Niyama: Tapas (Sanskrit)

My description of tapas would be deep meditation and achieving self-realization. To be able to put your body at ease and have solitude with myself is the goal. Keeping my breathing regulated as well as keeping my mind from running around is the idea. While practicing yoga/while I am meditating, to practice Tapas I relax every part of my body and picture my self in a dark room. I think of everything that upset or bothered me that week, all my feelings being slowly released through my fingertips until I am at peace with my self. I am able to get my body to feel lighter and come out of my meditation in a better mood.

Tapas has helped my life improve because with school, family, and sports I can become very stressed and tense. I used to not know how to relax how to take my mind of things. A few years back I began practicing yoga. Starting with a deep stretch and releasing endorphins then finishing up with deep breathing, closing my eyes and blacking everything out, I have been able to capture the essence of true relaxation. This has really helped me because till then, I had yet to find something that could work for me. I would try deep breaths but I felt that doing that just worked me up. Tapas has captured everything I enjoy about meditation. To be able to find solitude, come to conclusions with myself and have clarity in my thoughts.

The steps I can now take towards embracing this principle in my life is that when I feel that I am beginning to get worked up, write them down. Then by the end of the day I will have a list of things that upset me. The next step will be to rip the paper apart then practice my meditation or tapas and continue the process I mentioned earlier. To feel as if I am releasing everything bad from my hands and to come at ease with my self. I’ve taught my self these steps because relaxing and achieving a deep meditation rids the body from bad toxins that other people release on us or all of the negative energy others give off towards one another, I will be practice Tapas every week because I believe that relaxing and meditation is very important to practice daily. Exercise, meditation and feeding the body with clean, natural foods is the best way to live life.