I was a transpersonal psychology major in college. Transpersonal psychology is a form of psychology that studies the transpersonal self-transcendent or spiritual aspects of the human experience. My introduction to yoga came via a class called “Psychology of Yoga”. That was 15 years ago and my understanding has dramatically evolved over the years. I am excited to share the following post with you! It could be a little heavy for some, and definitely LONG… but I hope many will find value.
First, a message from the great Yogi: BKS Iyengar:
“You cannot hope to experience inner peace or freedom without understanding the workings of your mind and of human consciousness in general. All behavior, both destructive and constructive, is dependant on our thoughts.” – Light on Life
In the psychology of yoga there is a distinction between the “Mental Body”, where habitual thoughts, opinions and judgements occur and the “Intellectual Body”, where true wisdom and intelligence resides.
Yoga teaches us about something called Avidya. Avidya is a sanskrit word that means "false knowledge" or “incorrect understanding”. Avidya occurs consistently in the Mental Body. There are five main reasons for this.
Ego
The “ego” lives in the thinking mind, or the Mental Body. The ego creates thoughts such as “I need people to like me.”, “I know that I am right.”, “I am better than other people.”, “I am not good enough.” If you paid close attention, you would notice all of these thoughts inside of you at one point or another. The ego is shallow and unoriginal but also, as you may be able to see from the example thoughts, inconsistent. Again, only if we pay close attention, we will frequently notice our ego thinking a thought like “I am better than him/her/them” about a specific situation one minute and then thinking the thought “I am not good enough” about the same situation the next minute. These thoughts are often fleeting, but they still affect our emotions and actions. The fact that we believe them even temporarily is an example of avidya.
Memory
Memory is also a part of the Mental Body. Each time we plant an experience in our memory we make an association, which we later believe can/will be recreated. This causes us to want or reject things based on an association from our past. For example, if I have a memory of being praised by my co-workers and feeling really good in that moment, I will associate “feeling good” with being praised by my co-workers. This will cause me to seek the praise and approval of my co-workers in the future (often unconsciously) in order to “feel good”. Alternatively, if we have a difficult experience that we do not want to repeat we will reject the people, thoughts, or setting that relates to that experience. An example of this would be if we were treated very poorly in a past relationship we may develop a general association such as “men are jerks”, “women are selfish” or even more specific; “That man was a jerk”. These associations are being made constantly and avidya causes us to believe them without even realizing it. When we believe these associations we become oblivious to all the ways in which this belief is NOT true. Ie: all the ways “that man” was/is not a jerk. The mind will seek and find proof for all the ways our belief is true and even if these thoughts are fleeting, they affect our decisions, emotions, actions, and our experience.
Fear
In the Heart of Yoga, TKV Desikachar says that “[Fear] is perhapse the most secret aspect of avidya and its expression is found on many levels of our everyday life.” Fear also lives in the Mental Body. We are afraid of being judged, of not having enough, of not being enough or doing enough. We are afraid of failing, succeeding, growing old, dying, and the list could go on and on. Yoga teaches that ALL of our fears come from false knowledge or incorrect understanding.
The Good News
Namaste to you all,
Cori
First, a message from the great Yogi: BKS Iyengar:
“You cannot hope to experience inner peace or freedom without understanding the workings of your mind and of human consciousness in general. All behavior, both destructive and constructive, is dependant on our thoughts.” – Light on Life
In the psychology of yoga there is a distinction between the “Mental Body”, where habitual thoughts, opinions and judgements occur and the “Intellectual Body”, where true wisdom and intelligence resides.
Yoga teaches us about something called Avidya. Avidya is a sanskrit word that means "false knowledge" or “incorrect understanding”. Avidya occurs consistently in the Mental Body. There are five main reasons for this.
Ego
The “ego” lives in the thinking mind, or the Mental Body. The ego creates thoughts such as “I need people to like me.”, “I know that I am right.”, “I am better than other people.”, “I am not good enough.” If you paid close attention, you would notice all of these thoughts inside of you at one point or another. The ego is shallow and unoriginal but also, as you may be able to see from the example thoughts, inconsistent. Again, only if we pay close attention, we will frequently notice our ego thinking a thought like “I am better than him/her/them” about a specific situation one minute and then thinking the thought “I am not good enough” about the same situation the next minute. These thoughts are often fleeting, but they still affect our emotions and actions. The fact that we believe them even temporarily is an example of avidya.
