Every Breath You Take
Posted on June 19, 2008
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Mainstream pop culture is filled with references to Yoga
The Brittish occupation of India also produced unexpected results. Amazed by the prowess of yogis, scientists wrote reports on what they were able to see during experiments which could be contenders for MTVs’ extreme culture, where young people perform the craziest experiments in front of cameras just for kicks.
How about this yogi who agreed to perform the breathlessness trick? A report states that a yogi allowed himself to be buried alive for a period of seven days. After swallowing his tongue, plugging all orifices of his body with cotton and covering his eyes, the yogi went into a state of trance and shut down all body functions.
The casket in which he lay was closed and then buried under six feet of sand. After seven days, it was unearthed and opened. A little less than ten minutes later, the yogi sat up, casually unplugged ears, nostrils and mouth, pulled his tongue out of his throat and took his first breath in seven days. Is this possible? Is it even true?
On both counts, it is. Yogis can perform feats that normal individuals would consider extremely dangerous, even fatal. That is because they have not only abandoned all forms of materialism, but also conquered the ego. When a person does this, maya is dissolved and one lives in a perpetual state of blissful harmony with creation.
This has consequences. One of them being that one acquires total mastery on the physical plane, which means that actions are alway perfect, therefore freed of karma. It would be wise for everyone to remember that the bodies we inhabit are graciously provided by mother earth and do not belong to us. It is the reason why, after leaving the body, the body is returned to her.
Strictly speaking, our bodies need no nourishment, as they can be sustained on prana alone. The Saint who never ate, Therese Neumann, proved this. The same goes for breathing. When we go into a perfect trance and commune with creation, our breath becomes still, the need for continuous fresh oxygen diminishes, the breathing reflex becomes non existant and we are “breathless”.
Masters in a state of continual “samahdi” are breathless. When one is in samahdi, one realises the meaning of the phrase “the Word made flesh”, the bond between Mother Earth and the individual is disolved and death is conquered.
Correct meditation.
Posted on June 10, 2008
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Correct meditation is not easy for those who are in maya. A simple test towards correct practice in meditation consists of inviting the candidate to the following exercise: count from one to ten inwardly (be honest to yourself) without being interrupted in the flow of your thoughts by an itch, a smell, a sound, an emotion or even a thought other than the sequence from one to ten.
You could be in the course of reciting the numbers in your mind, and in the short silence between one and two, you become aware of a presence that is accompanying you in your count. A thought that intrudes and flashes in between the silence between the two numbers, of the nature of: “there we are, two already!” and you know that at that very point, the silence has been broken. You have not failed at anything though, you have only discovered that you have no control over your own mind.
Many make it to two, fewer get to three and most drop out on the inner count of four, because by then, one has been interrupted by some or other intruding thought, or one starts smiling, or suddenly, there is an unforseen bowel movement, or one has to swallow some saliva and what have you else. Indeed, the situation can sometimes be hilarious. The fact that you also realize that you have little control over how your thoughts present themselves to you can be disconcerting, and it should be.
For a master it is of course the simplest of exercises and a yogi master does this exercice effortlessly. It can be the doorway to first stillness, a way of starting a meditation session. Disciplining the mind to follow the will and not intrude with any thoughts is the most difficult of challenges for the beginner, but when there are thoughts inside your head, then that is not silence.
And correct meditation is about creating silence within. It is because yogis, the masters who have understood yoga
Postures help bring focus, discipline and control over the mind. Once the mind can be stilled, the path to higher self becomes clear.
When the body is full of toxins, this can also be a problem, for the unhealthy body will keep interfering with the mind untill sufficient attention has been given to this situation and the health related issues are cleared away. Again, postures stimulate the body to clear away the toxins. The whole concept of yoga is about preparing for correct meditation which takes the pupil on the path to mastery.
Know what meditation is all about.
Posted on June 10, 2008
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Meditation, basically, is about being still. This encompasses the body, the mind and the soul. Yogis can meditate for hours, even days on end. In Tibet, monks in monasteries practice meditating outside during winter in sub-zero temperatures in the snow. Others have been rumored to start levitating while in deep meditation.
