Yoga teacher ethics

Yoga teacher ethics should be thoroughly covered in all Yoga certification programs. With the current laws about harassment, all Yoga teachers, and anyone who works with the public, should beware.

The less said, in your Yoga class about trivial matters, the better. Your personal beliefs should not be part of the Yoga class lesson plan.

Just like many Yoga teachers often say to their students, “Stay in the moment.” Within your class, “it’s all about Yoga” and anything else beyond that can be open to misinterpretation. Walk the middle path, be mindful, avoid extremes, show loving kindness, and maintain a standard of professionalism within all of your Yoga classes.

Communication should be clear at all times. You must demonstrate, communicate verbally, and assist, if you have permission to do so. Always ask permission before making a physical assist during Asana practice.

Chakras are the energy centers of the physical and energy body. Yoga teachers know about balancing and cleansing them. Most Yoga teachers are familiar with the seven main Chakras, but there are more. Chakra balancing and Chakra clearing are safe practices for Yoga teachers who have been trained to perform these methods.

However, no one should play with “Chakra Awakenings,” with out guidance from a Guru. Most Gurus will frown on the idea of Chakra Awakening techniques; since these are considered unsafe short cuts.

Bandhas are the many locks, but Hatha Yoga teachers should know Mulha Bandha, Uddiyana Bandha, and Jalandhara Bandha very well. These are the three main Bandhas.

Mudras are gestures and they are often integrated with specific Pranayama techniques for healing. Not all Mudras are performed with the hands. In Sanskrit Mudra means “seal.” There are many Mudras and learning this is part of a Hatha Yoga teacher’s continuing education.

Kriyas or Shatkarmas are the six hygienic “deeds” or “actions.” A Yoga teacher should be clean in mind, body, and spirit. Every Hatha Yoga teacher is familiar with these six Kriyas.

Meditation is a part of each form of Yoga. It is a tool for clearing, calming, and focusing your mind, but there are also many methods of meditation. Each path of meditation leads to tranquility. All Yoga teachers should practice meditation twice per day. Guiding Yoga students is one thing, but a Yoga teacher’s meditation practice should be regimented.

A Yoga teacher should also be familiar with relaxation methods, specially, stage-by-stage relaxation. This relaxation method should be practiced privately, and Yoga teachers should make their students familiar with this technique.

With all of the above points mentioned, you can now see why the jump from Yoga student to Yoga teacher will take some time and serious practice.

Copyright 2007 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications
Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center in, Attleboro, MA. He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org

Yoga Is Union

1

Yoga Is Union

Without self-knowledge, we cannot go beyond the mind.

—Jiddu Krishnamurti

The proliferation of yoga classes and yoga centers throughout the Western world is a tribute to yoga's indisputable power to enliven physical well-being. In cities across North America, Europe, and Australia, yoga studios offer students a vast range of styles and techniques designed to enhance fitness. Yoga postures can increase your flexibility, strengthen your muscles, improve your posture, and enhance your circulation. Athletic programs from gymnastics to football now incorporate yoga for its systematic approach to stretching muscles, tendons, and joints. Fitness enthusiasts are often pleasantly surprised by how quickly the addition of yoga postures to a workout routine can improve tone and posture.

If the practice of yoga provided only these physical benefits, it would fully justify its place in our lives. However, at its core, yoga is much more than a system of physical fitness. It is a science of balanced living, a path for realizing full human potential. In these tumultuous times, yoga provides an anchor to a quieter domain of life, enabling people living in a modern technological world to stay connected to their natural humanity. Yoga offers the promise of remaining centered in the midst of turbulence.

The essential purpose of yoga is the integration of all the layers of life—environmental, physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual. The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, which means "to unite." It is related to the English word yoke. A farmer yoking two oxen to pull his plow is performing an action that hints at the essence of a spiritual experience. At its core, yoga means union, the union of body, mind, and soul; the union of the ego and the spirit; the union of the mundane and the divine.

Traditional Herbal Therapies of Malaysia to Help Maintain Feminine Balance

The search for holistic health & beauty aids has found surprising discoveries in the rich herbal traditions of Malaysia. Boasting remarkable biodiversity, the Malaysian rainforests are among the world's oldest. It's only natural that the indigenous peoples experimented with this wealth of resources to create herbal balms and tonics, refining their rejuvenating properties over thousands of years.

Shape & Balance

Influenced by strong cultural beliefs, generations of Malaysian women have relied on traditional methods to promote inner health, which is believed to be fundamental to outer beauty. Kacip Fatimah (Labisia pumila) has long been part of this tradition, used to enhance vigor and support feminine vitality. Modern scientific methods are now enabling extraction of this valuable herb's essence, to better target feminine health. Other Malaysian rainforest herbs (see sidebar below) are equally valued to promote overall wellness and healthy aging. Generations of use supports the benefits of these traditional ingredients, with many now found to contain naturally-occurring antioxidants and phytonutrients.

Today, Malaysia's cherished and colorful history of healthful rainforest botanicals is gaining a wider audience, with new adaptations being produced using modern manufacturing techniques, and made available to the public for the first time. The new products reflect Malaysia's traditional herbal usage practices, packaged into easy-to-use formulas.

CrossRoads of Holistic Herbal Culture

Malaysian herbal traditions are unique in all the world. Located at Asia's crossroads, Malaysia's practices combine the wisdom of Chinese herbalists, Indian ayurvedics and traditional Malay healers. This blending of influences has instructed Asia's most exciting holistic practices, sharing common goals – the improvement of vitality, sexual fitness, stress reduction and personal balance.

RAMUAN-THE ART & SCIENCE OF BLENDING

In Malaysia, Ramuan is a carefully selected blend of botanicals, traditionally gathered from the fertile rainforest climate. In practice, Ramuan means that the beneficial ingredients combine to create balanced results. Generations of Malaysian women have sought radiant inner health, youthful beauty and hormonal balance with herbal ingredients derived from native plants. Each Ramuan blend follows time-honored principles to achieve its results.

YOGA DIARY:IRON YOGI

IRON YOGI

The sun radiates heat off the lava fields, distorting the fi gures of the riders ahead. I had thought to practice dharana (concentration) and dhyana (meditation) as I navigated the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and 26.2-mile run between the start and finish lines of the Ironman World Championship, but my mind is off center. I am discouraged. The wind, sun, and sea have punished my body. My hopes for a fast finish are crushed; my competitive spirit has been beaten down.

I bring myself back to my breath. A whimper grows into a quivering Om: low, undetected by others over the sounds of the wind and the spinning bike wheels. My frustration lifts as the speed, strength, and rhythm of my legs return. Another Om: On inhalation, I fill my body with acceptance of myself as an athlete and a human being in this moment. On exhalation, I remind myself to push comfortably with my breath, and I smile, joyful in this marvelous landscape. Soon, my ride is over, and I am in my running shoes, gliding along the course.

I am proud of my healthy body for responding exactly as I ask during each intense moment of this day. Some athletes pass me, and I pass others, with smiles and nonjudgment, as we explore the limits of the human body and spirit together. Now, the brilliant moon illuminates the finish line. The thrill of the achievement will break my meditation in just a few minutes, but in this moment, I have found my samadhi.

Yoga Means to Unite

Ashtanga taught by Jois is a form of Hatha Yoga which focuses on Asana (posture) and Pranayama (breath control).

The word Yoga itself has many translations but all of them ultimately mean to unite: to merge to the one, to tie things together. Focusing our thoughts in one direction, undertaking anything we do with purpose and clarity, and the ability to master any discipline is Yoga.

A primary objective of Yoga is change: to constantly improve what we do, the way we feel about doing it and the way we do it. To see with a deeper clarity and less cloud, to think with more focus and deeper concentration, and to do what we do with more intensity and direction is the final goal of Yoga.

The fundamental philosophy of Yoga stands as a real testament to the wisdom of the ages. Pattangali’s Yoga Sutra is totally in alignment with today's philosophy and psychology of life.

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds, your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.

Pattangali.

Yoga’s simple message is, and has always been, one of truth. In order to connect with the higher power of life we need to practise listening. The practice of listening to our deeper voice requires us to clear the clouds and noise that disguises it.

Yoga is about living in the present. Yoga offers health and support for change. It also offers maintenance and growth in today's society within the conditions of our chosen lifestyles and in total harmony with all seven areas of life: health, wealth, success, relationship, social life, spirituality and mental capacity.

