Abhyāsa & Vairāgya
“None but ourselves can free our minds." - Bob Marley.
Abhyāsa & Vairāgyam, practice & dispassion…. Abhyāsa / practice is something us Ashtangi’s are pretty good at - we really are as about as dedicated as they come! Vairāgyam / dispassion…. hmmm perhaps somewhat harder!
Lets take a step back though; in Patañjali’s yoga sutras he first introduces his subject matter - ‘yoga’ as samādhi, the stilling of the vr̥tti’s (waves / fluctuations / thoughts) of the mind.
योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः ॥२॥
yogaś-citta-vr̥tti-nirodhaḥ ॥2॥
Yoga is the stilling of the changing states of the mind.
He then goes on to list the vr̥tti’s (right knowledge, error, imagination, sleep, memory) - some being helpful, some not - without explaining which is which ;-) and then TADA …
अभ्यासवैराग्याअभ्यां तन्निरोधः
abhyāsa-vairāgya-ābhyāṁ tan-nirodhaḥ
The vr̥tti’s are stilled by practice and dispassion.
So what is this practice and dispassion? Practice is the right amount of effort in your sadhana, not too much, not too little. Too much asana for example may result in injury, and quite likely an attachment to the asana, deriving from ego. Whilst too little effort leads to, well …not very much!
Different phases of life and different situations will determine the right amount of effort for each of us at any given time. Patañjali holds a sword of discrimination in one of his hands. This reminds us to apply our ‘right knowledge’ and to listen to our inner teacher. This applies to more than just our asana practice, it’s a good guide for all aspects of life - relationships, food, work, play… etc.
When we are practising daily dirghakāla-nairantarya (without interruption over a prolonged period of time) it’s only natural that the initial euphoria will wain and sooner or later we may encounter frustration of sorts, but the real fruits of the practice come when we practice for the sake of practice itself and we have vaitļśnyam (indifference) to the outcome, so a practice is just a practice, not a good one (‘I got that bind’) or a bad practice, but showing up with devotion is what matters.
I have been so lucky to work with teachers who have adopted the attitude of practice being a life long journey; ebbing and flowing with the rhythm of life. I guess you seek in a teacher someone who holds that sword of discrimination in a way that feels truthful and resonates with you. For me teaching is being able to hold that sword, to see what the student can’t always see - yet - just as my own teachers have so skilfully and with much kindness done for me over the years. Sometimes we need a teacher to encourage us to try that little bit more, sometimes they remind us that tomorrow is another day. Just keep practising yogi’s with a heart wide open!