Meditation is the “soft” way of practising yoga
Another phenomenon that has occurred is that people’s own individual sense of critical discrimination has been lost, litteraly educated out of them, conditioned by tradition, habit, peer pressure and other combinations such as ego and ignorance.
Almost all pain that exists or is perceived in such a way, that the individual who is subjected to it experiences it as one hundred percent real has its roots, or basic source, in the illusion created by the mind of the notion of “self” or identity.
It is a fact that once a person has convinced himself of who he is, when his personal and material identity has become a habit; when it is “anchored” deep within his subconscious; that it becomes increasingly difficult for this person to dissociate himself from this state of being. As years go by, this difficulty only grows.
Usually, one refers to this situation as “maya”, or veil of illusion, and it is not an exaggeration to state that most people who walk the earth are in a state of maya.
Yogis have understood that this perception of “self”, or maya, can be very destructive and it is their goal to escape from this state once and for all. Aside from the discipline of the practice of yoga, which is a physical and mental preparation or conditioning of the body and mind to prepare for the ultimate goal, which is attaining “samahdi”, meditation is also required. It is considered exceptional for any given person to be able to experience samahdi other than during meditation.
Meditation allows for stillness to set in, be it physical, mental or spiritual, for meditation is nothing more that creating complete silence within. When this silence is perfect, that is, when no thoughts, emotions, yearnings, ideas or physical discomforts come to disturb the inner silence, then the conditions are set for the veil of illusion to dissipate.
It is then that the path that leads to samahdi becomes clear and that maya is forever lost. At this point, the adept is no longer a mere pupil, but an adept on his way to becoming a master.
Yoga Postures, Bow, Cobra, Shooting Bow
Posted on May 15, 2008
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Basic Yoga
1. THE COBRA Do this in easy stages. Lie down, face prone, legs tightly together and stretched back, forehead on the floor. Put your hands, palm down, just under your shoulders. Inhale and raise your head, pressing your neck back, now use your hands to push your trunk up until you are bending in a beautiful arc from your lower spine to the back of your neck. You need go no further than this. However, if you are supple enough, you can now straighten your arms completely, bend the legs at the knees and drop your head back to touch your feet. Even if your head goes nowhere near your feet, drop it back as far as possible and hold the posture with deep breathing. Come out of the posture very slowly, returning to the face prone posture. Relax with your head to one side. Repeat.
2. THE BOW This is also an extreme version of the simple bow. It is surprising how many children can do it immediately. Take it, once again, in easy stages. Lie face prone on your mat. If you are very slim have a nice thick, padded mat for this one. Inhale and bend your knees up. Stretch back with your arms and catch hold of your ankles, keeping fingers and thumbs all together on the outside. Inhale and at the same time raise your head and chest, pulling at your ankles and lifting knees and thighs off the floor. Breathe normally, trying to kick up your legs higher and lifting your head up. You are now bent like a bow, balancing the weight of your body on your abdomen. You can stop right here but if you can still stretch further, then slide your hands down your legs, lift them higher, keep the knees together and pull back as much as you can. Hold for a few normal deep breaths, then relax back to the face-prone position, head to one side.
3. THE SHOOTING BOW In Sanskrit this is known as Akarna Dhanurasana and one leg is drawn up like a shooting bow. Sit with both legs stretched out in front and back straight. Reach forward with both hands and clasp your feet, catching the right foot with the left hand and the left foot with the right hand. Inhale, bend the left knee and pull the foot across the body, close to your chest, pointing the elbow up and twisting the body slightly to the right. The left hand stays firm and tight, holding the right foot. Hold posture with normal breathing, release slowly, and relax. Repeat on other side. In the beginning it is enough to hold the bent left leg with the right hand. When this is easy, stretch down and hold the left foot with the right hand. Continue to pull on the left foot, lifting it higher on each exhalation.
