53) A new approach to this blog 

 When I started this blog in 2007 I started with the aim of  writing only about the Sivananda System of Classical Hatha Yoga and it did have many entries explaining the basics of the Sivananda System of yoga , its asana sequence etc etc but in due course I started other blogs also as explained in my last post i.e Post No: 52 ) My Various blogs and they very much resonate the varied interests that I started to develop and I did not want all of those to be bundled in a single blog and hence opened separate blogs each reflecting one specific interest of mine .In the meanwhile I also started maintaining my own personal journal offline and used to write about many insights that I derived through my reading of various books , through my interaction with my students , through observing the behavior of people , through incidents happening in Society and all were directly or indirectly shaping me and I understood the importance of the spirit of Bhagavad Gita- " All life is a Yoga " i.e do not equate yoga to just want happens on the mat but extend it to what all happens beyond the mat also .I have highlighted this aspect also in my blog post No:51 ) Yoga beyond the mat  . So keeping that in mind I have decided that from now onwards I will write in this blog all issues related to Yoga on the Mat as well as Yoga beyond the mat .Since I cannot divorce myself from life and I am in relationship with society in one form or the other and everything directly or indirectly affects me ( as well as everyone ) ,it is high time I start writing about those issues .So from now on you can expect on this blog topics related to Cricket , Sports ,Politics ( India , Global ) , Economy , Technology , Religion , Spirituality etc etc apart from Yoga . Kindly note that I am not writing about these issues as an expert commenting on Politics , Sports  , Economy, Religion  etc but as an individual who is observing these issues and its impact on people .

 Even though I have mentioned about the various blogs in my previous post , I choose to have only  this blog 's address on my visiting Card so that this blog will  be  the first reference point for people to know more about me , my ideas and my approach to life .

As I said earlier I am not writing on these issues as an expert or as a person who has mastered life and understand all its mysteries but rather as observations from a normal individual who is on the path of yoga and trying to live a yogic life both on and off the mat .
Before Concluding I wish to point out  in that last few months ,I was immersed in re-reading the works of  J.Krishnamurti  which had a terrific impact on me and gave me strength and clarity to develop a big shift in my approach not only to my own yoga practice an teaching but also to life in general and apart from J.Krishnamurti two books that has heavily shaped me in the last one year ( and they still continue to do so ) are :
 1) Bringing Yoga to Life - The everyday practice of enlightened living by Donna Farhi
( in fact that is the title I have given to this blog also )
 2) Living Your Yoga - Finding the spiritual in everyday life by Judith Lasater .
 I have mentioned both these books in my post No:51) Yoga Beyond the Mat

 51) Yoga Beyond The Mat

While most of us are aware of the type of yoga to be done on the mat but when it comes to practicing Yoga beyond the mat many of us are confused as to how it should be done . Some consider Yoga to be just what is being done on the Mat and nothing more than that . So when someone says that they are practicing Yoga they mean that they are practicing Yoga on the Mat and nothing more than that and they evaluate themselves as to how far they have progressed in Yoga by how many postures they have learnt , how long they can hold the postures , how many rounds of Surya Namaskar they can do , whether they can stand upside down in Headstand or  do advanced balancing postures like Peacock ( Mayur Asan)  , Scorpion , Crow etc . Some measure their yogic life by how many time a week they practice Yoga , how many times a week they take sattvic food , how many times they meditate , how many yoga sutras or Bhagavad Gita verses they have mastered  etc etc .First of all we must understand that Yoga means joining or integrating and hence when we say that we are practicing yoga we need to include in it all aspects of our life and not just confine it to yoga on the mat .While Yoga on the Mat is the very visible part of this journey ,there is a larger invisible yogic journey that is happening beyond the mat but since it does not have a structure like Ashtanga , Iyengar , Sivananda ,Anusara etc it is never discussed much and many do not know what it means to practice yoga beyond the mat . Yoga beyond the mat varies from person to person and situation to situation and there can be no standard yardstick for the same .Take for example the topic on Being Honest or Truthful . While we need to be honest and truthful in our speech most of the time but there are circumstances where we need to lie ,say for example your friend/family member  is seriously ill and admitted in the hospital and while the Doctor says to you personally that he/she will not be alive for long but request you not to reveal the same to the patient , you must not say No No I practice honesty in my speech and if the patient asks me what they Doctor is saying ,I will reveal to him the truth that he will not live for long . This is the most cruel way of practicing Honesty or truth in speech .So in each and every situation in life we need to weight the pros and cons and act accordingly and there is no standard rule for everyone /every situation .While scriptures like Bhagavad Gita , Yoga Sutras talk about Good /Bad , right /wrong ,standard set of universal values  like Yamas ,Niyamas etc etc but kindly note that  life is no black and white where all things are either all  black or  all white and there are hundreds of shades of grey between them and it is these  grey situations that are tricky and need to be handled and no scripture can come to your Guidance under these grey circumstances .So what is to be done under these circumstances ? There is no easy answer but Sages of the past have given 2 tools to be used when we are confronted with a difficult situation :

