Why is proper breathing stressed so much in yoga? Other than the fact that it keeps us alive, why is the link between yoga and breathing so important?
During a typical yoga class, we are instructed to practice pranayama, which means we breathe consciously, remaining connected to our breath, we learn to breathe deeply, retain our breath, etc. How much of an impact does proper breathing have on us, our life, and our yoga practice?
Breathing and longevity – Swami Sivananda is quoted as saying: “A yogi measures the span of life by the number of breaths, not by the number of years.”
I much of traditional Hindu literature it is said that if you breathe 15 times per minute, you will live to be 75 or 80 years old, but if you breathe only 10 times per minute you will live to 100. So the speed at which you breathe will determine the length of your life. The faster you breathe the shorter your life will be. That’s why animals that breath fast (dogs and cats for instance) have relatively short lives.
Breathing Consciously
Breathing consciously is something we are continuously reminded to do when we are in yoga class. Breathing consciously is essential to yoga practice because it assists us in connecting with the subtle energy within. Pranayama enables us to navigate different levels of consciousness. Additionally, by breathing consciously we’ll create a positive biological effect on our mental, emotional, and physical states of being.
Remaining connected with our breath is an ideal method for being in the present moment. When you focus on each aspect of the breathing process, you are present, you let go of the both the past and the future and are concentrated on each moment within each breath. Breathing consciously becomes its own form of meditation. But this is only part of why conscious breathing is so important.
Remaining consciously aware of your breathing activates a different part of our brain than our normal, mechanical (unconscious) breathing, which is controlled by the medulla oblongata in the brain stem (the primitive part of the brain). Conscious breathing, on the other hand, comes from a more evolved area of the brain (the cerebral cortex). So by stimulating the cerebral cortex we’re sending impulses from the cortex to other connecting areas that impact emotions. This generally has a relaxing and balancing effect on the emotions by controlling which aspects of the mind dominate, in turn prompting our consciousness to rise from the primitive/instinctual level to the more evolved/elevated levels of the brain.
The Breath, Prana and Pranayama
Yoga practice teaches us to control prana, the vital (life) force, through pranayama. The breath is used in pranayama to help us to learn to control prana, but don’t make the mistake of confusing prana with the breath. Prana is the life energy that animates the lungs, but it is NOT the breath itself. Using pranayama (breath control) is the easiest method for regulating the flow of prana and once we are able to control prana through pranayama we are better able to control the movement of prana to other organs and areas throughout the body.
The breath being the mode of practice for pranayama, the focus is in on the three basic stages of respiration:
Inhalation (pooraka)
Retention (kumbhaka)
Exhalation (rechaka)
However, according to ancient and traditional yogic texts, pranayama is retention, and inhalation and exhalation are secondary, being methods for affecting retention.
Kumbhaka (retention of the breath) has a deep physiological effect on the brain. It begins by providing additional opportunity for the brain cells to absorb oxygen, and eliminate more carbon dioxide, producing a calming effect on the mental/emotional body. When the breath is retained, the brain panics because the carbon dioxide levels temporarily increase and the increased carbon dioxide levels stimulate the brain’s capillaries to dilate. When this happens, more capillaries in the brain are opened up improving cerebral circulation, building up an immense amount of energy in the brain, subsequently forcing the creation of new neural pathways, plus the activation of dormant centers. The brain is now activated and awakened!
A good analogy is look at the breath like the oil in a car, prana as the gasoline (fuel), and the mind as the engine. By understanding the relationship of the breath, prana and the mind to one another we will be better prepared to navigate our life, progressing to a higher, more evolved state, and to repair it if it breaks down.
Although full control of the breath may take the student of yoga years to perfect, this perfection is not necessarily the highest form of pranayama. The highest form is to remain completely, consciously aware of the breath.
A recent study has shown yoga practice to be beneficial for patients with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), an incurable, often progressive lung disease that makes it difficult to breathe normally. COPD can include Chronic Bronchitis, Emphysema, or a combination of both.
The participants in this study showed improvement in lung function, reduced shortness of breath, and a decrease in inflammation after practicing yoga for 12 weeks; this according to the “GW Center for Integrative Medicine” and a press release from the “American College of Chest Physicians.”
