The three legged stool of Kriya Yoga – how balanced is yours?
by Tracy Coons
Kriya yoga is the yoga of purifying action, as taught by Patanjali. This is the yoga of using our actions to move us towards contentment, refinement and freedom from suffering.
Kriya Yoga gives us a good basis, a formula from which to work and to direct our actions.
I was taught to think of the 3 elements of Kriya Yoga as a 3-legged stool. I like the imagery of it and find it useful when assessing whether my life is in balance or whether I am toppling a little or falling short in one area or another.
The three ‘legs’ of the Kriya yoga stool are:
Tapas- heat causing change. The word tap means ‘to burn or to cook’. Think of tapas as the will and force that burns away impurities and leads to refinement. Anything that requires will-power and discipline to achieve creates this heat, this fire in the belly.
It is important to remember that what is challenging for one person is easy for anther. For most of us it is tapas to watch our diet and to get up for that morning run or go to a yoga class after a long day. We know we need it, we know we’ll feel better if we do it but it isn’t easy and we need to find our will-power to push ourselves to do what we know is right. This isn’t true for everyone,though. Some people would benefit from having that extra biscuit or skipping that hour on the exercise bike and just allowing themselves to relax and chill out without worrying so much about their body. For them it is more tapas not to go for that run!
Svadyaya-self reflection, or self study. There are many forms of svadyaya: meditation, journalling, studying spiritual texts, yoga classes, attending retreats, all of these help us see who we are and who we are not. We can’t change what we aren’t aware of and these tools help us look deep within and sort out where we need to change. Self-study helps us be know ourselves better which is important since no amount of tapas is going to help us along our path if it isn’t applied intelligently.
Isvara Pranidhana- acceptance of and surrender to the idea of something greater than ourselves. The sutras don’t list what this ‘higher power’ has to be and it doesn’t really matter what it is. For some this is a belief in a specific God or following an organised religion. For others it is a connection to the universal energy that we’re all made of. The important thing is faith in something greater than yourself and an understanding of your small part in the grand scheme of things.
So how are these three things like legs of a stool? Well, you need all three of them to stand up. One of them without the others is useless and will leave you unbalanced and toppling over. If you’ve got all three of them going on in your life but don’t have equal amounts of each then the ‘legs’ of your stool aren’t even and you’ll be out of balance. Some of us may find that we’ve got will power and self study but lack any connection to divinity and so our practices lack purpose or perhaps we’re reading a lot of self help books and going to church every Sunday to ask for guidance about a problem but we aren’t taking any action to make changes. Maybe we’re working on breaking addiction and spirituality is helping us achieve this goal but we lack much self awareness and so are missing the bigger picture that is at the root of the addiction in the first place.
We need all three parts, and in equal measure for us to be solid stable and to help free us from suffering.
When we were studying Kriya Yoga, my teacher told us a story of a student of hers who announced in an essay that he “had all 3 legs of his stool but realised that none of them were very long” his was more of a low footstool than a tall bar stool!
For me, morning sadhana once a month is a good example of the balance of these three elements working together. I’m an owl, not a lark and so dragging myself out of bed to be at the studio to join the happy, wakeful Kundalini yogis at 5am once a month requires a good deal of tapas and an equal measure of not so gentle prodding from my husband, who is a lark. (and truth be told, also a decent amount of strong coffee) Once I’m up though, there is something in the stillness of that early morning hour that brings me closer to divinity than any meditation or chant ever could. The quietness, the peace and perfection of the dawning of a new day brings me closer to my ‘higher power’, isvara pranidhana and I feel my connection to all living things. The yoga practice itself, the postures, chanting, meditating, communing with others is my self study, my svadyaya. It is a chance to sit quietly with myself and dig deep, exploring and challenging beliefs I hold about myself.
It isn’t an easy practice for me but I am a better, clearer and more content person each time I do it. This one, simple practice is my stool in perfect balance. Now, if only I could translate that to all areas of my life!
Make a commitment (tapas) to observe your kriya yoga stool (svadyaya) and see how balanced it is and next time you step onto your mat, send up a little gratitude to the powers that be (isvara pranidhana) for your place in this big, crazy world.
Namaste, yogis!
Palms together,
Tracy