Yoga with Melissa 30: Special Series on the Hindu Deities, Kali & Surrendering to Change with Dr. Melissa West

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Yoga with Melissa 30 is about Shiva and Kali. You’ve probably seen that image of Kali standing triumphantly over Shiva with her tongue sticking out and wondered, what is that all about? In the thirtieth episode of Namaste Yoga we will explore the relationship between Kali and Shiva through various stories and interpretations. We’ll allow ourselves to get a little messy and wild like Kali while we release the spine in preparation for wheel pose. This yoga class includes hip, shoulder openers and spinal releases. We will practice variations on dancer pose and even some wheel pose.

Yoga with Melissa Episode 43 : A Review of the Yamas and Niyamas

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Yoga with Melissa 43 is a review of the yamas and niyamas.

The five yamas which determine our outward behaviour in the world are:

1. Ahimsa or nonviolence

2. Satya or truthfulness

3. Asteya or non-stealing

4. Brahmacharya or balanced living (often interpreted as celibacy)

5. Aparigraha or non-hoarding

The five niyamas or personal practices determine how we relate to ourselves include:

1. Saucha or cleanliness

2. Santosha or contentment

3. Tapas or self-discipline

4. Svadhyaya or self-study and inner exploration

5. Ishvara Pranidhana or surrender to the Divine

In this hatha yoga class we will review each of the yamas and the niyamas with corresponding breath practices or pranayama, asanas or yoga postures, kiryas and mantras.

We begin the yoga class in child’s pose with metta meditation. We move into shoulderstand and fish pose for satya or truthfulness. We come to standing for some balancing tree pose. When we come back down we do some kneeling and reclined twists, rabbit pose, seated twists, and forward folds. We finish the class with a kundalini kriya for the third chakra.

Yoga with Melissa Episode 42: Special Series: Yamas and Niyamas: Isvara Pranidhana

Earlier Yoga Episodes, Melissa's Blog Posts

Yoga with Melissa 42 is on Isvara Pranidhana, surrender to the divine. This yoga class features the final of the niyamas (personal practices) as outlined by Patanjali in his compilation of the yoga sutras. Isvara Pranidhana means surrender to the divine. To cultivate Isvara Pranidhana we will practice bhakti yoga, the yoga of love and devotion. To that end we will be chanting the Gayatri Mantra.

Om Bhur Bhuvah Swaha

Tat savitur varenyam

Bhargo devasya dhimahi

Dhiyo yonah prachodayat

(Embracing Earth, Heavean, and Beyond The sacred source is revealed Evoking the resplendent flame The all-pervading light venerates us all)

I have chosen to follow the version that I learned from “Spring” on the album Gratitude. You can download it on i-tunes just like I did. This practice also includes a cleansing meditation for the chakras, a meditation on the inner self and a meditation on the lotus flower. The class finishes with metta meditation to cultivate loving kindness and compassion for the Divine in ourselves and all living beings.

Yoga with Melissa Episode 41: Special Series on the Yamas and Niyamas: Svadhyaya

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Yoga with Melissa 41 is on svadhyaya. This is the second last class in the 10-class series of yoga on the yamas and niyamas. This class will focus on niyama, svadhyaya (study by and of oneself). Nischala Joy Devi suggests that we can come to know our Divine Self through spiritual texts, nature and introspection. This class focuses on our connection to nature through the earth salutation, sun salutation, and moon salutation. The class finishes with a kundalini kriya to know the essence of self.

Yoga with Melissa Episode 40: Special Series Yamas and Niyamas: Tapas with Dr. Melissa West

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Yoga with Melissa 40 is about the third niyama tapas. This yoga class continues our 10-class series on the yamas and niyamas with the third niyama or personal practice, tapas. The root of tapas, tap means to heat and so the asana practice is about creating heat to cause positive change. This is a vigorous class that involves both kundalini and hatha yoga. Kundalini kriyas are used to give us the power to maintain a course of action and the ability to break habits and create new ones. This class requires austerity and zealous commitment to staying with a challenging and sometimes uncomfortable practice while always honouring the well-being of our bodies.