Basic Sitting Postures with Benefits
Posted on May 15, 2008
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Basic Sitting Postures
JANU SIRSASANA: Correct foot placement
Sit up straight with legs evenly extended in front. Bend the right leg at the knee and place the foot so that the heel is in the right groin and the front of the foot touches the left thigh. Turn the foot so that the bottom of the foot is facing upward and press the knee back to form an obtuse angle with the body. This position will be difficult at first; don’t force it. Put a folded blanket under the knee and also under the hips. Gradually the knee will move farther back. Just keep the foot correctly positioned.
JANU SIRSASANA: Correct, perfect posture
Having positioned the foot and knee correctly, stretch the left leg out, keeping the leg firmly on the mat. Settle the heel firmly and stretch the toes up. (The heel should pull gently away from the ankle.) Now inhale and bend forward over the straight leg, catching the foot with both hands if possible. Beginners should bend only as far as they can without rounding the back. When this posture is done correctly and completely, the body will roll forward over the extended leg, absolutely flat from the tail bone to the head. Stay there breathing normally for as long as you can. Inhale, release the handhold, come up smoothly, straighten the bent leg and relax. Repeat on other side.
JANU SIRSASANA: Wrong posture
The heel is not positioned against its own thigh. The knee has not been pushed back as far as possible to form an obtuse angle. The back is humped and curved because the pelvis is jammed and unable to lift properly. Instead of a smooth, complete stretching of the spine, the lumbar is over-stretched and the rest of the spine constricted. The left leg is not flat on the floor.
TRIANG MUKHAIPADA PASCHIMOTTANASANA: Sitting, forward-bending pose over one leg
This posture generally follows the previous one. Sit with your legs stretched in front. Bend the right leg so that the right foot is near the right hip. The toes should point back. The right calf presses against the right thigh. The body will tilt in this position so put a small folded towel under the left buttock to keep the hips level and the forward stretch even and extended. Hold the left foot with both hands, inhale and bend forward, keeping both knees together as you stretch forward over the straight leg. Many students will find it difficult in this position to even take hold of the foot of the outstretched leg. Do not despair. Just hold the knee, shin or ankle, and sit, breathing deeply, in whichever position represents your best extension. If the back is tight and the spine inflexible, this will take time. Release the hold and straighten the bent leg. Repeat on the other side.
Yoga and Cancer Treatment
Posted on May 15, 2008
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Applications in Cancer Treatment
A cure for cancer exists through the use of yoga
But physicians refused to acknowledge the cure, said Col. Hansa Raval, M.D., a pathologist with the United States Army. Dr. Raval said her work in cytotechnology - a diagnostic branch of medicine designed to pinpoint early stages of cancer - was fruitless until she began researching the use of non-conventional methods of treatment.
The specialist said she witnessed the use of Raja yoga and meditation cure crippling arthritis, headaches and even cancer.
And even though Raval offers proof, which she said was collected during two years of study at the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University in India, she has been dismissed by other members of the medical profession as a kook.
Yoga’s success as a treatment method is due to another hypothesis Raval proposes that 98 percent of all cancer is psychosomatic.
This is not chanting or mantra reciting, the physician said. It’s not based on scriptures. It’s not a cult. It’s not biofeedback. It’s deeper than that. This is a full-proof method of meditation, a detailed understanding of what the soul is.
Raval maintains that medical schools belittle the study of non-conventional methods of cancer treatment in favor of conventional methods such as radiation, chemotherapy, and treatment through machines.’
Medical schools teach students that the human being is only a body. But the mind has the power to cure the body. By definition, psychosomatic means a combination of mind, or soul and body.
The soul creates the disease, but the body suffers. If the psyche creates the disease, the only way to cure it is through the psyche. It’s a very simple formula: treating the seed of the problem.
Further, studies in parapsychology all point to the treatment of illness through treatment of the soul.
The World Spiritual University, which has branches in 30 countries, teaches peace and perfection for health and happiness through the use of Raja yoga. The university gained status as a non-governmental member of the United Nations and has offices at the U.N. building in New York.
