Episode 29: Accepting Pain as Help for Purification

Accepting Pain as Help for Purification.

This podcast episode dives into the yogic niyama (ethical observance) of tapas. 'Tapas' translates as 'to burn,' or 'to heat,' and it is the concept of accepting pain/discomfort as help for purification.

Yoga Sutra 2:43 says, "By austerity (tapas), impurities of body and senses are destroyed and occult powers gained."

Tapas manifests as our willingness to embrace challenging experiences, practices and relationships as help for purification through our understanding that we can endure discomfort and come out on the other side of it more self aware and more spiritually awakened. It is the art of undergoing 'suffering' to purify the mind and body so we may see things as they are with more clarity and sensitivity. It is the deep work of moving towards our own discomfort to learn from it, rather than continually running away from it....

A few tangible examples of tapas are: Motivating yourself to get on your yoga mat and practice even when you would rather sleep in. Embracing the feeling of being triggered when someone insults you and still somehow finding compassion for that person (rather than returning the negativity). Tapas is stepping into your growth edge creatively, even when you don't feel ready or fully confident, and offering your best with impeccability regardless of your own resistance to being seen.

Tapas is the conscious effort to slough off the impressions in the mind from the external world and clarify our own awareness through physcial practices, mental discipline and spiritual understanding so that every experience we have can lend itself to self realization.

The outro music at the end of the podcast “Call On,” is original music produced by DJ Karishtan. It is available for download on iTunes and Spotify. Follow us on Instagram: @walkingdharma @djkarishtan @kristencoyleyoga