Few people wake up in the morning saying ‘I want less out of life’. They want more, and they want to do what they do better. Working from the heart, doing what we love and loving what we do—these are the ingredients of an inspired life. They are also the 5,000 year old Yoga messages, and they are being taught today as they were taught then.

How do I get in the Yogi Mood

You can be in the best head space for practice by doing some basic rituals beforehand.

* Shower before practice. It seems appropriate to enter the practice space clean and fresh.

* Do a short thank you prayer before you begin to bring body, mind and spirit into the space. Go through a list of all the things that come to mind in your day, week, year and life that you are grateful for. Thank the higher order of life for these things and then begin the practice.

* Use your own Yoga mat. First, because it’s more healthy. Second, because it’s familiar and when you lay your mat out you automatically get into a certain head space.

* Some people light candles, others have a photo of someone special nearby, some say a Yogi prayer and the list goes on. Anything that brings you to your centre and creates a specific mindset is appropriate.

* An empty stomach becomes more and more vital as the asana practice deepens. (Another good reason for the morning practice time). We recommend students don’t eat for at least three hours before their practice.

* An empty bladder and bowel are also important (preferably before the morning shower). However, if this does not yet coincide with your daily rhythm it soon will. Mid- way through the practice, the Yoga twists and breath movements move deeply into the abdomen; cleansing soon follows if it hasn’t already.

* Clothing: tights, leotards or running shorts and short sleeved T-shirts are the standard uniform for Yoga. Anything that will not restrict movement is good. When you begin Yoga practice you are going to sweat: a T-shirt and cotton shorts help soak it up. No socks, tracksuit, sunglasses or jewellery are required. A large towel or shawl is good for keeping yourself warm during relaxation at the end.

* When you sweat in Yoga the heat comes from deep within. It is advised that you don’t wipe the sweat off your body with a towel. It is to rub it over the skin with your hand to encourage further perspiration.

Must I go to a Yoga class?

Yoga can be a way of life. There are practices for cleansing, stretching, healing, expanding our mind and making life more meaningful. We breathe continuously, think continuously and grow whether we try or not. Doing Yoga can be continuous, affecting the way we breathe, move, think and relate to others.

When students first begin they say, “I am doing Yoga this morning at 7 am”, and after they pick up their mat from the floor they say, “I am finished Yoga now”. This is a reference to the practice of asana which after a time can expand to include the other wonderful Yoga practices.

The more we do and understand Yoga, the more we apply it to our daily life. Yoga is not only a physical practice but a way of seeing and thinking. It is a way of breathing, caring and achieving success. Ancient as Yoga is, the tools it offers us are timeless.

Ashtanga Yoga practice is often done in the morning before the working day begins. It is a great process for connecting within and opening the mind and body to the possibilities of the new day. Afternoons are equally fine, the body is certainly more flexible at that time, however, and there are usually other things to do which can take priority. A regular morning practice can become an essential part of your day.

Yoga practice requires consistency, regularity and patience. The body opens at its own rate, so too the mind. Our limitations concerns are our ability to let go and move on, and that is a very individual thing.

Sri K Pattabhi Jois, the father of Ashtanga Yoga, is renowned for his response to enthusiastic and impatient westerners visiting his home studio in Mysore, India, asking for insights into the asana practice. His response is classic as he avoids buying into the Western exaggeration of Yogic philosophy. He says, “Just do the practice and all is coming”. In other words, just do it without expectations or limitations and with regularity. Expansion and growth occurs without external force. To this end he has no book on the philosophy or rules of Ashtanga practice, nor does he expect any austere disciplines to be adhered to.

Pattabhi Jois is one of the first great Yoga masters of India to let go of the literal translation of the ancient texts of Yoga and focus on the inner development that Yoga itself offers.

So the suggestion we have for budding Yogis and Yoginis is “Do the practice, do it daily, do it well, do it consistently and above all do it for the love of life”.

Do I need a Teacher ?

There is no substitute for a great teacher. “When the student is ready the teacher appears, when the teacher is ready the student appears”. Developing a relationship with a Yoga teacher in the early stages of Yoga is very important, in fact, it is one of the most important elements of your early Yoga practice.

Finding the right teacher may take some time. Each teacher will interpret Yoga in their own way. It will depend on their background, their emotional history, the personality and their own ambition. Some teachers are great practitioners and lousy instructors, some are lousy practitioners and great instructors, some emphasize the spiritual and others the physical only.

It is wise to meet the teacher and at least read their personal bio before committing to the class. We will be drawn to people who exhibit the traits we love about ourselves and repelled from people who exhibit the traits we don’t like in ourselves. Objectivity in determining your best Yoga teacher comes from asking their history, qualifications to teach and their objectives for the class. The judgment about their personality is usually your stuff and very secondary. A Yoga class is as good a place as any to face that.

Contradictions in our way of thinking can be an essential part of the Yoga journey, and that is why it is better to evaluate the teacher on their style rather than personality. The word guru in Sanskrit means one who takes you from darkness to light. Therefore, in truth any person who teaches you something about yourself is a guru and as you will discover later in this book, everybody can teach you something. The highest guru of all is you—gee you are you.

Experience can be the best measure of all. Try a class here and there. Attend a beginners’ course and meet the teacher with direct and appropriate questions. A teacher who does not get to the point quickly may not value their own time, and therefore may not value yours. After all, your time is a very precious and irreplaceable commodity, why not spend it well?

Yogic Diet

Food plays a very important role in exciting the senses and passions. An aspirant should be very careful in the selection of articles of diet of Sattvic nature in the beginning of his Sadhana period. Later on drastic dietetic restrictions can be removed. Havis Annam, which is a mixture of boiled white rice and ghee, is very conducive to Yogic practices. When white rice is boiled with ghee, white sugar and milk, it is called Cheru. This is a wholesome combination suitable for Sadhakas.

Milk

Milk is a perfect food by itself, containing the different nutritive constituents, fats, proteins, carbohydrates, etc., in well-balanced proportions. It leaves very little residue in the bowels. This is an ideal food for Yogins during Pranayama practice. Fresh milk from a healthy cow, free from bovine tuberculosis, is preferable to scalded milk. Milk should be scalded or pasteurised but not boiled. The process of scalding is that the milk should be immediately removed from the fire, as soon as the boiling point is reached. Too much boiling destroys the vitamins, the mysterious nutritive principles and renders milk quite useless as an article of diet.

Fruit Diet

A fruit diet exercises a benign, soothing influence on the constitution and is very desirable diet for Yogins. This is a natural form of diet. Bananas, grapes, sweet oranges, apples, pomegranates are wholesome fruits. Bananas are very nutritious. Lemons possess anti-scorbutic properties and act as restoratives to blood. Fruit juice contains a form of nutritive principle, Vitamin C.

Mitahara

Take wholesome, Sattvic food half-stomachful; fill the quarter-stomachful with pure water; and allow the remaining quarter free for expansion of gas. This is Mitahara, the ideal food for Yogins. This is the ideal for all who want to preserve health. This is quite hygienic and is in harmony with the dietetic principles of modern medical science. This is Mitahara prescribed for Yogis.

"Nathyasnatastu Yogoasti na chaikantamanasnatah Na chaathisvapnaseelasya jagratho naivacharjuna".

"Verily, Yoga is not for him who eateth too much, nor he who abstaineth to excess, nor who is too much addicted to sleep, nor even to wakefulness, O Arjuna." (Gita VI- 16).

"Ahara suddhau, sattva suddhih; sattva suddhau, dhruva smritih; Smritilabhe sarvagranthinam vipramokshah."

For spiritual practices Sattvic food is absolutely necessary. Wheat, rice, barley, sugar, butter, sugar-candy, milk, ghee, green dhal, Panchasakha vegetables, cabbages, potatoes, etc., are Sattvic articles of diet.

Forbidden Articles

Highly seasoned dishes, hot curries and chutnies, meat, fish, etc., are forbidden for Sadhakas. Meat can make a scientist, but rarely a philosopher and a Tattva Jnani. Chillies, sour articles, tamarind, mustard, all kinds of oil, asafoetida, salt, onions, garlic, etc., should be avoided. Onions are worse than meat. Too much fasting is injurious during the practice of Yoga.