Study presenter Prof. Randeep Guleria, M.D. said: “We found that yoga can be a simple, cost-effective method that can help improve quality of life in patients with COPD,”
For the study, 29 COPD patients practiced yoga twice a week for an hour. Their yoga routine included yoga asanas, pranayama, kriyas (cleansing techniques), and meditation.
COPD, affecting approximately 24 million Americans is most often caused by cigarette smoking, but controlling symptoms and slowing (or stopping) progression of the disease helps improve the quality of life for patients according to researchers.
Yoga practice is an excellent form of exercise for almost anyone with COPD. When done properly it is relatively low impact, and it helps to improve both emotional and physical health.
Yoga is described as a “mind-body practice,” by the National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and although yoga’s roots are found in Eastern philosophy, it’s not necessary to hold any particular spiritual or religious beliefs to take part in classes, so it is quite possible to find classes that just focus on yoga as a way to stay fit, flexible, and relaxed.
There are many classes, including those offered for people with diagnosed health conditions, that do not focus primarily on the spiritual aspects of yoga practice. However, for anyone who feels they would benefit from the spiritual elements of yoga, that’s also okay. The main thing is to find a class and/or instructor that works best for your particular needs.
Yoga practiced as a secular exercise is made up of two essential parts. Physical postures, known as asanas, and breathing techniques, known as pranayama.
Yoga asanas are performed to help improve your balance, flexibility, range of motion and general fitness levels. They also work well to raise your energy levels, reduce stress and clear the mind from worry.
Breathing techniques (pranayama) are a vital part of yoga practice. They help you to control your breath and teach you how to use your lungs more efficiently and effectively. Pranayama can be performed while holding the asanas and/or separately as stand-alone Practice.
According to The University of Maryland Medical Center’s web-site, “Yoga improves fitness, lowers blood pressure, promotes relaxation and self-confidence, and reduces stress and anxiety. People who practice yoga tend to have good coordination, posture, flexibility, range of motion, concentration, sleep habits, and digestion. Yoga is a complementary therapy that has been used with conventional medicine to help treat a wide range of health problems.”
Specific Benefits of Yoga Practice for People With COPD
Yoga classes designed specifically for people with COPD generally offer modified forms of yoga, so there’s no need for concern that you’ll be expected to contort your body into complicated poses. They can be tailored to meet the health needs of people with COPD and should provide a gentle, easy and effective way to manage both overall physical health and emotional well-being.
Yoga asana practice can provide a variety of gentle stretching and bending exercises help to improve fitness and flexibility, improve the range of motion in the shoulders and open the chest, thus increasing overall lung capacity, while familiarizing yourself with different breathing techniques (pranayama) will give you the tools to confidently manage any attacks of Dyspnea (breathlessness). These learned techniques should be taught in a way that they’re easy enough so that they can also be practiced at home.
One of our greatest strengths as humans lies in our unique ability to operate from either our head or our heart. Both our brain (with the ability to think) and our heart (with the ability to feel) are powerful organs that not only sustain life, but they are tools that can help us experience the world in a most profound way. New research has conclusively shown that we can “think” both with our brains and with our hearts and if (and when) we do that, we increase our ability to make better decisions. Aligning our heads and our hearts also greatly helps us to gain clarity, feel more flexible and resilient, plus it works to guide us toward a more balanced and peaceful life.
We experience this whenever we create coherence. Coherence is the state when our heart (along with its feelings/emotions) and our mind (along with its thoughts/logic) are in dynamic alignment and in cooperation with each other. Heart and mind coherence can be defined as the synchronization of our emotional, mental and physical systems, creating a high-energy, optimal state that has the ability to encourage, stimulate and produce positive outcomes whenever its combined force is concentrated.
This heart/mind alignment results in us feeling good, and when we feel good we generally do good. We fully engage life, with less stress and more energy. We have greater power to make better decisions, and all this comes from developing the awesome potential of our heads and hearts working in synchronicity.
Three tips on accomplishing this alignment.
