Week 2: Exploring consciousness

This week, we turned our attention to the aspect of ourselves that is unchanging, eternal, ever blissful – beyond the changeable nature of body and mind. This aspect of Self has a Sanskrit name, “Purusha;” in English, we might call it Soul or Consciousness. Purusha dwells in each heart, untouched by the events unfolding in the physical/material world. According to yogic teachings, Purusha never grows old or dies; even when the body dies, Purusha continues on untouched.

The mind is attracted to movement. It’s easy for us to notice things that move, things that change. But in our search for Purusha, we must learn to notice stillness and sameness – because Purusha does not move, Purusha does not change.

Today we opened our class, as usual, with several yin yoga postures – slow, deep stretches held for 2-4 minutes. Beginning in child’s pose and variations of child’s pose, we briefly reviewed week 1 and introduced the idea of Purusha. Forehead to the ground, we bowed down to this sacred spark with each being. (Child’s pose, which looks very much like a bowing, praying or prostrating posture, can serve to remind us of Purusha, this special Presence within.)

Moving into flowing sequences, we kept our focus on areas of stillness within the body – seeking them out, focusing there, staying with the stillness rather than losing ourselves in the movement. There is always one part of the body, often more, that remains still as we move into/out of yoga postures. At the very least, the face remains soft, the gaze soft, the mouth in a soft smile.

Returning to the outward stillness of yin postures to close our class, we turned our attention inward to the mind, asking whether we could find stillness here, in the mind, as we had done with the body. The movements of the mind (thoughts, emotions, and information from the senses) are just objects flowing before our awareness. The sound of my voice speaking during class, or your own voice speaking in your mind, the sensations in the body are things arising in your being. But your awareness is still – Purusha is still – like the vast sky that sees clouds floating by on a windy day. For example, your heart is pumping rapidly after a challenging sequence of movements. The sensation of rapid heart rate, of heat, of sweat are all things that you are aware of. But your awareness is not hot and sweaty, right? Your awareness is still, quiet, untouched.

If we can take a step back from our own body and mind, if we can witness our body and mind and be aware of witnessing them, then “the Seer is seen” – then we “dwell in our own true nature” (Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, 1.3). The Seer is Purusha. Our true nature is Purusha. Pure awareness. Everything else – a sight, a sound, a thought, a feeling – is just an object floating by. Notice it, let it come, let it go. Stay centered in Purusha’s seat.

Needless to say, the challenge is stay centered, to maintain this shift in our perspective. More on this in our upcoming classes. Stay tuned, or better yet, join us in person – all welcome!