mast, a 40 foot mast and sothe guru.
The guru moves around, and sothe yoga practice.
The yoga sutras beautifully layout how you'll get lost and
what yoga is.
And again, sutra 1.1 says it'sa system and it's a blessing
(26:40):
that we're sharing the systemwith you.
2 says vritti means fluctuationor tumultuous thoughts have to
stop.
The healing of the mind needsto occur for you to feel peace.
That's the fourth sutra.
Your true nature is in suffering.
(27:00):
We suffer because number fourwe attach to things that we want
or things we don't want.
I don't want that.
I'm not.
Nope.
Have you ever said this?
I'm not dealing with this, I amnot going to deal with it, or
I'm't want that.
I'm not, nope.
Have you ever said this I'm notdealing with this, I'm not
going to deal with it, or I'mnot doing that.
Too bad, it's happening.
(27:20):
So when you say I can't or Iwon't, your nervous system goes
into fight or flight, into fightor flight.
And now you're creating thisbattle with life as it's
(27:41):
unfolding, instead of yoga ismeeting life as it unfolds.
I want to share briefly, if Ican do.
You have something you want to?
Speaker 1 (27:49):
No no.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
I want to share some attributes of this pulse, of
this true nature, right,something like inside of.
Some of the attributes aresimilar to IFS compassion, right
?
Calmness, connection yeah, Irelate to you.
Think of connection as relating, like yeah, I get you, I get
(28:13):
this.
I see why I'm so upset Calmness, clarity, creativity.
When we're stuck in fight orflight or attached, like the
yoga sutras say, in a story,we're attached to the story or
the object.
We can't be creative becausewe're so angry at this one thing
(28:34):
or this one person, or blame orvictimization, so the
attributes aren't transcendingis what I want you to hear.
These practices don't sayyou're going to transcend what's
happening.
You transmute it, you alchemizeit.
You look at it and you say, oh,look what I'm doing here.
(28:56):
Perfect example.
I'm not a hot yogi.
Okay, I'm not against it, I'mjust.
It doesn't work for my body andI taught it for a couple of
years.
When I was wanting to quit, Istarted hating it.
I would come home.
I hate hot yoga, I don't likeit, I hate it, I hate it and I
(29:17):
started to thank God for yogaWatch.
I wanted to hate it, so I wouldleave it, because I didn't have
the courage to leave because Iwas telling myself I need the
money.
What am I going to do?
That's a story.
Those are all stories.
Yes, okay, Maybe I neededincome, but I could have gotten
it somewhere else.
So I tried to make hot yoga badso that I could be good enough
(29:42):
or make a good decision to leave.
And because I do the yogapractice, I realized, oh, wait a
minute, this has nothing to dowith the heat at all.
It's not good or bad, it's justthat's what is, and I don't
thrive in that.
That's not where I thrive.
So I'm going to go and seewhere I thrive.
(30:04):
So to practice it again is tobecome curious, also about your
stories.
Become curious about thebeliefs you have and the beliefs
(30:25):
that you won't budge, that youare like no, I know this and
bop-bop, and you'll fight for it.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Step in and lean into those, because under those is
this peaceful state, deep underthose, yeah, so many of the
tools that we keep going overare about like shravana, you
know, just slowing down and notrushing to judgment or even
(31:01):
doing anything besides listeningin the moment you know and
waiting your turn to expressyourself in relationship to that
, and not expanding beyond whatis necessary.
It's almost like efficientliving efficiently, yeah, not
making extra stuff or creatingchaos.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Not making extra stuff, Not adding vertes to your
chit, C-H-I-T-T or C-H-I-T, andliving simply not adding on.
Yeah, so, to wrap up, the YogaSutras tell you what yoga is and
then tell you practices on whatto do.
(31:43):
And number one says here's abeautiful gift of a system of
yoga.
Number two says yoga isstopping the fluctuations of the
mind or the stories that youcreate.
And fourth and third, tadadrastu svarupe vastanam.
(32:03):
And then you get to abide inyour true nature, this peaceful
state that is connected, alwaysresourceful and filled with
potentiality, filled withpotentiality.
Thank you, my friends.
We'll add on to the Yoga Sutrasmore and more.
(32:26):
Homework is the invitation toquestion your thoughts, question
your stories, your vertis, yourchit and see if you're willing
to shift them.
Awesome, becomeoneliving atgmailcom.
We're here.