The yoga class begins with a kundalini kriya that will build core strength. Boat pose or navasana is another yoga pose in this class that builds core strength. When we come to standing we practice the warrior poses. We finish the yoga class with a kundalini kriya for the third chakra.

Special Series on the Yamas and Niyamas: Tapas: Namaste Yoga 40

Earlier Yoga Episodes

During episode 40 of namaste yoga we continue our series on the yamas and niyamas with the third niyama or personal practice, tapas. The root of tapas, tap means to heat and so this asana practice is about creating heat to cause positive change. This is a vigorous class that involves both kundalini and hatha yoga. Kundalini kriyas are used to give us the power to maintain a course of action and the ability to break habits and create new ones. This class requires austerity and zealous commitment to staying with a challenging and sometimes uncomfortable practice while always honouring the well-being of our bodies.

Special Series on the Yamas and Niyamas: Tapas

This past week in yoga we have been working with tapas, which has to do with disciplined practice to cause change. It seems like tapas comes as naturally to me as swimming does to a fish in water. I remember from a very early age getting up at 6:30 a.m. practicing scales on my piano for an hour before I went to school. (My parents bought me a piano with a felt damper for those early morning practices!) I notice discipline is still a big part of my personality and lifestyle. I still get up at 6:00 a.m. to sit for 30 minutes of meditation followed by an hour of yoga. I am presently taking a course which has assignments and I diligently hand each one in on the due date. Currently I’m practicing discipline with food in my spring cleanse which is restricted to no animal products (not much difference there for me), no wheat, sugar, alcohol or processed foods.

Sometimes certain niyamas (personal practices) come more easily and sometimes we have to work harder to cultivate them. The practice of tapas involves disciplined action to cause positive change. The result of practicing tapas helps to weaken suffering and puts us more in touch with our inner light of awareness. For example, if one were to practice a tapas such as abstaining from substances like alcohol and sugar, the body would ultimately become cleaner and able to function more efficiently.

The word tapas means to heat and tapas often has to do with generating the transformative power of fire to create change. Back in the days of the vedas (2nd and 1st millenia BCE) yogis would practice tapas by sitting and meditating by a fire during the mid-day sun. Today, a common form of tapas involves vigorous yoga to create heat and change in the body.

The idea behind tapas is that the heat generated by practicing tapas will burn off physical, mental and emotional impurities leaving the physical, mental, emotional, and spirit bodies clean and clear.

Nicholai Bachman suggests that when we consciously change a habit, discomfort arises and creates heat in the body. For example, on the first couple of days of my cleanse I felt waves of heat in my body. This heat is the heat of tapas. (My disciplined practice of giving up certain foods to cleanse the body, created heat in my body.) During my cleanse I have experienced the discomfort from headaches, to fatigue and body-aches. All this indicates “the pricessless heat of real change,” according to Nicholai Bachman. He points out that discomfort is good for us! When we meet with uneasiness we can be happy about it because we know we are going through change and transformation. This discomfort can fuel our efforts to continue practicing our tapas to cause positive change.

Nischala Joy Devi talks about how everyday normal life experiences are an opportunity to practice tapas. She suggests that we embrace all of life’s experiences as a means of purification whether pleasant or unpleasant. She explains that the supreme purpose of tapas is to accept life’s challenges while being loving and compassionate to all, especially ourselves. This means even serving our children in getting them ready for bed and asking them to brush their teeth for the hundredth time is an opportunity to act in service and reverence for ourselves and our young child. Nischala Joy Devi encourages us to incorporate our practices into our lives, rather than keep them ceremonially separate. She translates the sutra on tapas as: “Living with zeal and sincerity, the purifying flame is ignited (tapas) revealing the inner light.”

Tapas are all about our austerity and zealous commitment. (Chip Hartranft). When we charge our actions with zeal and sincerity we transform them into a spiritual practice and ignite the spark of divinity within our heart (Nischala Joy Devi). To effect change requires a great deal of energy which is generated by the heat of intense discipline. In what ways are you practicing tapas right now? What disciplined actions are part of your day to day activities? Reflect on how it is through discipline that we can achieve freedom.

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