by Swami Kriyananda
Yogananda blessing disciples practicing the yoga postures, at Mt. Washington and Encnitas.
Yogananda taught the yoga postures in his school at Ranchi, as we can read in the Autobiography of a Yogi:
“The boys are also taught asanas (postures), sword and lathi (stick) play, and jujitsu.”
Yogananda’s brother Bishnu joined the school as a student and relates that there he learned the postures from Yogananda, who codified 84 asanas. Later Bishnu taught Hatha Yoga, but focused exclusively on its physical aspect. His famous student Bikram Choudhury later founded the bow famous Bikram-Yoga, or “Hot-Yoga.”
When Yogananda came to the West, he recommended the asanas, but they were not a central part of his teachings. Central were his Energization Exercises and of course Kriya Yoga. His disciples were free to practice the postures, or not. Some did, for example Rajarsi Janakanda, Bernard Coleand, Norman Paulsen, and Oliver Black, who later taught “Yogacharya Oliver Black’s Self-realization yoga.”
Swami Kriyananda was often called to demonstrate the yoga postures in front of Yogananda, for visiting guests. In that way, through inner attunement, he absorbed the deeper meaning of Hatha Yoga. He later taught it in the form of “Ananda Yoga” as an effective preparation for Raja Yoga, or meditation. It is a tool for developing deeper awareness, most importantly the awareness of the energy (prana) in the body. At the same time, he taught that the postures ought to be beneficial for body (health), mind (qualities), and soul (spirituality):
“When you are doing the yoga postures you must think of yourself not only as a physical body. We are a triune being. Body, mind, and soul are not separate compartments: they are all part of each other.”
Therefore you will find that his quotes on the Ananda Yoga system cover various topics:
Index
– The Body
– The Mind
– The Soul
– Energy
– Breath
– Tips For Your Practice
– Daily Life Yoga
THE BODY
Better than many a pill!
“Hatha yoga is one of the best systems known to man for the relief of physical distress.”
Be radiantly well!
“On a physical level, yoga implies glowing health.”
Harmony among all body parts: your best defense system
“Yoga means ‘union.’ On a physical level of application, this signifies the complete harmony of all parts of the body–a balanced support of all the members for one another in such a way that disease, or disharmony, is faced with a united defense and can hardly make any inroad into the body.”
Health depends on each body part
On a physical level, this teaching of life’s essential unity helps one to see health in terms not of separate and unrelated bodily compartments, but as a living whole: to understand that the health of every body part contributes to the health of every other, and that the failure of one is to some degree the failure of all. This is the approach of Hatha Yoga. That ancient science of physical well being keeps its practitioners so radiantly healthy that, if all men were yogis, doctors would be living in ghettoes.
The body, your friend
“The yoga postures help to create a joyous sense of vitality and well-being. They make the body an ally, not a neutral neighbor or even a foe, of the soul in its search for expanding awareness.”
It is NATURAL that you feel well
“Inasmuch as ill health is the unnatural, not the natural, condition of the body, primary emphasis in hatha yoga is placed on freeing the body of any impurity that may prevent it from functioning as it should, rather than on introducing outside forces strong enough to destroy all disease.”
Scientific methods
“Physically, Hatha Yoga is a unique and wonderful system. Instead of doing violence to the body, it helps in a scientific way: for example, it presses the glands, and through pressure and relaxation, it effectively flushes out the organs. You get more benefit from half an hour of Hatha Yoga then you do from going out and playing football or tennis.”
Take care of the joints, irrigate the spine…. and remain young!
“Yogis and Western medical doctors both say that the toxins in the body soon leave the bloodstream and settle in the joints. Yogis go on to say that old age, too, settles first in the joints. Western medical doctors have actually stated that the spinal discs of many people even in their twenties already show signs of deterioration, owing to want of proper irrigation. Western systems of physical exercise–sports, calisthenics, and the like–do not develop the limberness necessary to keep the joints free of toxins and the spinal column well irrigated with life force. In both of these matters, the science of hatha yoga stands supreme.”
Enjoy the healing massage
“Hatha yoga exercises a gentle massage on the internal organs and glands, gradually strengthening them to the point where providing outside aid for them would only be ‘carrying coals to Newcastle.'”
Give some, get more!
“Yoga is not a system of vigorous calisthenics, but of gentle, natural movements that place a minimum of strain on the bodily system, with a maximum of benefit to it.”
Develop your own healing power
“The yoga postures help to harmonize the body with natural law. The yogi is shown how to develop his own latent powers rather than lean weakly on some outer agent for his physical well-being.”
