May 11, 2026 - The Descent of Consciousness
We continued to wade in the wondrous waters of the gunas this week. Reflecting on our previous classes, it occurred to me that while it’s helpful to know the nature of each guna, it may be equally important to know what it feels and looks like when we begin to transition between one quality and another. That is, how do we know when the nature of our being is shifting? So rather than shifting right into talking about the third guna, sattva, we explored the state between rajas and sattva.
For answers, we turned to Alain Daniélou’s The Myths and Gods of India. He defines rajas as the guna of existence, that is, rajas is the primary energy of the material world constantly creating and recreating itself - an ever-transforming reality. Sattva he defines as world consciousness, the intelligence balancing the qualities of transformation (rajas) and destruction (tamas) so that the world can sustain itself. Using his wording, we returned to the question of what marks the shift from rajas (existence) to sattva (consciousness).
Daniélou describes this as “consciousness within existence,” or sattva within rajas. I like to think of it as the descent of consciousness into existence, where the greater forms of intelligence guiding our material world slowly start to trickle in to encourage a state of greater harmony and clear-sightedness. This happens, the yogis argued, within the four structures of the mind, the mind being the most subtle part of our material existence and the seat of our consciousness (not to be confused with Consciousness - that comes later!). These four structures are as follows:
1. Manas - The sensing aspect of the mind involved in deliberation and discussion
2. Buddhi - The intellect. It decides and chooses. This is the most subtle, elevated part of the mind.
3. Citta - The “mind stuff,” where memories and patterns are laid down.
4. Ahamkara - The ego or “I-ness” which projects a reality of separate existence
We could argue that within the context of a modern yoga practice, it’s when we start to pay attention to these subtler structures of the mind and notice their presence within our existence that indicates a descent of sattva into rajas. Becoming aware of these mental structures, noticing how we interpret information, how we make choices, the ways in which our patterned thoughts influence us, and how we separate ourselves from others - all of these serve to make consciousness the main focus of our lives rather than the concerns of our physical existence. To that end, we explored a focused practice attuning to the presence of these four mental structures during asana, pranayama, and savasana, emphasizing disciplined breathing throughout.
We began with:
Sama Vrtti pranayama - softly inhaling and exhaling through the nose for the same amount of time. We
Warming up the spine and limbs low to the mat, including: cat and cow, side stretch and strengthen, and gentle rotation, as well as weight bearing and mobilizing in the shoulders and hips in adho mukha svanasana (downward dog), planks, modified bhujangasana (cobra pose), and small squats and forward folds.
We again focused on pada and hasta bandha, the hand and foot seals for a strong foundation, maintaining equal contact and strong arches in the hands and feet.
From there, we continued on with sama vrtti guiding the practice, moving through a straightforward sequence of poses.
A lunging series beginning with anjaneyasana (low lunge) to high lunge or crescent pose with a twist.
A warrior series moving through parsvakonasana (side angle pose), virabhadrasana II (warrior II pose), and trikonasana (triangle pose).
After this series, we came into down dog at the wall for lengthening and strengthening.
Afterwards, we sat for a dedicated breathing practice in either sama vrtti or ujjayi pranayama. We focused on maintaing an even count in the breath as well as adding the soft hissing sound, like fogging up a mirror, while nasal breathing. Sama vrtti is the foundation of pranayama and is a wonderful asana practice breath. Ujjayi has been favored as a practice breath in modern yoga due to its lightly heating, stimulating nature. However, it isn’t necessary.
Following that, we went into a series of hip mobilizations and twists both over and off of the bolster under the hips. We concluded with a long savasana.
Through the practice, we continually brought awareness to the four aspects of the mind that make themselves known in practice. We talked about manas; how it’s constantly negotiating all the sensory information in the body and the teacher’s instruction. We talked about buddhi, how we make decisions over and over in the practice not only about how to incorporate the teaching, but also personal choices about whether to push or pull back, to do the thing we know is challenging or to return to our patterns. And in that vein, we encountered citta, our patterns of thought and behavior, and how they shape our practice. We all have our tendencies and working against them can in turn present a challenge to ahamkara, our ego. It may contradict the way we see ourselves, it may frustrate us and bring up a variety of emotions.
This is all to say, our consciousness is deeply involved in the practice. Yoga is an artful form of living, but it’s also a form of mental cultivation. There is no yoga practice without the mind, as it’s part of our lived reality.
Thank you, all. See you next week :)
Saprema