Welcome back to another episode of Become One
Living, where we're discussingtoday the sutras with Jodi
Dahmerstadt-Boysitz and me, DanBoysitz.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome.
In another episode we talkedabout the Yoga Sutras, and in
some books there's 196 withVasana and Krishnamacharya Some
there's 195, which is withpatanjali.
(00:46):
The history of yoga philosophyis a little all over the place,
so if some of the timelines donot match up, that's okay.
It wasn't really kept in goodtime.
Right, right, and there arescholars these days that will
(01:07):
also have these debates andlittle disagreements as to the
exact so the Yoga Sutras areguidelines and little aphorisms,
little short statements on yoga, and it's divided up into four,
one book for Padas.
(01:29):
Pada means foot, pada meanschapter.
So there's four differentsegments and the first segment
is about yoga.
Yoga Sutra is Atta Yoga AnushaSanam, which Atta means a gift.
I'm about to share this gift ofyoga with you, and we talked
(01:55):
about this on another episode,so feel free to go back and
listen to.
What I want to touch on beforeI move forward is this the word
yoga comes from the word yag,which means to yoke, but this
(02:15):
word yag has 150 differentdefinitions in Sanskrit.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Right, depending on context.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yes, and what was realized is the word in yoga
Sanskrit into English.
There isn't a word or a way todescribe it, so it became union.
Okay.
So, if your understanding is,the word yoga means union,
(02:45):
perfect, that's cool.
And there's another 150different ways to describe it,
and the one that always calls tome is relationship.
I love that one.
And it means relationship.
It means connection, it meansintegration.
And what are we integrating?
Well, we're, we're integratingthe body, the mind, the soul.
(03:08):
We're coming back home to thisidea of who we really are.
So yoga is about engaging thebody, the mind, to remember
spirit and soul.
Okay, so it's aboutrelationships.
The second Yoga Sutra says Yoga,chitta, verdi, narodaha.
(03:34):
Yoga, relationship, whateveryou're doing, whatever you're
eating, you're in relationshipwith.
Chitta means knowledge, verdimeans fluctuation, means
twisting, parvirti meanstwisting and Naroda means to
(03:55):
cease.
Now stay with me.
The third Yoga Sutra says whatdoes that mean?
It means when you stopattaching or creating tumultuous
(04:18):
, twisted stories and believingthem, then ta-da worries.
And believing them then ta-da,then drastu means to see, dristi
means to see or gaze.
You see the seer abides intheir true nature.
So yoga, in those three thingsI shared, not one thing about
(04:46):
the body.
Yoga is about getting into ahandstand, yoga is about a back
bend or a crow pose.
No, the definition of yoga isyoga chitta verti narodaha is
how can I stop creatingsomething that's not happening,
how can I stop adding stories orbeliefs to what's happening?
(05:07):
Because if I can stop that,neroda, cease that, then, and
only then, can I abide in mytrue nature.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
In another way you might say how can I see clearly?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yes, Vidya, a vidya Vidya to see, a vidya Ignorance.
So the practice of yoga isabout pratyahara.
Prata means turning away fromor going against, and hara means
food, and it doesn't meannecessarily food you eat, but
(05:52):
the food you take in what yousee, what you smell, Nurturing
yeah.
What you're looking at, okay,what you're reading.
It means turn away from all thethings your senses are looking
out towards and come back home.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Right, so I always go or jump right to turn within.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
But to gain that understanding it's like putting
the external influences anddistractions aside.
Yes, To go in.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yes, Before.
That is to even know you'reattaching.
Before, before, before, beforeall of this comes the human that
says, hmm, something's notright, Something's not working.
Every time I do this, Istruggle or I see this thing
(06:44):
repeating and it doesn't feelgood.
How can I, the engager, theparticipator, the creator, the
co-creator, how can I do itdifferently?
Well, now, in yoga it says well, you got to look at what you're
thinking.
What are you attached to?
What are you buying into?
What are you believing so muchthat you become, If you buy into
(07:10):
stories and then you havepeople around you in
relationship that say, yeah,screw them, or yeah, you're
right, they're wrong divisionand divisiveness, you now move
further and further and furtheraway from your true nature,
which is peace, calm, clarity,neutrality equanimity.
(07:37):
In IFS we call it the C'scompassion, connectedness.
When we're in story,divisiveness happens,
differences, judgment.
