Andrea West

Teaching theme this week is working towards releasing the obstacle that doesn’t allow us to see who we truly are. Avidya is the main obstacle, this is the inability to seeing the truth of who we are. The mind aspect of ahamkar has the ability to create a false sense of who we are. Ahamkar creates another aspect of who we are - a “me aspect” which likes, dislikes, and fears. This creates a separate sense of “me” - a subject and an object; that which it’s seeing/ experiencing. For example; “I...

If we don’t overcome them, we stay with the obstacles and they stay with us too. In yoga we don’t see them with the five senses but with direct sense at the navel centre. The obstacles may not seem that apparent but there is a fogginess in our awareness, which can be linked to our personality. When we feel less bright and alive we can’t get a direct sense of the obstacles lying within. We would then need some intensity and intention, to overcome this and get somewhere brighter. Some obstacles...

When a thought lands inside and stays inside it creates an attachment; this is because of Asmita. The Asmita is the sense of self the “I am”part of mind. Some thoughts that aren’t related to ego sense stay outside of ourselves. But when a thought goes in and stays there is the attachment to “me”. And this creates a density, “a tension,” a blockage in the subtle pranic body and we can experience this in the physical body too. We can experience a thought that doesn’t fall inside and let it go...