Memory
Memory is also a part of the Mental Body. Each time we plant an experience in our memory we make an association, which we later believe can/will be recreated. This causes us to want or reject things based on an association from our past. For example, if I have a memory of being praised by my co-workers and feeling really good in that moment, I will associate “feeling good” with being praised by my co-workers. This will cause me to seek the praise and approval of my co-workers in the future (often unconsciously) in order to “feel good”. Alternatively, if we have a difficult experience that we do not want to repeat we will reject the people, thoughts, or setting that relates to that experience. An example of this would be if we were treated very poorly in a past relationship we may develop a general association such as “men are jerks”, “women are selfish” or even more specific; “That man was a jerk”. These associations are being made constantly and avidya causes us to believe them without even realizing it. When we believe these associations we become oblivious to all the ways in which this belief is NOT true. Ie: all the ways “that man” was/is not a jerk. The mind will seek and find proof for all the ways our belief is true and even if these thoughts are fleeting, they affect our decisions, emotions, actions, and our experience.
Fear
In the Heart of Yoga, TKV Desikachar says that “[Fear] is perhapse the most secret aspect of avidya and its expression is found on many levels of our everyday life.” Fear also lives in the Mental Body. We are afraid of being judged, of not having enough, of not being enough or doing enough. We are afraid of failing, succeeding, growing old, dying, and the list could go on and on. Yoga teaches that ALL of our fears come from false knowledge or incorrect understanding.
Side Note :) You may feel compelled to argue with the statement that all of our fears come from false knowledge. The idea is this: In the absence of avidya, there is a trust in life and a belief in “a friendly universe”. When this trust in life is unwavering, we understand that there is nothing to fear because whatever happens in a friendly universe is for a greater good that we cannot understand. Albert Einstein once said, “The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly universe or hostile universe.” This decision will dramatically impact our experience of life and only if we choose the friendly universe, will we discover peace.
The Intellectual Body (Intelligence and Wisdom)
The outer edges of the Intellectual Body mingle with the Mental Body, but whereas the Mental Body leads to thoughts the Intellectual Body leads to intelligence and ultimately to wisdom. The challenge is that because of avidya and the effects of ego, memory and fear, we are regularly tricked into believing that the thoughts of the Mental Body are “intelligent and wise”. Avidya is seldom recognizable. The very definition of avidya is that the false or incorrect information remains disguised as truth.
In The Heart of Yoga TKV Desikachar explains that “We notice avidya more by its absence than its presence. When we see something correctly there is a profound peace inside of us- we feel no tension, no unrest, no agitation.”
There are two aspects of the Intellectual Body: Individual intelligence and cosmic intelligence.
Individual Intelligence
This is the place of self-reflective awareness. It is the place where descrimination and discernment occurs and where meaningful, freedom-enhancing choices are made. While this is a valuable and essential element of consciousness BKS Iyengar has referred to it as “merely a puny offshoot of cosmic intelligence.”
Cosmic Intelligence
Cosmic intelligence is the intelligence of the perfectly ordered universe. If you have no objection to the word- it is the intelligence of God and it is an infinite, universal, nourishing resource available to each of us. When we access cosmic intelligence, we experience true wisdom. Sometimes we feel this as intuition. The information at this level is “known” in an unwavering way, though it often cannot be explained since it is information that does not come from the Mental Body or the material world.
So how can we clear avidya and therefore the path to wisdom?
Yogic philosophy says we can do this through tapas, self study, and surrender to a wisdom greater than our individual selves. Tapas includes a dedication to keeping ourselves healthy and cleansed internally through asana, pranayama, and meditation. Surrendering to wisdom greater than our individual self is about embracing and honoring all that comes to us and trusting in the process of life. It is about believing in the “Friendly Universe” and leaving the final result in the hands of God, or the Universe. (Whichever term you prefer.)
