A framework for yoga practices can be simplified by the guideposts of Shtira, Sankalpa, Sukha, and Dukha — Sanskrit terms I’ve mentioned in various videos over the years.

Today, let’s look at the word and the experience of Dukha which Kumar said is an “honest teacher.” With a good attitude his comment is both funny and stern. Yet while bound in Dukha, one might be inclined to say, “fukha dukha” because the word “dukha” signifies a network of meaning centered on pain. Yes, pain is an honest teacher. Dukha is pain, resistance, stress, suffering, dis-ease, the difficult, the unpleasant, the miserable.

Nerd Warning
According to the University of Indiana linguistics scholar Christopher Beckwith, the origin of “du-“ in the ancient Aryan language meant “bad, difficult.” And, to simplify the changes language undergoes over time, the original root verb form “stha” which meant “to stand,” became phonetically changed to “kha,” which also meant “ether, space, sky, empty, hole.”

Thus, the ancient term “dustha” which meant “an uneasy stand, imbalanced, unsettled” came to be spoken as “dukha” with associated meanings. One of those meanings referred specifically to the “bad axle hole” of an ox cart. Dukha meant real problems and potential danger for the ox cart driver, his passengers and load.

Dukha becomes a valuable reference for us today as it regards both an ability to maintain a yogic practice, and an ability to recognize and recover from “bad axle holes” of life we might know as illness, injury, or setback.

Yoga Practice is Personal
So, your practice revolves around your life, your dispositions, talents, desires, strengths and weaknesses. Mine, too, of course, so we come to the meat of my current interest — recovering from “rolling” on a ju-jitsu mat.

Please check out these photos and look at Part Two.