Yogas citta vrtti nirodhah
When you stop identifying with your thoughts, fluctuations of mind, then there is Yoga, identity with Self, which is samadhi, happiness, bliss, ecstasy. When students leave before or during savasana and meditation, I feel bad for them. They’re missing out on the most important and most significant part of the practice. Sure, asana is great as it helps us move and stretch the body, but it is in savasana and meditation where we get to let go of the body and the mind, and therein is yoga available— the state of oneness with all being. Traditionally, asana is practiced as preparation for spiritual endeavors, and not just as a stretching exercise. The physical body has to be in the right condition for enlightenment to happen. After all, how can one sit still in meditation if there is persistent lower back pain? How can one release the body in savasana if there’s a chronic shoulder issue? The body in a state of discomfort does nothing to dissociate from citta vrtti or fluctuations of mind. Especially in the beginning of one’s practice, it even adds to it. As practice progresses, what the body or even the mind goes through becomes a tool in which to observe. So it doesn’t mean the body has to be perfect or the mind blank or still for enlightenment to happen. It is simply that we no longer identify with it. Let the magic of both savasana and meditation take you to a state of Yoga. Refrain from leaving class when the “exercise” ends. You are not just the body. You are more than this body and mind, and you deserve to be in a state of Yoga.
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