Throw out the “toxins” of tension
“Much emphasis is given in yoga to the elimination of waste from the body. One form of waste, not commonly thought of as such, is tension. Tension blocks the natural flow of energy in the body. It paralyzes one’s normal sense of physical and mental harmony. Human ills all derive more or less directly from impairments in the body’s energy-flow. The main reason for eliminating waste from the body is to permit the free flow of energy. Tension, the chief obstruction to this flow, is the first obstacle to be overcome if the body is to return to its divinely natural state.”
Keep and restore your healthy spine
“In most cases the yoga postures keep the spine relaxed enough never to get out of position, or return it to a normal state of balance, if the alignment has not been too severely disrupted.”
The spine is central
“A limber spine is necessary both for good health and for a more vital awareness.”
In the center of your awareness: the spine
“The hatha yogi should train himself to be deeply aware of the spine. The majority of the yoga postures relate in some way or another to the development of this spinal awareness, either by stretching and irrigating the spine, or by inducing a more centered consciousness.”
Stand straight, but not like a soldier
“Right posture is vitally important to the yogi. A bent spine impairs the flow of energy. It also cramps the breath, making it almost impossible to breathe deeply. Right posture, however, from a standpoint of yoga, is by no means the rigid stance of a soldier on parade. One must be relaxed even while standing straight. Indeed, until one can learn to keep his spine straight he will never know how to relax perfectly.”
Be “omnipresent” in the body
“In all of the yoga postures one should be deeply aware of every body movement, of every muscle that is brought into play.”
Your great inner adventure…
“The postures are a process of gradual discovery of the body’s potentials. Think of them as an adventure in awareness.”
Practice “integrative” thinking
“Health is a product of the ‘integrative process’: to achieve glowing health, one must deliberately cooperate with this process. He must develop the body as a whole, not as a bundle of separate parts related together only by the accident of existing together in a more or less common enterprise. He must bring the body and the mind into active harmony with one another. He must, moreover, recognize his kinship with the surrounding universe.”
Be a fountain of LIFE and health
“Yoga says, learn more and more to think of your body and mind as an integral whole. Live in your body, instead of merely existing in it. True health implies a buoyant sense of vitality. It is not merely an absence of fever.”
Don’t pamper yourself
“In your practice of the yoga postures, too, it is important to conquer body attachment. Realize that the body is yours to use, not to pamper. You are the ever-perfect, eternal soul. Learn not to give in to the body’s dictates, nor to assume to yourself its feelings of fatigue. One should never say, ‘I am tired.” The body may be tired, but the body is not the Self. Say, if you must, “My body needs rest,” but try gradually to discipline the body as one would a wayward child, until it obeys every command of your will.”
Keep the correct proportions
“Don’t imagine that long hours of postures are necessary for glowing health or even rapid spiritual progress. “Keep exercised and body fit for God realization,” my guru once wrote to me; yet he stressed the greater importance of mental and spiritual development even for lasting physical well being.”
THE MIND
Your body and mind are connected
“There is a connection between physical posture and mental attitude. Many of the postures of Hatha Yoga are related to specific and wholesome attitudes of the mind. All of the postures help in a general way to produce inner peace, contentment, and spiritual harmony.”
Your mind influences your body
“Certain bodily postures are naturally associated with certain mental attitudes. When the mind is discouraged, the body tends to stoop forward. Courage tends to make the body erect. Under the influence of aggressive feelings, the shoulders often become hunched upward, the fists become clenched. When feeling stubborn a person may jut his jaw forward. When he is inspired, his eyes will look upward; when depressed, they will look downward. Poise, or lack of it, is reflected in the way one sits, in the way he stands, in the movement of his hands.”
But also: your body influences your mind
“But just as one’s mental attitudes affect his body, so also his bodily postures affect his mind. Slumped shoulders and a bent spine can actually, to some extent, induce moodiness. Tensed stomach muscles can – again, to some extent – induce mental anxiety. This simple fact, obvious enough to anyone, is turned by yogis into a major key to the problem of self-development.”
How do body and mind interact?
“The connection between the body and the mind is the energy (prana) in the body. It is energy that transmits signals from the senses to the brain. It is energy that carries impulses from the brain to the body. When the flow of this energy is obstructed or set out of balance, there is a corresponding inharmony in both body and mind.”
Don’t loose the ancient roots
“Hatha Yoga is an ancient science, and we are trying to express it again clearly. It’s nothing we can possess. The essence of the ancient teaching is this: in the postures we find always expressed attitudes of the mind.”
Learn from the great Masters
“We need to go back to what the great Masters have said and done. These Masters understand the human body from the soul level, and understand that certain positions are natural expressions of certain states of consciousness.”
Using your body it is easy to change our psychology
“It is difficult to change one’s mental outlooks. It is difficult even to view them objectively.
