Rajas

Rajas is the energetic strand: whatever moves, wants, builds, competes, hurries. Nothing gets done without it - the tradition is clear that a person cannot renounce action while breathing - and nothing peaceful survives its excess.

Its signature in the body is familiar: the leg that bounces, the tab that multiplies, the sentence read three times. Rajas untethered from direction becomes pure churning - motion mistaking itself for progress.

The practices for rajas are mostly rhythmic: it responds to containers. A fixed hour, a finished task, an exhale longer than the inhale. The aim is not to extinguish drive but to yoke it, which is - literally - what the word yoga means.

From the Editors' Desk, Shastra Digest.