So the second yoga sutra is soimportant that you are invited
to and I wanted to say you needto, but I'll say you're invited
(08:00):
to find a practice toconcentrate all your energy in
one place, because we live in aworld that offers multiple
things to focus on in multiple,at multiple times.
I mean it feels like thatmultiple times.
It's like I got my phone, thecomputer, music in the
(08:22):
background.
I mean I don't.
People do All these thingshappening at once.
So until you say I'm donegossiping, I'm done eating late
at night, I'm done drinkingcoffee, until you realize the
things you do that feed yoursenses, realize the things you
(08:46):
do that feed your senses, notyour soul, not your spirit, but
the senses.
Once you say I'm done, that'swhen you start to inquire and
learn.
The sutra says ta-da means getexcited.
I always think of like ta-da,here it is, isn't it exciting?
Drastu means dristy to see theseer.
(09:10):
Abide means you sit in thisstate.
You become present in thispeace and this void that calls
for nothing and needs nothing.
It's just there.
And people say how can I livein peacefulness when the world
(09:31):
isn't peaceful.
That's the reason why you haveto learn to be peaceful in
unpeacefulness.
You have to learn to findcomfort in uncomfortability.
You have to learn to find calmin the rage and in the storm.
That's the practice.
No one that's not a numbing ora bypassing.
(09:52):
I'm not saying shut down andsay it is what it is.
I have people say that to meall the time.
It is what it is and I say no,it ain't.
No, it ain't what it is, it'smore than that.
What do you feel?
What are your senses tellingyou?
You want to experience all ofthat and then say I'm more than
(10:14):
this, these are my parts.
That's what IFS would say.
These are stories, and thepractice of yoga then becomes
not learning something new, butunlearning and unpacking the
stories that we were told who wewere.
(10:35):
I was told by a nun in catechismthat I was stupid and that I
should never, she said to me,read out loud because I was
illiterate.
That's what she told me BecauseI struggled reading as a child
and from that moment on Iwouldn't read out loud and I
wouldn't raise my hand.
(10:56):
All through school, from highschool, everything I thought,
and I was in remedial courses.
So in my mind I was stupid, andI was.
I was externally told that inmany ways, why can't you be
smarter?
What's wrong with you?
And I started to buy that story.
And then in college somethinghappened and I said wait a
(11:19):
minute, I'm not stupid, I don'tlearn like that.
And so I started to study.
I graduated with a 3.99, almosta 4.0.
I mean, I couldn't believe howsmart I was and what I was able
to do.
But that's what I mean by buyinginto a verti right.
You get told something or someexperience and then next thing,
(11:42):
you know, you live it, youbecome it, you believe it and
you'll fight for it.
You'll fight.
No, I have dyslexia, so I'mlike this and that's what I had.
So I'm not saying anythingabout anyone listening, I'm just
sharing.
When someone would say, oh, youcan't do this, the first thing
(12:02):
was well, I'm dyslexic.
That's why we will fight thestories, the verities, and we
then lose sight that we canabide in something different.
That's the healing of the mindand the softening of the body
brings us back into this placeof presence.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Are there tools that feature or highlight this for
you, like things that you do,practices that you do that bring
this to light, or yeah, yes, Iwant to share one piece, and
then I'll tell you how.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
So the third yoga sutra says you abide in your
true nature.
And then the fourth one saysyou're ready for this, and then
there's times you don't.
I love that it's like it's sopractical.
It's like sometimes you're init and you're in the flow state
and you're like, oh, and thenext minute you're like, I'm so
attached to that I'm I'm ahorrible human.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I suck, I stink to that I'm.
I'm a horrible human.
I suck, I stink.
I mean, where my mind goes withthat piece is, is, is, is the?
The beauty that?
That that the discipline ofbecoming one with something
brings, whether it's apartnership or or a relationship
with a guitar or relationshipwith writing poetry, the
discipline of focusing on thatact or thing to do or tool
(13:32):
yields, you know, a greaterunderstanding of that.
You know.
From that practice you get agreater understanding of how to
live.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yes, yes, the discipline of yoga.
So first is atta.
Here's a gift, here's thesystem of yoga.
Atta, sutra 1.
Sutra 2 says the first thing Iwant you to know is that yoga
really is in relationship witheverything.
And stopping these stories inrelationships.
(14:08):
Right the virtues.
Then that, only then you canunderstand your true spirit,
your true nature, and othertimes you will identify.
So it's really honest.
You'll identify in the fifthsand then, going further, stay
with me.
You'll identify it as painfulor non-painful, which means
judgment.
