Dec 2008
Where Did Yoga Originate?
18/12/08 13:44 Filed in: Yoga
| Classical Yoga
Here
is a bit of writing we did in answer to the WikiAnswers question-
“where did yoga originate?” The Answer I saw there was “india”. I
thought it could use some more exposition, so I wrote the following
instead and thought it would be good to post here:
As in all cultures, it takes an event or personality behind a philosophy- the release of a book, a political event or some art form to push something to the forefront. Sage Patanjali was this for yoga as a system with the release of the Patanjali Yoga Sutras. Here is a book written by Swami Satchitananda, a disciple of Swami Sivananda about these Sutras:
India is the simple answer geographically, but it was more formalized and systematized after the publishing of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras that describe the 8 limbs or rungs of progress or; asht(8)-anga(limbs) yoga that caused the general absorption of Sankkhya philosophy into Yoga and Vedanta.
This is a more accurate way of saying it, rather than saying that, for example, rock n roll music originated in America. Rock music was popularized by Elvis Presley, even though his way was cleared by Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and completed by the Beatles, Rolling Stones and others subsequently.
In the same way, the strongly dualistic manner of presentation of philosophy present in Sankhya philosophy is subsumed into the larger and more encompassing Vedantic context it exists in now.
Vaishesika and Nyaya have very large consistencies between them, although Currently, the general presentation of yoga in the world's consciousness can be described as fitting in well with a world view known as Smartism.
With the rise of Adi Shankara and Patanjali's Yoga Sutras these six views have largely been integrated into either yoga or Vedanta or both. Major forces in the rise of these yoga philosophies has been Swami Sivananda and his many influential disciples (particularly in the West), Sri Ramakrishna and his disciple Swami Vivekananda (Vedanta), and the various other more body-focused schools like the Bihar School of Yoga, The Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres, Integral Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga via Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and his guru Krishnamacharya, BKS Iyengar, etc.
As in all cultures, it takes an event or personality behind a philosophy- the release of a book, a political event or some art form to push something to the forefront. Sage Patanjali was this for yoga as a system with the release of the Patanjali Yoga Sutras. Here is a book written by Swami Satchitananda, a disciple of Swami Sivananda about these Sutras:
- Yoga - the process of union of individual consciousness with universal consciousness
- Vedanta - knowledge of Self, universe and God.
- Sankhya - philosophical and largely dualistic classification of the universe
- Vaishesika - analysis and characterising of the universe
- Nyaya - logic. Essentially the 'Aristotelian logic of India', it is the fundamental logical basis upon which Indian philosophy has been built
- Purva-Mimamsa - laws of formal religion, sacrifices, etc. The emphasis here is on correct action (orthopraxy) rather than correct belief (orthodoxy).
India is the simple answer geographically, but it was more formalized and systematized after the publishing of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras that describe the 8 limbs or rungs of progress or; asht(8)-anga(limbs) yoga that caused the general absorption of Sankkhya philosophy into Yoga and Vedanta.
This is a more accurate way of saying it, rather than saying that, for example, rock n roll music originated in America. Rock music was popularized by Elvis Presley, even though his way was cleared by Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and completed by the Beatles, Rolling Stones and others subsequently.
In the same way, the strongly dualistic manner of presentation of philosophy present in Sankhya philosophy is subsumed into the larger and more encompassing Vedantic context it exists in now.
Vaishesika and Nyaya have very large consistencies between them, although Currently, the general presentation of yoga in the world's consciousness can be described as fitting in well with a world view known as Smartism.
With the rise of Adi Shankara and Patanjali's Yoga Sutras these six views have largely been integrated into either yoga or Vedanta or both. Major forces in the rise of these yoga philosophies has been Swami Sivananda and his many influential disciples (particularly in the West), Sri Ramakrishna and his disciple Swami Vivekananda (Vedanta), and the various other more body-focused schools like the Bihar School of Yoga, The Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres, Integral Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga via Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and his guru Krishnamacharya, BKS Iyengar, etc.
Comments
What Is Classical Yoga?
12/12/08 18:52 Filed in: Yoga
| Classical Yoga
In
our experience, we have noticed that many people use yoga as
exercise or for flexibility or even maybe some spirituality ‘lite’.
DurgaDas was trained for some time in a classical monastic
tradition, and both DurgaDas and Shakti took their yoga teacher
training from a Classical Yoga organization- the Sivananda
organization. Fundamentally, this method of teaching, therefore,
follows in the vein of Smartism.
Even though our perspective is informed by other traditions and methods, the core of our teaching could be summarized as follows:
Even though our perspective is informed by other traditions and methods, the core of our teaching could be summarized as follows:
- An ancient system of knowledge based on the Vedas and Yoga scriptures. The understanding transmitted is larger than any individual.
- The method of transmission is through a lineage of spiritual teachers (masters/gurus) to students (disciples) in the Gurukula system; literally "in the house" (kula) with the remover (gu) of darkness (ru). What is transmitted is beyond mere information, but also attitudes and spiritual energy.
- It is a complete system. Yoga teachings are not intended to be partial; the yogic teaching system includes body/mind/spirit unifying practices including yoga postures, diet, austerities, ethics, meditation and much more.
- It is a discipline and the training is rigorous: it is not a quick fix and takes time. The student needs to be consistent, persistent and put effort into it.
- It is universal - not sectarian: the teachings are good for all, irrespective of cultural, religious backgrounds and other social conditions.
- It is selfless - spiritual knowledge can not be sold. All teachers are expected to behave with a spirit of karma yoga, detached from the fruits of their efforts.
- The goal is inner peace or Self-realization: i.e. realization of one's highest potentials.
The Seven Phases of Separation
This article is based on our observations of modern
Western society and a desire to expand the understanding of how the
philosophical nature of Eastern thought can help the pragmatic
Western mind understand itself.
"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift".
Einstein
Another excellent treatise on this from a logical basis is found in the Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga by Swami Vishnu-devananda in Chapter 10, The Origin and Evolution of Prakriti.
We post this knowing full well that even in those feeling separated according to this below text are actually not separated in any way, except in their own perception, and therefore the perception of others around them. The kind of Vedanta that is the most holistic is called Advaita Vedanta- literally, “Not Two” and the main proponent of this historically was Adi Sankara. Again, meaning ‘one without a second’. This is the philosophical underpinning we espouse on this website.
The following seven steps can be applied to any undertaking where one finds ego. Ego, using willpower from a narrow focused mechanistic manner of thinking pushes us along this path of separation through misunderstanding. Here is a funny example of this:
This is a description of the ‘process’ of ego manifestation. One finds this in all walks of life, including, sadly religions. This is so prevalent now that many Westerners have come to believe that religion is synonymous with control, and reject it on the basis of that reactively. Silent Motion Yoga teachers and practitioners always are seekers of the middle way between such polarizations and it is in this spirit we present you with this.
1) God-understanding (Self-realization, Samadhi, Nirvana, etc.)
One with everything, lacks separateness or identification with body, mind, etc., holistic in nature, compassion, kindness, and love are present. Internal focus sees all external things as mere reflections of internal reality.
Right brained, as in infants, or God-realized people (although Self-realization give one the capacity to think fully on both sides of the brain, while maintaining a root in the right brain). Varying degrees of capability regarding left brain function ranging from genius level intelligence (for example, Swami Sivananda could keep 16 minds busy at one time transcribing his thoughts) to unconscious switching into Samadhi, to the point of needing constant caretaking (for example, Sri Ramakrishna).
2) Misidentification As Separate From God
"God is dead."- Nietzsche
The main misidentification being the feeling/thought/idea that one is separate from God, Nature, other people and things, etc.; focus and energy changes from identifying with internal to the external now being considered real; left brained, still can maintain some varied periods of balanced internal/external understanding.