NOTE: Myrobalan is a beautiful stuff for Yogins. They can chew it very frequently. In Bhagavata it is represented as even superior to nourishing mother. It takes care of the body better than a mother does. Even a mother gets annoyed towards her child; but myrobalan has controlled its Krodha, always possesses an even temperament and is always cheerful and enthusiastic in attending to the well-being of human beings.

Tantra Principles

1. Sex is good. This includes physical pleasure and considers sex as a moral force. Sex is good because it is what people who love each other naturally do. It is normal and healthy human behavior. Consensual sex between adults is a primary expression of love. Among our most basic biological needs, sex is essential for reproduction and the survival of the race. Beyond this, it is also a primary way to fulfill healthy human desires for physical touching, deep pleasure, and emotional intimacy.

2. Sexual energy and spiritual energy are the same energy. Both energies are examples of "life-force energy." There are no words for this "energy" in the English language, but in East Indian culture, its equivalent is "prana;" in Chinese culture "chi." As the sexual energy charge builds during lovemaking, we increase our access to this basic life force. Sex offers a way to cultivate and use life-force energy for other purposes: giving and receiving pleasure, physical and emotional healing, creating love, and excelling in other areas of human endeavor such as science, business, the arts, and sports.

3. Sexuality is a legitimate spiritual path. Tantra is a form of yoga. Yoga means union. Tantric yoga includes the union of sexuality and spirituality. Sex and spirit are not two separate aspects of our selves. On the contrary, spiritual lovemaking is one of the simplest ways for ordinary people to experience mystical connection-union with themselves, their partners, and the Divine. The arbitrary separation of body, mind, and spirit in most cultures is an intellectual, psychological, and emotional tragedy of incalculable proportions. This error of judgment has been the cause of great suffering for countless generations of people. It is now time for sexual healing that can only be possible by reuniting sexuality and spirituality.

4. We are each responsible for our own sexual fulfillment as well as our own personal and spiritual growth. Despite popular belief, it is not your lover's job to bring you to sexual ecstasy. No matter how attentive or skillful your lover may be, unless you allow yourself to open fully to sexual pleasure, you will not reach the heights of orgasmic bliss. Performance anxiety is one of the killers of passionate sexual intimacy. When we each take responsibility for our own sexual pleasure and our own spiritual awakening, the pressure to perform is eliminated.

What Is Tantra?

What Is Tantra?

"Tantra is where sex is transformed into love and love is transformed into the higher self."

--OSHO

Tantra is a Sanskrit word that can be translated to mean "weaving." A spiritual belief system that originated in ancient Hindu and Buddhist cultures of India and Tibet, Tantra views the material world as a manifestation of the Divine. Everything is accepted and connected-woven together. The apparent division between body and spirit, between matter and energy, is an illusion. By consciously uniting perceived opposites (male and female, light and dark) human beings can transcend dualism and know that all is one.

The numerous schools of Tantra employ various forms of meditation, sacred sound, breath control, secret ritual, and prayerful thought as aids to enlightenment. Some also incorporate sexual activity as a means of spiritual awakening. The union of ordinary woman and man becomes the eternal coupling of Shakti (Divine Mother) and Shiva (Immortal Spirit). When connected in sacred, ritualized sex, our human bodies-mirrors of the cosmos-rejoin the wholeness of essential reality. Thus, Tantra weaves together sex and spirit. In much of Western society, Tantra has become associated primarily with this sexual-spiritual component. Most of the religious aspects of traditional Tantric sects, their complex philosophies, rituals, and deities are not included in this modern interpretation. Tantra has become a generic term encompassing a wide range of sacred sex practices. This is how we use the term Tantra in our work and in the title of this book: as an integration of sex and spiritual growth.

British scholars and travelers returning from India first introduced Tantra to the West in the middle of the 19th century. Foremost among them was Sir Richard F. Burton (1821-1890), co-founder of the Kama Shastra Society, through which he privately published his translations of the Eastern texts The 1,001 Arabian Nights, The Kama Sutra, Ananga Ranga, and The Perfumed Garden. Given the surface prudery of the time, these works provoked a hostile response.

However, during the same century, a series of Western sacred sex practices emerged. Each of these interpretations was given a unique, and often esoteric-sounding name. Most well known is Karezza, which was conceived by Alice Bunker Stockham, an American doctor who studied Hindu Tantra yoga in India. In Karezza, the sexual elements of Tantra are applied within the framework of Christianity. More recently, Westerners who flocked to India seeking wisdom during the late 1960s and early 1970s encountered Tantra at the ashrams of gurus such as Osho. Inspired by the healing power of these sexual secrets, pioneers such as Margo Anand, Nik Douglas and Penny Slinger, David and Ellen Ramsdale, and Charles and Caroline Muir brought the message to Europe and North America.

Tantra is particular to India and Tibet, but other cultures, such as the Taoists in China and the Cheyenne in North America, also developed sacred sex traditions that encouraged the intentional cultivation of sexual energy for spiritual growth, longevity, and creativity, as well as enhanced pleasure. Now, there are varieties of Tantric sexual practice evolving all around the world. Most of them share similar points of view and comparable physical techniques. Our work is an eclectic blend of these sacred sex teachings, current Western psychological approaches to well-being and intimacy, and techniques for energy work, both ancient and modern. Our Tantra philosophy can be summarized with the following four simple, easy-to-remember principles.

YOGA SADHANA:Gist of Karma Yoga

1. Karma Yoga is selfless service unto humanity. The important point is to serve humanity without any attachment or egoism. The central teaching of the Gita is non-attachment to work. Lord Krishna says: "Work incessantly. Your duty is to work but not expect the fruits thereof."

2. The mind is so framed that it cannot work without expectation of fruits or anticipation of rewards or even appreciation. You will have to train the mind to work disinterestedly. Worldly people cannot understand the spirit of Nishkamya Karma Yoga as their minds are charged or saturated with impurities. Do vigorous service for some time. You will grasp the spirit of Nishkamya service.

3.AKarma Yogi should be absolutely free from greed, lust, anger and egoism. Then only he can do real useful service. Even if there are traces of these Doshas, he should try to remove them one by one.

4. A Karma Yogi should have an amiable, loving, social nature. He should have perfect adaptability, tolerance, sympathy, cosmic love and mercy. He should be able to adjust himself to the ways and habits of others. He should have an all-embracing and all-inclusive heart and equal vision. He should have a cool and balanced mind. He should rejoice in the welfare of others. He should have all the organs under perfect control. He should lead a very simple life. He should bear insult, disrespect, dishonour, censure infamy, disgrace, harsh words, heat and cold and the pain of diseases. He should have power of endurance. He should have absolute faith in himself, in God, in scriptures and in the words of his Guru. Such a man becomes a good Karma Yogi and reaches the Goal quickly.

5. The man who serves the world really serves himself. That man who helps others really helps himself. This is an important point. When you serve a man, when you serve your country, always think that the Lord has given you a rare opportunity to improve, correct and mould yourself by service. Be grateful to that man who has given you a chance to serve him. 6. Karma Yoga prepares the mind for the reception of Light or Knowledge. It expands the heart and breaks all barriers that stand in the way of unity or oneness. Karma Yoga is the effective Sadhana for Chitta Suddhi.

7. By doing selfless service you purify your heart. Egoism, hatred, jealousy, idea of superiority and all the kindred negative qualities will vanish. Humility, pure love, sympathy, tolerance, and mercy will be developed. Sense of separateness will be annihilated. Selfishness will be eradicated. You will get a broad and liberal outlook of life. You will begin to feel oneness and unity. Eventually you will attain knowledge of the Self. You will realise 'One in All' and 'All in One.' You will feel unbounded joy. World is nothing but manifestation of God. Service of humanity and country is service of God. Service is worship.

8. Generally people are impatient and they expect Siddhis after doing a little service. The real Karma Yogi who serves the people with humility and Atma Bhava (seeing God in every face) becomes a real ruler of the world. He is honoured and respected by all. The more service you do with Atma Bhava, the more power, energy, and capacity you will get. Practise this and feel.

9. When the thought of doing good to others becomes part and parcel of a man's very being, then he will not entertain any least motive at all. He takes immense delight in serving others, in doing good to others. There is peculiar joy and Ananda in the vigorous Nishkamya service. He gets inner spiritual strength and power by performing motiveless and selfless actions.