So we have to learn.
(14:29):
You asked for tools, so tools.
One offering is really becomingextremely aware of being
judgmental.
As soon as I start to makesomeone bad or good, I then use
that as a goal to know I'mcreating stories.
(14:52):
My chit is vertering.
My knowledge is really twisting,I'm twisting the knowledge so
it suits my needs to attack you.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Yeah, you see To blame, see to blame.
Yeah, oh my gosh, you know it'swhat?
What just came to me is how,how everything is in play.
Right so Right.
So I can do pretty well, butI'll notice that if I get tired,
(15:30):
my ability to maintain thosecapacities diminishes, right.
So it's interesting howeverything is a part of it.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Yes, well, because we live in nature, we're whole.
The way we look at life me andyou is wholeness right.
So you just said, when I'mtired I can't have that
awareness.
Yes, friends, when you getovertired, you're not a
superhuman.
So if you work from eight tillseven, or you get home from work
(16:01):
and you keep working and youdon't stop, you will not have
the resources to change, becauseyour default will be fight or
flight.
You now have no resources tomove to the prefrontal cortex,
because the front of the brainis where compassion lies, it's
where witnessing lies.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I have to plug in.
I think it's a piece of thatIFS part where it's like they
had a rating system or somethingthat you read.
There was a couple, and forcouples out there or people that
you're in a relationship with,it's like they had a rating
system where it's like, if youcome home at five o'clock and
you have very little resourcesto interact with your loved one
in the capacity of, like saying,making a decision or getting
(16:42):
something done, it's like you'vegot to say I've got like three.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Oh yes.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
I've got this much resources to do this.
Otherwise it could result inlike a misunderstanding and a
fight for no reason, justbecause you don't have the brain
power to interact at that level.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Yes, I don't know.
I'm sure Dan remembers this,because multiple times I'll say
to Dan, can you just do me afavor, I'll come with you, but
don't talk to me.
It would be like a weekend, 30hours after teaching, yoga
training, and he'll say, well,you want to come to Whole Foods,
the grocery store, and I sayI'll come, but don't talk to me,
(17:24):
because I knew I had noresources and I was cranky and I
felt depleted.
And I knew if he, if hisbreathing was off, I would snap.
I knew if he farted, if he, ifhe, didn't put his blinker on,
and so I, I also will do thatdecision-wise right.
(17:44):
When you're like, what do youwant to eat, I'll say I am so
tired right now I can't decide.
Don't ask again.
Please decide for us.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Right, and that I'm totally fine with, because
there's three places that youcan eat at.
It's not a big decision.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
That's true.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
But I love what you said, what dan and I share and
what we talk about all the time,and he's taught me this.
Dan has been my greatestteacher.
We're together 14 years now andhe has taught me it's not the
smoking gun, because I used toalways want to figure out what
was wrong with me.
I I had physical pain, chronic,mental, emotional,
(18:27):
psychological, and I would say Ifigured it out and he'd say,
joe, it's not a smoking gun,it's not what you think it is.
And what we're sharing is evenin the yoga sutras.
Oh, I just want to study yoga, Iwant to study.
There's a science behind it,it's a system, and so the tools
(18:48):
that you just asked, dan, is ifyou're not getting enough sleep,
if you're still running andgunning, if you don't listen to
your signals, you cannot changebecause you won't have the
energetic resources to tap intothe prefrontal cortex that lives
off of high fats and mostpeople don't change, not because
(19:11):
they don't want to, but theydon't have the resources because
it takes a lot of energy in thehuman body and caloric intake
to get you from this sugaryprimal response that's automated
, the sympathetic nervous systemall the way up to the
(19:31):
prefrontal cortex, which is inthe front of the brain.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
You know, would you say a spiritual journey, in that
, in just in what you weretalking about, it is a
prefrontal endeavor.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yes, yes, most definitely, it's highly, it's
more evolved and the moreinvolved discussion occurs in
the front of the brain.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Curiosity and advanced yes Sutras.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Coming back to the yoga sutras yes, we're pulsing
out and now we're going to comeright back in.
So reading the yoga sutras isnot suggested, doing them so you
asked how do you tadadrastusvarupe vastanam right, how do
(20:22):
you abide in your own truenature?
First thing I want to inviteeveryone to is what do you even
think true nature means?
That's what I would start toquestion before you go.
Start and teaching people likeyou.
Got to know your true self,your true one self, yeah, what
are the attributes?