Ego becomes present, which is structurally contained in the left side of the brain. The need to be different than one is in the face of parents or social stresses tends to exacerbate this problem. Ego then drives all remaining distinctions hereafter, perpetually arrogating it's left-brained, or separatist, agenda. This is usually based on inherited shame from parental figures and a growing body awareness, reinforced by society, friends, and excess of media input and advertising.
3) Attachment
Narrowed EXTERNAL focus onto few objects or one as "mine", like the body or possessions, left brained, begins a denial of one's internal reality of Self, or interconnectedness with others. Shame inherited becomes more deeply and unconsciously rooted. What becomes important now is "my land", "my wife", even "my guru" or "my God".
Clearly, battles among religions, or even within religions(!) are found here. Battling nation-states and patriotism are also found at this level and are carried forward into the idealism stage, when one "identifies" with some religion.
I must note here that even gangs use this attachment or "brotherhood" feeling of belonging to carry out their agendas, later found to be a patho-ideal.
What I am pointing out here is not a value judgement, but rather a statement of observation of the reality of the human mind's journey, that later must be reversed.
4) Idealism
Creation of personal or group "rules" for maintaining attachment/ external focus in a personal or external mythology. This patho-myth tends to lack the recognition of how the external focus is changing the internal landscape of one's thoughts, leading to almost exclusive focus on left-brain, facts, details about facts, etc.
Because these rules never meet with reality and one's focus has previously been narrowed unnecessarily, one can strive harder to meet the constraints of this idealism, ironically motivated by the stress of further separation from one's True Self.
Our Western culture is chock FULL of examples of this. It is our single prevalent influence now. Everything from Apple Computer's computer cult to people pledging allegiance to certain brands of clothing falls into this.
It's the driving force behind advertising and people's difficulty with religion, corporate structures and the general malaise of meaning we find ourselves in today. NO IDEALOGY FITS YOU. So one feels left out by a constant stream of idealisms to choose from and nothing seems to just allow you to be yourself.
Ideals never fully meet the reality of this illusory and phenomenal life that has many gray areas and is constantly in flux and changing.
Even where some things do not change, it can be argued that our current culture very rarely recognizes such lasting things. Especially in view of the constant bombardment with factual information. One's reality can be skewed to think that all information is of equal value, thereby lessening the value of any unchanging experiences one might have, even where that experience is satisfying and relevant.
Even where one is apparently seeing the world in a specific way and this is socially acceptable, there tends to be a continuous and outsized reinforcement mentally and socially of one's identification in a narrow area (being Catholic or other religion, gay, feminist, left-ist, Mac user, PC user, etc.). These influences, by their heavy-handed (and to my view unneeded) reinforcement they tend to produce control behaviors.
The real problem here is one of mixing up weakly expressed versions of personal internal ideals or ways of behaving with "similar" (but not the identically same) external strategies employed by others, some of which may be strongly (i.e. healthily) expressed.
5) Control
Idealism breaks one's ground floor of compassion and seeing one's self as the other, one gains an ability to de-humanize others now. From there, it's possible subject them to your personal expression of the Control Disease formed by idealisms (perfectionism, fanaticism, etc.) as a way of maintaining stability for what you have identified as yourself, which is essentially as a messenger of the Idealism you imagine.
The deeper one aligns with idealism, the more one must re-inforce the narrow view presented by the chosen idealism; excluding, ridiculing and eventually punishing those whose ideas are outside this view.
A very common symptom of cult activity (and just listen to your evening news to see how prevalent this is in our Western news media) is to imagine the horrible fate of the "fallen" former believers and talk amongst the "still faithful" about how terrible it must be to behave in such a way. This is a re-expression of control that implies going beyond the mere personal relationship one might have had with the formerly upright member. Now the "fallen" former member assumes a sort of 'cosmic inhuman' quality, where not even God could love this fallen personage.
I expressly don't want to confuse here positive control with negative control. Negative control is seen here as one where the rajasic nature of the mind projects one's ideals onto others, or even everyone. This can include languages or behaviors.
6) Addiction
Addiction comes as a last resort to failed or imperfect Control Behaviors, a lack of integrating and accepting choices or resistance from those being controlled (including one's self). One then goes back and re-affirms and re-establishes another or several other attachments to the tenets of the chosen Idealism. A total lack of understanding of the motivations of those who would not feel or subscribe to the same narrow viewpoint is had and repetitions of such behaviors begins.
Even where the person sees that this or that former idealism (such as drug, sex, or alcohol addictions) didn't serve them, they tend to assign the problem to the idealism chosen rather than the choice of idealism and then the control behaviors that follow it in a general sense.
7) Destruction
The essential result of this addiction, which is fed by addictions in various guises, be it drugs, war, profit or anything else. Often, this destruction can come in the form of destruction of one's relationships or one's own self physically, materially; or they can be "externalized" into the environment in the form of companions personally or in political terms. It can also happen in terms of one’s own destruction and death. One can dig one’s self into a hole that one cannot escape, like this man:
Expansion and Contraction
Throughout modern life, we will move in cycles between all these states. The cycle of separation can never sustain itself infinitely or it leads to a destructive impulse to the world around (like in the case of a Hitler or a Pol Pot) or one's self. Still, given the nature of our underlying spiritual lives, we can often learn enough to reverse this process again and head back up the ladder. The systematic process of undoing these phases of separation is called Yoga, and it has eight states or maturities.
With Yoga, these phases can begin to happen in the reverse order from what I have described and in a more effective manner; gradually undoing the negative direction this article has described as time goes on. Maturity sets in. When enough time has progressed to begin to see the madness and insanity of what these phases are doing we have realizations that lead to greater understanding of ourselves personally.
In a larger impersonal and political sense of the world, it appears that we operate in general in these cycles of expansion and contraction, influencing each other, learning as we go along, and developing ourselves toward a greater understanding even as we apparently destroy ourselves and others.
It is the hope of Yoga and my teachers before me, that we can, one person at a time, undo these cycles of separation so long understood by the ancient Yogis and spiritual aspirants across the globe.
Om Shanti,
DurgaDas
"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift".
Einstein
Another excellent treatise on this from a logical basis is found in the Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga by Swami Vishnu-devananda in Chapter 10, The Origin and Evolution of Prakriti.
We post this knowing full well that even in those feeling separated according to this below text are actually not separated in any way, except in their own perception, and therefore the perception of others around them. The kind of Vedanta that is the most holistic is called Advaita Vedanta- literally, “Not Two” and the main proponent of this historically was Adi Sankara. Again, meaning ‘one without a second’. This is the philosophical underpinning we espouse on this website.
The following seven steps can be applied to any undertaking where one finds ego. Ego, using willpower from a narrow focused mechanistic manner of thinking pushes us along this path of separation through misunderstanding. Here is a funny example of this:
This is a description of the ‘process’ of ego manifestation. One finds this in all walks of life, including, sadly religions. This is so prevalent now that many Westerners have come to believe that religion is synonymous with control, and reject it on the basis of that reactively. Silent Motion Yoga teachers and practitioners always are seekers of the middle way between such polarizations and it is in this spirit we present you with this.
1) God-understanding (Self-realization, Samadhi, Nirvana, etc.)
One with everything, lacks separateness or identification with body, mind, etc., holistic in nature, compassion, kindness, and love are present. Internal focus sees all external things as mere reflections of internal reality.
