All thoughts
fall into two major categories pleasure and pain.
The main
goal of yoga is learning to control the mind. We use the poses to help us get
there. Thoughts are called vrittis. There are five main vrittis or fluctuations
that affect our consciousness. They are:
1. Correct knowledge
2. Incorrect knowledge or misconception
3. Imagination(verbal delusion)
4. Sleep
5. Memory
We are all
subject to these thought processes. They are not necessarily bad. They can be
both good and bad. For example correct, knowledge can help us to do the right
thing, however right knowledge can also be used in a harmful way. A surgeon is very skilled and knows how to
perform surgery, but does surgery when it is not needed for financial gains.
We study the
vrittis because we are interested in how they affect our state of mind. When
the mirror of the mind is clear and polished we don’t see any distortions. Here
we glimpse the truth. However, most of the time we are all looking into a bent
and cloudy mirror and what is reflecting back is not the truth.
The truth is
– we are our thoughts. As we think so we become.
Each week
for the next five weeks we will work on each of the vrittis. Our goal is to
understand how to control the thoughts that arise in our minds.
Nothing is
achieved without practice.
Namaste
Doctor Lynn
http://www.doctorlynn.com
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