Samskara- Self reproductive quality

I went to Shala's Monday Evening class at AYC and as so often seems to be the case there found my self in new (to me) postures, that in 16 years of yoga practice I have never encountered.  At one point she mentioned that a certain posture was good for breaking up scar tissue, and at that moment I was wondering what the subtle counterpart is for the tightness deep in my inner groin. head of the femur area.  And it became clear that "scar tissue", being the physical expression of something that we hold on to, by choice or not, are the expression of samskaras, or habitual ways of experiencing, holding, expressing, believing thinking ect.

Samskara is a quality, it is a guna.  It is the tendency to think, say, do, because we've doe it before.  Samskara is self reproducing, and can take on a life of its own.   Sometimes called thought forms samskaras's are subtle matter that  arises out of nothingness because we create it.  As we create it again and again it becomes
stronger and stronger.  It could be visualized as a path that you walk again and again until it becomes a worn rut, you could walk blindfolded.  Or like Neuro-pathways which we light up again and again, until its easier to than not to.

Samskaras are not necessarily "bad", but they are an obstacle to yoga.  A samskara could be a limiting belief, or it could be a daily yoga practice.  By doing it again and again it becomes easier to do and harder to not do.  Mantra practice is the practice of creating powerful satvic samskaras, which replace thoughts thinking, judgment and the very limiting samskaras which lead to suffering and appearance of bondage.  Meditation practice is a practice of creating a blank samskara.  When our habitual experience of being becomes a blank page we can be open to experience what it is, not what we thik it is, because we habitually have created it that way, but open and receptive to feel, experience and embody authenticity.

Samskaras are sometimes imagined as plants.  Our mental energy, and thoughts are like sunshine and water, in the fertile soil of mind.  The more we think  samskara, the stronger and bigger it becomes.
Because these re powerful most often unconscious patterns, they can be very difficult to recognize and break.... and even if we do recognize and level behind a samskara they are known to leave seeds, so even when they appear to be gone they can come back in their fullness seemingly out of nowhere. Like the addict who was clean for 30 years, and after a taste becomes a full on junkie again, but the junk could be resentment, judgment, self pity or anything.

So whats a yogi to do?  Practice.  Samskaras are destroyed with tapas, heat or intensity. 
And when the Samskara seems to be gone, practice, because the only way to destroy the seeds is to burn them in the flames of tapas.

Intensity of course can take many forms and is a very personal experience.  Only you know where your edge is.  But yoga practice is the invitation to consciously and with loving intention find it. 

We release the past and the future, that we may be open and receptive to have this experience, not seeing what we think it is, but what it is.