10. Never grumble or murmur when you do service to others. Take delight in service. Be ever ready to serve others. Watch for opportunities to serve. Never miss a single opportunity. Create opportunities. Create field of good service.

11. In the practice of Nishkamya Karma Yoga, there is no loss of effort. There is no harm. There is no transgression also. Even a little of this practice can protect you from great fear of birth and death with its concomitant evils. You will reap the fruits of Karma Yoga, viz., Jnana. There is no uncertainty here. The path of Karma Yoga eventually leads to the attainment of Bliss of the Self.

YOGA SADHANA:Essence of Sadhana

1. Get up at 4 a.m. daily. This is Brahmamuhurta which is extremely favourable for meditation on God.

2. Asana: Sit on Padma, Siddha or Sukha Asana for Japa and meditation for half an hour, facing the east or the north. Increase the period gradually to three hours. Do Sirshasana and Sarvangasana for keeping up Brahmacharya and health. Take light physical exercises as walking, etc., regularly. Do twenty Pranayamas.

3. Japa: Repeat any Mantra as pure Om or Om Namo Narayanaya, Om Namah Sivaya, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, Om Saravanabhavaya Namah, Sita Ram, Sri Ram, Hari Om, or Gayatri, according to your taste or inclination, from 108 to 21,600 times daily.

4. Dietetic Discipline: Take Sattvic food (Suddha Ahara). Give up chillies, tamarind, garlic, onion, sour articles, oil, mustard, asafoetida. Observe moderation in diet (Mitahara). Do not overload the stomach. Give up those things which the mind likes best for a fortnight in a year. Eat simple fool. Milk and fruits help concentration. Take food as medicine to keep the life going. Eating for enjoyment is sin. Give up salt and sugar for a month. You must be able to live on rice, Dhal and bread without any chutney. Do not ask for extra salt for Dhal and sugar for tea, coffee or milk.

5. Have a separate meditation room under lock and key.

6. Do charity regularly, every month, or even daily according to your means, say six paise per rupee.

7. Svadhyaya: Study systematically the Gita, the Ramayana, the Bhagavata, Vishnu-Sahasranama, Lalita-Sahasranama, Aditya Hridaya, the Upanishads or the Yoga Vasishtha, the Bible, the Zend Avesta, the Koran, the Tripitakas, the Granth Sahib, etc., from half an hour to one hour daily and have Suddha Vichara.

8. Preserve the vital force (Veerya) very, very carefully. Veerya is God in motion or manifestation-Vibhuti. Veerya is all power. Veerya is all money. Veerya is the essence of life, thought and intelligence.

9. Get by heart some prayer-Slokas, Stotras and repeat them as soon as you sit in the Asana before starting Japa or meditation. This will elevate the mind quickly.

10. Have constant Satsanga. Give up bad company, smoking, meat and alcoholic liquors entirely. Do not develop any evil habits.

11. Fast on Ekadasi or live on milk and fruits only.

12. Have Japa Mala (rosary) round your neck or in your pocket or underneath your pillow at night.

13. Observe Mouna (vow of silence) for a couple of hours daily.

14. Speak the truth at all cost. Speak a little. Speak sweetly.

15. Reduce your wants. If you have four shirts, reduce the number to three or two. Lead a happy, contented life. Avoid unnecessary worry. Have plain living and high thinking.

16. Never hurt anybody (Ahimsa Paramo Dharmah). Control anger by love, Kshama (forgiveness) and Daya (compassion).

17. Do not depend upon servants. Self-reliance is the highest of all virtues.

18. Think of the mistakes you have committed during the course of the day, just before retiring to bed (self-analysis). Keep daily diary and self-correction register. Do not brood over past mistakes.

19. Remember that death is awaiting you at every moment. Never fail to fulfil your duties. Have pure conduct (Sadachara).

20. Think of God as soon as you wake up and just before you go to sleep. Surrender yourself completely to God (Saranagati).

This is the essence of all spiritual Sadhanas. This will lead you to Moksha. All these Niyamas or spiritual canons must be rigidly observed. You must not give leniency to the mind.

YOGA SADHANA:Yoga for Health

1. Most of the diseases take their origin in over-eating, sexual excess and outbursts of anger and hatred. If the mind is kept cool and calm at all times, you will have wonderful health, strength and vitality. Energy is depleted by fits of anger. The cells and tissues are filled with morbid, poisonous materials, when one loses his temper and entertains deep hatred. Various sorts of physical ailments crop up. The blood becomes hot and thin and consequently night pollution results. Various kinds of nervous diseases are attributable to excessive loss of the seminal energy and frequent fits of explosive anger or wrath.

2. Let any disease remain in your body. Do not bother too much. Do not fret and fume. Develop the powers of endurance and resistance. Strengthen your body, mind and nerves. Take plenty of open-air exercises, substantial nutritious food, medicated oil bath and plenty of rest. Have mental and physical recreation. Lead a well-regulated life. Be moderate in food, drink and enjoyments. Lead a spiritual life. All diseases will leave your body by themselves. All microbes will die, when your vitality, vigour and strength are at a flood tide. This is the secret of health and happiness.

3. Do not be carried away by the pompous advertisements made by quacks and charlatans. Lead a simple natural life. You will become all right soon. Do not spend any money in purchasing the so-called patent medicines and specifics. They are worthless. Quacks try to exploit the credulous and the ignorant. Beware. Do not go to the doctors very often. Endeavour to qualify yourself as your own doctor. Understand the laws of nature and the principles of hygiene and health. Do not trespass against the laws of health.

4. Bask in the sun. Expose your body to the rays of the sun for a short time daily. This is heliotherapy or sun-treatment. Sun is the source of energy and power. You will derive energy and power from the sun.

5. Soak 12 almonds at night. Remove the skin and take the almonds with some sugarcandy in the early morning. Or you can make a refreshing beverage by grinding these almonds with a little black pepper and sugarcandy. This is called 'thandai' by the Punjabis. This is a fine, cooling and strength-giving tonic.

6. Rest in bed is necessary. Adjust your diet. Take simple, wholesome, easily digestible, bland and non-irritating food. Give up hot, pungent curries, chutneys and chilliest Rest the stomach and the small bowels by taking recourse to partial fasts. If you can fast for a whole day, it is all the better. Fasting eliminates poisons and overhauls the system thoroughly. You can take sago and milk barley water and fruits like sweet oranges, grapes, etc. If you are thirsty, you can take lemon or orange juice with sugarcandy.

7. Observe Brahmacharya. Get up at 4 a.m. and practice Japa of 'Hari Om' or any other Mantra and also meditation for one hour. The Name of the Lord is the best medicine or tonic in the world. You should have intense faith in the power of the Names of the Lord. Incurable diseases are cured by Japa or singing Hari's Name. Meditation creates new, healthy vibrations in all the cells of the body and removes any kind of disease. All the tissues are bathed in the nectar that flows during meditation. All germs that cause diseases are destroyed. The rationale of this kind of Yogic or spiritual treatment is yet unknown to the medical profession.

8. Why do you unnecessarily introduce foreign drugs into the system? Resort to Nature Cure and Yogic Chikitsa. Practise regularly Pranayama, breathing exercises, Asanas, concentration and meditation. This is the ideal treatment. Do not think too much of the disease and too much of the body. Too much thinking of the disease will intensify the malady. Keep the mind fully occupied in some way or the other. This is very important. Take away the mind from the body and think of the diseaseless Atma or Soul within, the bed-rock or substratum for the body and mind. Friend, cultivate this kind of Atma-chintana and attain the Anamayapada or the Painless State Param Dhama or Immortal Brahman. Cheer yourself up. Have a cheerful countenance always. Meditate on Om. Think of Om. Sing Om. Om is thy real name. Om is the best tonic, specific or sheet anchor, panacea or cure-all, 'pick-me-up' or sovereign remedy for all diseases. Smile and laugh. Thou art bodiless, undying Soul. Never, never forget this.

9. May God bless you with perfect health, high standard of vigour, strength, vitality and longevity. May you prosper gloriously! Om Santi!