Raja yoga teaches students to search their soul world for answers on where they came from and why the cancer entered their body. They learn what role religion, stress, family and lifestyle played in the cancer.
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras
Posted on April 10, 2008
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Patanjali’s Yoga
It defines yoga as a focusing of the attention on whatever object is being contemplated to the exclusion of all others. Yoga isn’t only about postures
The yamas consist of lessons in moral and social conduct in our environment. It teaches us to restrain from lying, stealing, and greed. Non-violence and consideration toward all living things is the key. Communication with sensitivity towards others and moderation in all things we do is revered.
The niyamas focuses on attitudes towards ourselves: compromising, cleanliness, serenity, devotion, and asceticism. One should study and reverence a higher intelligence. There is an acceptance of our limitations in relation to God. It is key to have removed the impurities from the mind and body.
In the asanas, one focuses on posture practice, positioning the body while incorporating the breath to achieve a greater awareness in the mind. One is alert and relaxed without tension, while observing the reactions of the body and breath to various postures. This minimizes the effect of the external influences on the body, such as diet and climate.
Pranayama, or the restraint and control of the breath, helps with concentration, energizing and balancing of the mind and body.
Pratyahara is the relaxation of the senses, where no distractions actually activate the mind.
Dharana, or concentration, is the ability to direct the mind toward a chosen object and focus in on it exclusively.
Dhyana, or meditation, is the ability to develop focused interactions with what we seek to understand.
Lastly, but most importantly, Samadhi is the ultimate state of Self-realization, or union with the Source.
An All-Around Yoga Exercise: 12-Step Salute to the Sun
Posted on April 10, 2008
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One of the all-around yoga
1. Stand with your feet slightly apart, palms together, thumbs against your chest.
2. Inhale deeply while slowly raising your hands over your head, and bend back as far as possible, while tightening your buttocks. Hold for three seconds.
3. Slowly exhale and bend forward, keeping your knees straight, until your fingers touch the floor outside your feet. (If you can’t touch the floor, go as close as you can.) Bring your head in toward your knees.
4. Slowly inhale, bend your knees, and if your fingertips aren’t outside your feet on the floor, place them there. Slide your right foot back as far as you can go, with the right knee an inch or so off the floor, (a lunge position). Now look up as high as possible, arching your back.
5. Before exhaling again, slide your left foot back until it is beside the right one, and with your weight supported on your palms and toes, straighten both legs so that your body forms a flat plane. Make sure your stomach is pulled in.
6. Slowly exhale, bend both knees to the floor, bend with your hips in the air, lower your chest and forehead to the floor.
7. Now inhale slowly and look up, bending your head back, then raising it, followed by your upper chest, then lower chest. Your lower body - from the navel down - should be on the floor, and your elbows should be slightly bent. Hold for three to five seconds.
8. Exhale slowly and raise your hips until your feet and palms are flat on the floor and your arms and legs are straight in an inverted V position.
9. Inhale slowly and bring your right foot forward as in position 4. The foot should be flat on the floor between your fingertips. The left leg should be almost straight behind you, with its knee slightly off the floor. Raise your head, look up, and arch your back.
10. Slowly exhale and bring your left foot forward next to your right one. Straighten your legs and stand, trying to keep your fingertips on the floor, and try to touch your head to your knees as in position 3.
11. Slowly inhale, raise your arms up and stretch back as in position 2. Don’t forget to tighten your buttocks. Hold for three seconds.
12. Slowly exhale, lowering your arms to your sides. Relax. Repeat the series.
Kriya Yoga, brief history
Posted on April 10, 2008
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It was master Lahiri Mahasaya who introduced Kriya Yoga
“That meditation expert becomes eternally free who, seeking the Supreme Goal (Samahdi), is able to withdraw from external phenomena by fixing his gaze within the mid-spot of the eyebrows and by neutralizing the event currents of prana and apana within the nostrils and lungs; and to control his sensory mind and intellect; and to banish desire, fear and anger.”
The Bhagaved-Gita is rumored to have been written more than 3000 years ago.