To change oneself physically, however, in such a way as to influence the mind to adopt a similarly reformed outlook is a relatively simple undertaking. Harmonize the body, and it will be easier to harmonize the mind. This principle is fundamental to the science of hatha yoga. And it applies, in varying degrees of subtlety, to all levels of yoga teaching.”
For example…
“Releasing the tension behind the knees can help, indirectly, to overcome a sense of insecurity.”
Affirm the inner quality of the asanas
“Every posture is associated with certain mental and spiritual states which, if one meditates on them while doing the posture, will come to him more easily than if he goes through the postures absent-mindedly, or thinking only of their physical benefits.”
Affirming health intensely
“From the standpoint of physical health, too, if one meditates on health, affirming it with every fiber of his being while he practices the postures, they will speed him on the road to perfect health more quickly than if he merely goes through the postures automatically, with his mind roaming in foreign lands.”
Yoga makes you centered in your life
“One who can remain consciously centered in his spine will always be poised, ready to meet any situation that arises–even as a man who is well-balanced while running can turn quickly, whereas one who is not will very likely fall if he turns too suddenly.”
Complete transformation of your being
“The postures are intended to change our whole being. And that being is an irradiation from within. What we are within (a perfect being), we will be without.”
All the “complexes” will flee
“On a mental level, yoga implies the harmonious integration of the personality, and the corresponding elimination of psychological ‘complexes’.”
Your world of feelings
“Through yoga, one can achieve a richer, more harmonious emotional life.”
A major ingredient: concentration
“Concentration on what one is attempting to accomplish can increase the value of the postures up to a hundred times.”
What is yoga without right attitude?
“One should not wait passively for the postures to give one a deeper sense of relaxation and calmness. Minimal attention will produce minimal results. Mental attitude is almost as important in hatha yoga as are the postures themselves. These postures should be, indeed, almost a form of meditation. Practice them with an attitude of peace, even of worship.”
Practice inner qualities
“To practice the yoga postures with spiritual feeling is to find that they help to develop that feeling. The yoga postures may thus be seen to be an important aid to spiritual unfoldment. If one enters a pose, not jerkily, but with an inner sense of harmony and peace, the very act of assuming that position can help to develop this bhav, or spiritual attitude. How one gets into the postures, the mental thought that he holds during the practice of them, how he comes out of them, and the consciousness of returning to his deepest inner center as he rests between the poses–all of these are an important part of the practice of hatha yoga.”
Enjoy!
“In the practice of the yoga postures, do them always with a sense of quiet enjoyment. Feel almost as if you were smiling while you practice the postures. Learn the rhythm and capacities of your own body, and lead it gently on the pathway to perfection.”
The best posture for you
“Which posture is the best of all yoga postures? It is the posture which makes you stand squarely on your own two feet.”
THE SOUL
The deepest benefits
“The deepest benefits, in most of the yoga postures, are spiritual.”
Who is advanced in yoga?
“It’s a mistake to think somebody is better in Hatha Yoga because he can do difficult poses. Our purpose is to develop consciousness above all.”
The heavenly purpose of yoga
“On the soul level, yoga implies union of the little self with the greater Self, of the ego with the vastness of cosmic awareness, and of the individual soul with its infinite Source: God.”
Turn your chalice upwards
“The highest purpose of yoga is simply to place oneself in a position to receive fully a downpouring of Spirit. If God’s grace is not experienced in the average human life, it is not because of divine indifference, but because man’s energies and attention are diverted elsewhere.”
Expansion
“The true purpose of yoga is to facilitate the development of Self-awareness –
Not as a self enclosure, but as a doorway to an expanded awareness
of the surrounding universe, of truth, of very life.”
Prepare your temple
“This, it must be understood also, is the deeper purpose of yoga postures: not merely to give one a healthy body, but to prepare the body as one would a temple for communion with the Infinite Lord, and with those exalted beings who live always in His light.”
Worship as you move
“Even the yoga postures should be done with a sense of worship if one is to receive from them the fullest benefit. They were originated, not by football coaches and P.E. teachers, but by great sages who recognized in certain postures the outward expressions of inward movements of the soul.”
Your beauty is not outward, but inward
“The practice of each individual must be directed, not toward outward appearances and display, but inward to the center of his own being. Every outward movement must proceed from this inner center.”
Like a wave expressing the Sea, then returning to it
“Every posture must be an affirmation of, and must be followed by a return to, the divine Self within.”
Your body of light
“It would help you to transmute the consciousness of the physicality of the human body, living in it with the thought that it is really a body of light. This is one of the functions of hatha yoga: to become aware of the body not as made of matter, but of light.”
