— Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu
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Finding a suitable teacher and the right teacher for you: When the student is ready, the guru appears.
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Let’s just take a moment, and slow down, inside ourselves. – slow down – You can always take a moment. But you have to take it. No one will give it to you. It’s not theirs to give, but it is yours to take. Such an incredibly valuable, precious gift to give yourself – a moment – a moment to slow down. A moment to reset, a moment to receive, a moment to feel a sense of relief. You know what it feels like to slow down inside.
A complete study of yoga requires us to study and apply the concepts of Abhyasa and Vairagya. They are the two main principles upon which yoga is based.
Abhyasa is defined as practice and repetition of practice. “It is the art of learning that which has to be learned through cultivation of disciplined action. This involves long, zealous, calm and persevering effort.” (Iyengar, 1993, p5). Vairagya is renunciation, detachment or dispassion. It “is the art of avoiding that which should be avoided” (Iyengar, 1993, p5).
Before examining Abhyasa and Vairagya in detail, we need to have a thorough understanding of what yoga is. Yoga, an ancient spiritual subject which involves bodily and mental exertion via asanas (postures). But yoga is not exercise. Exercise may be the reason some people practise yoga, but exercise does not constitute yoga.
