Sutra 1.12: Practice and Detachment are Essential
Sutra 1.12: abhyasa vairagyabhyam tannirodhah
These five mental modifications are restrained by practice and detachment.
The first eleven sutras have defined yoga as both the state and practice of presence. We achieve this by stilling the five movements or vritti’s in the heart/mind space. When we can still these movements we arrive in yoga and when we do not, we identify with our vrtti’s and experience suffering. Sutra 1.12 begins our “how to” guide. Sutra 1.12 offers us two of yoga’s most shiny golden nuggets. It tells us that we can still these movements with practice and detachment.
If yoga came in a box there would be an instruction manual packed on top waiting for you to open. This manual is way more detailed than the, Ikea picture only pamphlets, but likely just as frustrating. Before we even consider opening this sacred Yoga manual, there are three prerequisites that must be met in order for these instructions to hold any power. You must first acknowledge that you are wearing bliss blinders. You must decide that you truly want to take them off, and finally, that you don’t actually know how to take them off (let’s be real, if you already had the bliss recipe, you would have been baking is blissdom years ago).
Ok, so here we go with instruction number 1: Bliss requires persistent consistent practice. She will not just come barging through your door, she will not chase you down in the street, and she will not “eye spy” you in a large crowd. Your bliss is your responsibility. She ain’t no floozy and she refuses anything but your whole hearted commitment. Look around you, most people are more committed to their complaints than their consciousness and more addicted to their misery than their mindfulness. Your bliss probably won’t answer on the first knock, or the second, or even the doorbell. She must know that rain or shine, hell or high-water, you will come knocking. And whether she answers or not, you will absolutely not leave her for fast fixes or for the lure of fortune and fame. Bliss is the real deal and a life long commitment is the only way to win over her wonder.
Instruction number 2: You must balance your consistent persistent practice with detachment. Now, that sounds cold and lacking of compassion, so let’s put it this way, we must detach ourselves from our attachments to whatever is causing our misery. This, we can only ever figure out if we are committed to the practice of examining ourselves. We have to stop holding on, so that we can let go. More often then not we are clinging to habits and beliefs that are the very source of our bondage. It’s like drinking alcohol and believing you won’t get drunk or like showering and believing you won’t get wet. Whether we are holding onto harmful relationships or soul sucking jobs or numbing addictions, it is that very grasp that is choking out any chance we might have for liberation. To detach then, is to declare independence from all that is holding your love of self, hostage.
And there you have it folks, the one-two punch instruction manual for yoga. Commit to your bliss with persistent, consistent practice and declare your independence by detaching from all your demons and determining Bliss Day is always This Day.
Muchas Muchas Gracias,
As always, I am delighted that you care to make this reading part of your precious day. May these words inspire you to see just a little more clearly, feel just little more deeply, and smile just a little bit longer. I write these blogs as the woman I aspire to be, so please know that my struggles are very real, and I am walking hand and hand with you, just trying to figure out how to be the most kind and loving version of myself and have the most fun and joy possible.
Blessings,
Andrea Dawn
