Yamas and Niyamas: Embracing Imperfection with Vijeth Kumar

0:00 Hey there, Before we get started on this week's episode, I would love to ask for your support by reviewing this podcast. We want to share yoga with as many people as possible and this free resource. This podcast is one of the ways that we can do that. And the best way that you can help support us is by giving us a review.

0:16 So if you go to Apple Podcasts or Spotify or whatever podcast platform you use, Scroll down until you find that star review and then give us some love. Thank you so much and let's get started with this week's episode. Good morning and welcome back to the Going Pro Yoga podcast.

0:34 Although it might not be morning for you, it's morning for me here in Bali. And just wanted to introduce the next two episodes that we have with Vajeth Kumar. So Vajeth has been on the podcast before, episode 107 talking about a life of gratitude.

0:48 If you don't know who Vajeth is, Vajeth is an Indian man who lives in Bali who is responsible for almost all of the philosophy teachings in our in person trainings. He's a beautiful man with much wisdom and experience and we're feeling honoured to have him join us over the next two weeks.

1:06 So without further ado, I'll introduce this week's episode as talking about the Yogi mindset. And this episode begins with Vijeth starting with a mantra, which after the mantra begins, he will explain what the mantra is all about.

1:22 So it's a beautiful entrance, which is probably going to be a little different from a typical podcast episode. So just be aware there'll be some light singing. So if you'd like to, you can tap in, drop in a little bit for a few minutes before we get started with this week's episode, as Vijeth will guide you through a very sweet and gentle mantra before we actually dive into the Yogi mindset.

1:47 Thank you so much and let's begin. Welcome to the Going Pro Yoga Podcast. If you love yoga as much as I do, then this podcast is for you. We talk all things yoga related for teachers in order to supplement and complement and even support after a 200 hour yoga teacher training.

2:08 Or if you've never done a training before, this podcast is all about just learning more about yoga in an authentic way. Together with Paul Tioto and Byron De Marseille, we put together this podcast to provide you with a free resource to learn more about yoga. Whether you want to share yoga or teach yoga or just practice yoga, this podcast is talking all things yoga related. And we're trying to talk from the teacher's perspective and also the student's perspective

2:32 to make sure we get a full 360° angle on what yoga is all about and how it's evolved in the modern world. Welcome to our podcast. Namaste feel. Like I'm ready to just go to sleep now. Felt like a lullaby. What mantra was that?

6:22 Oh, it was the Mantra to invoke the divine blessing of Lord Ganesha and also the Mantra to invoke the divine blessing of Marshi Patanjali. And yeah, it is essential for us to always ask for the divine blessings before we venture out to do anything. It brings you back into your heart space. And this is a mantra that you use regularly? Or is there a multi multiple mantras that are used to bless or honor whatever it is that you're going to do? Like what?

7:12 What made you choose this mantra is my question. Yeah, I've been. It's a Ganesha. It's a beautiful symbol of imperfection. Most of the time when we are about to do something, we always scared of the outcome to go things wrong and we stress way too much to be perfect. So you pray to Ganesha that let the creativity flow through me, and also let me give the eyes to notice my imperfections, so that this imperfection becomes my spiritual guide. So Ganesha shows you those

8:16 imperfection and those imperfection guides you spiritually. You go on rectifying it, but there will be no point in our life where I we can claim that we are perfect. So imperfection is divinity. If there is imperfection, the growth happens.

8:42 If there is imperfection, there is room for evolution. So when we embrace imperfection, growth starts to happen instantly. And Patanjali's mantra is kind of a great inspiration to even to contemplate the contribution of Maharishi Patanjali to humanity.

9:19 He was the master of yoga. He was a great healer. He knew Ayurveda was very good at Sanskrit language. So it just shows that how extraordinarily genius Marji Patanjali was and all his contribution are still relished, enjoyed and celebrated. So you invoke his blessing to understand the journey and also ask for guidance at the right time in your practice in your life.

10:09 So you call upon, you call upon the divine blessing of including from the subtle element, the five fundamental element, Panchabhutas. And that is the way of learning in the Vedic tradition, everything that you do is an offering. So in a simple way, I can say that it's all about you trying to step aside so that something through you happens. Like the ego?

10:54 Maybe step aside? Yeah, it is, yeah. Stepping aside, Definitely the ego not having the sense I am doing it. Right, right. It's beautiful. It's really good. It inspires me to think more about that with. I mean, obviously there's a lot of actions that we take obviously creating this podcast, right?

