What is Bhakti Yoga

Transcript

bhakti-yoga is said to be the fast-track to enlightenment in this video I will explain what bhakti-yoga is and how my practice of it has evolved over time [Music] bhakti-yoga is the yoga of the Hindu tradition that offers total surrender and faith to God and develops our capacity to love it is said when realization is reached on this path a devotion that you will love all and hate men it is not about generating love for personal gain bhakti Yoga is said to be the easiest way to reach the divine I would agree with that statement and I will explain why that has been true in my own experience in a little bit as with any teaching there is no right or wrong no better best there's only the way that resonates with you the most and allows you to awaken to express your own highest self for the benefit of all beings in the world and that will be unique for each one of us hi I'm Melissa from yoga with Melissa I teach yin yoga and restorative yoga hatha yoga and yoga nidra I'm a student of the Tibetan Buddhism lineage of Dharma ocean if you new here welcome I put out a video every Monday and Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m. Pacific and Friday at 9:30 a.m. Pacific on my main channel I released the one-hour yoga videos so I'd love to have you as subscribers what bhakti yoga has meant to me over time has changed I've been teaching on YouTube since 2009 so I can look back and explore how my attitude of devotion and surrender and cultivation of love has evolved over this time if you go back to the Vishnu series in 2011 make an H series in 2012 Shiva series in 2012 Lakshmi in 2013 durga in 2013 you see how bhakti was about surrendering to an object outside of myself this stage of my spiritual development it was useful for me to have an archetypal representation of the divine I think perhaps it was because it wasn't possible for me to see these attributes within myself at this time what stands out to me is that these classes do not extend past 2013 and definitely not past 2014 this was a time of great transition for me I was dealing with a lot of personal illness with chronic migraines and our family also made the decision to make a huge move across the country the move allowed me to access new ways of practicing yoga specifically in yoga and meditation that focused much more on taoism buddhism and the philosophies of traditional Chinese medicine you'll see that slowly these changes came into my teaching more and more when I moved to Victoria BC I was introduced to new teachers and new teachings yin yoga was completely different from other kinds of yoga and my yin yoga teacher here Carly Forrest taught me the importance of relaxing yielding letting go and resting as ways of nourishing and nurturing myself through yen practice in 2016 when I was introduced to the teachings of Reggie ray and my meditation teacher here in Victoria BC in McKinley I was introduced to a whole new way of meditating called somatic meditation suddenly meditation was no longer a disciplined and punishing practice there was a lot of softness and compassion that came into the practice over the next few years so through in yoga and somatic meditation what bhakti yoga means to me now has evolved while what bhakti yoga means to me is still really lines up with the traditional definition it has definitely changed it means surrendering to the divine and it probably means that in a much deeper way than before however I don't see the divine as theistic deity external to my being for me now after taking refuge vows and Bodhisattva vows it has evolved into being about surrendering my aggression my agenda my life planning and letting go of my small ego self it's about opening to the awareness clarity wisdom love and vastness of my Higher Self as well as following its guidance in right action and right relationship in my life so you can also see how those teachings on listening to the divine within has always been there in my teachings throughout with classes like listening to your whole body series in 2011 and awakening to your true self series in 2015 for me I have had a reorientation of my attitude when it comes to bhakti-yoga to truly offer devotion to my higher self this has had to translate into right action in my life in a deeper way I try not to punish my body as much as I used to with overwork based on my own ambition and this is something I continually reestablish in my life devotion to my sacred self means respecting my body and life as precious and it takes a great amount of discipline in a world that encouraged us to be more do more achieve more and buy more it's a continual commitment to adequate rest movement and nourishing food and this is what bhakti-yoga means to me in a daily way nowadays if this is something that interests you then we will be focusing on bhakti-yoga in our membership community in July of 2019 and we would love to have you join us for a month of yoga as devotional practice in the way that I've described above if you made it all the way to the end of the video then give yourself a thumbs up and put I surrender to the divine and I would love to know how your practice of yoga meditation has evolved over the years of practice and be sure to because on Wednesday I will be releasing a video about the five attitudes of devotion or the five bumps also known as the five buffs namaste