7. Yoga is the restriction of the fluctuations of consciousness (Patanjali, Yoga Sutra 1.2)

Lesson number five in the yoga instructor course. These are my thoughts

upon beginning the practice:

‘things I forgot to buy from my last shopping list: broccoli, q-tips, lentils; did I remember to turn off the boiler? My business meeting next Tuesday which has been bothering me - I need to prepare for it; What perfume does Gilat who is practicing next to me using? it smells sooo good; I'm hungry, pity I didn't eat before the training session, I hope my stomach won't growl and embarrass me, hello hello - Am I doing Yoga at all?, concentrate, concentrate’ I scold myself.

The voice of Leora, the teacher, interrupts my thoughts: "'let's close our eyes and get back to our bodies” she says. “Let's try to stop those galloping horses in our heads for a moment. Believe me”, she laughs, “your pesky thoughts will still be waiting for you after our lesson, let's try to quiet those thoughts, those wild horses, of our minds and do some yoga here”, 'Whoa, horses, whoa' I say to myself, 'run away thoughts, I'll see you later' and try to get back to my body, my breathing, but it's so hard. These kinds of thoughts are the 'fluctuations of the mind, or the consciousness, Patanjali, one of the fathers of yoga, wrote about in the ancient “yoga sutra” (about Patanjali's yoga sutra, in a nutshell, on the next post). The fluctuations of the mind are the incessant activity and motion of our consciousness, going from one thing to another and giving things a subjective interpretation, creating our experience of life. From the connections we

build we derive very basic feelings - joy, security, sadness, a sense of immunity, and that is how our sense of self develops. Patanjali called the collection of functions and activity which create this experience 'chita vritti' in sanskrit - fluctuations of the mind.. Yoga, which also means unity, occurs when these fluctuations cease, and yoga as a

physical and mental exercise can help us and ease our mind's tendency to constantly jump from object to object, can give us a broader perspective than our narrow view of our own life or different situations, and in more advanced stages can bring us to a point of pure consciousness.

In the meantime, during the exercise - my horses are still galloping around in my head, at least I am aware of them, and any time they get too wild I try to get back to the feeling of my body, to my breathing and to Yoga.