11:19 Seems a little bit more grandiose because, you know, we're setting this up and, you know, setting up the table, setting up the lights and the cameras, But you know, every action, small action as well, can also be or should also be blessed as well. That's kind of what I'm hearing from you. Doesn't need to be just these larger moments with the spotlight, for example.

11:39 Yeah, that's cool. So how do you feel about just starting the podcast just from this? Does that sound OK to you? Yeah. Yeah, it's good. So I'll just formally welcome our guests to this show. Thank you for tuning in and listening. We have the Jeth Kumar back on the podcast. He was with us a few months ago, Episode 107 titled A Life of Gratitude.

12:07 So definitely suggest listening to that. But otherwise today the Jeth is coming back to share whatever it is that we end up talking about today, which is probably going to be centered around the philosophy. Of course, this is his experience and what he delivers to a lot of trainings that we work together on and others that you work with. Others teachers and talking about the Niyamas possibly or even the Yamas are just what they are getting a bit of a foundation because I know that a

12:42 lot of people are interested in yoga philosophy and you know, they learn these things in their training, but there's so much information in 200 hour trainings, yoga, philosophy, anatomy, sequencing, queuing, all this stuff.

12:55 So oftentimes, you know certain Nuggets are taken and remembered, but it's hard to kind of really grasp everything. So having small pocket opportunities like a podcast episode that talks about certain topics can really help to bring those teachings that were once absorbed actually out because you know they're when you're listening in the training, it's it's going in, but it might not necessarily be easy to be revived back out, whether we call it your subconscious or at

13:25 least that's what I would call it from a science perspective. So welcome to Jeff. I'm excited to have you here. Thank you for having me, Michael. Yeah, a pleasure. So maybe we can start with just for even for myself, like the niyamas and the yamas come from Patanjalis, the sutras. Is that right?

13:44 Yeah. And what is the main difference between the two? One is about your own inner world, and then the outer world. Is that right as well? How would you describe the yamas and the niyamas? Maharshi Patanjalis, A strangle Yoga, is very systematic.

14:10 It is a gradual progression towards the meditative state and hence Maharshi Patanjali is being so specific and he has given 8 limbs. The first two limbs is what prepares us for the journey that we are going to take. The path of Yoga Yogic mindset is absolutely necessary to sustain the progress that we make in our practice.

14:51 I get to hear from a lot of students that when they come for teacher training, they are in the community for 21 days and each day it's about yoga or discussing about yoga. I see such a beautiful transformation in them. But after completing the training, it feels like that conducive atmosphere is no more present.

15:22 Now they go back to the situation where they feel challenged and there they start to feel that, oh, I have missed it. So integration is very important. You can do great practice every day, but if it is not becoming the intrinsic part of you, then there is a very lesser growth in the practice.

15:55 So Yamas and Yamas are sure that it protects you, it motivates you, inspires you to be on the path. Because each day when we practice, we might lose it sooner or later during the day. Let's say you practice early in the morning, you feel that you are very centered but until the evening you notice that you have taken lot of things in and you might feel slowly you're off the center.

16:33 So yamas and niyamas even gives you the strength how to embrace the failures that you come across in your spiritual growth in a way that every day we fail in our yoga practice. The success is only when you have realized yourself right?

16:56 It is series of failure but we make our each mistake of failure as our guide to do it better next time. So yogic mindset is needed because we have to have lot of patience and compassion towards ourselves. So without having a strong connection to yamas and yamas in your life, practice of yoga feels incomplete because there is nothing to nurture it further, to support it, or to come into help when we feel like we need help.

17:51 So the first limb is mostly about reminding yourself that you are a human being born as a human being. There are certain qualities that you already have which is so divinely, and you just have to recognize those qualities in US.

18:08 And the moment you bring your awareness and you know that you have it, this quality starts to enhance in you. So the first limb of yoga. That's why Maharshi Patanjali calls it a Mahavrata because it is universal in nature.

18:26 Either you choose to be a Yogi or not. If you are a human being, you have to experience the yamma in you. So the five yamas, ahimsa, Satya, astiya, aparigrah, brahmacharya, these are all the characteristics of a human being.

18:54 A hymn size, nothing but love, trust, kindness, compassion, all the beautiful feelings that we hope that somebody offers to us. So Satya truthfulness is this deep inside we all have this existential question, who am I? And we keep exploring that in everything that we do in our life.

