Empty Your Cup: Best of 2023

Articles categorised by topic

Note: These next few articles will be devoted to answering questions asked by readers. Please submit your questions by clicking the button below.

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I've recently joined Empty Your Cup to delve into Yoga philosophy, and want to thank you for the level of detail you are able to share. While I'm gaining valuable insights, I'm struggling to locate specific articles for each topic. Could you kindly provide a categorized list of articles to facilitate easier access?

Om Sri Gurubhyo Namah. Salutations to all the teachers.

For the final article of 2023, we will take a short break from the current discussion on karma to revisit the topics we have discussed since the beginning of this newsletter, now more than two years ago, as well as the ten most popular articles of 2023.

To all those who have been reading since the beginning, thank you for your engagement, your thoughtful questions, and for sharing this newsletter with others.

To all of those who have recently joined, welcome! I hope that you have found these articles to be helpful, and that you are able to use the discussions here in your own practice.

The purpose of this post is to serve as a sort of appendix, where you can find articles on the particular topics that you want to dig further into. Additionally, the most popular articles of 2023 have been tagged with a ❤️ symbol. Please note, I have not included all the articles here - only the ones which have a focus on a particular topic. The best way to find all the articles is to start at the beginning, and click through using the “Next” button at the bottom of each page.

Yoga is generally sequential in nature - that is, since it builds on itself, it is helpful to start at the beginning and expand your practice from there.

However, as we deepen our practice, and want to delve into particular areas, it can be helpful to have a place to go from where you can find the specific answers you are looking for. I hope that you may find this article helpful enough to bookmark, so that you can use it to find more detail on particular topics as you continue to explore Yoga.

As always, if you have any questions, you can respond directly to this email, or submit them directly by clicking on the button below:

Yoga Fundamentals

Introduction to Yoga

• The Four Purushaarthas: What’s the purpose of life? ❤️

• The Four Yogas: How do I become free from suffering? ❤️

The 25 Tattvas: Categorizing the Universe

• The ten Indriyas: Your senses create the world

• The mind: What’s going on in my head?

• The three gunas: “You” are just nature

• The Purusha (aka the Self): What is neither known nor unknown?

Frameworks to classify mental activity

• The 5 Bhumis: What is your ground?

• The 5 Vrittis: Mental whirlpools

• The 5 Kleshas: Mental colourings

The twin foundation of Yoga

• Abhyaas: The 4 Keys to Practice

• Vairaagya: Letting Go

Calming the restless mind

Foundational techniques

• Nine obstacles and eka-tattva-abhyaas: How do I stop feeling this way?

• The Brahmavihaaras: The Four Attitudes ❤️

• On Boundaries

• The logic of equanimity: Why “it’s your fault” makes no sense

• Cultivating mental calm: Six techniques

• Levels of intensity of the kleshas: Clearing the mind

Kriya Yoga: Increasing will-power

• Tapas and Svaadhyaay: I want to do it, but I can’t bring myself to do it: Part I

• Ishvarpranidhaan: I want to do it, but I can’t bring myself to do it: Part II

The Eight Limbed Yoga: Ashtaanga Yoga

The Problem: Avidya (aka The Primal Ignorance)

• Impermanence and Impurity: How we lie to ourselves: Part I

• Suffering and Non-self: How we lie to ourselves: Part II

The Solution: The Eight-Limbed Yoga

• Strengthening vivek: Uncovering the Self

The External Limbs

Yamas: External observances

• Ahimsa (non-violence): Why should I be good to others?

• Satya (truthfulness): Why should I tell the truth?

• Satya (how the Yogi speaks): How should I speak?

• Asteya, Brahmacharya, Aparigraha: Mine, mine, mine.

• The Yamas as the Great Vow: What’s your excuse?

Niyamas: Personal conduct

• Shauch (cleanliness): Staying clean

• Santosh (contentment)

  • Trishnaa: The Great Thirst

  • Santosh: How to be content

• Tapas: “Talk does not cook rice.”

• Svaadhyaay: Question everything ❤️

• Ishvarpranidhaan

  • Who or what is Ishvar: The Teacher of the Ancients

  • Ishvarpranidhaan in practice: How to stop ruminating

Using the Yamas and Niyamas in your daily practice

• Keeping track

• Labelling thoughts: Classifying “negative” thoughts

• Pratipakshabhaavanaa: Cultivating the garden

Aasana: Posture/Seat

• Sankocha: Releasing tension

• How should I sit?

