The Yoga Tutor

Samaskaras - Subconscious Conditioning
[ Excerpt from The Science of Yoga, page 456 ]

At the heart of yoga psychology lays the concept of samskara, which I have already briefly introduced to you in some previous sections. The comprehension of this yogic concept is fundamental to the yogic approach to mental health and the deeper understanding of ourselves.

Samskaras are conditioned, patterned behaviours. This conditioning is firmly rooted in our subconscious, which is also called the chitta. These conditionings are what cause us to react and to respond to any and all external stimulus in an automatic and habitual way.

However, these responses of ours may not necessarily be correct, or rather, they may not be based upon proper perception or correct understanding. They are merely how we have been conditioned to react; conditioned to view things; conditioned to think; all as a result of a whole host of cultural and societal influences that we have encountered while growing up and while engaging in our society throughout our lives. It is told that these samskaras can even remain through successive incarnations.

Most of us largely move through life in automatic fashion. We engage in much of our day-to-day activities (routines) with little or no conscious thought. We are on auto-pilot so-to-speak, with the occasional external stimulation which calls our conscious attention to the forefront.

Much of how we perceive the world around us, many of the attitudes and opinions that we hold, and many of the responses to situations, people, ideas and events are a direct result of conditioning, and quite often this very conditioning is based upon misunderstanding, incomplete information and often erroneous views.

[Continued...]


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NOTE: This yoga article is an excerpt from The Science of Yoga, an online yoga training program with streaming yoga videos and 600 pages of step-by-step yoga instruction.


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Learn More About
The Science of Yoga Course

Foreword
About Yoga Home Study
Section 1 - Getting Started
Section 2 - Foundations of Yoga (1)
Section 3 - Foundations of Yoga (2)
Section 4 - Classical Ashtanga Yoga
Section 5 - Modern Yoga
Section 6 - The History of Yoga
Section 7 - Yama Niyama Introduction
Section 8 - Awareness
Section 9 - The Yoga Diet
Section 10 - Yoga Philosophy
Section 11 - The Yoga of Perception
Section 12 - The Yoga Path
Section 13 - The Virtue of Restraint
Section 14 - The Classical Yoga Texts
Section 15 - Yoga Cleansing
Section 16 - The Law of Cause and Effect
Section 17 - The Yoga of Digestion
Section 18 - Yoga Psychology
Section 19 - Yoga Psychology (Part 2)
Section 20 - Yoga Psychology (Part 3)
Section 21 - Yoga Psychology (Part 4)
Section 22 - Controlling The Senses
Section 23 - The Higher Stages of Yoga
Section 24 - Higher Stages of Yoga (Part 2)