PLAYLIST - does it fit in THE 8 LIMBS OF YOGA - Yay or Nay? Let’s break it down.
Those in favour 1click here, 2here & 3here <- (listen to (3) while you read this) -> Let’s get some things into perspective: The Playlist can be an addition to your practice, it is not your practice, and it can provide an essence to the backdrop of a class, it is not the class, nor will it surpass by importance, instruction or class environmental status quo; i.e this is a yoga class. Yoga is in pursuit of the neutral, the subtle & the divine. Every yogi will use their own rainbow highway to take us there, and it may very well be your actual journey. Keeping in mind that the exposition of yoga is in the present. Are we are okay to poke around at the playlist and it's status in the modern age now?😈😂 As a yoga instructor I realise I am, but also that I was, and since we are living in the past, present and future according to our awareness which we base on the perception of prakrti¹, then, this makes it safe to believe that even the yoga class (atmosphere and all the distractions happening within one) plays another subjective role in the direction of our unravelling illusion-filled existence, what difference does it make if there’s a playlist to it? Whether the music is ‘good’ or if we are in fact there for that? We are still working our way through the Maya² are we not?! The difference is —distraction. And are you indeed working your way through it? or being entertained by it? In any playlist, there are a variation of tracks, sometimes there's one on repeat, other times there is a soul lending us their recorded kirtan³ these tracks could be slow, long, short or pacy, but by definition they are music, each of them will have various chord progressions or monotonous hums that you will hear, actively listen to, enjoy or not as the student or teacher. The playlist according to Lex Gemini is a transformative modern yogi-tool to induce Maya. Wait, aren't we doing that all day long with everything else?! —No! Colourful imagery and life beyond confining thoughts, the most illustrious yantra⁴ harnessed from the perfect depth of frequency is by music, and is a gift to you, by the yogi. Music is the highest frequency on the physical plane, and its offering us incredible openness for intuition to navigate our circuitry of nadi’s⁵ playfully/soothingly to unlock our suffering, unblock innate vigour and to influence the upward flow of energy in the body by sending our awareness to the existence of it, the stronger it feels the more our body's encourage the imagination out from hiding, our perception elevates and we release the child within to it’s natural self-expression; a vast world one of —joy. IMAGINE THAT. In a sense the distraction is the conduit to an open door, directed by the spirit the agent of our intention, are we not in search for openness? Or are we on our way to a theatre audition? A welcoming, empowering distraction, then. The yogi expresses continuously and without err that we should focus on the breath, draw the senses inward, away from the external world. Those of us that are struggling with that, have the audible world provided around us to cradle our soft souls and encourage us energetically or gracefully until we can, there is healing at work, so we can confront those memories, that past, that pain or those feelings and believe in this present, this moment, and endeavour onward into our future toward the freedoms that we've aspired to since youths; knowing that the self is with us. In that instance, we may not have the experience of directing the mind quite as swiftly from a wild one to an empty one, but we are learning, the yogi instructs a point for our awareness to reach it’s potential, the background seemingly fades from the forefront, that means the music too, how deeply are we listening to the message that resonates within us? How closely are we following the words? How precisely are we keeping our drishti⁶? Those adept at following the instruction will persevere along the path of the breath, they've been doing it while, they're listening deeply to the internalised version of the external yogi, the guru awaits inside, and always appears when the student is ready. Whilst others among us might still feel we are exploring movement itself, or grappling with our own emotional rhythm, it’s totally personal, each experience. Remember it takes time to live self-aware and become fully immersed in consciousness, to align ourselves with the highest element of our human experience, our journey is precious to us, but also to our instructor, and the Maya, throughout this age, revealing more to us of ourselves with every turn toward universal oneness. The knot is not a knot. ॐ
1 Prakrti: the world observed empirically, the physical world, this material plane. The food we eat, the muscular content of our bodies, furniture, clothes, image and even traffic, but also the position we find ourselves, the content of our reading material, the laptop you are sitting at, the mobile phone you have gotten lost in. LOL😂
2 Maya: Another word for Prakrti, but this is indirectly the external world and more directly the energy influencing it, which are called gunas as noted in Devi Bhagavatam, Kali, Saraswati and Lakshmi are the 3 Gunas. Formulating the illusion which lures and lavishes us along the way to charm us like a snake for the purpose of strengthening will and elevating our consciousness. In short, maya is illusion.
3 Kirtan: is academically something recited, and if there is a musical instrument there will be a kirtankara who is playing it, perhaps they are singing or chanting, but they could just be playing the instrument without a vocal accompaniment. Typically kirtan is a form of devotional song.
4 Yantra: is used to aid meditation by visualisation, depicted with mathematical symmetry physically and also imaginatively. These shapes and colours are formulated with tatwas (5 elements which have another 25 subgroups of visualisation each represented with shapes such as [the yellow crescent moon inside of a red square shape)] of elemental designation to symbolically represent their quality inspired by the planes of manifestation in the meditative field. 😭😭
5 Nadi: is one of seventy two thousand points according to Yoga Hatha Pradipika, in the causal body representing a synapse in the physical body, relating to the function of the nervous system. When nadi's are being referred to it is the causal state (space) that is being insinuated, not the physical, otherwise the word nerve would be implemented.
6 Drishti: is the point of focus. The precise location one gazes with fierce intensity while the body simulates a state of change, movement-static-orientated state (balance, strength, grace, openness, flexibility & endurance.) Whilst the body is undergoing it's new ordeal, the mind & emotions unlock an awareness of space accenting a meditative quality which augments the new state with newly acquired understanding. (The true state replaces the acquired state)