We learn Yoga Chitta Vritti (consciousness stirred by thoughts) Nirodha (stilled) in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.  Vrittis are fluctuations in our mind that flow across our consciousness in reaction to our experiences and feelings. The global pandemic upended how we eat, socialize, work, and think. Plugin and release pandemic thought patterns that are no longer serving you.

A year into homeschooling and social isolation, the media has still focused on the trauma associated with COVID 19 and telling us to hang in. Anxiety and depression are on the rise in part due to fear of illness and continued isolation. How has this last year started new (thought patterns) samskara and established new habits or tendencies (vasana) in your life? 

Suppose you spent time listening in on your mental processes. In that case, you’ll notice that your and most people’s minds are in a continual dialogue. Our mental chatter discusses the weather, comments on the expression on someone’s face, delight in new shoes, worries about bills and taxes. Has the pandemic influenced your internal dialogue? Do you feel more fear and uncertainty today during the COVID 19 pandemic than two years ago?

Types & Varieties of Vrittis

Ayurveda teaches five main types of vrittis, including truth. 

• Ideally, vrittis flow out of correct knowledge truth (Pramana). But other kinds of thoughts perpetuate illusions. They influence our life and throw us off the track, creating limiting samskara, vasana, and karma (actions).

•  Incorrect knowledge (Viparyaya) is all over the television and the internet. Viparyaya also flows out of reaction and hurt. We shield ourselves from essential truths. We all build Viparyaya into our worldview.

• Imagination or fantasy from daydreaming (Vikalpa) is a common form of Vritti that we can fall into. We block feelings and avoid confronting difficulties. We spin stories in our minds mistaking them for truth.

• Memories (Smriti) Time and emotions blur our recollections. Our feelings heavily influence our memories. The older the memory, the more we internalize it and make it our own separate from objective truth.  

• Dreams in sleep (Nidra). Dreams are sleeping families.

Factors that Contribute to Vrittis Becoming Samskara

Vrittis that persist or hang in lead to samskara lasting impressions and vasana tendencies in our thoughts and behaviors. Too many vrittis stir up our minds and block our view. Samskara and vasana close down our life experience

• Intensity Significant trauma makes thoughts hang around for rumination, deepening the memory in the brain.  Events such as auto accidents, big earthquakes, and violence create a bit impression.

• Repetition Negative thoughts that are many times have more impact than a rare down moment. If each day, as you head out to work, you think it is going to be a long, tough day, I can’t wait for the weekend; it can create a lasting expectation.

• Physical & Emotional Pain & Illness involves senses, body, and mind. It is straightforward for the pain to shift our thoughts negatively. The combination of all these imputes into your vritti amps up their staying power.

• Stickiness Specific things linger in one individual’s awareness that flow away from other people.  Some people seem to wear a Velcro suit so that the trauma of life’s bumps stick to them—imbalance or weakness in the lower three chakra and specific prakruti and state of vikruti.

Listen In On Yourself For Pandemic Thought Patterns

Listen in on your self-talk and identify potential problems. Sometimes vrittis appear to be completely random unrelated to anything in particular. Other times, they will be obsessively focused. Pandemic thought patterns are an unhelpful obsessive focus for some of us.

When you listen to the vrittis, the conversation in your mind is hopeful, uncertain, or defeated? Are pandemic thought patterns making your life small and fear-driven? What are you doing to balance these feelings?

Emotions and memories often represent the past. Pandemic thought patterns can reinforce conditioned responses. They deepen the groove of the associated vrittis through repetition. Self-examination is an opportunity to shift the ruts you are forming.  Bring Sankalpa (intention and determination created by heart, mind, and spirit), into your awareness to support actualizing your dharma.

To create the life we are meant to live, we must draw the mind again and again to our dharma, our deepest intentions, and the qualities of the Divine within. – Rod Stryker

https://yogainternational.com/article/view/how-to-create-a-sankalpa

Overwrite Thought Patterns That Harm

Reduce many of the circumstances that hold vrittis in our consciousness with a healthy daily routine. Ayurveda teaches that our mental state, the type and tone of our vrittis, our habits and behaviors shape our health and life. Good health is the foundation for spiritual evolution: introspection, meditation, pranayama, and consistent alignment with dharma light the path.

Poor health and chronic illness sometimes distract us from the work of the spirit. One purpose of Ayurveda is evolving health to support spiritual growth. With care and presence, we can become aware of and change our mental chatter, stop the formation of samskara based on incorrect knowledge and shift our habits and tendencies.

Track Your Vrittis & Take Action

Here is an easy exercise for your clients to actively listen to the monkey chatter in your mind.  Take two or three days to tune into your thoughts.  Journal them throughout the day. Carefully note the intentions that motivate your self-talk. Direct your attention to the state of mind what emotions or memories just before your thoughts. 

As you tune into your self-talk and especially jot down thoughts you hear that strike you.  Does your list support your dharma and promote your physical health?  If so, cherish these thoughts that help you act in alignment with your goals.  If your thoughts detract from your progress, decide to change them. Add meditation to your daily routine and sankalpa to move you into alignment with your dharma. Check out this article to get you started. If meditation is a challenge for you, check this article out for ideas to begin.

Spring is a beautiful time of year to check in with your thoughts’ tenor as you move into the light.  Use your daily routine and buff it up a bit to address tendencies developed during the months in pandemic isolation.  Add to your healthy daily routine to shape your habits and thoughts.  Clear a growth path to your best self.

Ayurselfcare’s purpose is to educate on the benefits of Ayurveda. This website is not a substitute for professional medical care, treatment, or advice. All the material here is for learning purposes only. Always share strategy and work with your health care team.