Wednesday, July 22, 2015

GUNAS

The existense of Gunas is an interesting new concept I am learning at Bodhi Yoga.

Guna is a Sanskrit word, and  Hindu philosophical concept describing the 3 qualities of energy in which all things manifest themselves in the physical plane. These qualities are rajas, tamas and sattva.

Wikepedia describes them as:

  • Sattva is the quality of balance, harmony, goodness, purity, universalizing, holistic, constructive, creative, building, positive, peaceful, virtuous.[22]




  • Rajas is the quality of passion, activity, neither good nor bad and sometimes either, self centeredness, egoistic, individualizing, driven, moving, dynamic.[4][23]


  • Tamas is the quality of imbalance, disorder, chaos, anxiety, impure, destructive, delusion, negative, dull or inactive, apathy, inertia or lethargy, violent, vicious, ignorant.[23][24]


In Indian philosophy, these qualities are not considered as present in either-or fashion. Rather, everyone and everything has all three, only in different proportions and in different contexts.[3] The living being or substance is viewed as the net result of the joint effect of these three qualities.[3][4]
The Gunas are relevant in Yoga, as they relate to how we move into a pose and our alignment and energy flow. Also our attitude and approach to different postures and asanas. 
I am beginning to become aware of the manifestation of the gunas all around me and in my yoga practice, but I have much to learn. 


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