Give strength to your higher Self
“The yogi should dwell on, and identify himself with, this divine part of his being. He should practice the yoga postures with those attitudes that will attune his mind to those higher states. Practicing the postures in this manner, he will find them a hundred times more effective even from a standpoint of physical health, and of course much more so from a standpoint of spiritual growth.”
“I am Spirit”
“The whole system of Hatha Yoga is a very important science for reminding us of our inner nature and for strengthening our awareness of that nature: through awareness of the body we become aware of the body on a spiritual level. Then, through awareness of the body on a spiritual level we become aware gradually of the spirit without the body [in meditation].”
The river leading to the Sea
“One of the main purposes of hatha yoga is the preparation of the body for meditation.”
Spiritual imbalance?
“He who only emphasizes the spiritual side, ignoring body and mind, will find that he is working against his physical nature. Don’t stress the spiritual side of Hatha Yoga to the point of forgetting all about its physical benefits, because then you will see it in a one-sided way, and will get away from Hatha Yoga altogether: because, after all, why not just meditate? But indeed there is a great deal of value on all levels.”
“Best mathematics: strong self effort + humble receptivity to grace = success
It must be understood that all spiritual effort involves a self-offering of the ego on the altar of God, the Infinite Self. Yogis of both the hatha and raja yoga schools often make the mistake of thinking that spiritual enlightenment depends only upon the efforts of the aspiring devotee–as if by techniques alone one could harness the Infinite! A right understanding of the yoga techniques, however, in no way contradicts the need for kripa (divine grace), as the sine qua non of the spiritual path.”
From duality to Spirit
“One should follow a bend in one direction with a bend in the opposite direction, so as always to return the body to a state of balance, even as the teaching of yoga is that one must neutralize the opposites of duality, and become identified with the one central Reality, the adwaitic, or non-dual Spirit which rests forever at the eye of the storm of creation. It is important, also, always to rest after each pose–at least as long as one has held the pose, and longer if the heart has been so activated that it takes more time to return to its normal rhythm.”
Bathe in the bliss of the spine
“Tremendous joy and awareness are experienced as one’s consciousness becomes centered sensitively in the spine. The spine is, indeed, the holy river of baptism in which the Godward- moving soul becomes cleansed and regenerated in waters of divine joy.”
Relax the heart and it becomes holy
“Patanjali’s profound Yoga Sutras, or aphorisms, have been looked upon for millennia as yoga’s definitive Scripture. He wrote: “Yogas chitta vritti nirodh–Yoga is the neutralization of the waves of feeling.” …Yoga is the neutralization of ego-directed feelings, because once these become stilled, the yogi realizes that he is, and that he has always been, one with the Infinite–that his awareness of this reality was limited only by his infatuation with limitation.”
ENERGY
Your greatest tool
“Energy is the cornerstone of the yoga teachings.”
Consciously increase the inner energy flow
“Your magnetism can be consciously increased,
if you understand the principles on which it operates:
«The greater the flow of energy, the greater the magnetic field.»
As you practice the postures, feel with every movement
that you are increasing the flow of energy
around your body and within it.”
Without awareness no control!
“The yoga postures are designed to promote and to harmonize the flow of energy in the body. The perceptive hatha yogi, understanding this truth, will endeavor to become conscious of his energy, and will use the postures and breathing exercises as a means primarily to developing this awareness. For awareness is the first and most important stage towards gaining control.”
Pranayama: leading to your depth
“An understanding of pranayama is essential to hatha yoga, not only because of the breathing exercises involved, but also because, until one is aware of the movements of energy in the body, and of the effect of the postures upon those movements, one cannot attain the deeper benefits of hatha yoga.”
Heaven and hell
“In the main stream of life two currents, especially, may be observed. One is toward an expansion of awareness. The other is a sinking back into sleep and unawareness, a shutting out of reality, a longing for death. Positive and negative – in all of us, both of these trends may be observed. One of the most fascinating discoveries that the practicing yogi makes concerning his own psycho-physical natures is that the positive and negative currents have their literal counterpart in a directional flow of the energy in his body. When he thinks positively, there is an upward flow, literally, of this energy. When he thinks negatively, there is a downward flow.”
The body communicates
“Yogis say that, in an uplifted state of awareness, the energy is literally concentrated in the upper part of the body. At such times, the very eyes tend to look upward, the corners of the mouth to turn up; everything about the body suggest an upliftment of this inner energy. But in a depressed state of mind, the energy becomes concentrated in the lower part of one’s body: The eyes become downcast; the corners of the mouth turn downward; there is a sagging in the face, in the shoulders, in the arms; one’s whole body suggests a sense of heaviness, of being earthbound.”
Yoga leads you to heaven, through energy control
“It does not seem likely that heaven and hell are above us or below us in an objective sense, as tradition claims. But it is not difficult to demonstrate to oneself that heaven is up, and hell down, from a standpoint of one’s own inner awareness.
