Ash Wednesday, beginning of Lent, one or more of Krishnamacharya's yama/niyama perhaps.

Lets face it we recognise many if not most of the yama niyama from our own 'moral tradition', a few surprises perhaps. Lent can be a time to try and be less of an arse to those around you as well as to yourself. Ramaswami gave the suggestion that before you go to sleep at night you take a moment to reflect on the yama/niyama, on your day in general, your practice.... it's all the practice, asana, yama niyama and as practice we keep working at it.

So this Lent, as good a time/excuse as any, we might like to pick a couple of the tricky ones to work at a little harder just as we might say "this month I'm gonna nail, drop backs or kapo or marchi D".

Notice too that down the bottom Krishnamacharya recommends Spring as the time to start or  perhaps restart, reinvigorate your practice. I liked this from Tim Miller yesterday.

"For many years I have observed the tradition of giving up something for Lent. This year I’m thinking of giving up giving things up for Lent, although it would be nice to be able to do some of those poses again that have slipped away over the winter—marichasana D, supta kurmasana, pashasana, tittibhasana, etc. The list seems to get longer with each passing year". Tuesdays with Timji

Here's Krishnamacharya's list from Yoga Makaranda.

2.1 Yama and Niyama
Ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya, kshama, dhrthi, daya, arjavam, mitahara and sauca — these ten are called yama.

1. To never harm anybody through mind, speech or action is ahimsa.
   
   
2. To always speak the truth with good intentions and through that be of use
   to all living beings is satya.
   
   
3. To not usurp other people’s wealth through mind, speech or action is called
   asteya.
   
   
4. To not waste your viryam by any means is called brahmacharyam.
   
   
5. To not change the state of your mind irrespective of whether you get the expected benefits of your actions or not is kshama (equanimity).
   
   
6. Whatever hurdles arise to your happiness or welfare, to continue to under- take with mental steadfastness and courage whatever work that has to be done is dhrthi.
   
   
7. Be it enemy, friend, stranger (an alien or somebody you are unconnected to or indifferent to) or relative, to behave towards all with the same good intentions without differentiation is daya.
   
   
8. To keep the state of mind honest (on the straight path) is arjavam.
   
   
9. To use half the stomach for food and to keep the other half in equal parts
   for water and for air flow (vayu sancharam) is mitahara.
   
   
10. To maintain cleanliness internally and externally is sauca.
    

To not hoard money is called asanchayam and this is also a yama. To perform good deeds without fear is a yama.
Tapas, santosha, asthikya, daana, isvara puja, siddhanta vakya sravana, hri, mathi, japa, homam — these ten are called niyama.

1. Cold and hot, joy and sorrow, adoration and aversion — to maintain a steady state of mind when encountering these and to follow the dharma of your caste is tapas.
   
   
2. The sorrows and pleasure that result from any occurrences due to variations of time and place — to accept these with a peaceful, contented mind is santosha.
   
   
3. To have definite belief that for all the fourteen worlds, there is one para- matma who protects these worlds and to be sure that without him, this diverse universe could not have come into existence, and to make up your mind to find and know (realize) this paramatma is asthikya.
   
   
4. To give away your earnings (earned honestly) to good causes without any reason and without expecting any returns is daana.
   
   
5. To worship one’s chosen deity in the proper manner according to the vedas is isvara puja.
   
   
6. For the purpose of establishing sanatana dharma, to study the vedas, the vedanta, smrti, the puranas and ithihasas, to do vedic study and recitation of these, to understand the functioning of various dharmas, and to listen to the discourses of great sages is siddhanta vakya sravana.
   
   
7. If you have strayed with one of the three — your body, possessions or spirit — out of ignorance, to inform the elders about this without hiding it, to feel remorse and promise never to repeat it, and to be humble in one’s mind is hri (modesty).
   
   
8. Following one’s path as specified by the sastras and while doing this to visualize with one-pointed mind the divine auspicious form of one’s chosen deity and to perform dhyana on this deity is math.
   
   
   
9. To properly chant the great mantras learned under the guidance of one’s guru with correct intonation, metre and rhythm and with understanding of their meaning is japa.
   
   
10. Nitya naimitika kaamya are the three types of srouta smarta karmas (pre- scribed or recorded vedic rites and rituals). Leaving aside the kaamya karma (action or rite performed with a self-interested motive or with a view to- wards desired results), to perform the nitya naimitika karmas (nitya karma is a constant or continuous rite or action, naimitika is a regularly recur- ring or periodic rite or action) at the proper time in order to please the devatas, and after reciting all the mantras to put the havis (rice) in the fire as described in the sastras is homam.

These ten yama and niyama should be carefully practised as far as possible. This will have many benefits. The third part of yoga is asana.

One should practise asana in a superior, very clean place, clean all the nadis in our body and master the vayus to bring them under our control.

To begin practising yoga, the two seasons, spring (the months of chittirai and vaigasi) (Apr. 15 — Jun. 15) or autumn (the months of aipasi and karthikai) (Oct. 15 — Dec. 15) are superior.
If a yogabhyasi eats when the vayu sancharam is equal in both nostrils and sleeps when the air flow is in the surya nadi (right side) he will have superior health. 

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Previous posts this week

DRISHTI: Overview of Drishtis indicated for the Surynamaskaras by the different authors resp. Instructors ALSO Krishnamacharya's Gaze.

Just booked John Scott's Astanga Yoga Weekend Workshop In Brighton