Right brained, as in infants, or God-realized people (although Self-realization give one the capacity to think fully on both sides of the brain, while maintaining a root in the right brain). Varying degrees of capability regarding left brain function ranging from genius level intelligence (for example, Swami Sivananda could keep 16 minds busy at one time transcribing his thoughts) to unconscious switching into Samadhi, to the point of needing constant caretaking (for example, Sri Ramakrishna).
2) Misidentification As Separate From God
"God is dead."- Nietzsche
The main misidentification being the feeling/thought/idea that one is separate from God, Nature, other people and things, etc.; focus and energy changes from identifying with internal to the external now being considered real; left brained, still can maintain some varied periods of balanced internal/external understanding.
Ego becomes present, which is structurally contained in the left side of the brain. The need to be different than one is in the face of parents or social stresses tends to exacerbate this problem. Ego then drives all remaining distinctions hereafter, perpetually arrogating it's left-brained, or separatist, agenda. This is usually based on inherited shame from parental figures and a growing body awareness, reinforced by society, friends, and excess of media input and advertising.
3) Attachment
Narrowed EXTERNAL focus onto few objects or one as "mine", like the body or possessions, left brained, begins a denial of one's internal reality of Self, or interconnectedness with others. Shame inherited becomes more deeply and unconsciously rooted. What becomes important now is "my land", "my wife", even "my guru" or "my God".
Clearly, battles among religions, or even within religions(!) are found here. Battling nation-states and patriotism are also found at this level and are carried forward into the idealism stage, when one "identifies" with some religion.
I must note here that even gangs use this attachment or "brotherhood" feeling of belonging to carry out their agendas, later found to be a patho-ideal.
What I am pointing out here is not a value judgement, but rather a statement of observation of the reality of the human mind's journey, that later must be reversed.
4) Idealism
Creation of personal or group "rules" for maintaining attachment/ external focus in a personal or external mythology. This patho-myth tends to lack the recognition of how the external focus is changing the internal landscape of one's thoughts, leading to almost exclusive focus on left-brain, facts, details about facts, etc.
Because these rules never meet with reality and one's focus has previously been narrowed unnecessarily, one can strive harder to meet the constraints of this idealism, ironically motivated by the stress of further separation from one's True Self.
Our Western culture is chock FULL of examples of this. It is our single prevalent influence now. Everything from Apple Computer's computer cult to people pledging allegiance to certain brands of clothing falls into this.
It's the driving force behind advertising and people's difficulty with religion, corporate structures and the general malaise of meaning we find ourselves in today. NO IDEALOGY FITS YOU. So one feels left out by a constant stream of idealisms to choose from and nothing seems to just allow you to be yourself.
Ideals never fully meet the reality of this illusory and phenomenal life that has many gray areas and is constantly in flux and changing.
Even where some things do not change, it can be argued that our current culture very rarely recognizes such lasting things. Especially in view of the constant bombardment with factual information. One's reality can be skewed to think that all information is of equal value, thereby lessening the value of any unchanging experiences one might have, even where that experience is satisfying and relevant.
Even where one is apparently seeing the world in a specific way and this is socially acceptable, there tends to be a continuous and outsized reinforcement mentally and socially of one's identification in a narrow area (being Catholic or other religion, gay, feminist, left-ist, Mac user, PC user, etc.). These influences, by their heavy-handed (and to my view unneeded) reinforcement they tend to produce control behaviors.
The real problem here is one of mixing up weakly expressed versions of personal internal ideals or ways of behaving with "similar" (but not the identically same) external strategies employed by others, some of which may be strongly (i.e. healthily) expressed.
5) Control
Idealism breaks one's ground floor of compassion and seeing one's self as the other, one gains an ability to de-humanize others now. From there, it's possible subject them to your personal expression of the Control Disease formed by idealisms (perfectionism, fanaticism, etc.) as a way of maintaining stability for what you have identified as yourself, which is essentially as a messenger of the Idealism you imagine.
The deeper one aligns with idealism, the more one must re-inforce the narrow view presented by the chosen idealism; excluding, ridiculing and eventually punishing those whose ideas are outside this view.
A very common symptom of cult activity (and just listen to your evening news to see how prevalent this is in our Western news media) is to imagine the horrible fate of the "fallen" former believers and talk amongst the "still faithful" about how terrible it must be to behave in such a way. This is a re-expression of control that implies going beyond the mere personal relationship one might have had with the formerly upright member. Now the "fallen" former member assumes a sort of 'cosmic inhuman' quality, where not even God could love this fallen personage.
I expressly don't want to confuse here positive control with negative control. Negative control is seen here as one where the rajasic nature of the mind projects one's ideals onto others, or even everyone. This can include languages or behaviors.
6) Addiction
Addiction comes as a last resort to failed or imperfect Control Behaviors, a lack of integrating and accepting choices or resistance from those being controlled (including one's self). One then goes back and re-affirms and re-establishes another or several other attachments to the tenets of the chosen Idealism. A total lack of understanding of the motivations of those who would not feel or subscribe to the same narrow viewpoint is had and repetitions of such behaviors begins.
Even where the person sees that this or that former idealism (such as drug, sex, or alcohol addictions) didn't serve them, they tend to assign the problem to the idealism chosen rather than the choice of idealism and then the control behaviors that follow it in a general sense.
7) Destruction
The essential result of this addiction, which is fed by addictions in various guises, be it drugs, war, profit or anything else. Often, this destruction can come in the form of destruction of one's relationships or one's own self physically, materially; or they can be "externalized" into the environment in the form of companions personally or in political terms. It can also happen in terms of one’s own destruction and death. One can dig one’s self into a hole that one cannot escape, like this man:
Expansion and Contraction
Throughout modern life, we will move in cycles between all these states. The cycle of separation can never sustain itself infinitely or it leads to a destructive impulse to the world around (like in the case of a Hitler or a Pol Pot) or one's self. Still, given the nature of our underlying spiritual lives, we can often learn enough to reverse this process again and head back up the ladder. The systematic process of undoing these phases of separation is called Yoga, and it has eight states or maturities.
With Yoga, these phases can begin to happen in the reverse order from what I have described and in a more effective manner; gradually undoing the negative direction this article has described as time goes on. Maturity sets in. When enough time has progressed to begin to see the madness and insanity of what these phases are doing we have realizations that lead to greater understanding of ourselves personally.
In a larger impersonal and political sense of the world, it appears that we operate in general in these cycles of expansion and contraction, influencing each other, learning as we go along, and developing ourselves toward a greater understanding even as we apparently destroy ourselves and others.
It is the hope of Yoga and my teachers before me, that we can, one person at a time, undo these cycles of separation so long understood by the ancient Yogis and spiritual aspirants across the globe.
Om Shanti,
DurgaDas
The Five Points of Yoga & Faith
08/12/08 09:25 Filed in: Five Points of Yoga
| Faith
To carry forward the car metaphor
regarding the 5 Points of Yoga of Swami
Vishnu-devananda further, one could talk about faith in
a car metaphor also.
Faith is a belief predicated upon nothing except a transcendence itself. The weight of transcendence can be seen in faith. If one uses the Five Points of Yoga as shown by Swami Vishnu-devananda:
Point (Car Metaphor in parentheses)
then one has a well-equipped vehicle with which to negotiate the path one is on.
But what of the path itself? Is there anything we can say about this path, that clearly transcends the "I'-ness and "my-ness" ideas? Does the path itself being negotiated have any impact upon us? Surely it does.
One could teach a student of the 5 points of Swami Vishnu-devananda knowing that his time-tested method will work. Swami Vishnu-devananda created this metaphor for Americans because they saw how dominated they are by the culture of cars, even in the late 50’s when he arrived here, himself not knowing how to drive.
