Sun. Moon. Day. Night. Light. Shadow. Good. Bad. Health. Sickness. Love. Hate. All life must dance in the duality of nature. Though Hebrew scriptures and Persian prophets have alluded to the duality within our own being; with Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine contributing different philosophies that speculated on the idea of a soul with the mind being separate from the physical body; René Descartes' theory, also referred to as the Cartesian view, is the most well known for distinguishing consciousness/self-awareness from the brain's intelligence. One of the most ancient texts on Indic philosophy, Patanjali's compilation of the Yoga Sutras, talks about something called purusa, which refers to an inner consciousness, and loosely translated, soul.
Though known as one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy, Patanjali's Yoga was taught through a set of 196 Sutras or threads, which are aphorisms to guide in the practice of meditation. The technique has very little to do with the physical practice we attribute to the word yoga, and is more inherently designed to distinguish the dualism of matter and consciousness. Descartes' idea that the body is unthinking yet extended into material form, and yet the self can think without extension of bodily matter follows the Greek psyche as soul and the concept that it is the thinking, cognitive part separate from the physical body. In Yogic tradition, thoughts, feelings, emotions, and memories are considered part of matter and the physical world, or prakrti, and attributed to brain's neurological functioning.
Yogis identify a pure consciousness, or purusa that is the life force that is eternal and seeking liberation from the bondage of the body, the material world or prakrti. The Yoga Sutras provide the student a way to realize their own purusa through a dedicated practice of mental exercises. Needless to say, the Yoga of Patanjali's day is very different than the Westernized version. We mainly focus on only one of the practices in the eight limbs of Astanga Yoga that his works are based: the asana or poses. And yet, just this one area provides unbelievable abilities for us to learn to deal with nature's dualities better by helping us realize and deal with the dualities in our own physical body.
Concentrated effort in areas as simple as contraction and extension plunge us into the depths of our own duality. Over time, we learn to work within these dualities and gain repose with things like keeping the trunk of the body lifted upwards even if the knees bend the body downward; or keeping the root of the thighs rotated inward while the hip joints rotate outward; at least that's what I'm hoping for. Eventually, the asana practice gives us a glimpse of that purer consciousness that is free from the mind's incessant chatter and weight of the body. It is a brief escape from our physical bondage, but it is enough to help us understand the amazing freedom that the Yoga tradition can offer us.
