Yoga Bhāvanā pt. 1 – Opening The Path
“By avoiding the implication that the journey of Yoga has an end-point, Yoga Bhāvanā inspires a commitment to the path itself.”
My personal practice and teaching path lives within a framework I call Yoga Bhāvanā. This is an approach that has developed organically in my own practice life over the last three decades of practice and study of yoga and Buddhism.
Like many Sanskrit words, bhāvanā cannot be directly translated, as some of its deeper meanings are embedded in the sound of the word itself. In plain English, Bhāvanā can be understood as Cultivation, Becoming, or Bringing into Being, even Practice. It shares its root with bhāvati, becoming, which is both a verb and a noun making it even more difficult to pin down. It is however said to be the word the Buddha used the most. By resisting the implication that the journey of Yoga has an end-point, Yoga Bhāvanā inspires a commitment to the path itself.
That is to say my own journey, both as a practitioner and a teacher, is very much work in progress! And it will, like me, always remain just that: a commitment to the very search itself. I am not attempting to present some final conclusions or eternal truths.
“Perhaps this is the most important teaching of all. Not to take my word, or anyone else’s, for your own truth, but to continue to do the humbling work of exploring the path for yourself. This is exactly what Yoga Bhāvanā encourages.”
Whether a long-time practitioner or completely new to this approach, my workshops, trainings and retreats invite you into Yoga Bhāvanā from exactly where you are, to embrace whatever enriches your own practice, and leave what doesn’t. I always aspire to work from an inclusive, non-dogmatic place, open to personal inquiry and diverse experiences.
So, what is Yoga? It has become such a wide topic these days ranging from stretching to exercise, stress relief and work-out - all of which are great things - but in my view have nothing to do with the meaning of the word yoga. The best translation I have come up with, so far, is Integration. Integration of body, breath, heart, mind, spirit, relationships. All aspects of our human experience. In Yoga Bhāvanā this is reflected in a multi-layered approach to practice, addressing each domain distinctively, yet as part of an integrated whole. Below is an overview taken from my In-Depth Training Manual.
Each Bhāvanā has further layers and subtleties, with its own cultivation process. Interdependent but with distinct practices and trainings assigned to every area.
EMBODIMENT
While Āsana Bhāvanā, the Cultivation of Āsana, is rooted in classical yoga Āsana including Aṣṭāṅga Yoga, Kāya Bhāvanā cultivates the soil, the Embodiment, from which āsana arises. Kāya Bhāvanā, the Cultivation of Embodiment, involves somatic preparatory sequences designed to return us to our body's innate intelligence, allowing Āsana to unfold with integrity, ease, and clarity. It is also a complete practice in its own right, which has become true for me as well as many of my students.
BREATH AND PRĀNA
Prāṇa and Kriyā Bhāvanā, the Cultivation of Prāṇa and Purification, cultivates and purifies our energetic breath body through practices of Prāṇāyāma and Kriyās, which I have learned in the lineage of Kaivalyadhāma. Traditionally, yoga defines the breath as the bridge between our physical embodiment and our awareness, making it central to any spiritual practice.
HEART-MIND
Citta Bhāvanā is the Cultivation of Heart-Mind. In Yoga, Citta is often translated as Mind or Consciousness. Tibetan Buddhism, however, locates the Mind in the Heart and uses one word: Heart-Mind. It includes the whole range of our consciousness, and in the Yoga Bhāvanā structure it involves studying the Buddha Dharma and Yoga Philosophy as well as Mind and Heart training such as Contemplation, Reflection, Meditation and Mindfulness practice.
CARE AND RELATIONALITY
Mettā Bhāvanā, the Cultivation of Mettā, or Care, is the climate in which we hold all other Bhāvanās. In many ways it's the ground as well as the fruition of the path. Without an environment of friendliness, generosity, and care, the other practices tend to become rigid and austere, even self-aggressing. They simply miss the mark, which is to break our hearts open to this world. To the truth of our interdependence and eventually the integration, (the Yoga) of all things and phenomena. Mettā Bhāvanā is a practice of making sense of the world through openness, compassion and relationality. Because there is nothing greater than awakening to the fact that you and I and the world abide in ultimate closeness and intimacy.
I have found it necessary to lay out this structure, because a lot of modern yoga centres primarily around Āsana and Prāṇāyāma. Not much is offered in terms of teachings, methods, trainings, and practices for cultivating our Heart-Mind or relationships: Citta and Mettā Bhāvanā. That does not mean it doesn't exist, I certainly did not make them up! All these teachings are drawn from Yoga and the Buddha Dharma, which both offer endlessly rich wisdom teachings on all of these topics.
You can think of Yoga Bhāvanā as a framework that places these transformative practices back into a fuller context for the contemporary practitioner. It points us back to practice as a complete spiritual path to awakening to our fundamental interdependence. Something far richer than life-hacks to stay fit and healthy, or elaborate sequences to make us more flexible and able-bodied. Whenever you take a workshop, retreat or training with me, our practice integrates all four limbs of Yoga Bhāvanā.