1. Listen your heartbeat while breathing from your heart space. Begin by just slowing down and noticing the miracle that you are. Find a comfortable spot and sit quietly, taking slow, deep breaths and experience your own heartbeat. Be aware of its pulsing. Then try breathing from the heart center. Resist the temptation to force the breath, just breathe normally, but visualize each breath coming in and out of the heart center. This draws you from the head into the heart space and now the two can be engaged and aligned.
2. Always act with compassion. Compassion is a quality that manifests on a heart level and head level, it involved both thinking and feeling and when balanced it becomes a powerful force for good. You’ll notice it’s a deep feeling, precipitated by thought and understanding, it’s also an excellent way to create coherence. When you act compassionately, mentally visualize that emotion swelling out of your heart until your head and heart find their proper alignment.
3. Go beyond listening to just your heartbeat and try to hear what the heart has to say. It’s common to hear the inner voices coming from our head. They tend to be in the form of thoughts – analytical, critical and sometimes disparaging. Well, next time these inner voices arise, listen to what the heart has to say, likely these will be kind, compassionate, supportive words. Imagine your heart speaking directly to you and you may realize that in reality it’s sending us these signals continuously.
There are many ways of aligning your head and your heart to create the coherence mentioned above…Try this, next time you feel like you are too much “in-the-head” about something, pause, take a deep breath and merge those thoughts with the feelings arising from your heart center. Visualize these two aligning, creating a cooperative force designed to help ease your stress so that you can create a better thinking/feeling experience, subsequently enriching your life and all your activities.
The ancient view of where yoga and science meet has been considered “yoga asscience,” what does this mean to you? It is common for people when they talk about yoga to speak of it as something to do with the physical body only. But yoga is much more, it’s a science that serves the body, breath, mind, soul, and ultimately, the entire universe itself. Yoga is simultaneously both practical and theoretical.
Patanjali codified, systematized, and/or arranged the already existing traditional yoga practices into the 196 concise statements called the Yoga Sutras. In doing so he was not trying to teach any particular religion. Yoga isn’t, and never has been, a new religion, and it does not support or condemn any religion. Yoga doesn’t insist that you become Hindu, or a Buddhist because it sees all the great religions as having come from one source.
Religions tell their followers what to do and what not to do, usually providing a set of rules (or commandments) that can never be fully satisfying. Yoga as science doesn’t tell you what to do or what not to do, but provides you with tools to learn how to be. Yoga as science helps you to realize both the known and unknown aspects of life, and that helps you to liberate yourself from pains and suffering by prompting you to attain that state which transcends pains and suffering.
Is it possible for someone living in this modern world to practice Yoga as science? Yes, once the fundamental principles of Yoga as science are understood and why Yoga as science should be practiced, the practice itself becomes easier. But first the decision must be made to enquire into yourself. You need to feel some necessity of finding who you really are without turning to anything external to you. There are millions of people, throughout the world, that are searching for Truth and Self-realization (religionists call it God).
So you begin to question life. When the mind begins to question, it’s an indication that there’s dissatisfaction. Life then becomes a question which continuously rises to the forefront. You feel the need to know something more, but you only have this tiny mind, which you try to use like a yardstick, to measure the vast universe and its multitude of mysteries.
No religion can be fully understood until you understand yourself, and once you understand yourself all the doors to higher knowledge begin to open for you. Patanjali offers something to dedicated seekers of truth and he insists the source of knowledge lies within you. The world and all its external knowledge can only inform and inspire you, perhaps giving some indication that there’s so much more to life. To spiritually evolve does not mean going toward any external world, instead it means going back to the very source. This source can be considered like a bright light, but it has many covers over it? The light remains as it is, but it will appear dim or invisible. As you remove the covers, you will begin to see it more clearly. That source of knowledge within can be compared to this light and yoga as science is a method and a guide to help you go through many obstacles to that source.
When practicing yoga as science all the different levels or layers of yourself are exposed, including your physical body’s well-being, your actions, thought processes, emotions, and desires. Your relationship with the world starts to take on a new meaning, and you learn how to manage your life in the world. Yoga as science establishes a bridge between the internal and external conditions of human life, it’s a way of improving yourself by understanding your mind’s processes and how they affect your internal states. Each and every one of us has the potentials within to discover who we are. Patanjali encourages the awareness of our potentials and provides us with the means to learn how to use them.
