Hi everyone!
I recently have gotten interested in yoga in order to better my health and fitness. what I have noticed is that the more you take care of your body, the better you feel about yourself. Now, I don’t like to resort to big changes in my body such as plastic surgery but I do like to improve what I can. That’s why I’ve been considering using Crest’s Whitestrips. Those strips that you put on your teeth to make them whiter. Has anybody else used them yet? I heard that they make your teeth pearly white and I think that would be just another confidence booster! So many times I have wondered if my teeth were a little yellow, and now I can make sure they’re not~ Please feel free to reply! 
yogagrl–
Inhave only been doing(and trying to live) yoga for 5 yrs. now. I also care about improvement in all areas and since I am in my late 40’s and have not yet kicked the coffee/tea habit completely, I have a little staining on my teeth—I have had good luck with the strips and the gel that you brush on, PLUS I also found a toothpaste that really does the trick–can I say it om this board?–It is advance white but it has to be the on that says Brilliant Smile or brilliant something–I am too lazy to go downstairs and look-- :oops: --the combo of this and the strips or gel has REALLY helped.
What types or type of yoga do you like? I have tried a few and find I choose what I seem to need that day, or week–a faster flow type series like ashtanga or a slower more meditative, like the class I take once a week. I know there are some people who will be very upset about my use of terms, but I am still learning all about it.
Maybe this topic is a good one for a discussion of the Niyamas of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. The Niyamas are the second of the 8 limbs of Classical Yoga (Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi) (YS II.29). Niyamas relate to one’s relationship with one’s self. See Stiles Yoga Sutras of Patanjali II.32 - "The precepts also consist of 5 principles: purity, contentment, self-discipline and purification, self-study, and devotion to the Lord of Yoga.
The comments in this post reflect a concern with the relationship to the physical body, purity (or cleanliness), contentment with one’s physical nature, daily purification and contemplation of the relationship of self to the physical body.
I would like to share the sutras which came to mind for me (translations taken from Stiles).
II, 41 “From the purification of one’s essence cheerfulness arises, and with it, one-pointed concentration, mastery of the senses, and the capacity for sustaining the vision of the True Self.”
Reflection - who am I? am i my physical body? am i the teeth which decay, the face which ages and wrinkles? What is it about me which is constant and does not change? Who am I? How do I feel about my appearance, my thoughts, even my feelings which also change daily?
YS II,3 “There are five primal causes of suffering: ignorance of your True Self and the value of spirituality; egoism and its self-centeredness; attachment to pleasure; aversion to pain; and clinging to life out of fear of death”
YS II, 5 “Ignorance (Avidya) is the view that the ephemeral, the impure, the pain of suffering - that which is not the Self - is permanent, pure , pleasurable, and the True Self.”
finally - YS I, 17 “Thorough knowledge is accompanied by inquiry into its four forms: analytical thinking about an object, meditative insights on thoughts, reflections into the nature of bliss, and inquiry into one’s essential purity.”
When Mukunda was asked (posted in Q&A 1/12/03 topic Yoga Sutras - see http://www.yogaforums.com/yogaBB/viewtopic.php?t=296) about YS I,17 reflections into bliss and inquiry into one’s purity he responded: “This sutra is a reflection coming out of previous sutras on nonattachment. What one detaches from is the concept of experiencing yourself as vacillations. Anything that changes cannot be the True Self. It must be some aspect of personality, which is subject to reactions to thoughts and actions. This sutra talks about the attainment of thorough knowledge, which is gained by reflections into your nature as bliss, and inquiry into one’s essential nature as unchanged purity. Thorough knowledge is that which arises from the Self as pure consciousness, it does not arise from the thinking instrument we call the mind. This type of knowledge is not subject to change; it is of the nature of true contentment gained from just being you. Good question, continue thinking about that which is untouched by thoughts.”
Reflection- If I am not distracted by the movement of time and the many changes which accompany my experience of “Chandra”, perhaps the capacity to focus my attention will improve and i will experience the state of Yoga (Citta Vritti Nirodha). May the lessons of my teacher sustain my tapasya as I stumble and fall again and again upon the rock of my own avidya.
Thank you for this opportunity to continue my study of the Yoga Sutras and reflect upon my own relationship with the body/mind. I am interested in discussing YS with any who have a like interest.
Namaste,
Chandra