Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Body and Self-reflection: The Crux of Yoga Philosophy and Practice

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Self, Culture and Consciousness

  • 542 Accesses

Abstract

Body and self-reflection are the central concepts of yoga philosophy based on which its psychology and phenomenology of the practice of yoga is built. The goal of yoga is to situate oneself within the twin reality of matter and consciousness, body and the self. This chapter suggests that there are four aspects of self-reflection that can be deduced from yoga psychology and its phenomenology: self-certainty, body-centrality, cognitive centrality and contentful experience.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 1.

    The translations and the interpretative meanings of the Yoga Sutras are taken from Bodhananda (2008).

  2. 2.

    YS 2.30—ahimsa satya asteya brahmacarya aparigraha yamah.

  3. 3.

    YS 2.31—ete jati desa kala samaya anavacchinah saarvabhaumah mahavrtam.

  4. 4.

    YS 2.35—ahimsa pratishtaayaam tat sannidau vairatyaaga.

  5. 5.

    YS 2.36—satya pratiṣtāyām kriya phala āśrayatvam.

  6. 6.

    YS 2.38—brahmacarya pratiṣtāyām virya lābha.

  7. 7.

    YS 2.39—aparigraha sthairye janma kathntā sambodhah.

  8. 8.

    YS 2. 32—śauca-santoṣa-tapaḥ-svādhyāyeśvara-prañidhānāni niyamāḥ.

  9. 9.

    YS 2.40—śaucāt svānga-jugupsā parair asansargaḥ .

  10. 10.

    YS 2.41—sattva-śuddhi-saumanasyaikāgryendriya-jayātma-darśana-yogyatvāni ca .

  11. 11.

    YS 2.42—santoṣād anuttamaḥ sukha-lābhaḥ.

  12. 12.

    YS 2.46—sthira sukham āsanam.

  13. 13.

    YS 2.48—tato dvandvānabhighātaḥ.

  14. 14.

    YS 2.49—tasmin sati śvāsa-praśvāsayor gati-vicchedaḥ prāṇāyāmaḥ.

  15. 15.

    YS 2.53—dhārañāsu ca yogyatā manasaḥ.

  16. 16.

    YS 2.52—tataḥ kśīyate prakāśāvaraṇam.

  17. 17.

    YS 2.54—sva-viṣayāsamprayoge cittasya svarupānukāra ivendriyāṇām pratyāhāraḥ.

  18. 18.

    YS 2.55—tataḥ paramā vaśyatendriyāṇām.

  19. 19.

    YS 1.3—tadā draśṭuḥ svarūpe ‘vasthānam.

    YS 1.4—vṛtti-sārūpyam itaratra.

  20. 20.

    Kliṣta-vṛtti are those states of mind, we are told in the Yoga-bhasya, which are caused by kleśa (kleśa-hetukaḥ), whereas the Yoga-varttika describes them as those which lead to suffering (kleśa).

  21. 21.

    YS 2.4 to 2.9.

  22. 22.

    YS 2.4—avidyā kṣetram uttareṣām prasupta-tanu-vicchinnodārāṇām.

  23. 23.

    YS 2.5—anityāśuci-duḥkhānātmasu nitya-śuci-sukhātma-khyātir avidyā.

  24. 24.

    YS 2.6—dṛg-darśana-śaktyor ekātmatevāsmitā.

  25. 25.

    YS 2.7—sukhānuśayī rāgaḥ.

    YS 2.8—duḥkhānuśayī dveṣaḥ.

  26. 26.

    YS 2.9—sva-rasa-vāhī viduṣo ‘pi tathārūḍho ‘bhiniveśaḥ.

  27. 27.

    YS 2.17—draṣṭṛ-dṛśyayoḥ saṃyogo heya-hetuḥ.

    YS 2.20—draṣṭā dṛśi-mātraḥ śuddho ‘pi pratyayānupaśyaḥ.

    YS 2.25—tad-abhāvāt saṃyogābhāvo hānaṃ tad-dṛśeḥ kaivalyam.

  28. 28.

    citta nadī nāmah ubhayatāvāhini—Yoga-bhāṣya on 1.12.

  29. 29.

    See Yoga-bhasya for 1.12 (Woods 1914).

  30. 30.

    See Tattva Vaiśāradhi for YS 1.12 (Woods 1914).