In Sanskrit, he word yoga means “union, or to unite with,” meaning you need to unite yourself with the whole. Currently you are probably a separate individual and as a result you are experiencing pain and suffering. Patanjali teaches that the cause of this misery is ignorance and ignorance is self-created and his yoga sutras teach that you can be free from this misery because it has been created by you.
You have to become a light unto yourself. No one else (or any religion) will give you liberation (or salvation). Every individual has the ability within (and the responsibility) to enlighten themselves. Do not think you cannot do it. You have that spark. You are fully equipped. You simply need to discipline yourself. Discipline is not a prison. It simply means practice.
These two sutras (1.21 and 1.22) discuss the levels of intensity applied to actual practice and commitment to the goal. This way each person can progress at their own rate and still have a direct experience. Remaining aware throughout your practice is extremely useful and great freedom results from that awareness.
Yoga Sutra (1.21) – tivra samvega asannah. Tivra means fast, intense; Samvega is practice, momentum, conviction or enthusiasm; Asannah means very close, near.
Translated this sutra means…Those who practices with full intensity of feeling, vigor, and a firm conviction achieves concentration and its results quickly, as compared to those who’s practice is mediocre. More simply put – The goal is achieved rapidly through intensive conviction and practice
What Patanjali seems to indicate here is the intensity of conviction and practice will determine how quickly the reach the goal. Someone with all the time in the world to practice but with little conviction will not progress as rapidly toward the goal as someone (like most of us in the West) who has limited time but who’s practice is done with intense conviction and enthusiasm.
Yoga Sutra (1.22) – mridu madhya adhimatra tatah api visheshah. Mridu is mild, gentle or slow; Madhya means medium, moderate; Adhimatra is intense, strong; Tatah would mean, from that or from this practice; Api is also; Visheshah is differentiation or distinction (between levels).
This may be translated as…For all those who’s practices and conviction are both intense the degree of intensity is defined as three basic divisions of practice, those of mild intensity, medium intensity, and vehement intensity.
On the surface this sutra seems to be little more than an elaboration or restatement of sutra 1.21 (Success in yoga comes quickly to those who are intensely energetic), but in fact, the two sutras refer to related but separate ideas. According to traditional and modern commentators, sutra 1.21 addresses the practitioner in terms of their “relationship” to their practice while 1.22 refers to the “content” of the practice itself.
So what is meant by mild, medium or vehemently intense practice? On popular view is: a mild practice is one that is irregular and lacking in enthusiasm, basically luke-warm. The medium level of practice is more regular, but is isolated from the rest of the student’s life.
So what is a vehemently intense level of practice? This could be perceived as a practice that is led by being clearly, and continuously focused on the goals of yoga, where the student sees all aspects of their life as an opportunity for spiritual growth. The more that practice is incorporated into daily life, permeating all action, the sooner the veil of Maya (ignorance, illusion) diminishes. But here our Western conditioning may tend to push too hard, so caution needs to be exercised when our egos urge us to, “do more, work more, be more!” This caution reminds us that any practice or lifestyle that pushes on, disregarding balance and harmony will generally lead to lopsided development, and an outlook that is too rigid. By keeping these thoughts in mind, we are less likely to become attached to our physical practice and much less likely to judge and define ourselves by our progress (or lack thereof), which means we’ll be less likely to be distracted from our true goals. The bottom line is, all practice should be balanced by non-attachment.
Yoga Sutras 1.19 and 1.20 describe two kinds of aspirants, both of whom can attain the goals of Yoga:
1. Advanced, born with true insight: These aspirants are those who have made tremendous advancement in previous lives and find samadhi easy to attain (1.19).
2. Others: Most of those that aspire to be yogis are of the this type, which means following five types of effort and commitment outlined by Patanjali (1.20).
Yoga Sutra (1.19) – bhava pratyayah videha prakriti layanam. Bhava comes from the Sanskrit root bhu to be or become; Pratyayah is content of mind, true perception; Videha means bodiless or incorporeal; Prakriti represents nature, creative cause; Layanam is merged into, becoming one with.
