The outer mind and the inner mind

In a recent class with Abhijata Iyengar she talked about the layers of the mind and mentioned the outer mind and the inner mind. The outer mind has to do with everyday activities – what you plan to do today, how to go about it etc. The inner mind is that aspect of the mind that has to do with emotions, conflict, things that cause stress. Abhi said “to go to the inner mind, the sensation aspect of asana is vital.” Think of when you are asked to sense differences in the right and left sides or whether you are really pressing your back foot down in a standing asana or whether the stretch is complete. These are a few examples where your mind begins to develop the nature to turn inward. And when you begin to turn the mind inward you are beginning to go toward pratyahara, withdrawal of the senses. From there you are more likely to be able to communicate with the inner mind. In that communication, understanding and discrimination develops. You are then closer to being able to do something about the constant chatter in your mind that prevents you from having a sense of peace and quietude.

Abhi’s concluding point to this discussion was that this is why practice has to give some time to sensation and what the action has produced and not just action. You may have heard your teacher say that there is a difference between practicing yoga and “doing” yoga. Today many people talk about doing yoga and the choices of classes of yoga activity abound. When you take a class at The Yoga Place, we are asking you to practice yoga. And it is not just practicing yoga when you come to class or on your mat at home. It is practicing in the sense that you begin to look into your inner mind whatever you are doing, even in going about your daily life. In the beginning, there is more doing, more action. But eventually we start to ask you to give some time to the sensation of what you are doing. By observing your breath, the differences between the two sides of the body, whether the arms or legs are fully extended, where you tend to move from, and so on, we are asking you to go inward. We try to help you sense something, to discriminate and not just move. Abhi ended by saying “to give a major part to action is OK: but give some part to sensation.” Giving some attention to sensation is not restricted to “I am feeling good or not feeling good.” It has to do with feeling direction, differences in stretch, how your breath is affected when holding a pose, etc.

The method of B.K.S. Iyengar is to employ asana to take you from the gross body to the breath, from the breath to the senses, from the senses to the mind, and from the outer mind to the inner mind. It was because of his hard work to understand his own experience and then describe it that we have what is called Iyengar Yoga. And now for 51 years students from all over the world have traveled to the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute to study this method. Some of us have gone several times and continue to go to attend classes and practice at the Institute (RIMYI). I personally go and have gone over 20 times for more than 45 years, not to learn new techniques, though I may learn or be reminded of different techniques. I go to connect with myself, my inner mind, my own body, mind, and breath. And I go to connect with other like-minded people from all over the world. I also go to connect with my teacher as I feel his presence at the institute though he is no longer living. His legacy lives on. Those of us who teach Iyengar yoga feel a commitment to continue that legacy and to continue our own self-study. That involves not just the outer mind. Connecting to your own inner mind through asana is an essential part of practicing yoga.