Svadhyaya - Using the Antarayas for our very own SWOT analysis

It is this time of the year again when we charged with the energy of the New Year jump into all kinds of resolutions regarding what we want to improve in our life. These are usually short-lived because we are either too ambitious and reaching for the stars in our goals or because we do not go about integrating them in a systematic manner.

- Ms. Simone Preuss

Just wanting to lose/gain weight or exercising more, for example, will not give the desired results if the goals are not backed up by a concrete diet and exercise plan. So, let us not fall into this same trap in 2024 but work with something we can all do observe ourselves, get to know ourselves better. Just how successful businesses do an analysis of their strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, let us do one such SWOT analysis for ourselves.

"Where to start?" one may ask, but luckily we have one of the best teachers as a guide on our side none other than Patanjali, sage and grammarian extraordinaire and compiler of the Yoga Sutras, the timeless guide to our mind and spiritual progress.

In Sutra 1.30, Patanjali gives us a blueprint for our very own SWOT analysis, the nine Antarayas or obstacles on the path of yoga. Depending on how much Rajas (action) or Tamas (inaction) there is in our life, we will be pulled by either the first five obstacles, which are Tamas-predominant, or the last four, which are Rajas-predominant.

The first one is Vyadhi, or dis-ease - not feeling at ease in our own body; something is off and emotional or mental discomfort manifests itself in the body as a physical disease. Back in Patanjali's time and earlier, Yogis knew that 80% of all such diseases (or maybe even more) are psychosomatic in nature. So let us observe ourselves and check how much Vyadhi there is in our life - am I sick frequently, getting colds, coughs, stomach bugs, fevers, infections and the like? Or am I accident-prone? All these deserve looking into and analyzing to find the root cause. After all, the body is not subtle - if something or someone in my life is a pain in the neck, I will get a pain in the neck sooner or later.