Translated this means…Some who have attained higher levels (videhas) or know un-manifest nature (prakritilayas), are drawn into birth in this world by only a few remaining latent impressions of ignorance. When such impressions remain, the aspirant retains the possibility (and the cause) of birth, even after being freed from the present body and after becoming integrated with one’s own or the cosmic nature. This type more naturally comes to the states of samadhi.
This sutra applies to only few rare people. Most need to follow the second path, which is the five-fold path outlined in the next sutra (1.20).
Yoga Sutra (1.20) – shraddha virya smriti samadhi prajna purvakah itaresham. Shraddha means trust, certainty, faith or conviction; Virya is energy, conviction, determination; Smriti equals memory, recollections and mindfulness; Samadhi is deep absorption of meditation, ecstasy and the goal of yoga; Prajna is wisdom and discernment; Purvakah means coming before, preceeding; Itaresham means of (or for) others.
This sutra is commonly translated to mean…Others follow a five-fold systematic path to lay the groundwork by which the higher samadhi (asamprajnata samadhi) is attained. These five principles and practices form a very simple, straightforward guide outlining the personal commitments necessary to properly follow the path of Self-realization. It benefits one to memorize these five, reflecting on them often. This five-point means of orientation works in conjunction with the eight rungs of Yoga introduced later in Sutra (2.28).
The five attitudes, goals and efforts to cultivate are as follows:
1. Shraddha: Developing the faith that you are going in the right direction
2. Virya: Committing the energy to go there
3. Smriti: Cultivating memory and mindfulness
4. Samadhi: Seeking the states of samadhi
5. Prajna: Pursuing the higher wisdom
By cultivating a practice of constant remembrance of these five types of efforts and commitments, the specific practices of each are all understood in a simple step-by-step process. This helps immensely to inspire the aspirant to follow through on performing the actual practices suggested throughout all the Yoga Sutras.
Swami Prabhavananda’s comment on this sutra: “The concentration of the true spiritual aspirant is attained through faith, energy, remembrance, absorption and illumination.”
Inspiring steps to follow on the Path of Yoga no matter what stage or level you’re currently at. So stay tuned, next well cover Chapter 1: (Effort & Commitment, cont.; Sutras 1.21 – 22).
Yoga Sutras 1.17 and 1.18 describe the entire process of samadhi, the higher tool of meditation. Therefore, the whole process of yoga is summarized in these two and the preceding sutras. The remaining yoga sutras give more expanded explanations, including the process of stabilizing the mind and more specific ways to attain samadhi, plus how to learn to use samadhi as the finer tool for Self-realization.
In this diagram “P” indicates with content or object.
Yoga Sutra (1.17) – vitarka vichara ananda asmita rupa anugamat samprajnatah. Vitarka means gross thought or reasoning; Vichara is subtle thought or inquiry; Ananda is even more subtle, bliss; asmita means “I-ness” or sense of self; Rupa is appearance, nature or form; Anagumat means resulting from or associated with; Samprajnatah is absorption, absolute knowledge of, also indicates “lower” Samadhi.
According to this sutra, Samprajnata (lower) Samadhi is explained, defining a deep attention, or concentration on any object. Translated this means…All objects are in one of the four stages listed. Virtually every type, style, method, or object of meditation is assigned to one of the four stages or levels described in this sutra, but here, near the beginning of the yoga sutras specific objects are not being recommended. Instead, the four categories of which any and all possible objects of meditation are introduced. The content itself can be anything; from an external object to an idea in the mind, but as long as there is active content, and the consciousness is absorbed in that content, it is called Samprajnata Samadhi. Sometimes Samprajnata Samadhi is defined as being “with support” or “with seed.”
According to Patanjali, this form of concentration or absorption (with content) consists of four levels. These are:
1: The gross (savitarka): This is the most dense, like an entry level of meditation. It consists of concentration on physical objects (matter), sense perceptions, mental visualizations, streams of thoughts, physical breath, etc.
2. The subtle (savichara): This is a more subtle level of content and concentration. This level consists of attention on the more subtle levels of matter/objects, energies, fundamentals of the mind, and qualities such as non-attachment, etc.
