Tamas Guna Rajas Guna Sattva Guna
Be careful that the practice of asana doesn't become an exercise of the ego. It's really about opening your heart and mind, not just moving your body into shapes. The true challenge in yoga isn't about how well you can do a pose, but how you use it to calm your mind and avoid just showing off. For example, the wheel pose, or chakrasana, isn't just about bending backward; it has a story and a meaning that can make your yoga practice more meaningful.
Many yoga poses are named after great teachers, gods, or even animals and have stories behind them. Knowing these stories can make your yoga time feel more special and thoughtful. We’ll explore these stories more in future blog posts to help bring the lessons from yoga into our everyday lives.
Let’s start with a common pose, trikonasana, or triangle pose. It's all about the power of three—like many things in life that come in threes, such as body, mind, and spirit, or the past, present, and future. In the triangle pose, the three sides remind us of three qualities in life and in ourselves called the Gunas. These are like moods or energies that affect how we feel and act.
Tamas Guna is when we feel lazy or unmotivated, and it's like eating too much junk food—it makes us feel sluggish. Rajas Guna is all about being busy and wanting things, like how too much spicy food or coffee makes us feel restless. Sattva Guna is a peaceful and happy energy, like how we feel when we eat fresh fruit and veggies.
Yoga teaches us that we have all three gunas in us, but one usually is the strongest. The goal in yoga is to bring more sattva into our lives because it's good for our health and happiness. Remember, everything we do, from the food we eat to the way we move, can help us find more sattva and feel more balanced and peaceful.
As we continue to explore the depth of yoga beyond the mat, we invite you to embrace the richness of its history and the balance it brings to life. Stay tuned for our next piece, where we'll uncover more insights and stories behind the poses we've come to love. Together, let's cultivate a practice that nourishes not just our bodies, but also our minds and spirits, paving the way for a more harmonious existence. Join us on this enlightening journey, and let’s grow in our yoga practice—one breath, one stretch, one story at a time.
Namaste,
Charlotte