What Is Hatha Yoga

Hatha yoga means literally the "forceful yoga." As its name implies, this approach to yoga emphasizes the vitality and life force of the physical body. Hatha yoga is undoubtedly the most well known, popular, and frequently practiced style of yoga in the West. It places great emphasis on purifying the body through a variety of means that include physical exercise, cleansing rites, and specific breathing techniques. These practices not only strengthen the body through the force of exercise, they can also help you to expand your own personal force, or store of energy, through their vitalizing effects.

One of the most influential and widely read texts on hatha yoga is the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, written in the 14th century C.E. In this seminal manual, the author describes 16 physical postures as well as a variety of cleansing and breathing practices and what are known as locks and seals to control the flow of energy within the body.

In its emphasis on physical postures, or asanas, hatha yoga is often considered one of the steps on the eight-limbed path of yoga, which forms an important part of classical, or raja, yoga. However, it is important to bear in mind that emphasis is placed on making the body as whole and complete as possible in order to achieve the ultimate goal of liberation. Practitioners of hatha yoga believe that in order to achieve the fullest unfoldment of our minds and spirits, we must do our utmost to have a body that is at ease and free of disease.

Hatha yoga is thus a way of balancing or harmonizing body and mind. This intent is highlighted in the esoteric interpretation sometimes accorded to the word hatha. According to some practitioners, the word hatha is comprised of two syllables that stand for the sun (ha) and the moon (tha), implying a deep union of the body and the mind and of the masculine and feminine energies within each individual¡ªman and woman alike. Thus, the word hatha reminds us that at heart, yoga is a search for underlying unity and wholeness.

Hatha yoga practitioners see the body as a wonderful vehicle for self-realization. For without a body, we would not be alive today, and thus incapable of seeking the path of transformation. Hatha yoga urges a man to respect his body as a temple of the divine spirit of the universe. The practice of hatha yoga is thus an opportunity of honoring your own inner divinity.

Hatha yoga has become so popular, particularly in the last few decades, that there are now many styles for practicing it. Surprisingly, however, most of the styles of hatha yoga that are practiced today trace their roots to a handful of yoga teachers, who traveled from India to the West in the 1960s and 1970s to train practitioners here in their particular approach to yoga; or to a small number of Westerners who traveled to India during the same time period to train as teachers with a few celebrated masters.

The teachers of the 60s and 70s differed in their approach to presenting yoga from the gurus who had preceded them. The earliest teachers of yoga who traveled to the West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries emphasized the traditional sacred texts and metaphysical aspects of yoga. The newer generation of teachers, while revering all aspects of the yoga tradition, also incorporated much more of the physical exercise aspect of yoga into their teaching. Their approaches to yoga appealed to Western practitioners, and, consequently, much of the yoga that has developed in the United States has focused on the physical postures of hatha yoga.

The following chapters will introduce you to the main approaches to hatha yoga that have helped to define hatha practice in the West. Because there are now so many styles of yoga available, the choice of a practice can seem overwhelming. These chapters will introduce you to the main styles of hatha yoga so that you can be better informed as you undertake your own practice of yoga.

Each of the main styles of hatha yoga is generally named after the individual who first introduced or was influential in the teachings of that style, such as Iyengar Yoga and Sivananda Yoga; the institute that was founded based on their teachings, such as yoga taught at the Himalayan Institute and Integral Yoga; or for a prominent element or focal point of the approach, such as Ashtanga Yoga and kundalini yoga.

Nearly all the various styles of hatha yoga have as their base a common repertoire of physical postures and practices, which have evolved over the centuries. The emphasis on how to perform these practices can differ widely from one style of yoga to another, however. Understanding the differences among these styles can help you choose the style of hatha yoga that is right for you. The following chapters describe the major styles of hatha yoga that you are likely to encounter in your exploration of yoga today. As you read these chapters, please bear in mind that the approaches to yoga presented are grouped together under hatha yoga for convenience. In addition to instruction in the physical postures of yoga, most of these approaches can also help you incorporate a full range of yogic practices into your life.

Pick From the Various Different Styles of Yoga( For man)

The various styles of yoga can be grouped into a few broad, general categories. Understanding your needs and fitness level, you can focus your yoga search on one or more of the following general approaches to yoga practice.

Vigorous, Athletic Approaches to Yoga

Having taken into account your yoga goals and your level of fitness, perhaps you've decided you would like to try a yoga practice that's physically demanding. You may be looking for a strenuous approach to the physical postures of yoga that strengthens your muscles, while also working out your heart. Maybe you feel that you have to sweat to be your own ideal yogi. If that's the case, then you might want to investigate the following styles of yoga: Ashtanga Yoga (vigorous flowing yoga); Iyengar Yoga (physically demanding in its precision); Bikram Yoga (performed in superheated studios); Jivamukti Yoga (physically demanding, eclectic urban yoga); kundalini yoga (challenging both physically and psychoenergetically); and ISHTA Yoga, Power Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, or White Lotus Yoga (all drawing in varying degrees of Ashtanga Yoga).

Yoga for General Stress-Reduction and Health

After taking stock of your yoga needs, maybe you realize you don't have to huff and puff to feel like you're a real man doing real yoga. Maybe a more relaxing style of yoga that will help you strengthen and stretch more gently is what you're looking for. Then you might want to consider one of the following styles of yoga. Practicing one of the foundational approaches to yoga may be right for you: You can select from yoga taught by Ananda Yoga, the Himalayan Institute, Integral Yoga, Sivananda Yoga, or, for a more contemporary adaptation, Kripalu Yoga. You might also wish to investigate Gary Krafstow's Viniyoga, which can help you fine-tune your practice to wherever you may be in your life's journey.

Yoga for the Perfect Pose

If you're interested in perfecting your yoga poses to reach that idealized perfect alignment, then the premier method of yoga for you may well be Iyengar Yoga. Anusara Yoga and Viniyoga might also interest you. Finally, many teachers who are trained in the Ashtanga Yoga tradition and its derivative styles can help you improve your alignment in postures. If you have a double goal of practicing a demanding style of yoga while also improving your yoga alignment, you may want to investigate Ashtanga Yoga, ISHTA Yoga, Power Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, and White Lotus Yoga.

Yoga as Therapy

Perhaps you're coming to yoga out of a specific need to help relieve a particular problem or problems-physical, mental, or emotional. Then you'll be pleased to know that there are styles of yoga that can help you achieve this goal. Iyengar Yoga has developed an entire approach to the practice of yoga that draws heavily on the use of props to help you deal with physical limitations and challenges (and who among us doesn't have some limitations?). Integrative Yoga Therapy has trained many teachers specifically to assist people with health problems. Kundalini yoga may help you to connect to core emotional and mental issues. Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy uses assisted postures and talk therapy to help you not only physically, but also mentally and emotionally. Hidden Language of Hatha Yoga tries to help you connect with the hidden meaning and currents of energy underlying the physical postures of hatha yoga.

Yoga as a Spiritual Quest

Perhaps the yoga practice that's right for you doesn't involve a lot of physical exertion using the traditional postures of hatha yoga. Maybe you're really interested in exploring yoga's rich spiritual tradition and connecting with your inner self through the mind. Then you might want to consider other ways of custom-tailoring a yoga program to suit your needs. Many of the major yoga institutes detailed in the chapters on hatha yoga offer courses in meditation, study of the major spiritual texts that form the basis for yoga, or yogic breathing techniques that can help you to connect to your inner being. Chief among these are the Himalayan Institute, Integral Yoga, Kripalu Yoga, and Sivananda Yoga. You may also want to explore tantric yoga, which uses rituals, such as mantra recitation, and ceremonies to help you connect to the divinity within. You may want to explore karma yoga, the path of self-discovery through service to others. Or you may be an independent type, wishing to read and practice yoga on your own in your own way. In that case, you may want to consult some of the books on yoga in the Bibliography of this book, or visit your local library or bookstore and choose the resource that speaks to your inner knowing.

Define the Overall Goals of Your Yoga Practice

In selecting the yoga style or styles that will help you most, take the time to consider first what you are looking for in your yoga practice. Are you looking for an intense physical workout? Are you looking for a relaxing yoga practice that will help you de-stress while strengthening and toning your body? Are you more interested in pursuing yoga's therapeutic benefits-either from a physical point of view in terms of dealing with particular physical challenges or issues-or from an emotional and psychological point of view in terms of helping to get clarity on deeper core issues?