Self Study and “The Work”
I want to talk in particular about self-study. In the philosophy of yoga much of this is about getting to know our individual self and the inner workings of our mind. You might say, waking up the mind to the reality of itself. As our Mental Body becomes increasingly aware of it’s ego, memory, fear and the how they influence our actions, avidya is reduced and replaced by its opposite: vidya, or true understanding. With true understanding, more of our actions can be influenced by the Intellectual Body.
“The Work” is a powerful technique I have mentioned before in this blog. It was developed and introduced to me by a teacher named Byron Katie. The Work is not an ancient yogic practice, but it is one of the most effective self-inquiry techniques I have experienced for “waking up the mind to itself” and finding the freedom and “profound peace” that comes from the absence of avidya.
In The Heart of Yoga TKV Desikachar explains that “We notice avidya more by its absence than its presence. When we see something correctly there is a profound peace inside of us- we feel no tension, no unrest, no agitation.”
There are two aspects of the Intellectual Body: Individual intelligence and cosmic intelligence.
Individual Intelligence
This is the place of self-reflective awareness. It is the place where descrimination and discernment occurs and where meaningful, freedom-enhancing choices are made. While this is a valuable and essential element of consciousness BKS Iyengar has referred to it as “merely a puny offshoot of cosmic intelligence.”
Cosmic Intelligence
Cosmic intelligence is the intelligence of the perfectly ordered universe. If you have no objection to the word- it is the intelligence of God and it is an infinite, universal, nourishing resource available to each of us. When we access cosmic intelligence, we experience true wisdom. Sometimes we feel this as intuition. The information at this level is “known” in an unwavering way, though it often cannot be explained since it is information that does not come from the Mental Body or the material world.
So how can we clear avidya and therefore the path to wisdom?
Yogic philosophy says we can do this through tapas, self study, and surrender to a wisdom greater than our individual selves. Tapas includes a dedication to keeping ourselves healthy and cleansed internally through asana, pranayama, and meditation. Surrendering to wisdom greater than our individual self is about embracing and honoring all that comes to us and trusting in the process of life. It is about believing in the “Friendly Universe” and leaving the final result in the hands of God, or the Universe. (Whichever term you prefer.)
Self Study and “The Work”
I want to talk in particular about self-study. In the philosophy of yoga much of this is about getting to know our individual self and the inner workings of our mind. You might say, waking up the mind to the reality of itself. As our Mental Body becomes increasingly aware of it’s ego, memory, fear and the how they influence our actions, avidya is reduced and replaced by its opposite: vidya, or true understanding. With true understanding, more of our actions can be influenced by the Intellectual Body.
“The Work” is a powerful technique I have mentioned before in this blog. It was developed and introduced to me by a teacher named Byron Katie. The Work is not an ancient yogic practice, but it is one of the most effective self-inquiry techniques I have experienced for “waking up the mind to itself” and finding the freedom and “profound peace” that comes from the absence of avidya.
Side Note: You can learn more about The Work HERE
Also, after completing “The School for The Work” with Katie in 2010 I have begun to integrate this technique into many of the Asha Yoga programs. You can experience it in Living Yoga and the Advanced Studies and Teacher Training Program. Stay tuned for more opportunities to experience “The Work” and yoga.
The Good News
I’d like to close with a passage from The Heart of Yoga.
“Although in yoga everything we see and experience is true and real, all for and all content is in a constant state of flux. This concept of continual change is known as parinmavada. The way we see things today does not have to be the way we saw them yesterday. That is because the situations, our relationships to them, and we ourselves have all changed in the interim. This notion of constant change suggests that we do not have to be discouraged by the existence of avidya. If things go badly, they can always change for the better. Of course, they could always get worse too! We never know what may happen in life, and that is why it is important to be attentive. Whether things get better or worse depends to a considerable extent on our own actions. The recommendation of a regular yoga practice follows the principal that through practice we can learn to stay present in every moment, and thereby achieve much that we were previously incapable of.” -TKV Desikachar
Namaste to you all,
Cori
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