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I often share with my students that one way to understand your yoga practice and what it means to you, and to better incorporate your regular yoga practice into your life is best done if you can describe it to a friend who knows nothing about yoga. Imagine if you were at a dinner party, and someone asks you,
”Why do you do yoga? What is is that you do exactly? What is yoga and how does it make you feel?”
In response you would have no problem telling them the basics of what you do on a daily basis and why. This is what Patañjali is writing about in the third chapter of the Yoga Sūtras: the majority of the chapter is dedicated to a discussion on the mystical powers that come from purposely practicing concentration, meditation and absorption in all you do. Patañjali even coins this practice as “saṁyaya”.
Applying “saṁyaya” in all your do - not just in your daily physical practice - means that you are putting concentrative, meditative and absorptive effort in all that you do. This could be your relationship, your work, your cooking, cleaning, etc.
When your attention has these elements, you may begin to notice and watch new awarenesses take shape. Patañjali calls these “mystical powers”, however I call them experiences. What happens when you do Bakāsāna for twenty years and can float easily like a crow? Do you become light as cotton? Patañjali says you may. However you can’t rely on someone else to tell you what you are going to feel when doing yoga! You are constantly watching and better understanding your yoga from your own experience on and off the mat. And when you do this, dear yogi, you are writing your own manuscript about your practice.
A couple of fun ones Patañjali offers:
3.23 “maitry-ādiṣu balāni”
By applying saṁyama on friendliness and being kind, strengths are acquired.
and
3.24 baleṣu hasti-balādīni
By applying saṁyama on strengths, the yogī attains the strength of an elephant.
You yogi may question this as I did once: what do these two sūtras mean? Patañjali says the yogi will feel like an elephant when being kind. Well the kind of strength you get upon being kind may not be the same as this. And you may not feel “strong” through kindness but you may feel something else entirely. Try using your own language here - how do you feel when you are concentrating, meditating upon and absorbing kindness - do you feel like an elephant?
ॐ
Once you start reading the chapter, look at what Patañjali is offering you, dear enthusiast: an opportunity for you to watch, describe, feel and experience how the yoga makes you feel - what happens when you apply saṁyama on the sun? The moon? What experiences have you grown to understand about yourself through all those years of practice? How does your concentration, meditation and absorption on your heart centre (hṛdaye) make you feel more at ease in your mind?
At your upcoming dinner party yogi, prepare to tell someone about your practice. What is it like? How does your long term practice (abhyāsa) done without attachment (vairāgyābhyām) (sūtra 1.12) make you the yogi /person you are today? And what insights have you understood better about yourself? Share with someone the “mystical powers” (also called “vibhutis”) that you’ve accumulated through your yoga.
Tell me and tell them.
OM!
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