Yet the matter of the motive power behind the laying of these foundational teachings has yet to be described. One does not drive upon a road without precedent, without rules and protocols. People before you and after you will travel this path, pave it, leaving signs along the way for us to follow. These are the hidden personages surrounding us in spiritual life. These are the subtle (and oftentimes unconscious) reasons why people come to a physical location like an ashram or a retreat center and look to it to create an energy in their life that they feel to be missing.
An ashram or retreat center is little more than a place where the path is more well-maintained, and it makes the going forward easier. Much energy is spent in this maintenance by center or ashram staff. Classes are taught, an environment created, food served; all bent towards the one idea to carry you further with your own efforts by these subtle hands pushing your forward.
So what is this the protocol behind all of this? It’s faith.
Faith is ultimately the most practical and useful tool one has in spiritual life. Faith is the ability to visualize something one cannot yet see or feel, and then intention holds the visualization to the fire of faith, and continues holding it. The silent intention is very important. Intention is the arm that holds the weight of your closest desires for happiness and for a long time. Faith is so close to us, and often we can take it for granted and can lose our awareness of it.
It is closer to us than the clothing we wear. It is dearer to us than our next meal, yet somehow it's also forgotten for what it truly is. Why could one call faith practical? In what way is it used in daily life?
Imagine for a moment, you in your car, developed (more or less) through your own efforts in Swami Vishnu-devananda's 5 Points. You are well-lubricated, energetic, cool, full of fuel, and know how to operate your vehicle. Still, one can get onto the path, begin traveling and have a crash, or a breakdown in one’s mental state.
What are the reasons for crashing or breaking down? One is certainly free to drive off the road- yet since one is quite capable in handling the vehicle, this is not that likely-especially if one lives in an ashram or retreat center.
Still, somehow we often desire to drive off the road, right? One could be traveling a hard road- maybe your karma is such that your car would overheat going up the large hills you have to negotiate. One could overheat, get tired, frustrated and take a break, or give up entirely.
You could get lost- one could listen to the wrong person giving directions, or, you yourself might even think it's not necessary to ask for directions! While this is not a crash or a breakdown, you could say it is, in a way, because you are clearly driving. While maybe you are learning your way around, it much harder on the vehicle to drive over old broken roads and through wilderness than it is to travel a well-maintained road. These ideas are all eminently practical ones. Yoga is a practical path, if nothing else.
So what does faith have to do with any of this? Faith is the belief that 1) You are on the RIGHT road; 2) Going in the right direction; 3) Know where to turn to avoid the wrong road and/or rough roads; 4) When traveling on this road- someone will not cross over the double yellow line in the middle and hit you.
These are all quite practical protocols for moving through spiritual life, and quite necessary to remind ourselves of, as we travel.
Faith is a belief predicated upon nothing except a transcendence itself. The weight of transcendence can be seen in faith. If one uses the Five Points of Yoga as shown by Swami Vishnu-devananda:
Point (Car Metaphor in parentheses)
- Proper Exercise (Lubrication)
- Proper Breathing (Battery)
- Proper Relaxation (Cooling system)
- Proper Diet (Fuel)
- Positive Thinking and Meditation (Good Driver behind the wheel)
then one has a well-equipped vehicle with which to negotiate the path one is on.
But what of the path itself? Is there anything we can say about this path, that clearly transcends the "I'-ness and "my-ness" ideas? Does the path itself being negotiated have any impact upon us? Surely it does.
One could teach a student of the 5 points of Swami Vishnu-devananda knowing that his time-tested method will work. Swami Vishnu-devananda created this metaphor for Americans because they saw how dominated they are by the culture of cars, even in the late 50’s when he arrived here, himself not knowing how to drive.
Yet the matter of the motive power behind the laying of these foundational teachings has yet to be described. One does not drive upon a road without precedent, without rules and protocols. People before you and after you will travel this path, pave it, leaving signs along the way for us to follow. These are the hidden personages surrounding us in spiritual life. These are the subtle (and oftentimes unconscious) reasons why people come to a physical location like an ashram or a retreat center and look to it to create an energy in their life that they feel to be missing.
An ashram or retreat center is little more than a place where the path is more well-maintained, and it makes the going forward easier. Much energy is spent in this maintenance by center or ashram staff. Classes are taught, an environment created, food served; all bent towards the one idea to carry you further with your own efforts by these subtle hands pushing your forward.
So what is this the protocol behind all of this? It’s faith.
Faith is ultimately the most practical and useful tool one has in spiritual life. Faith is the ability to visualize something one cannot yet see or feel, and then intention holds the visualization to the fire of faith, and continues holding it. The silent intention is very important. Intention is the arm that holds the weight of your closest desires for happiness and for a long time. Faith is so close to us, and often we can take it for granted and can lose our awareness of it.
It is closer to us than the clothing we wear. It is dearer to us than our next meal, yet somehow it's also forgotten for what it truly is. Why could one call faith practical? In what way is it used in daily life?
Imagine for a moment, you in your car, developed (more or less) through your own efforts in Swami Vishnu-devananda's 5 Points. You are well-lubricated, energetic, cool, full of fuel, and know how to operate your vehicle. Still, one can get onto the path, begin traveling and have a crash, or a breakdown in one’s mental state.
What are the reasons for crashing or breaking down? One is certainly free to drive off the road- yet since one is quite capable in handling the vehicle, this is not that likely-especially if one lives in an ashram or retreat center.
Still, somehow we often desire to drive off the road, right? One could be traveling a hard road- maybe your karma is such that your car would overheat going up the large hills you have to negotiate. One could overheat, get tired, frustrated and take a break, or give up entirely.
You could get lost- one could listen to the wrong person giving directions, or, you yourself might even think it's not necessary to ask for directions! While this is not a crash or a breakdown, you could say it is, in a way, because you are clearly driving. While maybe you are learning your way around, it much harder on the vehicle to drive over old broken roads and through wilderness than it is to travel a well-maintained road. These ideas are all eminently practical ones. Yoga is a practical path, if nothing else.
So what does faith have to do with any of this? Faith is the belief that 1) You are on the RIGHT road; 2) Going in the right direction; 3) Know where to turn to avoid the wrong road and/or rough roads; 4) When traveling on this road- someone will not cross over the double yellow line in the middle and hit you.
These are all quite practical protocols for moving through spiritual life, and quite necessary to remind ourselves of, as we travel.
The Yamas- Step One of Ashtanga Yoga
08/12/08 09:25 Filed in: General
Yoga | Ethics
The
Yamas
The first two parts of the 8 Limbs of Yoga I discussed before are the ethical foundations of Yoga. The so-called “Ten Commandments” of Yoga. In this post, we will talk about the Yamas first. In my next post, we will talk about the Niyamas.
It is my attempt here to show how these precepts can be shown to have modern analogues, and to show a way back to simple principles well understood for thousands of years. At the root of many modern issues with our minds can be found these principles, or their violations. Grasping the underlying principles allows one to see past the surface of many neuroses and character defects and see how they tie together different types of mental (and therefore covering up spiritual progress with veils) and societal ills. I will give some examples, but by no means nearly all of them possible.
The Sakskrit phrase “yama” means control. So when we do prana-yama, then it’s a control of the vital force in the body and mind. In this case the first part (#1) in the previous post about the 8 Limbs. These are the “Don’t’s”. Let’s List them here:
In general, yoga philosphy is explained by the ancients, as a protocol by the most important parts first; in this case, ahimsa. This is the particular point which was emphasized by Gandhi in his quest to free India from British rule. It was based on this principle from Hindu scriptures, and it also applies in a Yoga context. Gandhiji was reading the Bhagavad Gita daily for his own reminders of how to proceed and the Bhagavad Gita is the main scripture of Yoga.