Praanaayaam: Lengthening the life force

• Basics of Praanaayaam

  • How to breathe

  • Fundamentals of Praanaayaam

  • Nadi shodhana: Clear nose, clear mind

• Shatkarmas

  • Dhauti, Basti, Neti: Cleansing techniques

  • Nauli: Awakening the Digestive Fire

  • Kapaalabhaati: How to decongest your nose

  • Traataka: Steady eyes, steady mind

• Using the breath to adjust how you feel

  • Samavritti Praanaayaam: “Box Breathing”

  • How to press the brakes: Breathing for calm

  • How to press the accelerator: Breathing for energy

• Traditional Praanaayaam: The eight kumbhakas

  • Suryabheda: Secret of the Sun

  • Ujjayi and Seetkaari: Breathing with sound

  • Sheetali: Cooling down with the breath

  • Bhastrikaa: Heating up with the breath

  • Bhraamari: Hum to breathe better

  • Moorchhaa and Plaavini: Hold your breath

• Non-traditional Praanaayaam

  • Vilom: Irritated? Agitated? Interrupt your breath

  • Anulom, Pratilom, Anulom Vilom: Taming the Praana

• Advanced Praanaayaam

  • The Fourth Praanic Movement: Beyond the breath

  • Praanayaam to weaken karma: Weakening the veil of karma

Pratyaahaar: Sense withdrawal

• How do I deal with distractions?

• Why should I withdraw my senses?

• Four methods to withdraw the senses

• What is a sensation?

• Levels of Pratyaahaar: Mountains are no longer mountains, waters no longer waters

The Internal Limbs (samyam, aka “meditation”)

The following articles are about what is colloquially known as “meditation.” In Yoga, this is the sequential practice of the three internal limbs - Dhaaranaa, Dhyaan, and Samaadhi.

Dhaaranaa: Concentration

• Concentration, the beginning of meditation

• Breaking the cycle of thought

Dhyaan: Meditation

• From concentration to meditation

• Meditation as non-effort

• Weakening intrusive thoughts

• Intentional cultivation of klishta-vrittis: The cure for the pain is in the pain

• Three methods to reveal hidden thought patterns: Making the unconscious conscious

• Internal triggers, how meditation improves focus: It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me

• How meditation leads to happiness and resilience: How sticky is your mind?

Samaadhi: Meditative absorption

• What is Samaadhi?: When the mind disappears

• Levels of Samaadhi: What “going deeper” into meditation means ❤️

• Two levels of perception: We see the world through a curtain of thought

• Savitark and Nirvitark Samapatti: The finger pointing at the moon is not the moon

• Pravritti and Nivritti: Sink your speech into the mind, and your mind into the intellect

• Savichaar and Nivichaar Samapatti: “All these modifications are mere words, nothing but verbal handles."

  • Merging back into the ahamkaar: The thief escapes by climbing the stairs

  • Merging further back into Prakriti: The path is like the edge of a razor

• Aanand Samaadhi: The Bliss Samaadhi

• Asmitaa Samaadhi: Phantom Consciousness

• Asamprajnaata Samaadhi: The “other” Samaadhi

Advanced Topics

• Ritambhara Prajnaa: Truth-bearing wisdom: Part I

• The light of compassion: Truth-bearing wisdom: Part II

• The road to Samaadhi: You can only believe in what you don’t know

• Paravairaagya: Use the boat to cross, and then leave it behind.

• Samaadhi Parinaam and Nirodha Parinaam: The Three Transformations: Part I

• The interplay between Samaadhi and Nirodha Parinaam: The Three Transformations: Part II

• The inner workings of Samaadhi

• Ekaagrataa Parinaam: The illusion of “focus”

• Dharma Megha Samaadhi: The Raincloud Samaadhi

Moksha/Enlightenment/Kaivalyam

• The Diagnosis: An analysis of suffering

• The Cause: The Conjunction between the Seer and the Seen

• Am I the body, or does it belong to me?

• Can Ignorance have a beginning? ❤️

• The Prognosis: Kaivalyam

• The Sevenfold Insight: What happens in the mind upon Enlightenment?

• More on the Sevenfold Insight: “You” don’t really exist ❤️

• The final ascent to Kaivalyam: The Turning Point

• Dealing with lapses in Kaivalyam: “If you meet the Buddha, kill him.” ❤️

• What happens after Kaivalyam: Consider the lilies of the field

Q&A

• Negative consequences of meditation

• Where should I begin? Where does meditation fit in?

• Why is it necessary to understand the types of suffering?

• Is my dog more sattvic than me?

• What is Karma?

  • The Basic Teaching ❤️

  • The Middle Teaching

    • The root of karma

    • The wheel of vrittis and samskaaras

    • What are the different types of karma? ❤️

    • What are the levels of karmic causal connections?

    • How does karma generate experiences?

There we are - an appendix of the articles in Empty Your Cup, categorized by topic. I hope that you find this helpful 🙏🏽

This will be the last article of 2023 - we will pick up the discussion on karma once again in the new year.

As always, please do not hesitate to reach out with any additional questions, or if you need help locating a particular topic or article, by responding to this email, or by clicking the button below.

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti.

Next time: Q&A: More on how karma generates experiences