An understanding of yoga psychology

Around 2,500 years back, great Maharshi Patanjali wrote the foundation of yoga i.e. Yoga Sutra.It is also called Yog Darshan. In this yoga sutra, Patanjali has given instruction for ordinary people so they can evolve their self.He has presented the sutras in a sequential and simpler way that one can evolve to one’s maximum potential. Until now, many commentaries have been written on Yoga Sutras which are helpful to understand this great Yoga text.
 

The second sutra in Yoga sutra is
 

Yogaschitta vritti nirodhah
 

It means “to block the patterns or modification of consciousness is called Yoga”.
Here Chitta means individual consciousness which includes the waking state consciousness, memories or impressions on the subconscious mind and dormant state i.e unconsciousness.
Nirodhah means, we should block those patterns which disturb us not the complete awareness or consciousness.
 

Vritti means circular patterns of thoughts i.e emotions.
 

So we attain this high-level peace of mind by yoga practice. If we root out suppressed thoughts which disturb us, we will experience peace and happiness.
 

It is little difficult to attain that high level of peace of mind(self-realization)by ordinary people.But definitely, by practicing meditation, it helps us to remove disturbing cause i.e. pain and worries and thoughts and emotions about future.
 

Now it is clear that we should block the pattern of mind i.e vrittis(circular patterns) and these are as follows:

Pramana viparyaya vikalpa nidara smritayuh
 

It means right knowledge, wrong knowledge, fancy; sleep and memory are fivefold modifications of the mind.
 

If we compare this sutra to modern psychology, Patanjali was saying the same thing in a different manner.
 

We have the right knowledge about few things that this is true or not.So this right knowledge can be the cause of worries. Because we overvalue these positively or negatively. So how much we think negatively, it affects us more. By yoga, we acknowledge to the realities and can cope with these what they really are.
 

Sometimes a wrong perception creation that means we have a wrong knowledge about a thing. And in the present time, many people have the wrong perception about their self.And this is the major cause of depression. Many people compare their self to others and find that they are inferior to others whether it smartness, intelligence etc. Everybody has weaknesses and strengths but we only focus on our weakness when this kind of weakness thought becomes strong, we become depressed. Yoga plays a very crucial role which helps to avoid this kind of thoughts so that we can concentrate on our strengths.
 

There are many situations in which we create our own story about something which really doesn’t exist like worries about future and guilt about past actions etc. We waste our time on fantasizing of future events.
 

Sleep also disturbs us. People scarred when they see nightmares. And there are repeated dreams which are scary. The experienced yogis have the ability to remain awake in deep sleep as well.
The unconscious mind is a potent source of disturbance –mental, emotional, physical etc. This emotional memory disturbs us which are suppressed deep in our mind. We can deal with it by meditation through which these memories comes into our conscious plane.
 

Sage Patanjali has presented a concept to get rid of these worries and pain i.e. eight limbs of 

Patanjali. So we can attain a peace of mind to some extent.These eight limbs are:

1.    Yamas(self-restraints)
2.    Niyams(personal codes of conduct)
3.    Asanas(postures)
4.    Pranayamas(breathing exercise)
5.    Pratyahara( Mental withdrawal from outside world)
6.    Dharana(Concentration)
7.    Dhyana(Meditation)
8.    Samadhi(Transcendental Consciousness)

We are a yoga teacher training school in Rishikesh registered with yoga alliance USA and we run 200 hours yoga teacher training courses in Rishikesh. 

Please come and join our 200 hour yoga TTC in Rishikesh.This course contains pranayama , shatkarma, asana , yoga anatomy , yoga philosophy , meditation.

Many people join one week yoga course in Rishikesh , retreat course  for refreshment and asana course in rishikesh.

So come to the spiritual city i.e. Rishikesh which is surrounded by hilly mountains.The holy ganga spread peace and happyness in this valley of yoga.

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