AHIMSA
Ahimsa is the undisputed King of all of the Yamas and Niyamas, and is the foundational precept upon which all yogic conduct is based. This is the principle upon which the freedom of India from the English was based, as led by Mahatma Gandhiji. SATYA
That which does not change in the three periods of time. Truth.
Mark Twain said these things about Truth, in his humorous and deeply ironic way:
“If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.”
- “Notebook, 1894”
Marshall Rosenberg’s Non-Violent Communication courses. Reading the quote again with Marshall’s “giraffe ears” one can see that he’s used the word “should” twice in a short quote, and this word is a pretty violent word in general and is usually uttered by those who are thought to be speaking with some authority.
In North American cultures (and other cultures dominated for a time by the English), we are trained in the English form of schooling to learn from “authorities” and from people who have a lot of charisma i.e. “popular” or “pretty” people. In yogic terms, charisma is termed as “having a lot of prana”. A person who is familiar with using his or her prana to get his way, and is also used to having people listen to him purely on the basis of his charisma can often move into taking people’s trained compliance as meaning that they have entitlements. Thus, we can see the spiral of rewards and punishments based on the acquisition and manipulation of prana to control people, however subtly it might appear.
Considering all this in the light of Satya, the precept, be sure to understand when one speaks from this controlling place or when one is coming from a place, as Mr. Rosenberg would say, of “contributing to life” or “making life wonderful” for others. In his unique way, this is what Mark Twain was stating, yet it can certainly be stated in a less violent manner.
BRAHMACHARYA
Often interpreted strictly as celibacy, brahmacharya goes much further. If you take a look at the 8 Limbs again, you can see something analogous to this precept better if you looked at Step 5- Pratyahara, which is the withdrawal of the senses. Brahmacharya is much deeper than simply this, because it’s a focusing or a guiding of the energy which is often used in sexual pursuits, especially orgasmic energy.
understanding these urges properly can one really move toward a way of controlling it.
Maybe in India many years ago, this was easier, yet in our culture where we grow up with so many sexual images on television and in magazines, trying to go “cold turkey” on this particular impulse is quite impossible. For an excellent treatise on this topic, I would suggest one read “Sex and Superconsciousness” by Bhagavan Shree Rajneesh (now known as Osho) if you can find a copy of it.
When one attempts to control this impulse, one often finds that one’s own eating habits are affected. Sexual impulses and sensual ones, like eating, are often used to distract our minds from the real emptiness we are feeling- which is the connection to our true selves that can be found through sincere and strict yoga practices, of which meditation is the means, and Self-realization the goal. Gradually one comes to know the inner landscape of one’s own mind and unseen Self through turning inward. Let me state this unequivocally- ALL OTHER YOGA PRACTICES ARE MERELY TO ENABLE MEDITATION TO OCCUR.
ONLY through meditation- not sitting quietly wishing your mind would be silent- but real meditation, in which the focus of the mind is in unbroken stream toward God, like a stream of oil flowing from one vessel to another.
So you can clearly see all of the practices so far supporting the effort of the sincere yogi toward progress along the 8 Limbs of Raja Yoga.
ASTEYA
When one restraints the sensual impulses in brahmacharya, an accompanying feeling is present, which is contentment. It arises in the mind, yet still often fluctuates, depending on one’s level of advancement in the practice. One can look to songs in popular culture like “Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield and “My Best Friend’s Girlfriend” by The Cars, among many others, to see very popular songs extolling the violation of this precept.
To keep this under control, one refrains from coveting things (asteya), nor take something which doesn’t belong to you. This may not seem like particularly important, or important enough to warrant placing it just underneath in importance to such a primal impulse’s (the sensual impulse) control. However, when one looks clearly at it, one can see that this precept is a way of preventing unhealthy attachments to worldly items. This is a difficult concept to promote in today’s world, when one’s sense of worth is determined by what one owns.
Still, look into it further. Here is a good example: www.storyofstuff.com
This link is a clear example of what is going on in a systemic manner about acquiring things. What is interesting about it is that what she observes in this a systematic violation of this principle of Asteya on a world-wide scale. She calls it “externalizing costs”, but it’s the same thing.
SInce Swami Vishnu-devananda’s approach was without inner peace we cannot have outer peace- like in the example I am referring to above- then it’s clear enough that this impulse can be controlled nicely by each individual and this will slowly amount to something.
To summarize this precept, I would advocate that each person reading this would examine closely the underlying reason for pushing one’s energy out into the world, seeking to grasp onto “things”. A thing can include a person- a wife, husband, child, car, money, power, control, etc.
This has many implications- the objectification of women in magazines and so on has the violation of this precept at it’s heart. It’s what gives one permission to allow one’s mind to become lustful, greedy, and so on. It’s what allows for slow, subtle, and gradual de-humanization of external things. Yet because these things can never give one a clear sense of one’s true Self, then often one thinks that it is simply a matter of effort, and instead of making a u-turn on the road of life and going inward to discover the Self, one continues for long miles on a lonely road chasing the tail of consumption. Often, as the miles tick by, it can feel very much like one has made progress- one’s car is upgraded, and the terrain might be nicer (i.e. nicer house, car, money, job) and still one’s mind isn’t peaceful.
In war, the dehumanization of people is the ultimate violation of this precept, because in that case, one has now permission to de-humanize many people and attempt to kill them en masse. We do this almost every day with animals as well, because- well, clearly they aren’t even human. In our seeking to “own” them, and take a life which isn’t ours, we have lost respect for them, for ourselves, and other human life also. Still, at the root of war is a desire for something someone else has- in general, resources.
Television’s promotion of the continuous violation of this precept is another pervasive thing, and has more subtle effects because of it’s method of interaction with people. Yet, I will not rail against television here. For an excellent treatise on the implications of television in this way, read Neil Postman’s book: Teaching as a Conserving Activity.
Yet, this starts with things as simple as overly desiring a woman like the one you might see looking lustly at a camera selling cars or underwear. The principle of desiring that which isn’t (or isn’t reasonable) and cannot be yours is the gateway to many other kinds of mental illnesses and attachments in which one can lose oneself and one’s clear idea of their true Self.
Even taking responsibility for another’s emotions is being greedy and controlling to some extent, to avoid pain. Therefore, we have things like co-dependency and so on.
APARIGRAHA
Non-acceptance of bribes and money is a warning against the kinds of exchanges which can bind you. Since I noted the phrase “graha” above means to grasp, this should be easily understandable.
One only needs to look to politics to see the influence of big oil, big busines, big military, big everything in governmental terms, to undestand the binding influence on our so-called “leaders” and people in positions of influence. This is clear enough. Yet, I say that this kind of thing happens in many jobs. “Don’t bite the hand tht feeds you”, even when it violates your principles. How many of you work in industries which do harm to the environment or work for the military, directly, or indirectly? Does your wage then become a violation of the precept of aparigraha? This only you can say for sure, but it’s an interesting question. I certainly have been in this situation myself. Years ago, I rode my bicycle across America, and I met a man named Ricky, who was riding also across and he’d worked for Raytheon or some military weapons manufacturer. He didn’t know that his work was actually going into creating bombs to kill people, and when he found out, he quit and took his considerable unused wage for a trip around to world, mostly by bicycle.
The first two parts of the 8 Limbs of Yoga I discussed before are the ethical foundations of Yoga. The so-called “Ten Commandments” of Yoga. In this post, we will talk about the Yamas first. In my next post, we will talk about the Niyamas.
