by Yogi Ananda Viraj (Eugene P. Kelly, Jr.)
A very important aspect of practice (sadhana) is the atmosphere or practice environment. The new yoga student may begin to approach practice as just another activity, ignoring the “setting.” This setting is not simply a physical location, for in yoga no such physical setting exists. The context for practice involves meaning. Therefore any setting is a significant setting. Yoga practice must not be viewed as simply one among all the activities of our daily lives. We must learn to bring an aura of sanctity to our practice. It is an aim of yoga to then extend this sanctity into the rest of life transforming all activity into sadhana. In order to sanctify our practice we begin with the significant setting.
The idea of a physical location is just that, an idea. Human living is carried out not in places but in meaningful contexts or worlds. Every here or there is charged with significance. It is the curse of an objectifying viewpoint which reduces this significance to mere locality. It is as if we go from traveling on a road with its rich landscape to moving along the road line on a trap. This objectifying view point is however the one which most of us bring to our yoga practice. It therefore seems as if, to do yoga, one “place” is as good as another. After all, what makes any one line on the map better than another?
In order to select a “place” to do yoga it is advisable to keep a few things in rind. First, we want to find a place that is not heavily trafficked. Such a place has the over tones of busyness and is basically unsettling. Second, we want to locate a relatively isolated spot, free from the significance of “normal” occupations. For example, we would not want to do yoga in the basement near the workbench. Being in this setting would tend to give rise to other intentions such as filing the bicycle. Third, the place must be clean. Cluttered settings give rise to confusion and perhaps the urge to clean up. In sum we want to “locate” a context which is isolated from the traffic, ordinary significances, and confusion. We might add that the place should be quiet as well, as silence opens one to sanctity.
We can further refine our selective procedure by adding more criteria. Should you have more than one setting to choose from you should choose the place that offers you a view of either sunrise, sunset, or both. Not only does the setting involve “space” as meaningful but “time” as well. In the abstract, space and time are the most general of meanings. Sunrise and sunset are not only times but events loaded with feeling, i.e. significance. These are the most appropriate times for sadhana. Not everyone’s work schedule permits practice at both these times, therefore any “time” must become suitable. Ultimately, the sanctity of sunrise and sunset is seen to pervade all time anyway. Sadhana puts one in touch with the timeless.
Now that we have selected the suitable place we can proceed to empower that place. Empowerment is an ancient practice used by many cultures to infuse significance into a place which may only suggest it. The practice of empowerment may begin with ritual and those objects which the ritual requires. For example incense, a candle, and some flowers. The smoke and scent of incense sanctifies the air and space thus enriching its potential to be rendered sacred or even timeless. The candle flame places a dynamic into the setting. The flame lives in self-consuming luminosity. Life moves, if it is lived to its fullest, by a self-consuming heat (tapas) that never backs up on itself in reflection or doubt. The flame is the sameness or identity in difference which demonstrates this insight. Flowers are the beautiful, the sweetness of pure existence. Flowers do not try to be. Their existence demonstrates the effortless grace of being. In these objects all of our sensory play is exemplified. In time the practitioner gains appreciative perception through daily contacts with this holy setting.
Empowerment is bringing our focus to bear on all the acts involved in setting our setting. We clean it, we light the candle and incense and thereby bring it to Life. This life is given sanctified significance through our undivided attention. In time this attention matures into a world creating power. This power animates a sacred order into which we enter and proceed to practice. This order is an ashram, a sanctuary.