Tapas

The word tapas means glow or heat and it is believed that through discipline and austerity we can burn out the impure to cleanse the mind and body.  

Traditionally, tapas have been practiced through prolonged immobilized standing or sitting, the bearing of hunger, thirst, cold and heat, and formal silence and fasting.  The intention is to keep the body fit, cleansing all that distorts or deflects our transcendental self.  However, often this practice has led to harmful, self-castigation or self-torture.  Again bringing the yamas, especially satya (truth), ahimsa (non-violence) and brahmacharya (moderation) to the practice of tapas will help to balance this practice.

Echart Tolle explains Tapas in this way; “Tapas can be translated into ‘discipline’ or ‘burning enthusiasm’. This Niyama helps us cultivate a sense of self discipline, passion and courage. Tapas has many meanings and how it’s expressed in you can be different to someone else’s experience. But essentially it is our inner wisdom that we sometimes ignore and it’s the fiery passion that feeds our sense of purpose!”

Another way to experience Tapas, is as an inner energy that fuels our passions, tempers our will and emotions, or guides our path with light.  Heat warms and can also purify.  It is often tapas that appears as an aid when we deepen our practice and feel inspired to let go of a habit.  My personal experience of letting go of eating meats and drinking alcohol, I attribute to the deepening of my yoga practice that ignited tapas.  I never had to “work hard” at letting them go, they just drifted away.  I’ve heard many similar stories from other practitioners. They expressed how things seemed to just “fall away” in their lives.

As you explore Tapas this month, let it be connected to the springtime warming of the earth, as seeds begin to grow and develop.  How are you planting seeds of wellbeing, healing or self-care?  Build your tapas practice to find the fuel you need to move from langhana (languishing) or to calm things when they become too brahmana (active) to find some balance in your energy and life.

A month, 30 days, can be just what one needs to create the alchemy of transformation!