Cape Men's Yoga

Samyama is a concept that features prominently in the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali. Patanjali was either one very wise yogi or a series of authors who honed yoga teaching down to a tight and clear philosophical treatise. Samyama refers to the power of the yogi meditator to study something with great attention, to enter into its character, elements and meaning, and to deeply understand it, including being able to take on some of the characteristics. This could be understanding an element like the Earth, or watching the cycle of our emotions, to understanding how the body works, to being able to understand the flow of life energy through the body. So who cares? This morning I had a dream about teaching concentration and the power of the mind. I would not describe myself as ordinary. My life has been pretty eventful and interesting. My mind was I guess like most people - full of instability, moments of anxiety, looking for good sensations, running away from bad ones. In my thirtie...

But my mind is too busy to learn to meditate and do yoga... Many people come to yoga and meditation because they find their minds are too scattered, they have high stress loads, they are looking for a practice to calm them. Contrary to what we may think, our minds can only have one primary focus at any given moment. They also have habitual patterns and cycles which are shaped by experience, practice and intentions. Because of the lightening speed of the mind, we can get frustrated by trying to get our own mind to concentrate while it is used to skipping through scores of topics. If you just sit still and watch, you'll be amazed at how the untrained mind can keep itself occupied without any value or repose.  Like an athlete or a hunter - a trained mind is held in a state of quiet and alertness, steady but ready to spring into action. We refer to the  mind as being 'empty', but this means not a sleepy or dull mind, but a very sensitive and focussed mind. In this state we...