It is my attempt here to show how these precepts can be shown to have modern analogues, and to show a way back to simple principles well understood for thousands of years. At the root of many modern issues with our minds can be found these principles, or their violations. Grasping the underlying principles allows one to see past the surface of many neuroses and character defects and see how they tie together different types of mental (and therefore covering up spiritual progress with veils) and societal ills. I will give some examples, but by no means nearly all of them possible.
The Sakskrit phrase “yama” means control. So when we do prana-yama, then it’s a control of the vital force in the body and mind. In this case the first part (#1) in the previous post about the 8 Limbs. These are the “Don’t’s”. Let’s List them here:
- Ahimsa (non-violence, non-injury)
- Satya (truthfulness, not telling lies) NOTE: the Sanskrit phrase ‘sat’ means that which doe not change in the three periods of time- past, present, future- and this is an appropriate way of saying ‘truth’ isn’t it?
- Brahmacharya (chastity, restraint of sensual/sexual impulses and energy)
- Asteya (non-stealing, non-covetousness, lack of jealous urges)
- Aparigraha (non-accepting of gifts or bribes) NOTE: the Sanskrit phrase ‘graha’ means to grasp or hold. For example, the planets in vedic astrology (jyotish) are called grahas, as their job is to hold you to your particular karma. Therefore, apari-graha means to not accept something which will maintain it’s hold on you later, which is appropriate for not taking bribes!)
In general, yoga philosphy is explained by the ancients, as a protocol by the most important parts first; in this case, ahimsa. This is the particular point which was emphasized by Gandhi in his quest to free India from British rule. It was based on this principle from Hindu scriptures, and it also applies in a Yoga context. Gandhiji was reading the Bhagavad Gita daily for his own reminders of how to proceed and the Bhagavad Gita is the main scripture of Yoga.
AHIMSA
Ahimsa is the undisputed King of all of the Yamas and Niyamas, and is the foundational precept upon which all yogic conduct is based. This is the principle upon which the freedom of India from the English was based, as led by Mahatma Gandhiji. SATYA
That which does not change in the three periods of time. Truth.
Mark Twain said these things about Truth, in his humorous and deeply ironic way:
“If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.”
- “Notebook, 1894”
Marshall Rosenberg’s Non-Violent Communication courses. Reading the quote again with Marshall’s “giraffe ears” one can see that he’s used the word “should” twice in a short quote, and this word is a pretty violent word in general and is usually uttered by those who are thought to be speaking with some authority.
In North American cultures (and other cultures dominated for a time by the English), we are trained in the English form of schooling to learn from “authorities” and from people who have a lot of charisma i.e. “popular” or “pretty” people. In yogic terms, charisma is termed as “having a lot of prana”. A person who is familiar with using his or her prana to get his way, and is also used to having people listen to him purely on the basis of his charisma can often move into taking people’s trained compliance as meaning that they have entitlements. Thus, we can see the spiral of rewards and punishments based on the acquisition and manipulation of prana to control people, however subtly it might appear.
Considering all this in the light of Satya, the precept, be sure to understand when one speaks from this controlling place or when one is coming from a place, as Mr. Rosenberg would say, of “contributing to life” or “making life wonderful” for others. In his unique way, this is what Mark Twain was stating, yet it can certainly be stated in a less violent manner.
BRAHMACHARYA
Often interpreted strictly as celibacy, brahmacharya goes much further. If you take a look at the 8 Limbs again, you can see something analogous to this precept better if you looked at Step 5- Pratyahara, which is the withdrawal of the senses. Brahmacharya is much deeper than simply this, because it’s a focusing or a guiding of the energy which is often used in sexual pursuits, especially orgasmic energy.
understanding these urges properly can one really move toward a way of controlling it.
Maybe in India many years ago, this was easier, yet in our culture where we grow up with so many sexual images on television and in magazines, trying to go “cold turkey” on this particular impulse is quite impossible. For an excellent treatise on this topic, I would suggest one read “Sex and Superconsciousness” by Bhagavan Shree Rajneesh (now known as Osho) if you can find a copy of it.
When one attempts to control this impulse, one often finds that one’s own eating habits are affected. Sexual impulses and sensual ones, like eating, are often used to distract our minds from the real emptiness we are feeling- which is the connection to our true selves that can be found through sincere and strict yoga practices, of which meditation is the means, and Self-realization the goal. Gradually one comes to know the inner landscape of one’s own mind and unseen Self through turning inward. Let me state this unequivocally- ALL OTHER YOGA PRACTICES ARE MERELY TO ENABLE MEDITATION TO OCCUR.
ONLY through meditation- not sitting quietly wishing your mind would be silent- but real meditation, in which the focus of the mind is in unbroken stream toward God, like a stream of oil flowing from one vessel to another.
So you can clearly see all of the practices so far supporting the effort of the sincere yogi toward progress along the 8 Limbs of Raja Yoga.
ASTEYA
When one restraints the sensual impulses in brahmacharya, an accompanying feeling is present, which is contentment. It arises in the mind, yet still often fluctuates, depending on one’s level of advancement in the practice. One can look to songs in popular culture like “Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield and “My Best Friend’s Girlfriend” by The Cars, among many others, to see very popular songs extolling the violation of this precept.
To keep this under control, one refrains from coveting things (asteya), nor take something which doesn’t belong to you. This may not seem like particularly important, or important enough to warrant placing it just underneath in importance to such a primal impulse’s (the sensual impulse) control. However, when one looks clearly at it, one can see that this precept is a way of preventing unhealthy attachments to worldly items. This is a difficult concept to promote in today’s world, when one’s sense of worth is determined by what one owns.
Still, look into it further. Here is a good example: www.storyofstuff.com
This link is a clear example of what is going on in a systemic manner about acquiring things. What is interesting about it is that what she observes in this a systematic violation of this principle of Asteya on a world-wide scale. She calls it “externalizing costs”, but it’s the same thing.
SInce Swami Vishnu-devananda’s approach was without inner peace we cannot have outer peace- like in the example I am referring to above- then it’s clear enough that this impulse can be controlled nicely by each individual and this will slowly amount to something.
To summarize this precept, I would advocate that each person reading this would examine closely the underlying reason for pushing one’s energy out into the world, seeking to grasp onto “things”. A thing can include a person- a wife, husband, child, car, money, power, control, etc.
This has many implications- the objectification of women in magazines and so on has the violation of this precept at it’s heart. It’s what gives one permission to allow one’s mind to become lustful, greedy, and so on. It’s what allows for slow, subtle, and gradual de-humanization of external things. Yet because these things can never give one a clear sense of one’s true Self, then often one thinks that it is simply a matter of effort, and instead of making a u-turn on the road of life and going inward to discover the Self, one continues for long miles on a lonely road chasing the tail of consumption. Often, as the miles tick by, it can feel very much like one has made progress- one’s car is upgraded, and the terrain might be nicer (i.e. nicer house, car, money, job) and still one’s mind isn’t peaceful.
In war, the dehumanization of people is the ultimate violation of this precept, because in that case, one has now permission to de-humanize many people and attempt to kill them en masse. We do this almost every day with animals as well, because- well, clearly they aren’t even human. In our seeking to “own” them, and take a life which isn’t ours, we have lost respect for them, for ourselves, and other human life also. Still, at the root of war is a desire for something someone else has- in general, resources.
Television’s promotion of the continuous violation of this precept is another pervasive thing, and has more subtle effects because of it’s method of interaction with people. Yet, I will not rail against television here. For an excellent treatise on the implications of television in this way, read Neil Postman’s book: Teaching as a Conserving Activity.
Yet, this starts with things as simple as overly desiring a woman like the one you might see looking lustly at a camera selling cars or underwear. The principle of desiring that which isn’t (or isn’t reasonable) and cannot be yours is the gateway to many other kinds of mental illnesses and attachments in which one can lose oneself and one’s clear idea of their true Self.