An all-important purpose of the yoga postures, and indeed of all yoga practices, is to assist the direction of the inner energy toward the upper part of the body, especially toward the brain. Just as a calm, relaxed pose can help to induce a calm state of mind, even so, the simple process of changing the inner level of one’s energy can have a tremendous effect on the quality of his awareness. By directing his energy upward, it becomes relatively easy for him to develop a positive mental outlook – to become kind, willing, energetic, and joyous.”
“In & up”
“In meditation, try to raise your energy and consciousness up through the spine to the point between the eyebrows. This principle should also be followed during the practice of yoga postures. Seek by means of these postures to direct the body’s energy up toward the brain. Do not allow it to become wasted in physical or mental tension, or in restless movements.”
The only true path for all
“According to the yoga teachings, man must raise the energy in his body through the spine to the brain if he would know the fulfillment that he seeks–usually, alas, in a million misdirections.”
Do you want to become truly magnetic?
“Your magnetism can be consciously increased, if you understand the principles on which it operates: “The greater the flow of energy, the greater the magnetic field.” Magnetic people are always people with a high level of energy. As you practice the postures, feel with every movement that you are increasing the flow of energy around your body and within it. As you bring your hands up to join them above the head in Vrikasana (The Tree Pose), or in Ardha-Chandrasana (The Half-Moon Pose), feel that with your hands you are creating an aura of light around your body. This aura is your magnetic field. It can protect you from harmful influences. It can attract to you good health, true friends, and worthwhile opportunities.”
Live in LIGHT!
“As you practice the postures, feel that you are deliberately moving in, and at the same time creating, a sphere of protective light. As you walk or go about your daily duties, feel yourself surrounded by this light. Remember, more is required than a pious imagination. The greater the will, the greater the flow of energy; the greater the flow of energy, the greater the magnetic field.”
Energy brings light into your life
“Inner energy will be increasing the light within us. As light within you grows more and more you’ll be able to reach out to the essence of light, the Divine. And to live consciously in that aura is one very important functions of Hatha Yoga.”
How to strengthen your aura
“You are going to feel that you are moving in an aura of light. When you bring your arms up in a posture, use your hands to feel that you are strengthening your aura.”
Postures are mudras (sacred symbols)
“A mudra is a pose that is designed to increase one’s awareness of, and to stimulate the flow of energy in, the body, particularly with a view of directing this energy upward for deeper meditation. All of the postures, however, are in a sense mudras, for all of them should be practiced with this deeper purpose in mind. Feel your body as spiritual energy moving through different meditative poses expressive of those deep states of peace and inner fulfillment that you hope to attain through your daily practice of this holy science.”
Energy means health and healing
“There is a vitality in the body which, if high, can bring the whole body into united action to protect any threatened part, even to repair a damaged one.”
How to increase energy
“The energy-flow in the body can be strengthened by self-effort in two ways: Blockages in the nerves can be eliminated; and the flow of energy itself can be increased. Both of these ends may be accomplished by the diligent practice of yoga. It is perhaps for this reason above all that yoga is termed a science, not merely an art.”
Consciously direct energy
“Yogananda’s Energization Exercises form a distinct and separate part of the science of yoga. Yet the principles underlying them can and should be incorporated into the practice of the yoga postures. As you practice the postures, especially those which stretch or tense the body, direct energy to the parts concerned.”
The stronger the will, the stronger the flow of energy…smiling!
“Remember that the kind of will power which best energizes the body is an attitude of willingness. It would even help you to practice the postures with an inward smile.”
Dynamic relaxation, to channel energy consciously
“The practice of the yoga postures must be accompanied by a sense of deep relaxation, never of strain. But this relaxation, too, must be understood in a dynamic sense. Release the tensions in the body, not merely by forgetting them, but by deliberately offering them up into the Infinite Peace. The same energy that may now be keeping your body in an unpleasant state of tension, once you have directed this energy inward toward the brain, can fill your being with a cool fountain spray of peace and happiness.”
Connect with the Universal Prana
“In the practice of the yoga postures try entertaining the awareness that all the energy of the universe is yours already to command. Open yourself mentally to its inflow, and direct it through your body by the direct exercise of your will. Radiate it also outward, in harmony and blessing to all men.”
BREATH
Breathe yourself toward health
“Without proper breathing, true health is impossible.”
Concentrate on the energy in the breath
“The breath is a valuable source of energy…..Air is full of prana, or energy. If you breathe in very slowly and deliberately, concentrating upon the energy in the air as it comes into your body, and filling your body from the toes up to the head with this energy, you will find that you can develop tremendous vitality simply by breathing…..Proper breathing can help immensely to make you more ‘alive’ and energetic.”
The best yogic diet…
“Advanced yogis and mystics of various religions have been known to go for long periods of time without physical food. It is not that they went without sustenance, but only that they knew how to draw energy from the atmosphere, from the sun’s rays, and from the prana, or cosmic energy in the surrounding universe.”
You want to live longer? Then learn to…
“Yogis sometimes say that man has a certain number of breaths allotted to him. Supposedly, if he breathes quickly, his life span will be shorter. If he learns to breathe slowly, he will live longer. Long-lived animals, like the elephant and the tortoise, breathe quite slowly–as little as four times a minute. One of the secrets of the longevity of certain great yogis is that, being calm, they breathe less than the average man.”
Your mind influences your breath
“The pattern of breathing is affected by one’s mental attitudes….There are movements of prana within one’s own body. These reflect themselves in the breath. When we are emotionally disturbed, the flow of energy in the body is similarly disturbed, and the effect on the breath is instantaneous; the breathing becomes erratic, jerky, rapid. An intimate connection exists between the mind and the breath.”
But also: your breath affects your mind… a healthy form of psychotherapy
“This interesting truth can be turned to good advantage, for as the mind influences the breath, so also the breath influences the mind. Harmful emotional states can be overcome to a large extent by deliberate, deep, harmonious breathing. Proper breathing is, indeed, one of the most effective forms of psychotherapy.”
The breath as your therapist
“Deep diaphramatic breathing can overcome mental tensions.”
Are you timid, or too introverted?
“People who hold themselves mentally too much inward from the threat of the world around them tend to become tensed physically around the sides of the ribs. People who breathe freely sidewise tend to be courageous, expansive in their outlook. A deliberate effort to breathe outward sidewise can help one to develop these wholesome attitudes.”
Are you unable to express feeling and emotions?
“Development of the upper chest is associated with the capacity for feeling, for emotional expression people whose chests are flat in the region above the breasts tend to be over-intellectual, emotionally repressed. Men are particularly at fault here.”
Afraid of ulcers? Filled with anxiety?
“Ulcers are but a symptom of stomach tension–the result of intense mental anxiety. When the stomach is kept always tensed, diaphragmatic breathing is impossible. With diaphragmatic breathing, however, this tension may be gradually overcome.”
The breath is a magician…
“We draw not only air into our body when we breathe, but also vitality, strength, courage. When we exhale, we throw out of our system not only carbon dioxide, but also mental and emotional impurities: discouragement, weakness, despair. But inasmuch as these are mental and emotional tendencies, we must use mental “lungs” to draw them into us or to expel them, even as we must use our physical lungs to inhale and exhale air. When a deliberate mental effort is made to absorb prana from the air that we breathe, then breathing can give us psycho-spiritual benefits as well.”
Breathing your way to happiness: a technique
“As you inhale, feel that you are drawing strength, courage, and joy up your spine to the brain. While holding the breath, mentally affirm the positive state of consciousness that you are trying to develop. As you exhale, feel that you are throwing out of your body all opposing states of weakness, discouragement, and sorrow. If you have a specific problem, physical or mental, you may use this technique to affirm the opposite state of well-being, and to throw the negative condition out of your system.
In meditation, however, the exhalation may be used also in conjunction with a feeling, not of negative despair, but of positive surrender into the arms of Infinite Peace.”
Breath with affirmations
“The breath, too, can be used in conjunction with mental affirmations to help one to develop courage, calmness, self- control, and other wholesome mental qualities. Affirmations can be made most effectively during Kumbhaka, with the breath held either in or out (though affirmation is generally considered most effective with the breath held out).”
Breath for enlightenment
“Energy control is often effected with the aid of breathing exercises… The goal of yoga practice is to direct this energy-flow toward the brain.”
Yogic vocabulary
“The basic movements of breathing in hatha yoga are called: puraka (inhalation), rechaka (exhalation), and kumbhaka (retention of the breath).”
The nose
“As a general principle (there are exceptions in some of the yogic breathing exercises), one should always inhale through the nostrils.”
A full breath in daily life, but without breath in meditation
“Transcendence is the goal of life. Rest is the goal of action. Breathlessness is the final goal of all breathing exercises. ‘Breathlessness is deathlessness.'”
Inhaling moving up, exhaling moving down
“While doing the yoga postures, it is a general principle to breathe in when the body comes up–whether into or out of any position, and to breathe out when the body goes down–either into or out of a position.”
The hidden treasures of your breath
“Begin from today to pay careful attention to your natural rhythms of breathing. You will soon discover in this seemingly simple life-function hidden spiritual treasures.”
More is better?
“There are numerous breathing exercises in hatha yoga. It is by no means necessary, or even desirable, to practice all of them. To do one or two deeply is better than to skip eagerly through a long series of them.”
TIPS FOR YOUR PRACTICE
Dear student, practice every day!
“The student is urged to practice at least a little bit every day.”
Practice slowly
“The student should not ‘bolt his food.’ My great guru cautioned me on this point: ‘Do not get excited or impatient. Proceed with slow speed.'”
Philosophy is important: understand the depth of yoga
“Read the first section on philosophy first. It is important for a right understanding even of the yoga postures, lest one fall into the common mistake of seeking only the shallowest benefits from this great science–slim hips, or a glowing complexion. In a forest strewn with rubies, why fill one’s sack with pine needles?”
Respect your limits
“Don’t overdo. A half an hour to an hour at a time is quite enough for most people. The beginner, especially, should start slowly and work up gradually. (How slowly and how gradually will depend upon his health, and upon the limberness and vitality of his body.) If you want to do two or three hours of yoga postures a day, get yourself a qualified personal teacher. All the yoga books are firm on this point.”
What do YOU feel?
“As you practice each pose, do not ask yourself merely, “What do the books say I should be feeling in this position?” Feel, rather, what the total significance of the pose is to your own inner consciousness.”
Remain young!
“Age is not in itself an obstacle to practicing these postures, except for the stiffness and other ailments that often accompany old age. Some of the stiffest people I have seen, however, have been young men in their twenties, and I have known old people who were remarkably supple.”
Physical brings mental stiffness…
“Interestingly, it has been my observation that physical stiffness often accompanies a certain mental inflexibility, a tendency toward dogmatism that is not necessarily limited to any age bracket.”
Don’t be a fool while practicing
“A general precaution for everyone is simply to take stock of one’s own physical condition, and to proceed with common sense.”
Are you sick?
“When unwell, be extra cautious; it may be safest for the time being not to do the postures at all. There are people with extreme physical problems who ought never to do any but the simplest poses. If you have very high blood pressure, for example, or a weak heart, exercise great caution; Savasana (the restful “corpse” pose) may be all that you should attempt.”
Menstruation, pregnancy
“Women in menstruation should avoid the stomach poses (Uddiyana Bandha and Nauli), and the other poses, too, unless they are in sound health. Pregnant women, and women who have recently (within the past twelve weeks) given birth, would do best to avoid especially the forward-bending exercises (Janushirasana, the Jackknife Pose, etc.), and the stomach exercises. Many of the other yoga positions, however, may be practiced with benefit during pregnancy, and have been found to ease the difficulties of childbirth.”
Pain: NEVER!
“If you experience pain (other than muscular) in the chest, abdomen, or brain while doing any posture, discontinue that pose until the cause of the pain has been ascertained. If you have any serious doubts about your fitness to do the yoga postures, please consult your physician (or, in the case of spinal problems, your osteopath or chiropractor) before attempting them.”
You become a Master through RELAXATION!
“Remember, it is important never to force oneself into a pose. Through growing awareness of tension, for example, one will be able to release that tension and thereby to perfect a pose. By perfect relaxation the whole yoga science can be mastered. This is as true for raja yoga as it is for hatha yoga, for relaxation must be taken into progressively subtle realms, through mental and emotional calmness to spiritual expansion and receptivity.”
Secret of success: relaxation
“The secret of success in yoga is relaxation, not strain. One should not force himself into a new condition, but seek only to free himself of tensions and inharmonies that have prevented him thus far from being fully himself. As I said in the first lesson, relax into the poses, don’t force yourself into them. This is particularly true for the stretching poses.”
Are you a little stiff?
“Don’t worry if it takes a long time to do a pose well. There is no such thing as failure in a pose, short of simply not doing it at all. Any stretch in the general direction indicated will be important for you. The stiffer you are, indeed, the more important it will be for you to make an effort–even if you can only reach your fingers as far down as your knees when the instructions clearly state that you should be holding your toes.”
Do you tend to be competitive?
“There will always be someone better than you are. So also will there always be someone worse. Compare yourself only with yourself. Are you a littler freer in your body now than you were a few days or weeks ago? So long as you are progressing in the right direction, you have cause for nothing but self-congratulation.”
How much to stretch?
“Stretch into a pose only a little bit, if at all, beyond the point of comfort. Be aware of the tensions that prevent you from stretching further. Relax them. To relax, think space at the points of strain.”
Simple postures
“One of the gratifying things about the yoga postures is that some of the easiest poses are among the most beneficial, while the most difficult ones are not always the most beneficial.”
Practice with calmness
“Always do the postures when you are calm, physically and emotionally.”
Peaceful yoga
“Approach the postures with an attitude of peace.”
Move with grace
“Be graceful getting into each posture and coming out of it. The more relaxed and graceful you can be, the more you will express the inner harmony that comes when one no longer struggles toward one extreme of consciousness or another.”
Dance and meditate as you practice
“Yoga is a meditation in movement, almost a spiritual dance.”
Open your wings and fly!
“Do all the postures with the feeling that you are using them almost as gentle breezes to waft your spirits upward.”
Keep your palms facing up
“Keep your hands turned up as you come into a pose; notice the difference of feeling, the inward lift that this movement gives to your energy.”
Quality, not quantity
“It is better to do a few poses slowly and well than many of them hurriedly.”
Air!
“Postures should be done if possible in the open air, or near to an open window. It’s best not to practice them in a closed room, or where the air is stale.”
Benefits need time to blossom
“Don’t be in a hurry to go through the poses. Hold each pose after you get into it; remember that the benefits often begin only after you have remained in a pose for awhile.”
Pauses
“Rest after each position for about as long as you held it, or for as long as it takes for your heart to return to its normal beat.”
Help yourself wit props, when necessary
“A little judicious “cheating” is quite permissible. If you cannot keep your balance in the Tree Pose, for example, don’t be afraid to take the support of a wall. In time you will find that you can do the pose properly, but the road to perfection may be uphill.”
God created routine
“Try to do the postures at the same time every day. Regularity is an important feature of yogic discipline. As my great guru said: ‘Routinize your life. God created routine. The sun shines until dusk, and the stars shine until dawn.'”
Meditate before your practice
“If you can do the postures with a calm mind and with interiorized awareness, the benefit you derive from them will be vastly greater. Before practicing the postures, sit upright for awhile; do a few breathing exercises, then meditate at least a few moments.”
How much time for postures and meditation?
“How much time should a person practice the yoga postures? And how long should he meditate? The question is, of course, a personal one; it depends on the individual’s interests and on the time he has available. If his interest is purely physical, his meditation will be a token gesture; most of his time will be devoted to the postures.
For devotees in search of spiritual enlightenment, at least half their daily practice should be devoted to meditation. Two-thirds of the time would be a better proportion. Thirty to forty minutes of yoga postures, and another hour for meditation, would make a good proportion if one has that much time at his disposal. If one has more, a full hour of postures would be better. If less, it might be well to practice the postures more, proportionately, early in the day, and less or not at all later in the day–meditating more in the evening than in the morning.
Any amount of time that is spent in meditation, however, is better than none. Nor should the amount of time that one can spend really be made a measure of one’s sincerity. There are persons with very little time to spare for whom deep sincerity is needed to be able to meditate at all. It is not so much in any case the time that one spends as the intensity with which one meditates that helps him to progress spiritually.”
Bend in both ways
“A further rule regarding the sequences is primarily this: One should follow a bend in one direction with a bend in the opposite direction.”
Find your moderate balance
“The path of Yoga is one of moderation in all things.”
Asanas and the voice
“One of the early signs of progress in yoga is a growing sweetness in the voice–the echo, simply, of increasing inner peace and happiness.”
Variations: to express your individuality
“In the science of hatha yoga, many variations are taught for every basic pose. I cannot but think that the reason for so many variations is that each person, unique in his own humanity, must express himself in some ways uniquely. Basic, universal teachings can be offered to all men, but once the principal purposes have been understood, each man may feel a certain freedom to express them in the ways that are most natural to his own body.
Natural development is a basic part of the yoga teachings. Try to capture your own body’s rhythms, and in so doing, make this science truly your own.”
Let your smile shine
“It would help you to practice the postures with an inward smile. I have too often seen yoga students press their lips together, clench their teeth, and glower as they force themselves grimly into a pose. Such an attitude actually cuts off the supply of energy to the body!”
The enlightened roots of yoga
“The science of yoga is believed to have been handed down from a high age. Indeed, it seems as if so advanced a teaching, as at home as it is among realities to which even our scientists are still struggling to adjust themselves, must surely have been born in an age of relative enlightenment.”
DAILY LIFE YOGA
Yoga day and night
“He is practicing hatha yoga not only when he moves into some anciently prescribed position, but even when he gets up out of bed, greets a neighbor on the street, or lifts a cup of tea to his lips. His every smile will be a yogic mudra, awakening energy that conveys itself as joy to all who behold him.”
The beauty of yoga as a lifestyle
“One of the goals of the yoga postures, similarly, is to reach a point where one’s every movement expresses the same grace as he expresses through the practice of the postures themselves. That is to say, the yoga postures should lead one out of the narrow confines of a specific group of poses to the realization that all of his movements can in a sense be yoga postures.”