Are you a perfectionist who is looking for guidance in how to attain and hold the "perfect" yoga posture? Are you more interested in yoga as an entire lifestyle, seeking direction in diet and instruction in meditation, or benefiting from yogic breathing techniques? Are you perhaps more of a spiritual aspirant, not so concerned with the physical exercises of yoga, but looking to penetrate the deep wisdom of the spiritual tradition of yoga? Understanding what you are hoping to gain from yoga can help you custom-tailor a yoga practice that's right for you-taking into account your individual needs at this moment in time. In this way, you can creatively join the pieces of yoga that will be most appropriate for you.

Of course, as with many people, you may have more than one goal in mind when practicing yoga. You may want an intense physical workout, while at the same time hoping for some relaxation and peace of mind, or maybe even a glimmer or more of spiritual enlightenment. Your needs may change from day to day-perhaps one day you want a vigorous workout and the next day you want to practice yoga in a way that's physically less demanding.

A good yoga teacher in nearly any style of yoga should be able to help you develop a yoga program that will suit your needs. In addition, as you gain experience in your practice of yoga, you will become your own teacher. The mindfulness of yoga will most likely help you to become more in tune with your own body. You'll learn to know what you and your body/mind/spirit need most at any given moment. In that way, you'll be able to modify your yoga practice to suit your needs. If you feel like you need a vigorous workout, you can go all out in your hatha yoga practice. If you feel like your body needs to rest a bit, you can perform your yoga practice in a gentler way: Even in a vigorous style of yoga, you can practice in a softer and gentler way. And in any yoga practice or class, you can always just stop altogether to relax in Child's Pose or Corpse Pose to allow your body to restore and renew. By learning to listen to your body and its needs, with time you will become your own best yoga teacher.

Man and The Yoga Lifestyle

The focus on yoga in the West is very often placed on the physical postures of hatha yoga. This aspect of yoga appeals to many men because of the physical strength, flexibility, and grace these postures can help them achieve. Yoga can do much more than help you make the most of your body, though.
Yoga is a very rich and multifaceted web of practices. The ultimate goal of yoga is union of the individual self with the Cosmic Self. Some venerated approaches to yoga eschew the physical practices of hatha yoga in favor of other practices that foster self-reflection, such as meditation and breath awareness. Hatha yoga literally means the "forceful yoga." Some yoga sages believe that hatha yoga can be too "forceful" a path.
The Yoga Vasistha, one of the leading classic texts on yoga, described the experience of self-realization by a sage named Uddalaka. It recounts in detail how this man achieved bliss. Uddalaka engaged himself in austerities and the study of scriptures. He sat down in meditation and recited the sacred word Om, while he practiced special breathing techniques. And through these means, Uddalaka entered into a superconscious state in which he achieved enlightenment and liberation. It is significant that the writer of this sacred text underscores the fact that Uddalaka achieved self-realization without the practice of hatha yoga: "All this Uddalaka practiced without the violence involved in Hatha Yoga, for Hatha Yoga gives rise to pain."
While the Yoga Vasistha describes hatha yoga as leading to pain, it certainly doesn¡¯t need to. With instruction and guidance from a qualified teacher, hatha yoga practice need not be too forceful, painful, or dangerous. Because many men think of yoga only as the practice of hatha yoga, though, it is important to know that you can also follow a path of yoga without necessarily doing the physical postures of hatha yoga. The following chapter will introduce you to additional yoga practices that you can use to round out your practice of hatha yoga or do instead of hatha yoga if you prefer.
Pursued to the fullest, yoga can help you make the most of both your body and your mind to achieve a place of inner peace and tranquility. In addition to providing guidance on beneficial physical postures, yoga can also help teach you about ways to live a healthier and more fulfilling lifestyle. If you expand your physical practice of yoga to embrace its teachings on diet, breathing exercises, and meditation, you can join the millions of other men around the world who have discovered that yoga is not only a physical discipline, but also a way of life. Chapter 16 provides valuable information on how you can make yoga a complete practice for realizing your full potential as a man.

Strive Ceaselessly

Have self-confidence. Develop independent judgment. Cultivate the indomitable will.Practise self-control and self-mastery.

Do not argue. Strive ceaselessly for Self-realisation. Kill this little ego. Develop pure love.Rise above all distinction of caste, creed and colour.

Give up the idea of “I-ness” and “mine-ness”. Look within for the happiness which you have sought in vain in sensual objects.

With the development of our inner and subtle resources, such as the development of discrimination, we slowly gain control over our thoughts and we begin automatically to perfom right action. Thought and speech now become easier and natural. Due to our continued development we learn what desires lead us toward freedom and what desires lead us to further bondages, and the latter we avoid. Under normal activities of life, decisions are relatively easy, but under pressure, stress and excitement we are put to the critical test. It is then that we fall back and rely on our inner strength and inner development to see us through.

What is important for my Yoga practice?

Breathing

Inhale you inspire, exhale you relax. Balancing the breath is balancing the mind. Yoga without breath is simply exercise, unconscious but beneficial. Breath is the single most transformative element of Yoga. Listen, watch, monitor and focus on this alone and there will be an incredible change in your life. Always breathe through the nose, the mouth is for eating.

In keeping with many traditional schools of Yoga, we believe that the single most important element of Yoga asana is breath. Breath links body and mind. Every movement of the body can be linked to the breath and every breath to a state of mind. This flow, the connection between body and mind consciousness, is one of the most beneficial elements of Yoga practice. This is the essence of asana and the preparation for deeper practice.

Breath affects strength, stretch, endurance and balance. Breathing techniques are critical in the development of whole lung breathing instead of the typical half breath or shallow breath we develop through our unconscious lifestyle. Breath is the fuel of life. Ninety per cent of our physical energy comes from breath, our mental state is influenced by breath and, as Yogis believe, the length of our life is determined by the length of our breath.

By using the breath, and not the mind, to guide us through asana we are able to surrender, soften, strengthen and develop awareness more easily.

A full breath is a full life.

Posture

Your body is unique, you know it better than anyone. Approaching the physical practice of Yoga should be done mindfully. Knowing your body and it's particular traits gives you the opportunity to focus on specific areas to strengthen, clean, break down and in some instances protect. You will enjoy the physical experience of Ashtanga Yoga, especially the very cleansing body heat developed through special breathing and movement combinations.

There is an edge, a fine but distinctive edge, between pain and intensity. The body has its feedback systems and to ignore them is insensitivity. These feedback systems are both psychological and physiological. Which is functioning to create the specific sensation of pain is rarely discernible. The edge between pain and intensity is therefore the edge on which to play in a Yoga asana.

Yoga asana is a mirror: a reflection of the process we use to live our lives. Some people will ignore the feedback of pain in the interests of ambition, and in doing so will break through their barriers. Others will ignore the pains and break the body. Either way these attitudes reflect an insensitivity associated with the asana practice.

The edge is the border which a point of questioning and a point of respect for truth. Moving to that edge is the constancy of growth. In asana the questions that arise as a result of that edge are the food from which we grow.

The edge is the playful point of the asana practice. It is an exploration of the mind and the body through which deeper insight can be attained. Force and will are functions of the mind dominating over the body; retreat and avoidance are the functions of the body dominating over the mind.

Most importantly, go slowly. There are as many Yoga postures as there are stars. Slowly you will develop awareness as well as flexibility and strength. Slowly progress and make it yours.

Dristi

Eye positions are called Dristi. Every posture and every movement between the postures has a specific Dristi. To focus the eye is to focus the mind. Dristi focus deepens the meditation, concentration and mind control aspects of the Ashtanga Yoga practice.

Where does the mind begin and the body end. Changing our posture changes our mind, changing our mind changes our body posture. Change confronts and because emotions are stored in the body there is resistance to change both physically and mentally. Tension in the body is usually tension in the mind.

Know these factors and it becomes obvious that one of the major challenges to performing a Yoga asana is mental. To move certain body parts and to open and stretch certain areas is to confront, sometimes years of blockage in the mind.

Resistance is simply a desire to stay. It is a reflection of an infatuation about where we are. We may fear the unknown in letting go, we may feel a lack of security, or perhaps have a past remembered emotion about certain movements or mind states.

Confronting these through body, mind and breath is a gradual process. A sequenced asana practice will help us to face and move through the blockages faster that an asana practice in which we are free to choose the poses.

