Svadhyaya

Liveology
Jun 7, 2022
1 min read

Updated: Jun 9, 2022

Svadhyaya is one of the Niyamas.

Sanskrit Word: Svadhyaya

English Translation: Self-Study

Use it in a sentence:

Svadhyayadistadevatasamprayogah. Yoga Sutra 2.44

"By studying one's self through study of sacred texts, one communicates with the divine."

Information:

The journey of practicing yoga is a journey inward. Even with a room full of people around you and a teacher nearby, your yoga practice is nobody’s but your own. Your body is unlike anyone else’s. Your mind and experiences are unique to you.

As you practice, not only do you observe the physical progress in asana (yoga poses), but you begin to observe your mind. How do you react when a pose is hard for you? Are there any poses that trigger you - making you pissed off or cry? Or are there poses that you skip altogether? All of that is information.

We observe our idiosyncrasies not to judge them or be hard on ourselves, but to simply to see where we are and where we need to go.

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