YAMAS & NIYAMAS - Tapas

Tapas is the practice of austerity, discipline, and sacrifice. It is the willingness to burn away what holds us back so that something higher may emerge. To engage in tapas is to be diligent in worship, practice, and meditation; to make up for misdeeds; to embrace self-denial; and to offer up cherished possessions, time, or energy. Without readiness, the process will not bear fruit.

Traditionally, austerities are undertaken at special times under the guidance of a teacher, igniting the inner fire of self-transformation. All the niyamas invite us to refine and express our soul’s higher qualities. With tapas, the divine quality that emerges is the purification and intensification of our being, making us more spiritual, more evolved.

Austerity can take many forms. At its most intense, it may mean living simply in solitude, eating only what is needed, refraining from speaking, or abstaining from distractions such as magazines, television, or the internet. Within the yoga practice, tapas may be expressed by holding a pose beyond comfort, committing to daily pranayama, chanting, practice or sitting still in meditation.

“As the intense fire of the furnace refines gold to brilliance, so does the burning suffering of austerity purify the soul to resplendence.”

Tapas accelerates our spiritual growth. Just as fertilizer nourishes a plant to grow faster, austerity nourishes the soul, allowing karmas to be resolved more quickly. Penance helps us make up for misdeeds, ensuring we take responsibility for the causes we have set in motion. Sacrifice—whether of money, time, intelligence, or a cherished possession—becomes an offering to a greater power for the manifestation of a greater good. Unlike charity, sacrifice requires doing without; it is an act of true self-denial.

To step into tapas is to step into conscious evolution. 🔥 Come and practice it with us this week at Bhav.