8 Limbs of Yoga - Brahmacharya

Namaste Kula (edified community)

I'm Cody, I'm one of the Asana alchemists.

Within the Eight Limbs of Yoga are the Yama & Niyama. The Yama, the personal ethics of dealing with the outside world, and the Niyama, personal observances aimed for growth, are the first two limbs. The Yama that I will share about today is Brahmacharya.

Brahmacharya is the mindful use of your precious life force, or prana. We are creative beings, this means we can direct energy. “Where our mind goes, Energy follows”, Practicing brahmacharya means that we are discerning where we spend this energy. As we progress in our practice, this strengthens, so that more and more we are directing our energy towards what will serve our highest Self, our Supreme Consciousness. Vigor & vitality is the result of this practice.
Brahmacharya is practiced in my life in a number of ways, I'll share a few.
● Stepping on the yoga mat, paying attention to what is going on in my breath, my physical structure, my emotions and my mind.
● Every time I engage with my meditation practice, I am strengthening my ability to identify, gather and direct prana
● Mantra Sadhana & commentary study points me towards higher levels of consciousness
● Seva roles allow me to support something bigger than myself
● Stepping into the role of teacher allows me to direct energy towards the service of others
● Observation of the patterns of my mind & inner dialogue, and the shifting of them towards Love for myself
● Seeking to bring light to the shadows of the ego so that I’m not ruled by a selfish mindset

None of these practices alone is Brahmacharya, the collection of them is.
All of these practices simply point me towards using my energy to move to
my supreme consciousness.
God created us in his likeness, as creators. Through mindful use of prana we can come to understand our true nature and live our highest purpose.
This is why I practice yoga.

Cody