What type of Yogi are You? What is Your Path of Practice?

Some of us work with mind. 
Some of us work with the body. 
Some of us work with heart. 

When we come to the practice of Yoga in the body, mind and heart, we often begin our journey by noticing discontent or suffering within us. Soon, we start to see there is a path to reduce suffering, ultimately a way to end suffering and be free of it completely.
Through deeper inquiry and practice on the path, we see how our energy is not free.
We are bound in body, mind and heart. When we become ready to break free, we begin our deeper inquiry and dedication to various practices to which we are drawn towards.
In Yoga, other philosophies and religions, many various paths will take us to the top of the mountain.

What are these paths and practices?

There are practices of the mind where you use the mind to see through the mind. Here, we can study and use a contextual framework or references in texts, scriptures and books to re-frame our predicament. If we are an intellectual type of person, we will be drawn to the mind and intellectual practices.

There are practices of the heart where we are drawn to devotional paths. There are the devotional practices of loving Christ, God, and the guru; perhaps we could even go as far as to even say ‘take refuge in the Buddha’. We can feel the devotional quality of these unique relationships as we keep continually opening our hearts. Perhaps we can feel the heart opening to the miracle of the moment unfolding here and now. This too is a devotional practice to the present moment.

There are practices that use the body to awaken. When we are physically active and interested in food as a path to practise, we might be drawn to working with the energy techniques of Hatha Yoga. If we feel sensual, we may be drawn to Tantra yoga, the more sensual, feeling-based practice.

Which path should we take?

The paths to Yoga are never mutually exclusive, but there is a relative emphasis between Hatha Yoga, Karma yoga, Jnana yoga, Bhakti yoga, and Raja yoga. Each yogic path may vary between individuals and they are explained below.
Once we have understood the metaphysical foundations of yoga, we know where we are going on our yogic path. Slowly, we can re-frame the meaning of our life to become free. We listen for our way, our path, and our dharma in quiet, contemplative meditation in all we do and every aspect of our lives.

WORKING WITH THE BODY

Hatha, Kundalini, Tantra Yogis

In Hatha Yoga, we often work with the body by waking up the sacred winds, pranas, vayus or inner energies of the body. We can use Hatha Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, and even Tantra Yoga as a process of purifying the body so it’s a support to our awakening process, rather than a body that is holding us back and causing unnecessary pain or suffering. We may purify the body through Sattvic nutrition, a yogic diet, while awakening the body’s energies through asana and pranayama. Working through the body alone is a complete strategy of working with Kundalini energy and Shakti. Some people feel this energy within very distinctly, and others less so. If you feel this energy or are open to working with it, you will be drawn to the ancient physical practices that awaken it. The awakening of this energy can be immediate or slowly felt more strongly over years and years. In these yogic practices, we learn to take the energies of the body and move energy up the spine through the various centres of dualism to the top of head, where merging with ‘the One’ occurs. This energy will take us through shifts in reality as we go. What is worth noting here is that the body has a mechanism that reflects personality dynamics. When we use a bodily strategy to awaken, we can release the tension of the body and “being a some-body”. The predicament then becomes: if we don’t change the mind, the mind will recreate the bodily tension over and over in a cyclical fashion. And it works the other way too: the body affects the mind. Therefore, if we release the mind but don’t release the body, the body will keep recasting the mind. Conversely, the mind keeps recasting the bodily karma, the physical and emotional pain cycle over and over again. If we release our mind fully, the body will run its karma and work through its samskaras until it is free. If the habit patterns or karmas remain very strong and we only work on our cognition and psychology, we still need to work to free the mind completely. Our psychological story about who we think we are and our pain strengthens and reinforces with continual repetition. In this way, the body-mind will start to recreate itself repeatedly and suck us back into the material world of form without any insight or clarity.

WORKING WITH THE HEART

Bhakti Yogis Path of Devotion (Bhakti-mārga)
Many yogis in various traditions learn to channel the body’s energies and open the heart. The heart is the seat of awareness and practise itself. We use the heart to love something deeply until we merge with the Infinite. We can love anyone, everyone and everything, even the miracle of the moment presented in front of us. We can love all that is without question.