Speaker 1 (20:41):
I don't even know what that means I mean and, and,
and that that that calls fortha whole bunch of questions in
terms of what any one person isin relationship at that point,
who they're in relationship with, what they like to do, what
they don't like to do, whathurts them, what makes them feel
good.
There's so many, so many things.
I always come back to theanalogy of a soup, the
(21:02):
ingredients of a soup.
There's there's not a pinningthe tail on the donkey.
There's not just exclusively achicken broth soup.
It's like life is a tapestry of.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
I agree, and though you have to have clarity if you
want to change.
So what I'm saying is there'smany ways to get there
absolutely.
Is there's many ways to getthere absolutely.
But if you don't know what truenature means, or self capital S
means to you, or spiritualitymeans, your brain needs
contexting.
So if you don't have areference point for those words,
(21:38):
you'll take one on and youmight not like what you're
taking on or you might not evenknow what you think it is.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yeah, no, I understand where I went with
that, like what you're taking on, or you might not even know
what you think it is.
Yeah, no, I I understand whereI went with with that is as how,
how groomed, uh little beingsare from you know, zero to 10 or
12 or 15, all those formativeyears.
There's so much laid on you interms of your name and who you
are and where you belong andwhat you stand for, so so that
(22:05):
right, there can be an unpacking.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
If you, if you don't, if you're not in good
relationship with, uh umsomething you know honestly that
your family stands for and youdon't feel it in your heart, or
that's just not your journey,you know uh it's, it's, it's,
it's a it's a bit of a thing toget to your true nature.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Oh, yes, but you asked me for tools, so I'm
sharing tools.
I'm not.
I agree it is huge, but thefirst tool is to question.
Any time you start judgingsomething as soon as you say
good or bad, I know I'm not inmy true state, because my true
state is neutrality.
(22:48):
Remember, the only meaningsomething has is the meaning we
make of it.
The only reason we know what aplant looks like is because we
were told what a plant lookedlike.
And then we look at it and wesay, well, that's a plant.
And then we have feelings Ikill all plants, I don't like
plants.
So that's not true.
It's not I don't like plants.
That's not true.
It's not I don't like plants.
It's I don't know how to carefor the plants.
(23:08):
The true nature is I'm lostwhen it comes to a plant.
It's this digging in underlayers where you come to the
truth.
And true nature is beingtruthful about the situation
you're in, and in that staterises a void where you can then
move into the, a pause where youeither attach to the object or
(23:33):
you don't.
The fourth yoga sutra sayssometimes you then relate to
that object and you're judgingand you're hating.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
And it's okay.
They're saying in the fourthsutra they say it's okay.
Then you retract and you say no, I don't want to.
So it is this dance, but youall have to get to the place
where you're able to dance ifyou don't know the steps.
And one is focus.
Set a timer for one minute andsit and just focus on your
(24:05):
breath.
I say this I'm breathing in,I'm breathing out, I'm breathing
in.
And then, as I breathe, I stopsaying that and I say to myself
inhale and exhale.
And I follow that.
And when I start thinking, um,I'm hungry, or Gabby, our dog, I
have to walk her, or I got toget to work, I come back and go
(24:26):
breath.
Breath is moving in, breath ismoving out.
I'm not meditating at thatpoint.
That's called focusing.
If you cannot focus your mindfor a minute, it's going to be
hard to catch yourself.
When you're buying into thevertes, the chit vertes, when
you're buying into the stories,okay.
(24:47):
So one is concentrate onsomething.
And two is am I judgmental?
Am I attaching to this object?
Am I buying into it?
And then am I employing peopleto buy into it with me?
You know division and attack.
(25:09):
And then to be gentle with thefourth yoga sutra is to be
gentle, if you attach to it ornot.
And then the fifth yoga sutrawe will not talk about, but
there's five things that tellyou if you're making up a story.
That's why the yoga sutras arereally cool.
(25:30):
When people say yoga's notcomplete and you need more than
that, no, you, you really don't.
You may need a therapist or anacupuncturist, but they're part
of the yoga system, becauseeverybody had yoga teachers and
yoga gurus, and a guru means theremover of darkness.
The guru means the weighty one.
(25:52):
It doesn't mean a person thatknows it all.
It's a person that sharesinformation, that sheds light on
something.
So I meet gurus all day.
We met a guy the other day atthe beach who was sharing about
building boats.
He was my guru in that moment.
