Class Theme- week 4 May 2015- Mental Gardening

As mentioned last week, class themes move onto the Kleshas- obstacles that we build and so have the power to dismantle, if we choose to.  Avidya translates often as spiritual ignorance, clouds that obscure our ability to see our true inner selves.  The aspects of this are described as Asmita (sense of “I am”), Raga (sense of want, desire beyond what we need), Dvesha (aversion, avoidance), and Abhinivesha (fear of change, of things coming to an end.)

I find it helpful to think of the Kleshas as vines growing in a garden, obscuring what lies behind them.  When we slowly start to strip the vines away, we reveal once more what had been obscured.  It remained there the whole time; we just had trouble seeing it.  And if we ever ignore the vines, they will grow back again.

So once more in our yoga practice, we can try to stay connected to essentials, even when new postures and unfamiliar vinyasas arrive- this week in the form of Moon Sequences.  Do we become entangled in the vines of the asanas, or can we see beyond them and still stay connected to our breath with a clear mind?