Karma Yogis Path of Action (Karma-mārga)
Karma Yoga is a technique that works with your karma. It is a technique about purifying the heart and counteracting egoism. The dedication of all we do becomes an offering without thought or expectation of personal reward. Four guiding principles of karma yoga assist us here: Right Attitude, Right Motive, Giving up Result, and Serving the Self in All. If we wash the dishes, we wash the dishes to find liberation. We can choose a path that suits us. We wash the dishes with mindful attention to our busy-ness OR we wash the dishes with awareness, deep tranquillity and peace. Both are paths of service.

If we have children, a hectic job, not enough work, a sick parent, or a difficult relationship, this is our path. If we feel that karma interferes with our spiritual path to freedom, we are not practising karma yoga. Karma yoga is taking the givens of life and making our way up the mountain by accepting and surrendering into our dharma, our path, our way. Our dharma is changing moment to moment, but if we tune in quietly, we know the path with heart. We come to accept that all our acts affect others. We ultimately surrender to the act of serving all, and that which is more significant than ourselves. All actions are the path to grace.

Ram Dass PART 1 Karma Yoga: The Path of Action (10) on Vimeo

WORKING WITH THE MIND

Jnana Yogis Path of Knowledge (Jñāna-mārga)
Jnana yogis have different strategies for working with mind. Jñāna yoga is a practice that pursues wisdom and insight with self-enquiry (svādhyāya) questions such as “who am I, what am I, who is feeling, who is noticing, who is thinking”. We may choose to use the aid of a guru (Guru kripa), meditation practice or contemplative prayer. We are illuminated on the path by liberating insights on the nature of one’s Self (Atman, soul) and its relationship to the metaphysical concept called Brahman (the One or creative principle behind all that is realised and true). In Hinduism, these concepts are discussed in texts such as the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.

Raja Yogis Path of Meditation (dhyāna-mārga)
Rāja in Sanskrit translates as “chief” or “king”. Rāja yoga may refer to “the king of yoga”. In the ancient Sanskrit texts, this Yoga is considered the highest state of yoga practice to reach samadhi. Svātmārāma’s text on Hatha Yoga, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, informs us that Hatha yoga practised on the physical level is one way to drive out disease and purify the body in preparation to accomplish the higher states of Rāja yoga. Raja Yoga is the classical Yoga presented in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, where sage Patanjali focuses more on meditation and the nature of the mind. In Raja Yoga, we study the mind. Here, Yoga is considered the “science of the mind”. Through studying the Sutras of Patanjali, we re-frame our mental state and do everything we can with our intellect and wisdom to see through the mind. The ultimate goal of Raja yoga is to experience absolutely nothing but the bliss of the undisturbed, the state of natural calm, tranquillity, communion within and contentment. [1]

Here are some insightful reminders for awakening through the body, mind or heart.

Yoga teachings for the Body:

• Go through the body to see that you are not the body.
• Awaken the sacred energies of the body to see you are beyond form and enter into formlessness.
• Feel into the sacred energy of the hands, feet, face and heart, eventually the whole body.
• You are not the body. You are not the mind.

Yoga teachings for the Heart:

• The heart knows everything.
• Love everyone and everything.
• All is One and One is all.
• All is your teacher, the teaching.
• Anything that is troubling, that is your teacher.
• Pain is your teacher.
• Follow your path with heart.
• The whole world is your monastery.
• Life exists to set you free.
• “When I don’t know who I am, I serve you. When I do know who I am, you and I are one.” Hanuman to Ram in the Ramayana

Yoga teachings for the mind:

• Surrender to all that is.
• Mind is all stories.
• Where would I be without this thought, this story?
• Yoga is to cease the fluctuations of the mind.
• Become the witness, the observer, the watcher of the mind.
• Who am I?
• What am I?

Key learning points

The Three Yogas (or Trimārga) are mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita for the liberation of human spirit:

1. Karma Yoga or the Path of Action
2. Bhakti Yoga or the Path of Devotion
3. Jnana Yoga or the Path of Knowledge

A “fourth yoga” is sometimes added:

4. Raja Yoga or the Path of Meditation (dhyāna-mārga), making “Four Yogas”, also known as the “Four paths to realisation.”