The Gunas: essential concepts to bring into your advancing yoga practice
One of my favourite parts of yoga philosophy is the Gunas. These are the forces of nature, or you can think of them like energies or qualities that nature and everything in nature posses.
Practicing with and observing the gunas as part of my 24/7 yoga practice has been a game changer since I started practicing yoga in 2010. If you are at a point in your yoga practice where you are starting to be curious about what exactly you are feeling during practice in class, and how to go deeper into your practice - the gunas are a wonderful place to start.
Yoga is an ancient practice that allows us to connect inwards, learn more about ourselves, our tendencies, our thoughts and emotions and patterns of behaviour that may or may not be functional or self sabotaging. Through the practice of learning about yourself you start to realise that you are not separate from other people and beings, and your environment. That you live in nature and that being at one with yourself, others and nature is what ultimately gives you inner peace, security, love, tranquility, wisdom, and all of these other wonderful qualities people tend to be always searching for outside of themselves.
Well the truth is, you can never buy these qualities, you can never find them outside of yourself in the permanent, deep way that your yoga practice can give you. These qualities are all already within you and the secret is that you just need to let go of everything that covers them up to access these qualities. It is by no means an easy process, but it is possible.
So you are probably asking how you can find these qualities within you? My answer is to expand your consciousness and awareness of everything that is around you & within you, and you will start to naturally see that you are part of nature, nature is pat of you, and that every single being on the planet possesses the same quality as you - the will to live and move forward. We all have this, and when you start to notice that you are part of nature - you will begin to feel this sense of belonging and ease that comes with that understanding.
It is when we feel separate, alone, isolated, that we feel disconnected from others and our environment. Things are out of balance between our body and our mind and we feel anxious and stressed. Yoga by design brings you back into alignment and balance and when you are in alignment - you are connected to nature and feel a great sense of ease. It’s always within you - you just need to do the work to bring yourself back into balance.
What do the gunas have to do with bringing us back into balance with ourselves and ultimately nature?
The gunas are qualities/forces/energies that are attached to everything in the universe in different ratios and therefore express different qualities. The gunas are alway in constant flux, as nature and everything around us is constantly in movement, including ourselves; these ratios are forever changing and moving toward one dominant energetic state (guna).
What is really cool when you learn about these qualities, you can begin to notice them in your environment, in other people, and within yourself. This expansion of self knowledge and understanding of the world around you in turn expands your conscious awareness, which increases your feelings of true contentment from deep within (real permanent non-tangible change which cannot be purchased).
The gunas are: Sattva, Rajas and Tamas - in English, we can think of them as illumination, activity and inertia respectively (from The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali)
Sattva, Rajas and Tamas are always in flow, and one form usually dominates the others at any given time, although they can be brought into balance. Try not to think of any of them as being particularly better or worse than the others, because they are all necessary components of ourselves and ultimately, nature. What we want to try to become aware of is when they are out of balance, because this is when we are not aligned with nature and ourselves, and feel more negative emotions such as greed, jealousy, envy, depression, anxiety, laziness, anger etc.
You can observe the gunas all day - in your thoughts, words and your actions. You can observe the gunas in your asana practice (in your yoga class). You can observe the gunas in others behaviour. You can observe the gunas in the food that you consume. You can observe the gunas operating in nature.
Once you start observing, you are able to see when they are out of balance. As in all yoga practices, we start the work on ourselves first and this is no exception: we begin to notice when the gunas are dominant or out of balance - and we can then consciously bring ourselves back to balance through our own effort.
Two different translations into English, Bhagavad Gita - Chapter 14, Verse 5:
“O mighty-armed Arjun, the material energy consists of three guṇas (modes)—sattva (goodness), rajas (passion), and tamas (ignorance). These modes bind the eternal soul to the perishable body.”
“Material nature consists of three modes - goodness, passion and ignorance. When the eternal living entity comes in contact with nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, he becomes conditioned by these modes.”
Actual text in Sanskrit (above) and English script (below)
सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणा: प्रकृतिसम्भवा: |
निबध्नन्ति महाबाहो देहे देहिनमव्ययम् || 5||
sattvaṁ rajas tama iti guṇāḥ prakṛiti-sambhavāḥ
nibadhnanti mahā-bāho dehe dehinam avyayam
Tamas is inertia, the dark and restraining quality.
We need inertia and mass to feel grounded and connected with the earth and our environment. We feel tamas in our yoga practice when we stand on our mat, with our eyes closed and first observe our connection of our feet to our mat. That sense or grounding is important for developing stability, balance and trust in ourselves. We need tamas to be able to fall asleep and to rest. We can connect to tamasic grounding through an exhale breath.
When tamas is dominant and out of balance - it creates a dull mind. It can affect us by causing feelings of exhaustion, lack of motivation, sluggishness, apathetic attitudes, ignorance, pessimism, depression, jealousy, inadequacy, and unable to get out of bed in the morning, unable to do our yoga practices, no motivation to work or feeling a complete lack of creativity. When you are in a dominant tamasic state, you can dwell on the past in a regretful way.
