Taking Our Yoga Off the Mat by Danielle Hines

I received a quote from a friend that went like this:

“Watch how your mind judges. Judgment comes, in part, out of your own fear. You judge other people because you’re not comfortable in your own being. By judging, you find out where you stand in relation to other people. The judging mind is very divisive. It separates. Separation closes your heart. If you close your heart to someone, you are perpetuating your suffering and theirs. Shifting out of judgment means learning to appreciate your predicament and their predicament with an open heart instead of judging. Then you can allow yourself and others to just be, without separation…”

It brought to my mind Patanjali’s Sutra 1.33

Maitri karuna mudita upeksanam sukha duhkha punya apunya visayanam bhavanatah cittaprasadanam

(friendship kindness merry indifference wellness suffering virtuous immoral matters practiced mind purified)

As we get ready for the end of a year, and all the changes that are involved in preparing for these things (cleaning, shopping, traveling, cooking, houseguests, family members, religious obligations, being out in public dealing with people), we all recognize how remaining calm can, at times, be challenging. 

Patanjali's Sutra I.33 emphasizes the importance of maitri, or friendliness, towards oneself and others. The sutra states that cultivating feelings of maitri, along with those of compassion, joy, and equanimity, leads to a calm and clear mind. Specifically, maitri towards others is mentioned along with three other sentiments- compassion, joy and equanimity. The sutra also mentions that practicing maitri leads to the purification of the mind and that it helps to overcome the dualities such as pleasure and pain, merit and demerit.

Through cultivation of friendliness, compassion, joy, and indifference to pleasure and pain, virtue and vice respectively, the consciousness becomes favorably disposed, serene and benevolent. (Sutra 1.33, transl. by B.K.S. Iyengar.)

Undisturbed calm of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and the indifference toward the wicked. 

In Edwin Bryant ’s The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary, he explains, "In [Sutra I.33], Patañjali outlines a practice essential for enhancing lucidity, the prerequisite for attaining steadiness in the mind.” (Bryant at 129.) We have established by now that the path and attainments of Yoga are nothing other than the maximization of the guṇa of sattva. (Sattva (lucidity, peacefulness) is one of the three gunas or “modes of existence.” The other two are rajas (attachment, passion) and tamas (delusion, disinterest). Central to the Yoga tradition, then, are the ethical and other practices indispensable to this objective.

Bryant adds that one commenator to the sutras explains it this way:

“[a]s a result of cultivating an attitude of friendship with those who find themselves in a situation of happiness, one of compassion towards those in distress, one of joy towards pious souls, and one of equanimity or indifference towards the impious, sattva is generated. Consequently, the mind becomes lucid – clarity being the nature of sattva. Once the mind is clear, one-pointed concentration or steadiness can be achieved.” (Id.)

Another commentator elaborates on this:

“[b]y being a well-wisher toward those who are happy, as well as those who are virtuous, the contamination of envy is removed. By compassion towards those who are miserable, that is, by wishing to remove someone’s miseries as if they were one’s own, the contamination of the desire to inflict harm on others is removed. By equanimity towards the impious, the contamination of intolerance is removed. By thus removing these traits of envy, desire to inflict harm, and intolerance, which are characteristics of rajas and tamas, the sattva natural to the mind can manifest. In the ensuing state of lucidity, the inclination towards controlling the vṛttis [the whirling of the mind], in other words towards cultivating a focused state of mind by the practice of yoga, spontaneously arises, because the inclination for enlightenment is natural to the pure sāttvic mind." (Id., emphasis in original.)

As we practice yoga, it is important to remember that it is not just about physical postures but also about cultivating a positive attitude towards ourselves and others. By practicing maitri (friendship), we can create a more supportive and compassionate community of yogis. yogah cittavritti nirodhah - the stilling of the thought waves in the mind.

It may be something as simple as a parking space in the parking lot during the holiday season. You were there first but that other car, yes, you know it, they just pulled in. You are more than annoyed; you just need one more gift, it won't take long, the lot is really busy with people and cars. You are cursing, you have many other things to do, and now you have to find a new spot. Or the car that road behind on the highway and that sat there on your bumper for 5 miles. What does the anger at the stealing of "your" parking space do for you? How about pulling over to let that person go by you instead of keeping them on your bumper? What are you learning by going a little faster to move over to the right lane and let the rest of the traffic go by or slow down and move over to the other lane? Because you were waiting, being patient, or if you get mad enough, curse enough will get you the parking spot? What about resigning yourself to the possibility, that the other person was distracted and never saw you? Maybe, just maybe, practice containment of the anger. Instead of focusing on the envy of you being beaten to the parking space or wishing harm to the person, see it as an opportunity to park further away and enjoy the walk into the store. Let the car go ahead of you so you can enjoy the scenery of road you are driving. It is a minor inconvenience; breathe, take another breath, realize that maybe they are having a rough day, and  let it go. yogah cittavritti nirodhah - still the fluctuations. Go back to your practice on the mat, try again, breath in, breath out. You are in control of how you feel, how you act. Use the focus of the practice to allow for lucidity, the seeking of higher truths.

Let us make a conscious effort to practice maitri towards ourselves and others in our lives. By doing so, we can create a more peaceful and loving world during this holiday season with the all the events that are occurring.  Sutra I.12 ashyasa vairagyabhyam tannrodhah - practice and the detachment are the means to still the movements of consciousness.

Danielle Hines

IYASE Public Relations Chair