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ORIGIN Columnist | Shiva Rea The Practice of


Surrender W


hen I was an Ashtanga student in Mysore, I loved walking to Pattabhi Jois’s yoga shala (school) for 4:30 a.m.


practice. In the quiet darkness before dawn, the side streets would be dotted with the neighborhood’s sari-clad women, kneeling upon the earth in front of their homes drawing rangoli, intricate sacred diagrams (also called yantras) made by sifting rice flour between the fingers. Simple or elaborate, these offerings were always vibrant and destined to be erased as the streets filled with traffic. I was inspired by the women’s dedication, creativity, and lack of attachment to their beautiful creations. As one mother told me with a smile and an expansive wave of her hand, “These offerings remind me of the big picture, which helps me take care of the small things with love.”


Ishvara pranidhana—surrendering (pranidhana) to a higher source (Ishvara)–– is a “big picture” yoga practice: It initiates a sacred shift of perspective that helps us to remember, align with, and receive the grace of being alive.


Many modern Westerners have only experienced surrendering to a higher source as a last resort, when we’ve confronted seemingly insurmountable problems. But in the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali transforms “surrender” from this emergency response into an essential ongoing practice.


For Patanjali, Ishvara pranidhana is a potent method for dissolving the endless agitations of the mind, and thus a means to the ultimate unified state of yoga. Ishvara pranidhana shifts our perspective from the obsession with “I” that causes so much of the mind’s distraction and creates a sense of separation from our Source. Since Ishvara pranidhana focuses on the sacred ground of being, it reunites us with our true Self. Ishvara pranidhana provides a pathway through the obstacles of our ego toward our divine nature—grace, peace, unconditional love, clarity, and freedom.


Ishvara pranidhana is not about what your yoga can do for you, but about approaching your practice in the spirit of offering.


The Face of God


To practice Ishvara pranidhana, we must first start with our own intimate connection to the universe. In yoga, this is your Ishta-Devata. The yogic concept of Ishta- Devata recognizes that we each have our own, personal relationship with the Divine, and that this serves as a powerful means of yoga (unification). Traditionally, many sadhus (monks) in India have revered the god Shiva in his role as the archetypal yogi. But Sri T. Krishnamacharya, probably the most influential figure in the spread of yoga to the West, advocated that Western yoga practitioners use their own language, imagery, and names of the sacred to deepen their connection to Ishvara.


I have always been naturally drawn to Indian culture, but I’m sure I was also influenced by my Catholic grandmother’s devotion to Mother Mary. Your Ishta- Devata can also take a more abstract form; my father, an artist, describes light as his way of seeing the Divine in nature, in people’s eyes, in art. In yoga, Ishvara is understood as being beyond one form yet expressed through all forms, and thus is often represented as the sacred syllable Om, as pure vibration. Your Ishta- Devata is the form that vibration takes within your own heart.


My experience of my inner teacher is that, as my attunement to this inner sense of direction grows, it increasingly guides my thoughts, speech, and actions.


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