  31. 31.

    YS 1.31—duḥkha-daurmanasyāṅgam-ejayatva- śvāsa-praśvāsā vikṣepa-sahabhuvaḥ.

  32. 32.

    YS 1: 30—vyādhi-styāna-sanśaya-pramādālasyāvirati-bhrānti-darśanālabdha-bhūmikatvānavasthitatvāni cittavikṣepās te ‘ntarāyāḥ.

  33. 33.

    YS 2.26—viveka-khyātir aviplavā hānopāyaḥ.

    YS 2.27—tasya saptadhā prānta-bhūmiḥ prajñā.

  34. 34.

    YS 4.25—viśeṣa-darśina ātma-bhāva-bhāvanā-vinivṛttiḥ.

    YS 4.26—tadā viveka-nimnaṃ kaivalya-prāg-bhāraṃ cittam.

  35. 35.

    YS 2.34—vitarkā himsādayaḥ kṛta-kāritānumoditā lobha-krodha-moha-pūrvakā mṛdu-madhyādhimātrā duḥkhājñānānanta-phalā iti pratipakṣa-bhāvanam.

  36. 36.

    YS 2.33—vitarka-bādhane pratipakṣa-bhāvanam.

  37. 37.

    YS 1.17—vitarka-vicārānandāsmitā-rūpānugamāt samprajñātaḥ.

  38. 38.

    YS 1:33—maitrī karuṇā muditam upekṣāṇām sukha duḥkha puṇya apuṇya viṣayānām bhavanātah citta prasādanam.

  39. 39.

    YS 2.10—te prati prasava heyāh sukṣmāḥ.

References

  • Bodhananda, S. (2008). Yogasutras of Patanjali. New Delhi: Sambodh Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodhananda, S. (2010). Yoga and management. Ahmedabad: Ahmedabad Management Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Vignemonta, F., & Fourneret, P. (2004). The sense of agency: A philosophical and empirical review of the ‘Who’ system. Consciousness and Cognition, 13, 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eliade, M. (1975). Patanjali and Yoga (C. L. Markmann, Trans.). New York: Schocken Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallagher, S. (2000). Philosophical conceptions of the self: Implications for cognitive science. Trends in the Cognitive Sciences, 4(1), 14–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Georgieff, N., & Jeannerod, M. (1998). Beyond consciousness of external reality: A ‘Who’ system for consciousness of action and self-consciousness. Consciousness and Cognition, 7, 465–477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kircher, T. T., & Leube, D. T. (2003). Self-consciousness, self-agency and schizophrenia. Consciousness and Cognition, 12(4), 656–669.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menon, S. (2009). The rain clouds of mind-modifications and the shower of transcendence: Yoga and Samadhi in Patanjali Yoga Sutra. In R. Rao (Ed.), Yoga and parapsychology: Empirical research and theoretical essays (pp. 169–199). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Menon, S. (2014). Brain, self and consciousness: Explaining the conspiracy of experience. New Delhi: Springer Science & Business Media.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rao, K. R. (2010). Yoga and parapsychology: Empirical research and theoretical essays. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rao, N., & Menon, S. (2016). A heuristic model linking yoga philosophy and self-reflection to examine underlying mechanisms of add on yoga treatment in schizophrenia. International Review of Psychiatry, 2, 265–272. doi:10.1080/09540261.2016.1194259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Safaya, R. (1976). Indian psychology. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suryanarayana Sastri, S. S. (Ed. and Trans.). (1973). The Sankhya Karika of Isvara Krsna (2nd ed.). Madras: University of Madras.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woods, J. H. (1914). The yoga-system of Patanjali: Or the ancient bindu doctrine of concentration of mind. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmer, H. (1951). Philosophies of India. In J. Campbell (Ed.). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NIAS Consciousness Studies Programme, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, 560012 , India

    Sangeetha Menon

Authors
  1. Sangeetha Menon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sangeetha Menon .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. NIAS Consciousness Studies Programme, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

    Sangeetha Menon

  2. NIAS Consciousness Studies Programme, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

    Nithin Nagaraj

  3. National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

    V. V. Binoy

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Menon, S. (2017). Body and Self-reflection: The Crux of Yoga Philosophy and Practice. In: Menon, S., Nagaraj, N., Binoy, V. (eds) Self, Culture and Consciousness. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5777-9_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation