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Deeper Purpose of Hatha Yoga

Applying Swami Kriyananda’s words to our asana practice:

Swami Kriyananda: “Hatha yoga, the yoga postures, is the physical branch of the science of Raja yoga, which is the science of meditation. Therefore we must understand the yoga postures in a deeper sense than simply calisthenics or exercises – positions rather that help you in merely physical ways, like pressing on your liver or your spleen in order to flush it out and helping to slim your hips and all the various emphasis that we are [often] given.

Rather, these exercises are helpful in putting the body into harmony with the mind and with the inner spirit.”

APPLY IT: In each asana intuitively feel that you are putting your body in harmony with your inner spirit, with its high qualities.

“Because every thought that you think has some kind of physical counterpart and vice versa. Our physical movements help to affirm or reaffirm certain mental attitudes.”

APPLY IT: In each asana consciously affirm elevated mental attitudes.

“Mental tension, of course, brings physical tension. Physical tension, on the other hand, creates mental tension.”

So what you want to do when you do these postures is do them with a sense of awareness. Awareness not only of the physical movement, but awareness of the energy in the body and the interchange between the physical movement of that energy and its influence on the mind. 

Try to feel, rather, that God’s energy is flowing in your body and that you are directing that energy and creating a magnetic aura around your body as you direct it. The flow of energy helps to create a magnetic field around your body. Live in that magnetic field as you do the postures.”

APPLY IT: Feel God’s energy flowing into your body in the asana, through the medulla oblongata. Direct that energy especially to the most active body parts.

Now try to feel how that energy-flow influences the mind, how that energy produces a state of consciousness, leading to the affirmation (which e use in Ananda Yoga). The energy-flow in the body translates into words. 

Feel that energy even around your body: the magnetic field, the aura. The energy you emanate expresses the specific quality of the asana. Live in that magnetic field, with that quality, with that aura.

“Another thing is to relax into the poses. Don’t do them like calisthenics, with force, with vigor. Don’t strain. Remember that nature never makes sudden leaps. Everything should be done in slow degrees. If you relax a certain distance and then you find you can’t go any further, concentrate. Feel where the tension is. Relax that tension. You can go further and further and further into each pose. So don’t force. Do them with joy. Do them with calmness. Do them with inwardness and, of course, with awareness.”

APPLY IT: Relax physically, mentally, spiritually: it’s a spiritual practice. Let your practice be joyful, calm, inward, with deep inner awareness of the energy and inner states of consciousness: this is Ananda Yoga.

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