Relaxation

At the end of your asana practice relax in the most difficult Yoga pose of all, the corps pose. Lie still, no movement at all, still your mind and allow your whole body metabolism to bask in the transformations you have created through the practice. Allow the mind to be still

Hatha Yoga:Need more energy ?

Hatha Yoga is the movement of energy, prana, through channels known as the nadi's. They are not visible channels but are the electrical fields around the body through which energy flows. Hatha means the merging of the sun and the moon, the light and the dark. The two opposites merge to create one single line of flow. The merging or uniting of the various nadi's (there are 72,000) is the uniting of the two sides of the body, the light and dark, male and female.

These two sides of our body also represent judgements of right and wrong, good and evil, pleasure and pain. The merging of duality is considered the central position, Yoke or Yoga. When we can see order in creation we move beyond judgement to love. Love is therefore the ultimate mission of all Yoga.

Hatha Yoga is designed to remove the blocks in our energy flow. Although the focus is initially on physical asana, the philosophy is critical. Blockages are not purely physical, they are a function of the physiology and psychology of the body. What we eat, drink, think, say, see, do and how we breathe affects the path of energy through the body. This is the science of Hatha Yoga.

The primary blockage to the flow of energy through the body is called the Kundalini. This is the coiled snake; coiled in such a way as to absorb and block flow. It is the mirror of emotional and physical beliefs. The elimination of Kundalini blockage is a vital focus of Hatha Yoga practice. The specific focus on the energy wasted through the Kundalini is called Tantra Yoga, where the connection between body, energy and the cosmos are interconnected and mastered.

This technique is a meditative process in itself, bringing us more into the present with our bodies to the exclusion of all that is around us. It is an important learning process; an external one which eventually gives way to a deeper more intuitive form of energy management-the internal feel of the subtle flow.

In Ashtanga Yoga there is not a lot of emphasis on the external alignment of the body. Once again the student is taught to work with internal energy, the body's own internal intelligence, to create a true and inner alignment.

The benefits of this internal focus on energy movement are significant: it increases the control and management of energy within the pose, tones and relaxes the nervous system, decreases the likelihood of injury, increases strength and endurance in poses, internally aligns the body in the pose from the inside, and prepares the body, breath and mind for pranayama.

The Benefits of a Yoga Practice

There are as many reasons for doing Yoga as there are people. Our survey of over 4,000 students who have attended courses at our school in the past 12 months, indicate that over 50% come for relaxation and stress relief, 20% are interested in improved health, body tone and quality of life, and the remaining 30% are a blend of people interested in personal growth, the advanced study of life and self-awareness.

Flexibility

We are born flexible. Our bodies at birth move with ease. Nerves, circulatory system, bones, muscles, glands and organs become restricted and function less efficiently as we get older. As a result energy and vitality decreases, and the body becomes less sensitive and has less capacity to move.

Health

Disease is the dis-ease of the body. The functional systems break down creating illness and lack of energy. Health is one of the prime objectives of Yoga. Postures are the tools for maintaining and improving the body’s function. They give people the ability to open, stretch, clean and heal their body from the inside out.

Awareness

Good health requires a total perspective—internal as well as external. Yoga poses help in the development of flexibility and movement. Increased sensitivity through Yoga can provide people with early warnings. The Yoga feedback systems help us to focus on areas that need special attention through either diet or stretch. This is a far wiser way in which to look after ourselves rather than waiting for some breakdown to occur.

Eternal Youth

Aging is inevitable. Yoga cannot prevent the inevitable decay of the body, but it can provide a huge enhancement to the quality of life in the meantime. For some, quality of life begins to wane in their 20s and by age 40 serious restriction to physical and internal function has occurred. This process of early decay is not inevitable and can, through the subtle process of Yoga, be reversed without an invasive procedure. The entropy of the body is the process of life. Managing that process affects our life. As we age we rely less on the physical and focus more on the mental and spiritual, but they are intrinsically linked. Opening to change requires the sensitivity and awareness that asana practice develops

Relaxation.

One of Yoga’s prime objectives is to help people relax and de-stress. There are so many ways this can be achieved. • Yogic breathing calms the nervous system and provides an intense counter-position to any activity causing stress. Both the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems respond to Yogic breathing exercises. • Yoga practice can support and strengthen a higher metabolic rate which in turn aids in immune function and stress management. Specific poses are used to sedate/stimulate the body/mind.

Meditation.

We cannot meditate: we only provide situations and conditions which enable the body to become present enough for meditation to occur. Lying flat on the floor, warm and supported, with appropriate props is an excellent meditation position. Deep relaxation can occur in this position. The reason this position is not used in classical meditation is because lying flat in such comfort our mind begins to wander and typically we doze off (well, I do anyway) after a relatively short period of time.

Emotional balance.

Tension held in the body grips tissue, muscle, bone structure and organ function. Emotions held in the body result in imbalances. Imbalances breed imbalances and these are stored in the body. Yoga postures can re-open channels to free stuck emotions, release blockages and, through the body, transform the mind. This is a vital factor in health care and stress management.

Stress management

It is far wiser and more productive to manage stress when it occurs rather than on a month by month or year by year recuperation basis. Holidays and free weekends are special. However, in the period between these de-stressing times, stress and tension can hinder a full and productive life. Yoga teaches stress management through breath, body and mind control. These are invaluable resources in a busy and productive life, and they can be used right at the moment when stress arises.

Yoga is a great antidote for a stressful lifestyle. The less we tic-toc between extremes the more balanced and fulfilled our life can be. Yogic breath is the ideal way to maintain the balance both after and during work. We breathe all day yet it is only when we focus our attention on the breath that we truly “breathe”. Focussing on the breath at different times during the day and adjusting that breath to the circumstances can have a major impact on our performance and enjoyment of life. During your practice As well as the physical stress relief, Yoga offers a different mental perspective on stress management. When we are able to see our world with a clearer perspective, many stresscausing situations evaporate. Our perceptions of events usually polarise things into good and bad, right and wrong, pleasure and pain. This is how stress is caused. The more we learn to see things with a broader mind, the more stabilised we are when we find ourselves in the eye of a storm, and the less stress affects us, the more we stay on track.

Health and wellbeing

• Yoga offers considerable benefits in improving and stabilising health. Through focused and consistent practice, Yoga has been used to help heal cancer, kidney problems, weak heart, asthma, bronchitis, urinary problems, prostrate inflammation, constipation and migraine. The list goes on. There are in fact few “illnesses” that cannot be assisted through Yoga. Sports injuries, chronic back pain and emotional instability are also common concerns that bring people to Yoga.
• In Ashtanga Yoga practice significant internal heat is generated through breath and body movement, and this begins a deep and thorough detoxification process.
• Maintaining flexibility and the body’s functions becomes an issue for most people when they enter middle age, or when they are injured. Flexibility of the body is essential for waste removal and the efficiency of other fluid systems, and for the easy flow of blood. Opening stiff and tightly bound muscle areas in the body contributes to an improvement in health and greater mental flexibility.
• Recovery from post-operative stress is also a common goal for people joining Yoga classes.

Self—actualisation

• The drive for personal development and self-actualisation is natural. Most people eventually ask the bigger questions of life. When an individual’s quest goes beyond the basic instincts, Yoga offers a path to universal answers.
• Yoga practice contributes to a deeper self-awareness and an understanding of the change process for personal growth. To this end, Yoga, with the appropriate teacher, can help us to grow and develop deeper self worth and a more creative self-expression.

The Evaluation of Progress in Yoga

One critical element of Yoga practice is the ability to focus energy to different parts of the body. Ancient sages could stop their heart beating, or even stop breathing for long periods of time simply to demonstrate their ability to focus and maintain that focus in finite detail. In our Yoga practice we learn to focus on those areas of our body that are stiff or blocked. This is a vital part of Yoga practice, one which is often overlooked in the search for more quantity rather than quality.

Approaching postures as goals is helpful for progress but can make people less sensitive to the messages the body is sending. If you are continually focussed on where you want to be rather than where you are, it breeds an attitude of ungratefulness and a state of tension.

The body has its own pace for opening and developing. Going too fast or too slow are both mindsets which, no doubt, reflect the cause of stress in many other areas of life.

The evaluation of progress is a very ingrained part of our social structure. Schooling, sports and work systems all value progress so it is quite a contradiction when, in midst of all this, Yoga infers something quite different. Progress in Yoga is the ability to be right where we are, and in being there finding the gratitude and thankfulness for what is. Progress is the ability to be who we are and appreciate what we have exactly as it is. Yoga offers a deeper way of measuring who and what we are.