Even taking responsibility for another’s emotions is being greedy and controlling to some extent, to avoid pain. Therefore, we have things like co-dependency and so on.
APARIGRAHA
Non-acceptance of bribes and money is a warning against the kinds of exchanges which can bind you. Since I noted the phrase “graha” above means to grasp, this should be easily understandable.
One only needs to look to politics to see the influence of big oil, big busines, big military, big everything in governmental terms, to undestand the binding influence on our so-called “leaders” and people in positions of influence. This is clear enough. Yet, I say that this kind of thing happens in many jobs. “Don’t bite the hand tht feeds you”, even when it violates your principles. How many of you work in industries which do harm to the environment or work for the military, directly, or indirectly? Does your wage then become a violation of the precept of aparigraha? This only you can say for sure, but it’s an interesting question. I certainly have been in this situation myself. Years ago, I rode my bicycle across America, and I met a man named Ricky, who was riding also across and he’d worked for Raytheon or some military weapons manufacturer. He didn’t know that his work was actually going into creating bombs to kill people, and when he found out, he quit and took his considerable unused wage for a trip around to world, mostly by bicycle.
Ashtanga, The 8 Limbs of Raja Yoga
08/12/08 09:25 Filed in: General
Yoga | Asanas
(Postures/Poses)
I outlined briefly in my introduction
of “What is Silent Motion
Yoga” about the
8 Limbs of Raja Yoga created by Sage Patanjali. I would like to
cover this topic in some more depth now, before launching into
a breakdown of each of
the Sivananda basic poses.
I am going to list these in reverse order, as this structure is intended to be seen as a ladder:
At Silent Motion Yoga, it's recognized that all of these principles aren't separate in any individual, including the children we teach, in pre-schools and childcare facilities.
I have read that Sage Pantanjali thought of this "Kriya Yoga" before it was co-opted by some modern teachers (i.e. Paramahamsa Hariharananda, Paramahansa Yogananda and his disciple Swami Kriyananda)- because this indeed is what is is a method of. The word kriya means "cleansing" and it also means "action". Since karma also means "action" it's important not to confuse them. One is a cleaning effort, a purification, and the other is the fruits of your previous actions.
YOU CAN DO IT
What is interesting about this, and is never really talked about among the casual student of modern yoga is that considering this entire ladder, conceptually presented to us as a service to the world by Patanjali, really means that true understanding of ourselves and others is within our grasp, it's possible.
What is more, it means it's TRAINABLE. For a longtime athlete, and coach of athletes like myself, this particular things was HUGE in my consideration as to what system of thought to align myself with. Yoga is an entire comprehensive set of practices whereby one starts mainly with purification. I think that this applies also to everyone in all walks of life. I have broken down Ashtanga Yoga, Swami Vishnu-devananda's 5 Points of Yoga, and the 4 Paths of Yoga into parts applicable to the athlete also in some detail. In later posts, I will talk about this, or think about attending one of my courses on this subject.
The problem here is that the idea of purification itself has been poisoned by many Western practices of religion, and because yoga is thought to be religion, then it gets thrown into the same negative bucket of ideas as that.
A closer look tells us differently. Not helping matters is a long line of so-called 'gurus' from the sixties and seventies who took advantage of the largesse of the Western devotee (even including the Beatles!), and made a mockery of real spirituality. Unfortunately, this is still going on today, even in the middle of good institutions set up by real gurus like Swami Vishnu-devananda.
The founding instructional method of teaching in yoga practice is called the gurukula. Guru means "remover of darkness. 'kula' meaning 'house of'. So literally, the student would come and live with the guru, usually from age 8 or so and stay until 25 where they would then go back to their parents and talk about marriage. We will talk about the phases of life in a later post. Typically, this instruction was free, and people would donate with the idea to continue the guru's means of instructing the students.
Again, the difficulty here is that in the modern age, we have no proper teachers from which to support an entire school based on their ideas. The best we have in this respect, and I think of them as gurus are people like Rudolf Steiner (Waldorf schools), and Maria Montessori (Montessori Schools). I will talk more about the gurukula system in later posts.
In later posts (as this one is getting long), I will break down these asht (8) angas (limbs) one by one and discuss them.
Kindly write me with any questions you would like to see answered or your comments are welcomed.
Thanks,
DurgaDas (Regis Chapman)
I am going to list these in reverse order, as this structure is intended to be seen as a ladder:
- Samadhi- Self-Realization, The Goal of Life (8)
- Dhyana- Meditation, the mysterious ladder to real knowledge (7)
- Dharana- Concentration, one pointed focus (6)
- Pratjahara- Withdrawal of the Senses, removing the mind from their influence (5)
- Pranayama- Control of the Vital Force, which allows all things to live (4)
- Asanas- Postures without movement, yoga poses (3)
- Niyamas- Observances, “The Do’s”, things one must do (2)
- Yamas- Restrictions, “The Don’ts”, the things one must refrain from (1)
At Silent Motion Yoga, it's recognized that all of these principles aren't separate in any individual, including the children we teach, in pre-schools and childcare facilities.
I have read that Sage Pantanjali thought of this "Kriya Yoga" before it was co-opted by some modern teachers (i.e. Paramahamsa Hariharananda, Paramahansa Yogananda and his disciple Swami Kriyananda)- because this indeed is what is is a method of. The word kriya means "cleansing" and it also means "action". Since karma also means "action" it's important not to confuse them. One is a cleaning effort, a purification, and the other is the fruits of your previous actions.
YOU CAN DO IT
What is interesting about this, and is never really talked about among the casual student of modern yoga is that considering this entire ladder, conceptually presented to us as a service to the world by Patanjali, really means that true understanding of ourselves and others is within our grasp, it's possible.
What is more, it means it's TRAINABLE. For a longtime athlete, and coach of athletes like myself, this particular things was HUGE in my consideration as to what system of thought to align myself with. Yoga is an entire comprehensive set of practices whereby one starts mainly with purification. I think that this applies also to everyone in all walks of life. I have broken down Ashtanga Yoga, Swami Vishnu-devananda's 5 Points of Yoga, and the 4 Paths of Yoga into parts applicable to the athlete also in some detail. In later posts, I will talk about this, or think about attending one of my courses on this subject.
The problem here is that the idea of purification itself has been poisoned by many Western practices of religion, and because yoga is thought to be religion, then it gets thrown into the same negative bucket of ideas as that.
A closer look tells us differently. Not helping matters is a long line of so-called 'gurus' from the sixties and seventies who took advantage of the largesse of the Western devotee (even including the Beatles!), and made a mockery of real spirituality. Unfortunately, this is still going on today, even in the middle of good institutions set up by real gurus like Swami Vishnu-devananda.
The founding instructional method of teaching in yoga practice is called the gurukula. Guru means "remover of darkness. 'kula' meaning 'house of'. So literally, the student would come and live with the guru, usually from age 8 or so and stay until 25 where they would then go back to their parents and talk about marriage. We will talk about the phases of life in a later post. Typically, this instruction was free, and people would donate with the idea to continue the guru's means of instructing the students.
Again, the difficulty here is that in the modern age, we have no proper teachers from which to support an entire school based on their ideas. The best we have in this respect, and I think of them as gurus are people like Rudolf Steiner (Waldorf schools), and Maria Montessori (Montessori Schools). I will talk more about the gurukula system in later posts.
In later posts (as this one is getting long), I will break down these asht (8) angas (limbs) one by one and discuss them.
Kindly write me with any questions you would like to see answered or your comments are welcomed.