3: Bliss (sananda): This is an even more subtle level of reality and concentration. It consists of attention that goes beyond the gross and subtle levels of the mind. In this state bliss accompanies the meditator.
4: I-ness (sasmita): This level is one of the subtlest states of concentration as its attention is focused on the very core of the individual, the I behind or the witness of all experiences.
*Note on the prefix “sa” in these four words means “with” or accompanied by.
Thus Yoga Sutra (1.17) defines and sums up the whole process (or levels) of the concentration type meditations. The other type of meditation is the seedless (or unsupported) meditation, or meditation without objects or content, which will be defined in the next sutra.
Yoga Sutra (1.17) – virama pratyaya abhyasa purvah samskara shesha anyah. Virama means cessation, letting go, stopping, receding; Pratyaya is the cause, content of mind or cognition; Abhyasa means enthusiastic practice; Purvah indicates preceding or coming before; Samskara means deep impressions, imprints in the unconscious, deep habits, subliminal activators; Shesha is residual or that which remains; Anyah refers to the other (the lower samadhi).
Translated… In this yoga sutra, concentration or attention is without any content or object that can be described, and this is called Asamprajnata (seedless or unsupported) Samadhi. In this state, in addition to the gross and subtle thoughts, the senses and thinking apparatus of the mind remain in a latent state. It is a very high state of “knowing,” and is of the kind that is often described as indescribable in words (beyond words).
Much more than just a state of quietness: It is important to understand that the objectless-ness referred to here is far deeper than simply quieting the busy conscious mind. Allowing that noisy mind to gradually still itself is no doubt an important step, however, it is only a stepping stone to opening the veil obscuring the unconscious. Once attained, the many impressions (samskaras) that are normally not seen are allowed to come forward, and along with them an awareness of the sensing and thinking instruments, the subtle energies, and all the subtle building blocks of mind and matter. All of these, not just the surface level thoughts, are the subject of objectless-ness or seedless meditation.
Prana (Life-Force or Energy) flows through us continually, keeping us alive. It is this flow of Prana, which regulates the functions of our body and mind. However, when this flow or pattern becomes irregular it routinely leads to various physical and mental ailments and tensions.
Our Prana, or Life-Force is much like water; it has to constantly flow through our body in order to provide a sufficient energy supply to each of our cells. Sometimes, because of our stressful lifestyle or negative thinking, this flow becomes inhibited or disturbed. When this happens, certain parts of our body get too much energy while other parts don’t get enough. The Prana may not be reaching to some places, or there may be a stagnation of the energy at one place or another. This imbalance then can lead to headaches, backaches, constipation, sexual disorders, stomach problems or any of a host of other disorders depending on type or severity of the imbalance.
Most yoga students and practitioners are familiar with Pranayama, but it is not quite so common that they recognize that Bandha is another yogic practice that is also effective when it comes to regulating this life force.
Bandha in Sanskrit is defined as “to bind, to lock or to tighten.” In actual Bandha practice, the breath is intentionally directed to a particular area of the body and then “locked” or concentrated there. The body is tightened, retaining the energy in that part for some time. This binding or locking of Life Force has numerous benefits.The bandhas help you regulate and control all your internal systems; hormonal, sexual, metabolic, digestive, eliminative and more.They also balance the adrenal system, relieving stress, lethargy and tension.
Bandhas assist in massaging of the internal organs and removal of stagnant blood. Besides that, the practice of Bandhas regulates the nervous system, slows the aging process, increases overall vitality and accelerates to spiritual development.
Additionally, Bandhas help to release “psychic knots.” Psychic knots are like whirlpools of energy that are entangled like a knot in certain areas of our body, these can occur as a result of a current life experience, or archetypal (karmic) residues (samskaras) developed over a lifetime. These knots restrict and/or prevent the natural flow of energy, leading to the imbalances mentioned above.
There are three basic Bandhas:
1.Mula Bandha,
2.Uddiyana Bandha,
3.Jhalandara Bandha.
When these three Bandhas are engaged simultaneously, it is called Maha Bandha, the great lock.
