Niyama: The Personal Observances of Yoga For Dynamic Personality

By Nagesh Hiregoudar

The principles and practices of traditional Ashtanga Yoga Curriculum of sage Patanjali is great contribution for the development of the human resources based on the synchronization of the energies of the mind and body. The second limb of this system is called as Niyama or the personal observances. These practices are very effective in the development of the traits of great willpower, sharp intellect and stable emotions for the dynamic personality. These practices are useful to harness the inner strength of the yoga practitioners for the greater endurance and competency in the journey of the path of Yoga.

They are:
1) Soucha is a practice of cleanliness both for the mind and body. This principle is useful for the purification of the impurities of psychosomatic nature. The mind generally affected by the mental toxins like anger, greed, lust, delusion, pride and jealousy. These impurities of the mind create lots of mental instability affecting the concentration as well as calmness. The Cleanliness practices are of great help to develop the mental serenity, peasant condition of the mind, one pointedness and the ability to control our senses in order to gain the higher efficiency for the productive life.

2) Santosha is the practice of contentment which is an essential quality for the inner peace and harmony. This practice brings the great joy and inner satisfaction.

3) Tapas is the practice of the austerity in which the body, mind and senses are a trained to develop the greater endurance and capacity. The development of the will power is the output of the intense practice of this principle. The practice of tapas also contributes for the strong commitment for any of our endeavors in the life with the sense of potentiality and energetic feeling all the time.

4) Swadhyaya is the practice of self study which is means of constant development of the intellect. For dynamic personality sharp intellect is an essential feature in order to develop the capacity of proper discriminative wisdom which is always helpful for good decision making ability.

5) IshwarPranidhana is the practice of the devotion to the divine nature. This is one of the most effective means to keep the stability of the emotions. This principle is helpful to bring the harmony with our mind and its interactions with emotions.

In a nutshell, the regular practice of personal observances of a Yoga training program as outlined in Patanjali Yoga Sutras are also contributing to form the basis of ethical life and the development of the balanced personality with dynamism to enjoy the productive and fruitful life.

Nagesh Hiregoudar is ERYT 500.He did his masters in Yogic Science from Mangalore University, India. He is well versed in Yoga philosophy and practices and regularly contributes his teachings through writings Blogs and Articles. He leads Yoga teacher training courses in India with   Ojashvi Yoga Shala. For further reading Visit @   Ojashvi Yoga Shala Blogs