Foods that promote tamas (tamasic energy) are foods that cause us to feel tired, slow, heavy, foggy brained, and feel negative emotions, they are also thought to suppress our immune system. They might be delicious while being eaten, but its the energy they promote in your body & mind that we are looking at.
If I bring this to what I’ve learned in nutrition - heavy processed foods in our gut can cause slow digestion and slow elimination. When your gut is sluggish - you feel sluggish. Serotonin is an important neurotransmitter that is found in the gut predominantly (estimated to be 95%) and is extremely important in promoting gut peristalsis (the movement of the gut for digestion and elimination) and in affecting our mood and promoting our immune system. Our brain is inextricably linked to our gut - have you heard of the Brain-Gut-Axis? This is the connection of our central nervous system to the nervous system of our gut (enteric nervous system) and our gut microflora - I write about this in another blog post if you want to read up on it!
Non-exhaustive list: frozen and canned foods, processed foods, leftovers and microwaved foods, heavy white carbohydrates, red and processed meats, most animal products, stale food, fast food, fried food, alcohol, drugs, mushrooms, garlic, onions and ginger. Many of these foods tend to be addictive - immediately satisfying, but feeling left heavy and tired after a few minutes.
The above foods are not all unhealthy (mushrooms, ginger), but they are attributed to possess a dominant tamasic energy when consumed. Everything in moderation, right? (To an extent…!) Or maybe don’t eat these types of food in the middle of your work day when you need to be alert, or before doing anything that requires you to be awake and energetic.
Rajas is activity, the quality of mobility.
We need rajas energy to get up in the morning, create passion, enthusiasm and motivation to get things done! We connect to rajas in our yoga practice through the inhalation which helps us to move energy/prana/life force upwards and outwards, and feel it when we lengthen our body away from the ground through the activation of muscles and bandhas to become physically taller and lighter through focussed awareness.
Rajas out of balance causes you to yearn, long, worry and feel anxious about the future. Rajasic energy can also cause aggression, competitiveness, anger, and conflict with other people (and yourself) without much thought for the consequences or feelings of other people (example: “blind rage”). When someone is in this state they are not able to think clearly, its a reaction in the moment that can cause a lot of damage, to yourself and/or others. Have you felt like this before? An emotional state that can take you so far out of your mind that there is a lack of coherent thinking and just an emotional reaction? I have. I used to have a lot of anger within me and have had to work hard through my yoga and meditation practices to let go of that anger, it’s now gone thankfully and I haven’t felt anything like it since. Now my excess rajas manifests and anxiety rather than anger - usually from drinking too much coffee or taking on too much work! Being too busy can cause rajas to take over because you actually need that energy to “get everything done” - the big downside is that you lose your grounding and easily move to overwhelm and chronic stress.
Foods that promote rajas are foods that cause a stimulating effect - in both your mood and desires. They can be overly stimulating though and cause imbalance of emotions, aggression, passion and fire.
When viewing this physiologically, I think a lot of these foods and drinks are inflammatory, disruptive to our nervous system and to our stress response. They can affect the stress hormone cortisol, causing high blood pressure and flushing of the skin - under chronic stress/cortisol production conditions like adrenal fatigue can begin (exhausting your adrenal glands which produce cortisol under a stress response). This can contribute to sleep disturbances and anxiety among other things.
Non-exhaustive list: Rajas foods tend to be spicy, salted, sour, pungent and/or bitter. Some examples are fish, chicken (although can be considered tamasic too), eggs, hot spices like chilli, pepper, salt, coffee and caffeinated drinks, carbonated drinks and chocolate. The list goes on and I would recommend more reading on this subject if you are interested. Looking up Ayurvedic food is a great start!
With rajasic food - it is the quantity and frequency that they are consumed that we should be aware of. You don’t need to cut these out of your life, just notice if you have a tendency towards a rajasic energy and maybe cut down on a few things that promote it. Who is gonna give up chocolate?!! Not me! But maybe just avoid chocolate (and coffee) when feeling stressed and anxious is a good way to approach balancing your rajasic energy.
Sattvic is the illuminating, pure or good quality.
Sattva is the quality yoga practitioners try to point their attention to. It is the quality of conscious awareness, being present, compassionate, wise, joyful, balanced, a state of harmony. Sattva lives in the present moment and the harmony of body-breath-mind brought together brings us into a state of oneness. This is what yoga practices will bring you towards, and worth repeating: union - oneness - consciousness - heightened awareness - compassion.
I said that tamas is the exhale, rajas is the inhale, so what is Sattva? It is the moment between each breath. The pause between your inhale/exhale and your exhale/inhale. I would not recommend immediately holding your breath if you are not well practiced and experienced in pranayama exercises (breath control), as it can be dangerous (cause panic attacks etc, not recommended for beginners or people with high blood pressure or cardiovascular issues).