He was telling us about an oldpier or something they made a
(26:19):
the mast, a 40 foot mast and sothe guru.
The guru moves around, and sothe yoga practice.
The yoga sutras beautifully layout how you'll get lost and
what yoga is.
And again, sutra 1.1 says it'sa system and it's a blessing
(26:40):
that we're sharing the systemwith you.
2 says vritti means fluctuationor tumultuous thoughts have to
stop.
The healing of the mind needsto occur for you to feel peace.
That's the fourth sutra.
Your true nature is in suffering.
(27:00):
We suffer because number fourwe attach to things that we want
or things we don't want.
I don't want that.
I'm not.
Nope.
Have you ever said this?
I'm not dealing with this, I amnot going to deal with it, or
I'm't want that.
I'm not, nope.
Have you ever said this I'm notdealing with this, I'm not
going to deal with it, or I'mnot doing that.
Too bad, it's happening.
(27:20):
So when you say I can't or Iwon't, your nervous system goes
into fight or flight, into fightor flight.
And now you're creating thisbattle with life as it's
(27:41):
unfolding, instead of yoga ismeeting life as it unfolds.
I want to share briefly, if Ican do.
You have something you want to?
Speaker 1 (27:49):
No no.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
I want to share some attributes of this pulse, of
this true nature, right,something like inside of.
Some of the attributes aresimilar to IFS compassion, right
?
Calmness, connection yeah, Irelate to you.
Think of connection as relating, like yeah, I get you, I get
(28:13):
this.
I see why I'm so upset Calmness, clarity, creativity.
When we're stuck in fight orflight or attached, like the
yoga sutras say, in a story,we're attached to the story or
the object.
We can't be creative becausewe're so angry at this one thing
(28:34):
or this one person, or blame orvictimization, so the
attributes aren't transcendingis what I want you to hear.
These practices don't sayyou're going to transcend what's
happening.
You transmute it, you alchemizeit.
You look at it and you say, oh,look what I'm doing here.
(28:56):
Perfect example.
I'm not a hot yogi.
Okay, I'm not against it, I'mjust.
It doesn't work for my body andI taught it for a couple of
years.
When I was wanting to quit, Istarted hating it.
I would come home.
I hate hot yoga, I don't likeit, I hate it, I hate it and I
(29:17):
started to thank God for yogaWatch.
I wanted to hate it, so I wouldleave it, because I didn't have
the courage to leave because Iwas telling myself I need the
money.
What am I going to do?
That's a story.
Those are all stories.
Yes, okay, Maybe I neededincome, but I could have gotten
it somewhere else.
So I tried to make hot yoga badso that I could be good enough
(29:42):
or make a good decision to leave.
And because I do the yogapractice, I realized, oh, wait a
minute, this has nothing to dowith the heat at all.
It's not good or bad, it's justthat's what is, and I don't
thrive in that.
That's not where I thrive.
So I'm going to go and seewhere I thrive.
(30:04):
So to practice it again is tobecome curious, also about your
stories.
Become curious about thebeliefs you have and the beliefs
(30:25):
that you won't budge, that youare like no, I know this and
bop-bop, and you'll fight for it.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Step in and lean into those, because under those is
this peaceful state, deep underthose, yeah, so many of the
tools that we keep going overare about like shravana, you
know, just slowing down and notrushing to judgment or even
(31:01):
doing anything besides listeningin the moment you know and
waiting your turn to expressyourself in relationship to that
, and not expanding beyond whatis necessary.
It's almost like efficientliving efficiently, yeah, not
making extra stuff or creatingchaos.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Not making extra stuff, Not adding vertes to your
chit, C-H-I-T-T or C-H-I-T, andliving simply not adding on.
Yeah, so, to wrap up, the YogaSutras tell you what yoga is and
then tell you practices on whatto do.
(31:43):
And number one says here's abeautiful gift of a system of
yoga.
Number two says yoga isstopping the fluctuations of the
mind or the stories that youcreate.
And fourth and third, tadadrastu svarupe vastanam.
(32:03):
And then you get to abide inyour true nature, this peaceful
state that is connected, alwaysresourceful and filled with
potentiality, filled withpotentiality.
Thank you, my friends.
We'll add on to the Yoga Sutrasmore and more.
(32:26):
Homework is the invitation toquestion your thoughts, question
your stories, your vertis, yourchit and see if you're willing
to shift them.
Awesome, becomeoneliving atgmailcom.
We're here.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!