19:32 But again through yamas it is a reminder. So whereas in the second limb, which is niyamas, these are the qualities that might come naturally to you if you have some yogic samskara or it is a quality that you need to put effort to develop and deepen in you.

19:59 These are the qualities of a yoga practitioner. So this is where. It is important for us to have the understanding of the Neemus because Neemus goes on giving you the guidelines of how to do a practice, how to approach it and how to integrate the experience that unfolds in that practice. And ultimately, NIMA also teaches you everything that you find in your practice.

20:45 Ultimately, what you need to do is to offer that back to the source. You are not using that moment even to feel that oh, I have found silence in me, but you will choose that moment to be humble and say I am grateful that I felt the silence. I am grateful for this grace to be the witness of this experience in me, so Ioffer my gratitude back to the source. That's definitely more in depth than what I thought from whatever.

21:33 I mean I learned from you originally years ago and just you know, I think probably from just learning from people online saying things about him says about non violence and you know so just cleaning and all that stuff but not actually like the root depth of just like the overarching view of like what are these like what what are the essence of these things versus like deconstructing each individual Yama or Niyama.

22:02 So that was really helpful for me. I feel very much more connected to them and the thing that came up for me, which is interesting and I'm curious to hear how you respond, but it's like they're like ways of living or ways reminders of living, reminders of life And not to bring another religions into it. But I was raised Catholic and I think I think of the 10 commandments when that comes in, it's like, oh, there's five yamas and five niyamas and the

22:30 10. I know it's not the same thing at all, but at the same time it's it's just interesting to compare this these philosophies of life that even across religions are probably not. They're definitely not the same. But you know, there's there's like an attempt to try to guide life or try to remind of life. And somewhat of the important things to some level are are you familiar with the 10 Commandments? Yeah, yeah.

23:01 And I also commandments remind me of the 10 commandments that I've read in George Orwell's animal form. Oh yeah. Yeah, it is Yamas and yamas are of different quality. In fact there is so much of love and kindness coming from Maharshi Patanjali in the Yoga Sutra is he has given it as an instruction, as a suggestion.

23:38 I have travelled this path. I have experience and also my ancestors have experienced the same and I identify it and you will only know if you follow these instructions And he is being so scientific for each practice he tells you what exactly you will be experiencing if you are doing it right.

24:04 So here there is more chance for you to be questioning, contemplating most importantly implementing those and see how it works in your life. So all that we need to do with the Emmas and Neemas is not to use it to as a set of rules, but to continue to feel those Emmas and Neemas in our heart.

24:37 That is the best way to enhance them. So I liked how you, you know, highlighted that they're not rules, they're more suggestions or like recommendations and reminders of particular moments throughout life and whether you catch those moments or not to maybe create different actions or different behaviours. The other thing that came up is to to not judge yourself if you know some of these ways of living or these guides are not being followed fully, like

25:19 cleanliness and it's simple way, it's like if you're not feeling as organized in different ways, saucha. Are you judging yourself for it, or are you using the the the reminder as a as a lesson or as you'd called it at the beginning of this episode? Like a failure, which isn't really a failure, it's more just a guide to now that you're aware of it, you've noticed it. That's great.

25:46 And you know a moment has passed. So now what kind of thing? What, what? What does this mean moving forward now, is this something going to be different? You know, so it seems like such a subtle change in language of using something to guide your life or lifestyle. When I hear of like the Yogi mindset, it's it almost feels a little bit more peaceful because they aren't really rules to follow.

26:13 Which is also interesting because in the world that we live in, mostly in the Western world, we're always told rules to follow, whether it be in school or at work or traffic rules and all these things. So, like rules are what we're familiar with. So for some people even, you know, new new teachers are coming in to learn in a 200 hour training and they're learning yoga philosophy.

26:38 And they're like this is interesting and interesting but because I think part of the reason why it's harder for them to absorb is because there isn't these like clear sets like do this, don't do this. Do this. Do don't do this. Which is more rules and these are more of like principles or reminders or recommendations to follow. Yeah.