You can right now simply close your eyes and take a deep breath in, a small pause (1 second), and then a full exhale followed by a small pause (1 second). Can you notice the quality/energy of each type of breath? Can you notice that in-between part and how it immediately draws your attention inwards? Its’ extremely hard to have a thought right there, so that is what it feels like to be present - the absence of thought. Advanced yoga practitioners do practice breath retention holds to feel this connection become deeper, and eventually they are practiced with the bandhas (energetic locks in the body). If this is something that interests you, and you feel like you are ready for the next stage in your yoga practice - then start to work more with your breath and paying attention to the pauses between. Especially in your yoga practice!
Sattvic foods are plant based, fresh, organic, local foods, that are easily digestible, pleasant tasting (not too much stimulating taste though!) and light. They include whole grains, sprouted grains, fresh fruit, vegetable (not root veggies!), nut and seed milk freshly prepared (no store bought unfortunately!!), seeds, nuts, legumes, sprouted seeds and soaked nuts are best for less digestible varieties, good oils (olive, coconut, nut) water and herbal tea (again, this is not an exhaustive list). Sattvic foods should not make you feel tired or lethargic, they should not make you feel full and uncomfortable, they should promote digestion and healthy elimination. They should be nutritious, health promoting and non-addictive.
One thing I would like to point out - is that we cannot always live in a Sattvic state. We need a balance of the three gunas - we need the energetic quality of rajas and the grounding quality of tamas. Living in the present is a wonderful feeling, and it is a place we should seek out to help us become focused and more compassionate. We do still need to plan for the future and enjoy grounding memories from our past. It is the BALANCE of the forces that we should observe. The qualities that arise when the gunas are out of balance - and strive to bring ourselves back into a balanced state.
Another note: in the yogic texts - they describe first working with balancing the gunas, and then one day even moving past the gunas towards enlightenment. Because in a way, the gunas can be a source of attachment - which is something that we also try to let go of in yoga (see my Kleshas post).
You can practice certain types of yoga to promote different energetic qualities as well, these suggestions are my personal opinion, and will feel different for each person depending on where you are in your practice:
I find Yin and Restorative yoga to have strong grounding energetic qualities. These are great types of yoga to practice if you are feeling anxious and scattered. As an alternative - sometimes you do need to move more if you are feeling anxious as it can be very challenging to rest into these quite still practices. I would suggest Ashtanga half or full primary sequence for an active practice to promote a grounding energy. This sequence has a lot of strong standing postures and forward folds which promote both strength and stillness. Ashtanga yoga may feel more stimulating for you though (its is quite a balancing practice between moments of Rajas, Sattva and Tamas). It really depends on how easily the breath control practices come to you - Ashtanga focuses on ujjayi breath paired with movement so it may be easier to learn for proper breathing within a dynamic sequence.
Vinyasa sequences and Rocket are more rajasic types of yoga. They promote more energy stimulation and less grounding than say, Ashtanga. Rocket focuses on inversions and arm balances and going upside down. To do this, you need to connect to air, to lightness, to energy flow up - which are all rajasic qualities. They are also (usually) very strong sequences and if you let your breath get away, you will move more to feeling anxious with a panicked breath and then the practice becomes too rajasic. Something to consider when doing these types of yoga. If you are anxious I would recommend something more grounding. If you are lacking energy, even though these are challenging sequences - they can promote lots of energy flow within you and leave you feeling wide awake! Again, this depends on where you are in you practice in terms of strength, and breath control - everyone is different!
Sattva yoga is, as named, more Sattvic! It creates a space where you can really tune inward and tap into your innate intelligence. The sequences are well balanced with energy creating strong postures, and grounding seated postures. Although there are 4 different types of Sattva Yoga sequences (front body, back body, side body and strength), they are meant to individually and collectively allow you to move more inwards over time - creating a more sattvic state with continued practice. Ashtanga can also be very sattvic depending on how you practice it (without forcing yourself to perfect postures and complete the sequences ex: being too rajasic - or without skipping things just because you don’t want to do them out of laziness ex: being too tamasic).
When you are thinking about your yoga practice and being lazy and quit before you start - this is your tamasic energy becoming predominant. When you are showing off and looking for praise from your teacher and fellow students, or when you are forcing your body into postures your body is not ready for - this is practicing with excessive rajas. Sattva in your practice looks like mindful, aware, kind, yet disciplined movements coordinated with breath to cultivate a present mind and strong and supple body.
Now that you know the three types of qualities of nature - Sattva, rajas and tamas - will you bring this into your yoga practice and start to observe these qualities around you and how you move through your day with them? It is quite fascinating - and creates a platform for a deep understanding of who you are, your tendencies, your unconscious patterns - actions and thoughts - and brings them into conscious awareness so you can choose to move towards a more kind and compassionate, conscious place!
Interested in learning more about yoga philosophy? Read my blog: How to bring Yoga off the mat - The 8 Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga and find out more ways to deepen your practice on and off the mat!!
Comment below or ask a question - I’m always happy to reply!!
References for my writings:
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 14 “The Three Modes Of Material Nature"
B.K.S Iyengar, “Light on Yoga”, Part 1 “What is Yoga?”
Sri Swami Satchidananda, “Translation and commentary on The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali”, Book 2, Verses 15-19.