Paramahansa Yogananda writes in his “Autobiography of a Yogi” that Master Mahasaya received his teaching directly from Babaji, the Guru of all gurus. It is rumored that Babaji appears regularly among accomplished master yogis and advanced spiritual entities and that he taught the Christ and His disciples.
Why do I write that these facts “seem to be” and are “rumored to”? The answer is simple: there is absolutely no scientific proof whatsoever, not a shred of evidence to back up this information. Yet it is odd that not a single master or illuminated soul ever contradicted or denied this information.
Moreover, any accomplished master, and I mean by that one that has received the blessing of Samahdi, will tell you that you can find out for yourself by going into Samahdi where you will know all knowledge, see all things and be everywhere simultaneously.
To try and explain what happens to a soul when he reaches a state of Samahdi, one would have to listen to the story of that raindrop who fell into the ocean, suddenly realizing that he was no longer a raindrop, but the ocean itself.
Kriya Yoga is but one of many yoga techniques that prepare the candidate for this experience and it is said to be the ultimate liberation from suffering and the consequences of maya (illusion). The souls who managed to attain Samahdi are definitively freed from the bondage of kharma, the law of action and reaction or consequence.
Core Power Yoga or Westernised Ashtanga
Posted on April 2, 2008
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Core power Yoga
Core Power Yoga emphasises energetic postures
It is rumoured that the founder of Ashtanga Yoga, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, developed Ashtanga as a means of introducing Yoga to children. Being too young to understand the reasons motivating the rigours of postures, he found it difficult to keep children focussed. By adding the aspect of physical challenge he found children to be more responsive.
Power yoga has created a dynamic, stimulating program that combines strength, sweat and spirituality. It recognizes power in different levels; first is the physical power which develops the body’s strength and improve health; second is the mental power or the will to concentrate on the practice; and last the spiritual, which is the source of the physical and mental abilities.
The term Core Power Yoga was given by Beryl Bender Birch, an Ashtanga Yoga teacher. It has been brought to the west by followers of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, a renowned Sanskrit scholar who inspired Western Yogis with his Ashtanga Yoga Style and philosophies.
There are three programs in power yoga. “Core Power” is designed to strengthen abdominals and back and includes both abs-focused yoga poses and variations of muscle-toning moves. “Unlocking Athletic Power” will develop flexible strength with an emphasis on abs, back, hips and pelvis. “Soul of Strength” on the other hand is a fast-moving power yoga program with a distinct “mid-body” emphasis and some very challenging moves.
Yoga sessions are done in a heated room and composed of different cardiovascular exercises intended to develop strength and flexibility, increase stamina, improves the ability to focus, release tensions and remove toxins through sweating.
Core power yoga practice also requires the execution of yoga postures. These are performed in a fast pace, some poses are even held longer than the required five breaths. This practice can increase physical endurance and ability to focus on any task for a long time without breaking concentration.
What is the difference between core power yoga and other exercises?
Core power yoga is a vinyasa style that has a unique program offering and focuses on core strength, balance and flow to build a solid practice based on strength and spirit. It offers diverse classes like Hot Yoga, Yoga Sculpt, Boot camps, Teacher Trainings and Mat Pilates.
Moreover, it provides better instructors that are personally involved in students’ progress, strong and forceful leaders who pay more attention to the students needs. Also the teachers of this exercise work with the students to personalize their programs and creating a sense of belonging and community. And lastly, it provides quality facilities equipped with a unique top tier amenities and a balance aura.
Core power yoga also offers great health benefits; this lengthens and stretches the muscles. At the same time it builds stamina, strength and provides a lean muscle mass. It also increases body heat that kills some bacteria and creates a finely tuned state of consciousness of the workings of the body. The focus of core power yoga is on the coordination of the breath movement, connecting the body, mind and spirit to the warmest level.
Core power yoga is best to those who want to improve their performance in their chosen sports like cycling, football, swimming, skiing, surfing, running/athlete, martial arts and other team sports. Some training grounds in sports practice this exercise in transition for aerobics. Core power yoga can reshape your body and mind!