Why practice yoga?

(I have been organizing my yoga documents on my computer and I have discovered a few blogs that I never posted, so here is one :))

In Anusara you study yoga for two main reasons:
1. To know more. This is called chit in Sanskrit. To know more has to do with muscular energy (drawing the muscles to the bone, drawing from the periphery along the core lines of the body toward the focal point, and drawing from the periphery to the midline) knowing more, deepening your consciousness is related to Shiva and masculine energy.

2. To be happy! How wonderful. This is called ananda meaning bliss, delight, joy. To be happy is similar to organic energy (extending out from the midline toward the periphery, softening the skin, and extending out from the focal point along the core lines). It is choosing to expressively share our beautiful uniqueness with others. Ananda, being happy and expressive is related to Shakti the feminine energy.
Anusara yoga is about remembrance. Remembering that at our core we are part of this one auspicious energy. We remember chit and ananda at the beginning of every class when we sing the Anusara invocation “sat chit ananda”.

I love this wonderful practice rooted in the non-dual Shiva-Shakti tantra philosophy rooted in intrinsic goodness. I love this, the idea of doing something so we may know more, and so we may be happy. May we choose to use every experience in our life to gain more knowledge (chit) so we may live and align more fully with grace, and to bring us more happiness. It is easy to write this and make it sound easy but it is important to remember that chit and ananda takes a lot of hard work. It requires tremendous amounts of tapas (heat) and adhikara (studentship, if you want to learn more about adhikara read my previous post http://authenticselfyoga.blogspot.com/2010/02/adhikara-studentshipthe-5-elements-of.htmlI). Even though this practice demands discipline and hard work, it sure does make for one fun journey and I am continuing to discover much ananda and chit.