Thanks,
DurgaDas (Regis Chapman)
Yoga Postures and The Mind
08/12/08 09:24 Filed in: General
Yoga
Take a moment and smile. Not a smile
because someone asked you to, but think about something that makes
you really happy- like this kid:
Now, when I laugh, my face does a funny thing:
My eyes appear to almost close, and my whole face changes, as does my attitude internally. Try to feel bad while smiling- it's nearly impossible!
This is an example of how yoga works. I would like to recommend a smile pill to be taken every day as often as possible! Smile during your yoga postures also! Be aware of the changes in your mind as a reminder why you are doing yoga to begin with. For our children, this recommendation is very appropriate as well.
By placing yourself in yoga poses, you change the way you feel at a deep level.
Repeated and consistent practice of this can change your entire life. Yet, just as one can have discriminating tastes as to what goes into one's mouth, one must discriminate about what enters the mind. In a later post, I will talk about the effects of food on the mind, and for now I will focus on the poses' effects.
Yoga works with the body to control the mind. Yoga postures are only the beginning of yoga practice. Since the mind is not considered to be you, but rather your lens of viewing the world, then one can see how important this link is. Indeed, it's tempting in our modern "Cartesian" way to separate the 'brain' from the rest of the nervous system or even if you add the spinal cord to include the central nervous system, it isn't enough.
Consider that the brain and the body aren't really different things. How one's left arm feels has an effect on your outlook on life. Still, we can have a problem for a long time in one area and adapt our nervous system to deal with it. In doing so, patterns of awareness get set up that can be difficult to address after a long time, because the awareness that was formerly present is not longer.
Add this to the multi-various hormonal and chemical systems in place which rely on blood flow and so on and it's easy to see how complex and comprehensive this kind of system is. And because it's a system, then one aspect affects many others in a chain reaction, often causing long-term effects that linger long after the initial symptoms have disappeared. It is well-known the effects of chemicals on the body, given our pill-oriented culture. So, by dispensing with the complexities of all this, we come back once again to yoga and the postures.
Yoga's slow movements and focus on the breath enable one's awareness to become more subtle with practice. This awareness feeds one's ability to control the breath without 'hitching' or hesitations, and so the chest cavity is moved more smoothly throughout the day, not just during class.
In later posts, I will go through the basic 12 postures in the Sivananda sequence, one by one, and discuss the effects of the poses and points of focus for the mind during them.
In general, one must grasp the substantial difference between the basic Sivananda sequence created by Swami Vishnu-devananda and taught in all the Sivananda Teacher Training Courses worldwide and other so-called "styles" of yoga. The Sivananda sequence works with the energy centers, pose by pose, starting from the top (with the headstand), and moving down through them.
This is why variations on the basic sequence are used instead of very different poses thrown around without considering these. These energy centers are called chakras, and much is said about them in many esoteric disciplines, so I will not go into them deeply here.
This structure itself means that the yoga practice is a part in a larger context of general spiritual practice. It is this reason why one might meet with some consternation if you ask a trained Sivananda teacher what "style" they are teaching. Even if one is not doing consistent "spiritual practice" one can take a Sivananda-style class and still get the effects. This is all very confusing for the so-called "consumer" of Yoga in the world today.
While most "styles" of yoga focus on the slower movements and connection with the breath- another key aspect of Sivananda-style asanas practice is the focus on balanced movements. By balanced, what is meant is two-fold:
1) a forward bend is balanced with a backward bend, and right twist balanced with a left; and
2) appropriate rest is had to recover the muscles from the oxygen debt.
Both of these, done with proper awareness, lead one to a greater grasp of the balance between the sympathetic (The GO! part of the nervous system) and parasympathetic nervous system (the rest/digest part of the nervous system). My forthcoming book on this subject will deal with this in some detail. To summarize, efforts and relaxations are supported by the breath. Only with this balance and awareness can one really say one is doing yoga properly.
I welcome your questions and comments.
Thanks,
Regis Chapman (DurgaDas)
Silent Motion Yoga
Now, when I laugh, my face does a funny thing:
My eyes appear to almost close, and my whole face changes, as does my attitude internally. Try to feel bad while smiling- it's nearly impossible!
This is an example of how yoga works. I would like to recommend a smile pill to be taken every day as often as possible! Smile during your yoga postures also! Be aware of the changes in your mind as a reminder why you are doing yoga to begin with. For our children, this recommendation is very appropriate as well.
By placing yourself in yoga poses, you change the way you feel at a deep level.
Repeated and consistent practice of this can change your entire life. Yet, just as one can have discriminating tastes as to what goes into one's mouth, one must discriminate about what enters the mind. In a later post, I will talk about the effects of food on the mind, and for now I will focus on the poses' effects.
Yoga works with the body to control the mind. Yoga postures are only the beginning of yoga practice. Since the mind is not considered to be you, but rather your lens of viewing the world, then one can see how important this link is. Indeed, it's tempting in our modern "Cartesian" way to separate the 'brain' from the rest of the nervous system or even if you add the spinal cord to include the central nervous system, it isn't enough.
Consider that the brain and the body aren't really different things. How one's left arm feels has an effect on your outlook on life. Still, we can have a problem for a long time in one area and adapt our nervous system to deal with it. In doing so, patterns of awareness get set up that can be difficult to address after a long time, because the awareness that was formerly present is not longer.
Add this to the multi-various hormonal and chemical systems in place which rely on blood flow and so on and it's easy to see how complex and comprehensive this kind of system is. And because it's a system, then one aspect affects many others in a chain reaction, often causing long-term effects that linger long after the initial symptoms have disappeared. It is well-known the effects of chemicals on the body, given our pill-oriented culture. So, by dispensing with the complexities of all this, we come back once again to yoga and the postures.
Yoga's slow movements and focus on the breath enable one's awareness to become more subtle with practice. This awareness feeds one's ability to control the breath without 'hitching' or hesitations, and so the chest cavity is moved more smoothly throughout the day, not just during class.
In later posts, I will go through the basic 12 postures in the Sivananda sequence, one by one, and discuss the effects of the poses and points of focus for the mind during them.
In general, one must grasp the substantial difference between the basic Sivananda sequence created by Swami Vishnu-devananda and taught in all the Sivananda Teacher Training Courses worldwide and other so-called "styles" of yoga. The Sivananda sequence works with the energy centers, pose by pose, starting from the top (with the headstand), and moving down through them.
This is why variations on the basic sequence are used instead of very different poses thrown around without considering these. These energy centers are called chakras, and much is said about them in many esoteric disciplines, so I will not go into them deeply here.
This structure itself means that the yoga practice is a part in a larger context of general spiritual practice. It is this reason why one might meet with some consternation if you ask a trained Sivananda teacher what "style" they are teaching. Even if one is not doing consistent "spiritual practice" one can take a Sivananda-style class and still get the effects. This is all very confusing for the so-called "consumer" of Yoga in the world today.
While most "styles" of yoga focus on the slower movements and connection with the breath- another key aspect of Sivananda-style asanas practice is the focus on balanced movements. By balanced, what is meant is two-fold:
1) a forward bend is balanced with a backward bend, and right twist balanced with a left; and
2) appropriate rest is had to recover the muscles from the oxygen debt.
Both of these, done with proper awareness, lead one to a greater grasp of the balance between the sympathetic (The GO! part of the nervous system) and parasympathetic nervous system (the rest/digest part of the nervous system). My forthcoming book on this subject will deal with this in some detail. To summarize, efforts and relaxations are supported by the breath. Only with this balance and awareness can one really say one is doing yoga properly.
I welcome your questions and comments.
Thanks,
Regis Chapman (DurgaDas)
Silent Motion Yoga