According to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, there are 5 Kleshas, or causes of suffering, that we encounter in our lives. These “poisons” on the path of yoga work to cloud our mind and perspective, drawing us away from our true essence and inner self. When we learn to identify these causes of suffering and work past them, we make our way toward Moksha Shastra, or liberation, which is the ultimate goal of the yoga process. For me, each these causes of suffering tend to show up in different forms on pretty much a daily basis! It is a constant state of recognizing and adjusting to work through each of these. It is a humbling reminder of my humanity that despite years of practice, I have not come close to removing these from my path, and I understand that I likely will never completely rid myself of suffering. But I do believe the practice and what I have learned from it has helped to to lessen my suffering in some regard, at least some of the time on some days!
Avidya
Avidya translates to mean ignorance, or nescience. It is the belief that our perspectives are the truth, and the only truth. It causes a closed-mindedness. The yoga practice reminds up that our views are not reality, but simply our own individual perspective. Imagine you are at a museum, looking at a piece of famous art. To you, the art may be beautiful, a masterpiece. Yet to someone else, it may seem worthless. Perhaps even elementary. Neither is right or wrong- they are simply different. To argue without seeing the others perspective often leads to nothing but agitation. Working through avidya allows us to recognize that others see things differently than us, and that is okay, because, in the end, we come from the same place, and return to the same place! In the yoga practice, this is applicable in remembering that one style or type of yoga, or variation of asana, isn’t better or worse than another. All yoga leads to liberation, and the path that works for one individual may not be the same as the path that works for another. Keeping an open mind allows us to move past the suffering we inflict upon ourselves that OUR way is the ONLY way.
Asmita
Asmita means ego. How often do we walk into the yoga room and have the teacher remind us to “leave our egos at the door” Asmita leads to a limited awareness focusing on the “I”, and thinking that the world revolves around the self. When we think that everything is based around us, we often end up upset and disappointed when things don’t work out the way we want them to. An inflated ego can also draw us out of our inner awareness. For example, in a yoga practice, our ego can often pull us into variations of asana that may actually hurt us because we feel like they are “harder”. If we are able to step away from ego, we are able to tune into our body and inner self to see what we really need on a given day, regardless of what others in the room are practicing. Plus, who wants to hang around an egomaniac?!
Raga
Raga, or attachment, leads us to clinging. To hanging onto things that are pleasurable, no matter what. The problem with this mindset is that these things are impermanent. Clinging to pleasure leads us away from mindfulness. It creates fear and anxiety. When we let go of attachment, we can be fully immersed in the pleasure of an experience while we are experiencing it, rather than constantly worrying about when it will end. As I spoke to my therapist the other day, she asked me how things were, and I said “they are good, for now” She said, why don’t we work on getting rid of the “for now”? It is very hard to enjoy things being “good” if you’re constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, for something to go wrong. Instead, just be with it!
Dvesha
Dvesha, or aversion is basically the opposite side of the coin to raga. It is the avoidance of unpleasant or disagreeable situations, people, or things. When we associate something with being unpleasant, we spend our lives in fear of it. It creates a cloud in our mind which escalates and grows. Often, as we continue to avoid, the cloud actually becomes even worse- despite the fact that what we are constructing in our mind has not even happened, or may not even happen- BECAUSE we are avoiding it! While SEEKING out displeasure may not be as easy of a concept to grasp, if we work to accept that there will be displeasure and allow it to arise when it does, we are able to also recognize the impermanence of it. To process and deal with it and let it move past, so that the cloud of anxiety and fear associated with dvesha can evaporate rather than take over.
Abhinivesha
Abhinivesha is the fear of death. To me, this can be the most challenging of the kleshas to overcome. But we do so by living fully, with an open heart, with love, in each and every moment. And we remember that we are not just our body, we are not just our mind, but we are something so much more than that. And remembering that when death comes, that deepest, truest part of us will continue to exist.