The journey of the self…

[Kimberly]

Explain what the following quote from the ancient Hindu scripture of The Bhagavad Gita means to you as you start this yoga teacher training journey: “Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.” Your response is due by Sunday, Jan. 28 midnight

[sally200]

To me.
Yoga means to me, no ego, no competition, you are allowing yourself to learn and grow as you should, not how others do or on their path. You challenge when it happens, not that you pre-set or set out to do create competition. You are yourself in the class, you are in capsule of your body, mind and soul. I feel the best teachers raise the awareness around the self at each class. Through the self, I see a vision of a flow of energy from your head to toes, Yoga keeps an openness and removs blocks. It is a gift to the self, giving a life style of a peaceful mind, healthier body, and a connection a higher consciousness.

[LAD92761]

ONE: Of the self is being ONE, you, yourself and I. The journey you must take to be at one with yourself. Knowing who you are.
WITH: Through the self is the Journey you take upon yourself to convey inner wisdom or light. That can be inner or sharing outward, teaching with your heart, with others, with purpose.
LIFE: To the self letting the light shine back to yourself. Feeling the energy you created come back into your life creating inner strength and love.
Tying it together One With Life…O.W.L.

[msinghal]

If I were to parse that quote, to me it means that yoga is a journey of the self (the traveler), through the self (the vehicle), to the self (the destination). So, I myself is the who, the how, and the where in the journey.

In Sanskrit, the word “Yoga” means to add or unite: uniting the body with the most powerful apparatus in a human being: the mind. It also means to reach a place which was previously unattainable, or a movement from a point to another, higher than the previous.

Hence, I am the traveler, the whole person (with both mind and body) who is undertaking this journey of self-improvement and uniting myself with my own true self. Yoga’s first 2 limbs, yamas, and niyamas, provide the ethical guidelines to help my mind and its thoughts the direction towards self-awareness. The Asanas and pranayama provide me means to keep my physical body healthy, without which I cannot undertake this journey. All along, I use myself as the vehicle in this journey.

Where am I headed? What is the destination? I am myself the destination. The Divine resides in me. I am seeking that connection with myself: my higher self, my peaceful self, my real self, my utmost best self that can be. Through the practice of yoga, I can peel the layers of myself and recognize my true self.

Some other useful quotes on yoga and the self that go along the line with this quote are:

Yoga is the perfect opportunity to be curious about you. – Jason Crandell

Yoga is not about self-improvement or making ourselves better. It is a process of deconstructing all the barriers we may have erected that prevent us from having an authentic connection with ourselves and the world. – Donna Fahri

[LAD92761]

I love the traveler relation. I also wanted to add a Yogi Bhajan quote that goes with this
“When you unite with your soul… and the one that gave you your soul, that’s yoga.”

[betshellhaas]

“Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.” I fell in love with this quote when I first heard it. I view it in relation to my own yoga journey. In the beginning, I was taking yoga because my mother was a yoga instructor and I did it for the exercise. As I began to keep up with yoga I started realizing that yoga is much more than the physical practice. The journey was opening up to me and as I stayed with yoga I began working ‘through the self’. I started to understand more things about myself, my body and my way of living. What I wanted to continue with and new habits I wanted to start forming. I have been and still am ‘tweaking’ my life to what I ultimately want it to be like. Yoga is a huge part of that. ‘To the self’ signifies the realization of the self, the true self. Opening up and receiving that from a place of acceptance, love and gratitude. What a beautiful process!

[CindyHurst]

Yoga has been a part of my life and my lifestyle for a long time. Some ask why I waited so long to do teacher training. I believe it’s because my journey as a yogi has helped me to gain the wisdom that I want to share with others. Beneath this, it has taught me about myself. My spirituality has always been the main draw to yoga. Learning to trust the universe and try not to control everything. Learning about what is truly important. Learning to share positive energy. Learning to gracefully deal with life’s ups and downs.

[dooley]

This quote sums up what yoga is all about to me. Self-Awareness! Since yoga means to unite, which plays into this quote. I have come to comprehend the true meaning of this quote through my yoga journey. I knew that yoga dealt with the mind and body connection, but never truly was able to bring them together through my practice. Since I have grown in my practice, I am becoming more aware of how to bring the mind and body along with the breath to focus on self-awareness. This journey will help me to bring self-awareness to my students by using that language to help them become area of “the self”.

