I am in New York City for the winter and it is freezing! This is a drastic change from the eight years I spent living in Hawaii prior to coming to New York. The cold weather makes me want to stay inside, light candles and bake vegan cookies. It feels like a time to hibrinate and go out only when it's absolutely necessary. These tendencies in the cold weather are normal but also can put out what I refer to as my "internal yajna". A yajna is a sacred fire. At a yajna ceremony, you offer your best into the fire. The smoke of your
offering rises to the heavens sending it out as a sacrifice into the universe. I like to think there is a fire burning constantly in my body and especially in this cold weather, I need to do a lot of YOGA to keep it burning.
Everyone's internal fire is stoked by something else- whatever your passion or love is. For me, it is yoga practice. For someone else it might be art, music, a sport, cooking, or even making love. But whatever you stoke your fire with, it is important to doit with intention and to offer that action up to something grater than yourself. This makes your action a sort of sacrifice to the fire burning inside of you. It detaches you from your actions as well as the result of your actions- which is the whole point of a yajna- to "Swaha" (aka surrender and let go) whatever it is you are offering. And if offering your actions up to the divine universe doesn't work for you, offer it up to someone you love, someone or something that needs healing, or anywhere in the world that could use a little extra energy.
“…Whatever you do, perform it as a sacrifice.
Do not think you are doing it for yourself.
Realize that this entire universe is a sacrifice and that we are a
sacrifice to the entire universe. We are food for the universe and the universe
is food for itself. Each sacrifices itself to the other. When this divine
sacrifice is taking place, one is not bound by attachment.”-Gurumayi
I first learned about the concept of sacrifice and yajna several years ago in the very first college course I took on Indian Religion. I later learned about the concept of tapas which means to "burn away impurities" and is part of Patanjali's three steps to enlightenment in Yoga Sutra 2.1: Tapas (to burn) through the asana practice and stoking the fire within, Svadhyaya (self-study) so much is learned about the self in yoga practice, and Isvara Pranidhana (surrender to God) is how your practice becomes and offering.
I was inspired to apply these concepts to my practice. This is what I came up with: In an asana, the spark of your fire is the spot you feel the most physical work being done- what does that tell you about your self?. From there heat builds in the rest of your body. With deep pranayama, you can absorb that heat and rest in it, joyfully offering that spark to the divine. The asana practice becomes a sacrifice to the divine by detaching from the pose itself, not worrying about its depth, andinstead focusing on its intention and greater purpose. This way, you are essentially giving of yourself to the universe.
I was inspired to apply these concepts to my practice. This is what I came up with: In an asana, the spark of your fire is the spot you feel the most physical work being done- what does that tell you about your self?. From there heat builds in the rest of your body. With deep pranayama, you can absorb that heat and rest in it, joyfully offering that spark to the divine. The asana practice becomes a sacrifice to the divine by detaching from the pose itself, not worrying about its depth, andinstead focusing on its intention and greater purpose. This way, you are essentially giving of yourself to the universe.
For example, when practicing
Natarajasana, the fire ignites in my standing leg's quadriceps as I contract them pulling
the knee upwards for strong balance and protection of the knee. This deals with stability, connection to the earth and other root chakra qualities. From there
the fire radiates outwards building heat as my hip and shoulder muscles stretched on the opposite side. The longer I hold the posture; the more heat builds in
my body. Deep ujjayi breathe helps raise the fire as I exhale the heat out
through my nose, offering the pose to Lord Shiva.
Correct alignment of postures allows you to connect with your body and find this fire. Try to pay close attention to alignment
at first, and then let the thought of it go and just be present in the asana.
At these moments is when you can feel the connection to the Divine and when the practice becomes a beautiful offering.
