Changing habits through yoga

[Paulo]

I've been practicing Iyengar yoga quite intensively (between 6 and 10 hours/week) for the past couple of months. I now find that I no longer want to eat meat or any heavy meals, and I no longer want to drink alcohol (which is amazing considering how much I used to like my glasses of wine with the meal before). I also find myself being very present, here and now and much less likely to be lost in thoughts or reacting to situations without being aware of them than I was before. I'm obviously really happy and amazed that this has happened! After the yoga class today, I asked the teacher if this is a typical result of practising yoga and he said that it is, then went on to explain that there are three levels of something (its difficult to know what the word is, because I'm a native english speaker living in France) and what I was experiencing is one of these levels. I wanted to find out more on the web but couldn't find anything about these levels; can anyone please advise me as to what these levels are about? I'd really like to know more about this...

[pinky11]

There are five levels of existence as per yoga philosophy

1. First level is the physical level
2. Second level is vital body made up of prana shakti
3. Third level is our mind, thoughts, emotions
4. Fourth is higher intellect, perfect knowledge.
5. Fifth state is akin to salvation ,divine bliss.

We generally operate at first level and most of our illnesses and problems are due to this level of existence. Once you rise to higher levels, survival is not a problem, you search for higher goals in life.

Therefore, we can say that yoga practice applied along with proper yama, niyama, asanas and pranayama can help us to move to higher levels.

But an able guru is essential to move to higher levels.

All the best

Daljit

[Hubert]

I guess he was talking of the three gunas. The earlier you had a rajasic lifestyle, and now became more sattwic.

[Prascina]

The three gunas coexist though the ratios of mixing is the discriminative choreographer.

[Paulo]

Ah great, thank you all for helping. He must have been talking about three gunas, because he did mention rajasic lifestyle, I'll look up more of this.

Daljit, thanks for withing about the 5 levels of existence too. By the way, you said a guru is essential to move to higher levels - how exactly would you difine what a guru is? My yoga teacher to me is like a guru, but then I don't really know what would be the difference between a good yoga teacher and a guru....

[Yoga4life]

Originally Posted by Paulo

I've been practicing Iyengar yoga quite intensively (between 6 and 10 hours/week) for the past couple of months. I now find that I no longer want to eat meat or any heavy meals, and I no longer want to drink alcohol (which is amazing considering how much I used to like my glasses of wine with the meal before). I also find myself being very present, here and now and much less likely to be lost in thoughts or reacting to situations without being aware of them than I was before. I'm obviously really happy and amazed that this has happened! After the yoga class today, I asked the teacher if this is a typical result of practising yoga and he said that it is, then went on to explain that there are three levels of something (its difficult to know what the word is, because I'm a native english speaker living in France) and what I was experiencing is one of these levels. I wanted to find out more on the web but couldn't find anything about these levels; can anyone please advise me as to what these levels are about? I'd really like to know more about this...

Actually you should concentrate on your practice and classes before looking around. In Yoga and Indian philosophy, a number of things are represented by three, there are Tri Devas, Tri Guna, Tri Lok and a number of other threes. Even paths of Yoga take different route to reach the same destination. So, it is only your teacher who can tell what it meant.

Anyway you are benefiting because of your sraddha, dedication towards Yoga and you will continue to get more positive results and even dramatic improvement in your personality.

[pinky11]

Prascina, well said all three gunas co-exist, only the ratio varies. This can be changed with continuous practice.

Paulo, regarding your question about guru, here is an excellent thread
Does one need a guru?

Daljit

[Paulo]

Hi Yoga4life, well all I can say is I'm looking forward to the personality improvements I'm not really looking around though, just doing my homework....I looked around for ages before, when this course and teacher were already there right under my nose I just failed to see them (how often on this path do we find that what we searched for was already there??? I hope I've learned the lesson now!)

Thanks for the link Daljit, well I guess each time I go to a yoga class my yoga 'teacher' becomes a little more a guru.

[Happy Warrior]

I'm a newbie practicing mainly gentle yoga and I still feel uplifted physically and have been much happier in my personality. I just wish I'd get better at handling my boss's negative energy and practices and keeping him from bringing me down again once I start my day in such a positive state. A major reason I recently turned to yoga is to help me start positive throughout the day.

[Yoga4life]

Originally Posted by Paulo

Hi Yoga4life, well all I can say is I'm looking forward to the personality improvements I'm not really looking around though, just doing my homework....I looked around for ages before, when this course and teacher were already there right under my nose I just failed to see them (how often on this path do we find that what we searched for was already there??? I hope I've learned the lesson now!)

Thanks for the link Daljit, well I guess each time I go to a yoga class my yoga 'teacher' becomes a little more a guru.

You are right, there are times when we have something but still we search for it. We are physically present with the object but mentally we aren't aware. This often happens and we pay for this negligence, this called 'prarabdh' in Sanskrit.