Diana

[heatherfly]

This is Heather. The word that came to me when I read this quote was Integration. The one who journeys, that which is explored on the journey, that which is discovered via the journey snd journeyer, All are one. But most of us can’t sense that. Most of us experience some degree of dis-integration. Separation from ourselves therefore from the people and world sround us. When we’re truly integrated we can sense and live in our humbling-inspiring connection to all living things. At least that’s what I’ve heard.:)

[regmarlew63]

This quote reminds me of one of my favorite prayers, called the “WIT” prayer. It recites like this “Dear God, do this With me, In me, Through me.” The prayer is asking God, my divine power, to travel the path of life with me in every aspect.
The Bhagavad Gita scripture, is telling me that yoga is a perfect channel to be open to my divine, higher power. To be open in my thinking, doing, and being; so that I can see the way that has been planned for me, and to follow that way. This will make the path to my destiny more peaceful, more meaningful, more beautiful.
By carrying this concept I can be a blessing to others in my life. I can serve with a happy spirit, the way God intended.
When I take the time to “wait” and be patient (instead of forcing) as my journey unfolds, it makes me more aware, or even awake to the “feeling” of life; not just walking through the motions of daily happenings. By being more awake, that in turn gives me a greater sense of gratitude for the blessings all around me. Without this sense of awareness, I am missing my gifts sent to me by God. I’m leaving them on a shelf. I don’t want to do that!
Regina Lewis

[heatherfly]

Regina, i just want to say that was really beautiful, what you wrote. I want to reread and reread it.

Heather

[Beth]

This passage in the Gita redefines yoga for me as the combination of mind, body and soul. I began yoga for the relaxation techniques I had heard from others, but after 10 years, I realize it has taught me so much about myself. Reading the Yamas and the Niyamas is helping me find words to describe my own path in yoga and how to become closer to myself than I ever been. In my 20’s I found it hard not to be ego-driven, almost as though we are programmed for this during that time in our lives. So much of what I learned over the years in yoga is re-learning or un-learning. I had to re-learn self-care and meditation because I have so frequently abandoned them both. I can do the postures at home but so often lost the breath or the meditative aspects which always provide me benefits.

I also had many things to un-learn as I grew in my yoga practice, particularly my stress response. I have tried to change my diet and lifestyle to help alleviate my migraines and yoga is part of this. I believe that this passage is about all of these things, which makes yoga individual to everyone. I believe that yoga can help us discover our inner-strength and connect us with the power each of us carries. Yoga is the path back to myself through myself, for myself.

[EmilyD]

“Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.”

For me, this translates to listening to my body and mind, being aware of how I feel both physically and mentally, so I can learn what makes me feel good/happy/content/at ease vs. anxious/stressed/angry/out of control. By being aware of those emotions, and what triggers them within me, I can work towards becoming a a truer version of myself. A version of myself that is more in control, more present, and more honest about who I really am.

Without really looking within, I cannot become the person I want others to see on the outside. I must take my journey within.

~Emily

[melross1]

“Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.”

Yoga isn’t more than just physical, it’s spiritual and emotional. I’m finding myself- the true me. During a practice this week I didn’t set an intention rather one found me in the practice. While doing a pose that I normally don’t enjoy I left out the “ta-da” and the phrase came to me “I am enough” over the last couple days I truly believe I am enough. Yoga is a journey to the self, it make us grow and find pieces of ourselves that we aren’t looking for and those pieces are amazing they might be scary they might be a lot of things that’s why it’s a journey I might even call it an adventure.

[KHuttsell]

“Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.”

A person’s yoga journey is not simply practicing a sequence of poses for an hour in a studio – but a lifelong journey to explore the world by first understanding one’s self.

As I approached the beginning of my yoga teaching journey, I knew there would be some soul searching and personal introspect. But I believe I underestimated how much I would need to learn about myself as part of this journey. My own thoughts and feelings shape how I see the world and those around me. Understanding who I truly am and accepting the truth of who I am is a fundamental part of the journey. For it is through these realizations that we become more enlightened yogis.

-Karen

[Author]

Posts