Swami Muktibodhananda in his foreword to Hatha Yoga Pradipika:
“Often when we practice self-control and self-discipline , we create more mental problems in our mind and personality. If we are to take the statistics of patients in mental hospitals, we found that most of them are religious, because self-discipline and self-control split personality.”
Quite interesting? What do you think?
I would be interested in reading more of that
one way too look at it is that when w try too hard to control or discipline ourselves it can create conflict. If we think “I cant do that, I must do this” you now have two opposites, good and bad, right and wrong, yes and no. This can lead to resentment. Take a diet for example, many people try to force a certain diet on themselves that they are not ready for, ive done this in the past, and often times the diet don’t work or they break the diet because they cant take the restrictions no more. Forcing a decision that one is not ready to make can just cause more frustration. In the AYP writings yogani talk of how changes are easier to make in the inner silence, which is one of the reasons he suggests people start out with meditation first, where as others suggest starting at the yamas and niyamas
The moral foundations are helpful suggestions. They are like friends to your practice. They help. They reduce our black marks and increase good “marks”. They help to remove obstacles. They bring benefits.
If your mind is giving you splits. Ask your mind “WHO CARES?”
so they can help to dissolve obstacles…and so on.
[QUOTE=Brother Neil;32644] In the AYP writings yogani talk of how changes are easier to make in the inner silence, which is one of the reasons he suggests people start out with meditation first, where as others suggest starting at the yamas and niyamas[/QUOTE]
For the reason stated in my thread (split of personality) Hatha Yoga Oradipika suggest to start with asanas.
[QUOTE=Brother Neil;32644 If we think “I cant do that, I must do this” you now have two opposites, good and bad, right and wrong, yes and no. This can lead to resentment. Take a diet for example, many people try to force a certain diet on themselves t[/QUOTE]
reminds me your thread SO WHAT IS NATURAL:)
We are fighting the body every day.
We wan to sleep - but stay late at night to watch stupid tv or read the book, or sit on the yogaforum:)
we do not want to eat, but we eat because we invited tot he lunch or party,
we afraid of pain but we do tatoos because it is cool.
We fight our mind every day:
we do not punch annoying person in the face, because our evolution and culture and police restrain our mind.
we do not mate with everyone we like, because we restrain our mind with moral principles.
we lie all the times a little even we know that we not suppose to…
Does this mean that we inevitable go crazy because we restrain our mind?
So a yes. On the Yamas and Niyamas.
Well to incorporate them nicely maybe one could ponder a while on their benefits?
Spiritual practice cuts the natural (organic) bonds between our emotional, intellectual, and will nature. This is necessary in order to raise above these conditionings. The moral preparations are necessary to balance these aspects before the separation happens. Otherwise, the most powerful nature will become dominant and the disciple becomes a tyrant, a cold hearted intellectual or an emotional slave of something.
If a climber dies on a mountain, who is to be blamed ? The art of climbing, or the climber who went there unprepared ?
CityMonk - I believe you’ve taken the quote out of context. Was it really written about Yama and Niyama, or you applied it in that way?
In any case, one of the Yamas is moderation.
One of the Niyamas is contentment.
It’s hard to over-do anything when practicing those two.
With love,
Ben
[QUOTE=CityMonk;32719]
we do not punch annoying person in the face, because our evolution and culture and police restrain our mind.
[/QUOTE]
well as long as you dont tell anyone you can come over and be annoying and I will punch you in the face if it makes you feel better 
[QUOTE=Hubert;32745]
If a climber dies on a mountain, who is to be blamed ? The art of climbing, or the climber who went there unprepared ?[/QUOTE]
LOL:)) Indeed!
Namaste, Hubert!