Inside Yoga 170 (20/6/2016)
The summer solstice is today, Monday, June 20 at 10.43pm this evening (London time for those reading this elsewhere) which signifies the longest day of the year, with the added bonus of being a Strawberry Moon too, as today is also full moon. But was has this got to do with yoga?
Yoga teaches us to become in union with not just ourselves but with the environment around us and the planet we live on. This sense of balance is about being connected and in touch with ourselves and everything around us, which when not in balance leads to the things in our life that we don’t like, for example, ill health, stress, tiredness and so forth. So there is quite a good incentive out there to become more in touch with what lies within us, as well as what lies beyond us.
In Indian traditional medicine, called Ayurveda – which yoga is intrinsically linked to, there a term called gunas, which refers to the three prime qualities of nature, and also affects our own physical and emotional rhythms.
The gunas consist of sattva, rajas, and tamas. The Bhagavadgita text states, “sattva, rajas and tamas, the qualities born of nature bind the immortal soul in the body.”
Rajas is the “active, stimulating or positive force that initiates change” according to David Frawley in his book “Yoga and Ayurveda”. Rajas energy is active, for example, as seen during the day, when we need to be up and about.
Tamas is the passive, dull energy which leads to inertia and sleep, which is needed when we need to sleep at night.
Sattva is the “quality of light, love and life, the higher or spiritual force that allows us to evolve in consciousness” according to Frawley. Sattva is the quality of harmonious balance which we seek to achieve through yoga and meditation practice. It is the time of the day, at dawn and dusk, when there is a sense of stillness in nature, the balance just as the day’s active rajasic energy tips towards the night’s sleepy tamasic energy.
The gunas are seen in the seasons, with the summer solstice, today, representing the highest point of the summer’s rajasic energy with the longest day. That is why the ancient (and today’s) druids paid special attention to sunset and sunrise on this day. And from tomorrow the days do start to shorten, even though it will feel like summer for many more months (we hope!), and eventually it turns towards winter.
At the other end of the year, the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, which in ayurvedic terms is in the middle of the tamasic period of the year. This explains why nature hibernates at this time of the year, or many species slow down during winter, whilst us humans insist on pushing ourselves even though our bodies and minds are screaming for some more rest and sleep!
Whilst at this time of the year, the ayurvedic theory of sattva explains why we like to do some much at this time of the year, we like to go on holidays and trips, go to parties and festivals and simply run around in the sunshine as much as possible. Simply because this the rajasic time of the year when our energy levels are at their highest.
Understanding the gunas will also explain why for some of us these rhythms of nature are not felt. In ayurvedic and yogic understanding our state of mind and health relates to, and is affected by, the rhythms of gunas both within us and in nature around us. For example, if we are sick or stressed we perhaps do not feel like enjoying the summer fun being offered. Yoga and Ayurveda explains such physical and emotional rhythms as being out of balance and this manifests as illness, stress and lethargy.
Yoga helps redress these imbalances but through regular practice for the long term benefits, because retaining our sense of union and balance is not something that is achieved and maintained through occasional practice.
This is where practice helps us to achieve the ideal state of mind and body, according to what is needed at that time, for example, if we need to be active a practice which increases the level of rajasic energy in us really helps, such as back bends.
While at night we would want a practice that helps sleep, a tamasic period, such as gentle hip openers and quiet meditative breathing.
Most of the time our practice aims to establish a sattvic state of mind and body, which is why many of us finish our practice feeling balanced, still, calm, and harmonious – all the qualities of sattva.
Enjoy the summer solstice.
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