We are now in the middle of our segment on “brahmacharya”, one of the 5 Niyamas or internal duties of a yoga student. “Brahmacharya” is translated as ‘behavior that leads you to connection with the divine’. It is commonly understood as right energy.
Yesterday, we reflected on our relationship with the divine. Today, we’re going to focus on tending our hindrances. Our habits or actions that tend to lead us away from connection to the divine or towards suffering.
Hindrances that we can’t seem to stop doing, like addictions, tend to be both comforting and painful at the same time. Like eating a chocolate covered ghost pepper, you may continue to feel the pain long after you’ve enjoyed the chocolate.
I want to bring this back to a practical, felt sense. I know that for people who don’t consider themselves religious or spiritual, the concept of a divine connection seems abstract or unreal. Another metric you can use is the felt sense. If my body at a deep level is feeling expansive, connected, in flow and grounded – to me, that’s the felt sense of a divine connection. If my body at a deep level is feeling tense, lonely, stuck and inflamed – that’s the felt sense of deep suffering, moving away from the divine.
Whether we are spiritual or not, we can all probably agree that we don’t want to feel tense, lonely, stuck or inflamed!
So let’s take a couple moments to tend to a hindrance that you struggle with. (pause)
Let’s start by slowing things down and getting settled in our bodies with a body scan.
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