It is easy to get caught up in the complexity or difficulty of the practice you perform. When you translate Yoga into a performance-based system it can give a sense of worth. This level of self-worth is unfortunately transient and is a detour on the path to personal growth. The role of the teacher in this situation is to help the student recognise this confusion and return to a more real state of constancy of practice.

Be in a Position to Change your Life.

In many books on Yoga there are innumerable references to disciplines. Eat this, think that, do this and don't do that. These are for the most part literal interpretations of ancient writings which had vastly different meanings.

Yoga is about change, getting closer to our full potential, being more present with what we do and becoming more conscious and attentive to our actions. Are these not the attributes of inspired employees and in turn inspired companies? Commitment, inspiration and selfmotivation are the basis for improvement in productivity, performance, fulfilment, stress reduction, quality improvement and health. The very elements of Yoga, transcribed some 5,000 years ago, are the essential ingredients of 21st century corporate success.

Change in business is initiated and implemented through personal change--the willingness to do something different and step outside the square. Yoga provides the catalyst for self development and subsequent corporate change. Now with automation, computerisation, digitisation and employee training reaching extremely high standards, self-development is the most logical and potent opportunity for growth. Change and growth in productivity are essential today, and Yoga is one of the prime building blocks for that process.

The most critical elements of Yoga

If you can breathe you can do Yoga. Yoga is not about flexibility or what you can or cannot do. Yoga is about awareness and the mindset you bring to life. Poses are intended for the exploration of the body, and our capacity to do each pose varies widely given our body type, strength and age. Doing poses will create change, but when this becomes the sole objective then we miss out on many of the wonderful opportunities Yoga offers. Yoga is an exploration: a mirror into the beliefs and attitudes that determine your life. If you believe you are too stiff, strong or accomplished, or are in a class that is too slow, fast or easy, Yoga will help you to explore the belief systems that underlie these beliefs. Focus, attitude and attention are important in our lives. In Yoga, focus, attitude and attention are the most critical elements of practice. To stimulate these constantly changing elements we explore each pose in deeper detail and complexity. When we master one pose we move on to another to challenge the edge of focus, attitude and attention. Attitude is attention, attention is awareness, awareness is focus, the three are intimately interconnected.

A Brief Overview of the History of Yoga

The exact date and circumstances of the origin of yoga are unknown. This is because the practice of yoga is so ancient that it is believed to predate the written texts and visual images that depict it. Most scholars trace the origins of yoga to at least 5,000 years ago. Yoga is believed to have originated through the insights and experiments of ancient seekers of wisdom, mystics, and visionaries on the Indian subcontinent. Through intense inner searching, they developed practices that were passed down orally and eventually recorded in a body of text that is considered sacred in the Hindu and other spiritual traditions.

The earliest known writings on yoga are contained in the Vedas (Sanskrit for “knowledges”), the most ancient extant Hindu texts. The oldest of these, the Rig-Veda (“Knowledge of Praise”), believed by some scholars to date as far back as 3000 B.C.E., contains plentiful references to yoga.2 Other ancient sacred Hindu writings, including the Upanishads (“to sit down close to one’s teacher”), helped to codify the oral tradition that formed the basis of yoga.

Some of the earliest and most influential writings on yoga are the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The Bhagavad Gita (“Lord’s Song”), which forms a part of the epic Mahabharata (“Great Story of the Bharatas”), is believed to have been composed between the third and fifth centuries B.C.E. Consisting of approximately 700 stanzas, the Bhagavad Gita contains crucial instruction by the Hindu god Krishna to the warrior Arjuna on the principles of yoga. The precepts he presents continue to guide the practice of yoga today.

The Yoga Sutras (sutra means “thread” in Sanskrit and is related to the English word suture) is a series of terse aphorisms or maxims that distill the essence of yoga thought. These aphorisms total 195 or 196, depending upon the source text. The Yoga Sutras are ascribed to the yoga authority Patanjali, who is believed to have lived between the second and the fifth century C.E. Patanjali is often called the “father of yoga,” although his real contribution was to codify existing knowledge of yoga and help provide it a place within classical Hindu philosophy.

One of the most seminal and well-known texts on hatha yoga is the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (“Light on the Forceful Yoga” in Sanskrit), written in the 14th century C.E. by Svatmarama Yogin. This text is considered by some scholars to be the most influential text on hatha yoga, the branch of yoga that deals most specifically with the physical discipline of yoga. Yoga is much more than an archaic codification of information, however. It is a living system of knowledge. Since its inception millennia ago, yoga has continued to grow and evolve. From its origins in prehistoric India, it has been embraced by many systems of thought, including Buddhism, and has become an integral part of the cultures of a number of other countries, including Tibet, Pakistan, and many other Asian civilizations.

Yoga is portable,at home or on the road

Most of us lead busy lifestyles. Travel, social life, business and sports. Attending a gym or sports club demands time, time we have less and less of. Furthermore, if jogging is your daily thing, you will need snow shoes, a body guard and an oxygen mask in most cities of the world.

Yoga is portable. Whether at home or on the road, it takes only the space of your yoga mat. It’s the only thing you need for a daily workout that keeps your mind clear, cleans out waste and maintains your whole body/mind in a constant state of awareness and growth. Your daily practice is independent of your emotional space. It gives you objectivity which is a rare commodity, stills you when you’re ruffled and ruffles you when you’re stilled. Your Yoga practice can be like a best friend.

Your Yoga practice travels with you everywhere you go. A daily session takes from ten minutes to two hours and can be done in a hotel room, sunlit balcony or office. You work up a slight to heavy sweat each time. You stretch, twist, lengthen and strengthen, and you get to breath consciously and deeply. While all this is happening you get to focus on the bigger picture.

These few moments in a busy life really help. You get to feel the silence within, be humble and grateful, and remember what is really important in your life.

The Yoga we practice is called Ashtanga, and it is demanding. You will probably go through considerable discomfort and confrontation. As your body opens and detoxifies, you will let go of old patterns. It isn’t easy, but through this process you will grow to enjoy incredible shifts in the quality of your life.

Ashtanga Yoga can be a vital ingredient in supporting the life we lead. Living an inspired life we love living to the fullest, working hard, being supported by a healthy body and keeping as focused and aware as we possibly can. Ashtanga and your daily practice are critical in helping us to achieve this. Even 10 minutes a day is great. For those ten minutes you breathe deep, focus on being present and get to open the body—it's a great way to balance the day.

Yoga:a means to simply get more out of life

There is a magic available to all of us; a magic of health, vitality, awareness, success fulfilment and a truly better way of life. This magic is Yoga and it offers us a means to simply get more out of life. This blog is our tiny contribution to the thousands of years of Yoga that precedes us in supporting a better quality of life. We are all children of the one universe, we are all members of the same world, and we are all deserving of love no matter what we have or have not done. We wish to show you the sciences of love, gratitude and life; all of which are an integral part of Yoga and have been since it was first documented some 2,000 years ago. We wish to show you that the Yogic way of life does not mean austere practices of detachment or social withdrawal. The greatest meditation of all is life. Walking down the street, meeting life face to face and learning truth is the deepest meditation. Some of the most magnificent testimonies to the creation of the universe can be seen in the depths, beauty and darkness of life on the street, just as it is seen in the great temples of the world. In this blog we journey through and beyond the physical elements of Yoga to explore the deeper riches of what it embraces. Our aim is to share with you a broader definition of Yoga, life and the universe while debunking myths and simplifying the teachings of Yoga. Yoga can benefit the homekeeper, spiritual aspirant or corporate suit. It can support, heal, confront and move us. It is pain and pleasure, it is stretching and contracting, it is active and passive—Yoga is simply a reflection of life. Underlying all of this is the belief that every individual has the right to live life to the fullest: enjoy the fruits of success, participate in relationships, interact socially and be fit and healthy. Every individual has the right to live an inspired and heart driven life. As you will see, the Yoga philosophy has this message, and it has been the same message for thousands of years. A full breath is a full life. Taking that breath to the edge is the practice of Yoga. It moves our career and relationships, and brings us success to the fullest. We hope that this blog helps you as our classes, seminars and training programs have helped others.