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Sadhana

SADHANA – THE PATH OF YOGA

 

Welcome to this stage of your journey through this life.

 

Yoga is often seen as primarily a physical form of gentle exercise, whose aim is to develop health and fitness.. One of the first realisations of the yoga student is that this is far from the truth.  Yoga is life enhancing, life changing and eventually life transforming.  Along the way the student (sadhaka - male, sadhika – female), experiences life in all its forms through the physical body and its senses.  Our physical senses of hearing, smell, taste, sight, touch and awareness of position are the starting point of one aspect of that journey.  The mind is another, operating on the conscious and the subconscious levels it is initially tied to the experiences of the physical body, giving rise to the concept of Me and the ego.  It is through the mind however that knowledge of the Self can be experienced on a spiritual level.  With the development of the inner eye the sadhaka can realise the I of the Self and understand the mantram – I am That.

 

Yoga approaches life on all levels.  It is as important to be aware of the moral and practical aspects of the way we live, as it is to strive to live a `spiritual` life.  Sometimes it is necessary to undergo hardship and personal denial, forms of asceticism, called tapas, to focus and further our progress. Essential at all stages along the way is study(svadhyaya); of our physical and mental actions, their implications and limitations, and  the opportunities which present themselves for our learning and development, and the wider spiritual learning we can absorb through reading, satsang (meeting with persons for spiritual upliftment, )and self study through meditation.

 

In tradition the sadhaka will be drawn to a guru, a spiritual teacher who can help him/her.  Through our life we may have more than one guru, of differing values and significance.  Our mother is said to be our first guru, and then our father and any other persons who begin to develop and encourage our spiritual development.  For the fortunate there may appear somewhere along life`s way, the sadguru (the true guru), who is himself spiritually enlightened, and  who will remain your guru for life.

 

In the meantime it is incumbent on us all to strive to find that spiritual path which will be appropriate for us as individuals, through our own practice and study.

 

Feel free to contact me to discuss this subject further (Details on Home page).

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