26:58 I'm just curious to know how the how the Yogi mind like the early young Yogi mind who was just entering the space and learning more about yoga and yoga philosophy. Is it is it something that is easy for them to grasp because it's such an unfamiliar thing not being about rules, especially because we've been inundated about following rules and what happens and we don't follow rules versus the Yogi mindset is like, it's OK if you don't follow the rules because

27:28 there's there's paths that can shift and change throughout and less of a consequence. I I suppose there always is consequences for different things, but it's it's almost like not a punishment I would say. So I just said a lot of stuff. So I'm sure there's something that comes to mind for you. But I'm just mostly thinking about just like the difficulty because I I teaching at a lot of teacher trainings, I see the challenge that people have with just learning about their the human body and I try to make

27:55 that as simple as possible for them so that they can become more aware of them, their physical body, right. And then with yoga philosophy or just the concepts of yamas and yamas and certain Sanskrit words, it can be overwhelming sometimes. But then also it's it's not as clear, you know, that a hymsa means this.

28:16 It's like a hymn says it's it's like a a feeling is what you described right? So feeling is not necessarily is black and white. So there's more understanding depth to each of the yamas and niyamas. So I can see why it would be challenging for people.

28:34 Do you know what I mean? Yeah, definitely. I feel it is. Again, Maharshi Patanjali has given advice on this also. He says to be in the path of yoga is to learn to be graceful with yourself, right. We force, we bring our ego into our action and we end up doing something that eventually will not give us a good outcome because only the force was involved.

29:14 Perfection in action in yoga is when love is involved. So you are working with yourself in a loving way according to the capacity. Today you had moments where anger was essential and you felt them coming up and it gave you a message of how you need to act. And you received that message and you have expressed that in a way where love is brought into equation, right? You didn't allow the anger to speak for you. You heard the message and then you transformed that energy into love and you expressed what

30:13 exactly is bothering you. So as we keep reminding ourselves of yamas and yamas, we will develop this ability to see. Love and hate are same energy. Either I can use hate to be losing my center, disturbing my own Peace of Mind, also the Peace of Mind of the other around me, or I can choose to be in the centre, I can feel love.

30:50 So what Maharshi Pathanjal is saying throughout the Yoga Sutra is you can always choose love even in the moments which are difficult. But if you continue to keep love in you, this ability enhances in you. So you gradually organically work with yourself.

31:12 There is no time limitation and how we going to peel off our karmic samskaras is ultimately with the grace practice can come help us to be aligned to be receptive but ultimately when the divine grace passes through you all the karmic ties dissolves. So ultimately, it is not the practice which is getting you somewhere.

31:47 It is the grace that eventually allows itself for you to have the realization of this cosmic energy. So all the practices are to keep enabling ourselves to notice the grace which is passing through us right now. It is always shivering upon us. So what Maharshi Patanjali says that if you start having connected to this feeling within you, if you keep coming back to this feeling, that is all that you need to do. Because the more you connect with this feeling, the more energy you are giving to this

32:41 feeling and hence when we meditate, loving kindness meditation kind of makes you to feel even in an energy body how the energy rises up just feeling compassion, kindness and sharing the blessing. So it's all about shifting the energy to the heart center, and yamas and yamas are the way towards the hardcore. We actually have an episode with Leah. She comes in and does a she.

33:25 It's a meta meditation, I think is also what it's called for loving kindness. I don't remember exactly which episode it is, but it was the last few weeks which I remember going through it and it was very much just getting into the hard space and sending out the love, basically.

33:44 So you obviously understand the yamas and the yamas really well, yeah? I'm everyday exploring that. Right. So thinking of people who are exposed to this or some of these and, you know, one of them resonates and then and they sticks with them a little bit more. I'm just thinking of like oh what are some easy ways for people to if they want to yogis in particular at the Yogi mind. How do I develop my Yogi mind And I look at the yamas and the yamas.

34:19 It's like it's there's five and five and it's like where do I start? What do you know. So I'm thinking about young Vijeth. When Vijeth was learning these pieces you know what were ways for you was to absorb these and and while I understand it's you know you're you're exposed to all of them all the time.

34:37 But it's like, how do we slowly integrate? Some of these lessons are reminders in a way that over time, we can continuously work with all of them more consciously and more with more awareness. Yeah, it's a really great question and it is all about bringing these qualities in your daily activities, right?

35:05 When you try to practice yamas and niyamas only on your mat, you have very little time to work on them. So basically your whole life becomes the practice of yoga ahimsa, or when it comes to niyamas, it's like is always there. You are already doing it.

35:34 You keep your house clean. You shower every day and to observe that feeling of when you cleanse yourself, what arises in you, what kind of energy arises in you right when you make things orderly and when everything is organized, what is your state of mind? So in the Gurukula the teachers used to come and visit your room where you stay and I always remember one of the Swami saying don't think that I'm looking into your room, I'm looking into your mind.

