Self-improvement and Yoga

Kriya yoga, the yoga of action from the yoga sutra (yoga text), explains three areas in which we can work on ourselves.

Tapas

Tapas is the way we can cleanse ourselves and keep ourselves healthy. We get rid of blockages and impurities in the body through yoga practices of asana (yoga poses) and pranayama (breathwork).

Svadhyaya

Through getting to know ourselves we have more awareness of ourselves. This may help us identify poor habits or areas where we need to change so that we can work towards attaining improvement and take action towards this. We may consider characteristics of self-restraint, perseverance, inner peace, relationships with others for example.

Isvarapranidhana

This term means quality of action. Part of this is the practice of yoga, such as asana or pranayama but it extends off the mat as well and in our everyday lives. It can extend to the love we show to ourselves and others and how we carry out our lives, trying to do as well as we can, even if we don’t always know what the fruits of our actions will be.

To participate in life as best as we can we need to work on ourselves. Kriya yoga is a practical branch of yoga that can lead to change in life, for the better.