1) Put yourself in the shoes of the other person and see what you would do in a similar situation 

2) Introspect yourself as to your  motive behind doing anything i.e are u doing it for some seeking some rewards ( monetary or otherwise ) , are u doing it to seek love , approval or appreciation from the other .

 Putting urself in to the  shoes of the other person and verifying whether you are doing anything for selfish reasons will help you un condition your mind and give your more mental space and this extra mental space will help you get the necessary clarity to take proper decisions appropriate to the situation . But this is easily said than done as the mind has been conditioned  for centuries to think in terms of what benefit it will get directly or indirectly and suddenly asking it to revert to an unselfish situation will not work so easily .But all said and done this is the only way we can see things for clear as they are and not what we want it to be .

While the entire yoga market is flooded with Books and DVDs related to yoga postures only few are related to practicing yoga beyond the mat and I found the following 2 books very good ( links given above ):

1) Bringing Yoga to Life : The Everyday practice of Enlightened Living by Donna Farhi 

 2) Living your Yoga : Finding the Spiritual in Everyday Life by Judith Lasater

Both Donna Farhi and Judith Lasater are seasoned yoga practitioners and teachers and have a rich experience of  not only yoga in general but life itself in particular and the wisdom accumulated by them in their many years of teaching yoga to people from various walks of life in various countries world over  are very much reflected in both these books and  I suggest every serious Yoga practitioner / teacher  to have these books as a guiding tool in their yoga journey as many of the tricky situations we encounter in our yogic life either as a practitioner / teacher have been already encountered by them before and they have given their own insights as to how they have handled them .

29) Commitment and discipline

Many students say that sometimes they have problems getting themselves to practice at home. Often I hear the statement, "I just don't have any discipline." I would like to redefine the concept of "discipline" by contrasting it with the concept of "commitment".

There is a big difference between discipline and commitment. "Discipline" is something that is externally generated, it is a "should". We have often internalized this "should" as the concept of discipline into our own inner voices; this is the voice we hear inside berating us when we don't practice.

Commitment, on the other hand, is a choice we make of our own volition. The difference between "discipline" and "commitment" is conflict. When we are imposing discipline upon ourselves we are in conflict with ourselves, arguing inside "yes, no, yes, no". But when we are committed there is no conflict, no argument, no problem.

Think about something in your life that you are committed to, for example, brushing your teeth. I doubt that you argue with yourself every morning about brushing your teeth. You just do it, whether it is interesting or boring, it doesn't matter.

When we are committed to practicing yoga, we just get on the mat every day, regardless of our mood, our state of mind, our internal dialogue.

If you have problems sometimes getting your self to practice, spend a little time figuring out what is standing in the way of your commitment to practice. I am guessing that what you learn in the process will not only free you up to practice more often but will enrich your life as well.

Judith Hanson Lasater
Senior Yoga Teacher . She is the author of six books: A Year of Living Your Yoga, Yoga Abs, Yoga for Pregnancy, 30 Essential Yoga Poses, Living Your Yoga and Relax and Renew.