36:13 Everything that I want to know about your mind, your room will tell me. So this quality is something that will start to show up in your day-to-day life. When you continue to feel them, you will start to see that how I can experience more of a hymns throughout the day or how I can practice Ishwara Pranidhana throughout the day.

36:44 How I can do everything as a act of offering is an act of devotion. So everything that I do with I do with my heart. But I do not expect any result or whatever the result is I I'm ready to accept or I surrender the result of the divine. So now, whether you're working in office or preparing a meal for your partner, if you have this intention, I'll pour all my love into what I'm doing and I'll enjoy the process. And whatever is the outcome, I'm ready to accept. So that is when I think when

37:34 that shift happened to me, when I started to see that how Yamaha can be felt every day in my life or Niyamas can be felt every day in my life. So it's kinds of everything that you do. You can feel yamas and yamas eventually and that's going to happen.

37:58 Yeah, I believe that. I feel that over the years of learning a little bit more about them, a little bit more about them, what would be the easiest way to in your opinion or maybe from your experience, from what you see from what you learn from from a younger version of you? Is like if I was thinking more of how some people think is like more productive, Like how do I I want to learn more about this stuff?

38:31 Like how do I do I just focus on one Do I just think about a himsa? Do I study a himsa? Do I read more about it and then just look for moments throughout my day? Or do I like learn about all of them and you know, try to find moments Or I'm just throwing out ideas? I don't really know.

38:51 I'm just trying to see what you might say related to like strategy. Almost like what would be a good strategy to to develop these as a regular practice outside of the map, not just on the map? The first and foremost is to having the intention to maintain the purity of the being, to be aligned to feel pleasant in the body, to feel cheerfulness within you is the prerequisite to experience a mass and EMS so.

39:40 Particularly to really know the depth of let us say you can relate to the practice. Also, if you contemplate on Chaucha and you enter into practice, you keep observing how you are getting purified by the practice. You keep noticing what was the state of mind when you started practicing and what you experience after the practice is totally different. Something is shifted in you and to notice that and to integrate that feeling and to continue to carry that feeling throughout the day in the things that you

40:26 do. And also knowing that when you lose this feeling, how to again connect to this feeling back again? What has helped me in today's practice? Was it I was breathing differently or did I pray differently? Or did I move differently? What is happening?

40:48 So every day you need to have this eyes of creativity to recognize the new in you. Every day you do the same practice. Every day. We meet same people, we go to work, but there is always something new happening. So my guruji used to say that when you do the practice, you need to find new space within you, a new experience within you, a new feeling within you.

41:23 Until that the practice is not complete. You might be doing the same sequence, same posture, but if you have the eyes of a poet, something new is visible. So to be aware of this, that what is the newness arising in me is the best way to develop EMAS and EMAS in our day-to-day life to be creative. Being creative, so something to sit on and integrate over the next week as we bring this episode to a closing. So I thank you to Vijeth for joining us this week and sharing his wisdom about the yogic

42:16 mindset. And we'll have Vijeth again next week to continue the conversation about the yoga lifestyle, more so specifically integrating the yamas and the niyamas into your daily life. So how to actually do that? And it's one thing to learn about yoga philosophy and to understand some of these terms of the yamas and the niyamas, but how do we actually apply it? How do we actually use it in our day-to-day life? And that's what we're going to dive into next week as The Jet returns for a second episode of

42:47 this two-part series. Thank you so much for listening and tuning in this week. As always, if you have any questions, you can reach out to us at podcast like going proyoga.com. And of course, we have the just Instagram and details down below about the retreat that's coming up for him, where it's all about going into the Niyamas in more depth and how to integrate that into your day day life.

43:09 And this is a retreat that's out in Laos, in Southeast Asia, So you can reach out to Vajet if you have more questions. You'd like to join him and learn more from him and study with him. Otherwise, TuneIn next week as we continue the conversation about integrating the Niyamas into your day-to-day life. Take care and we'll see you next week. All right.

43:29 Before you go, let me just tell you about the going proyoga.com platform. So right now you can go to goingproyoga.com and check it out for free for seven days where you can actually learn more about yoga in the ways of alignment, queuing, sequencing, yoga, anatomy.

43:44 So that if you've done a 200 hour teacher training and you want to continue to learn, ractice and grow, this latform is definitely for you. So I definitely suggest checking it outgoingroyogacom right now. You can try it out for free for seven days.