UK Retreat: 1st – 3rd July 2011
The Joy of Yoga
by Denise Martin-Harker
In the UK, we had an amazing start to July exploring The Joy of Yoga with Swami Veda Bharati and Swami Nityamuktananda.
This 3 day retreat was held at the Ware Priory, a restored Franciscan Friary originally founded in 1338 and set in 7 acres, in Ware, Hertfordshire, UK. We welcomed 96 attendees from 8 countries – UK, USA, Holland, Italy, Germany, Norway, Mexico and Ireland - and all of us experienced The Joy together.
The workshop focused on how we can find Joy by knowing the Self, not from acquiring ‘things’ to make us feel ‘happy’ …happiness that is momentary. Joy as talked about in Yoga is lasting and comes from the inside. It is not due to an adrenaline rush (stemming from satisfaction of the senses, physical exercise, or even relationships), but the joy of Yoga is something of a very different nature.
The Bhagavad Gita says that when the individual self, finds delight and joy in the Self, that is the highest form of all joys. Meaning, what the small, conditioned self, the personality, the ego-self experiences is happiness, not Joy.
Joy is something that is not arising because of something outside of us, but something that is related to an inner state of Being. That Joy that wells up as a state of peace and tranquility within us is the inner Joy that Yoga promises. It creates what is called “Chitta prasadanam,” a beautiful mind and expresses as love. Not love for an object/person or because of fulfillment of a desire through the senses, but love without an object...simply love for all…a pure love!
We find this Joy by returning to our true nature, our source -by being in the ‘state’ of Yoga. The word Yoga comes from the same root verb as Union, Yoke, Junction. We have become artificially divided from our source and this is why we often feel emptiness and ask the questions ‘What am I doing here?’, ‘What is my purpose?’
Yoga reunites that which has become divided, it is the quest for ‘fullness’ (purna) which is described in the Isha Upanishad.
The energy you feel after asana practice..that is just a glimpse –that energy field that you are is covered by your body identification…some of that energy comes seeping out after practice –it shows itself. So continue to explore more and more layers of energy that constitute your being…more and more sense of plenitude will develop, a feeling of completeness/fullness. Then Joy becomes your identity.
Everything in this universe including you comes from that same Joy.
Our meditation practice is the method for us to explore these layers and experience that Joy. Swami Veda Bharati encouraged us to just “take 2 minutes” during the transitions of the day – before you go to work, when you return home, before you eat, before bed. Sit wherever you are, relax your forehead, follow the breath and allow your personal mantra or So Hum (I am that, I am) to arise on the breath. Take a moment to be with the ‘Self’. In this way, we change the mind’s busy patterns, calm the mind and start to cultivate Joy by realizing what we really are. By returning home to that fullness.
Each of us went away feeling we had ‘tasted’ this Joy and would like to continue to taste more of this Joy. Swami Veda Bharati said “…through your practices so far you have tasted the appetizer now serve yourself the dinner!”
We are forever grateful and blessed to be guided by our teachers.
In Service,
The UK team and all who made this event possible.
Each participant received a ‘physical’ reminder of how to cultivate this Joy in the form of a poem by Swami Veda Bharati (below)
COME HOME TO YOUR SEAT OF MEDITATION
After wandering through the desert sands of the duties of the day,
after bathing in the mirages of nightmares at night,
come back home to the comforts
of your spirit and rest.
After scattering your gems to the world come back to your treasures to gather more.
After searing your skin under the scorching flames of passions, cravings, frustrations,
return to your shelter for a healing balm.
Once every twenty-four hours,
do come home to your seat of meditation.
Come back home to rest.
All those swamps you waded through today have taken a toll on your mental body.
The spirit is somewhat soiled, the splendour of the soul is somewhat dimmed.
But here flows a sacred Jordan, the Mother Ganges.
From the mountain of your forehead a clear stream runs into the secret cave.
Breathe deeply.
Take a dip and bathe all the impurities away.
Once more strengthened,
venture out through the gates of your cognitive senses
to hunt experiences in the woods of the world.
Travel, indeed, far and wide.
But once each day,
do come back to your seat of meditation,
to the true home of your mind.
Swami Veda Bharati
Editor’s Note:
Denise Martin –Harker is director of the Aware Yoga centre in the United Kingdom. The website is http://www.awareyoga.co.uk/
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