The Mula Bandha is perhaps the easiest to start with due to the fact that it’s the most familiar to us. The contraction of Mula Bandha on the deepest physical level is similar to the Kegel exercises used to correct urinary incontinence and strengthen the pelvic floor and vaginal walls after childbirth. To find the Mula Bandha, practice beginning to urinate and then interrupting the flow by stopping the urination.
Mula Bandha (aka, Anal Lock)
·Sit comfortably in Vajrasana or Padmasana (cross legged) with knees touching the floor.
·Place the palms of your hands on your knees.
·Concentrate on the Muladhara Chakra (Root center).
·Inhale deeply, completely filling your lungs.
·Hold your breath while contracting the muscles of your perineum area by drawing them upwards.
·Hold the Bandha for as long as comfortable, feeling the tightening of your muscles.
·Release contraction and exhale slowly.
·Repeat this 10 times and may be increased to 30.
As with all yoga practice, when practicing Bandhas one should also keep their awareness at peak levels. Continue listening to your body during the practice and stop at the first sign of pain or discomfort. Combining awareness, patience and practice will lead to exceptional benefits and blissful results.
*A cautionary note: Pregnant women, people suffering from high blood pressure, peptic and duodenal ulcers or heart ailments should not practice Bandhas without first consulting with a trusted health care professional.
Do you wonder where to start, where to look to find a guru? You’ll find there are all kinds and types of gurus; often “guru” indicates a title for a teacher or a guide in most any subject, such as music, dance, art and sculpture, but especially religion and spirituality. We may find gurus’ range from musicians and storytellers to those whose message is transmitted without ever speaking a word. But what they all have in common is the ability and appointed authority to unveil some truth. For all too many, that authority is self-appointed, but for others it is a result of a long lineage or it is divinely appointed, the latter two helping the ego/mind (self w/small “s”) merge with the divinity within. You may call this divinity within, the Soul, Self, Jiva, Atman or whatever, but nonetheless it is immortal. There was never a time that it didn’t exist. There will never be a time that it will not be. The ego/mind is not immortal and never will be. It ceases to be at the moment of death, and according to yoga philosophy there’s an essence of what this egoic self has learned and accumulated in regard to spiritual value that continues into the next life, even if that life doesn’t find embodiment for hundreds or even a thousand years.
Yet this ego/self can become immortal if it so chooses. Naturally, this choice involves a clear decision, commitment, discipline, and Divine Grace, which often manifests in the form of a guru. Once the decision is made, a succession of teachers generally begins to appear; helping, teaching and guiding the aspirant or student. The ongoing quality that matters most is sincerity. We can make mistakes, wander from the path, and make short-term and careless choices, but if this is all done within a consistent framework of sincerity, then we’ll continue to get the guidance we need. In the process of preparing the ego/self to merge with the Divine within, negative qualities are stripped away, but only at the rate the aspirant can tolerate. Our rescue, within the bounds of our karma, is commonly afforded to us as we struggle, and eventually, we will meet our true guru.
Once we start looking we’ll see all sorts of self-appointed individuals hanging out their “guru shingle”. Sadly, they are mostly “wanna-be’s,” who “think they are” or “wish they were” – would-be spiritual leaders who have made a decision that this is their calling, perhaps in spite of their immaturity. Some of them are sincere, but many more are not. A true guru is never self-appointed. They are selected and trained by those who are already established as true gurus and sadgurus or else they’re genuine celestial enlightened ones (Avatars) who appear here from time to time. In reality, there are very few true gurus.
A true guru is endowed with spiritual gifts to give, and they give them (sometimes lavishly), to students, disciples, spiritual aspirants and on occasion to complete strangers. A true guru genuinely knows the appropriateness of the gift and can “see” how it will be applied. Although only a sadguru has this ability to know all possible outcomes, true gurus may not. Even still, a clear direction is apparent to the true guru which points strongly to how the gift will be employed. This is how the appropriateness of the gift is determined. All the while, the gift increases the ability of the ego/self to eventually merge with the Soul or Self and that is the determining objective.
All spiritual teachers, even ones who have reached the state of an advanced adept, are not automatically gurus, unless and until some divinely oriented appointment for the function arrives. As is the case for many advanced adepts, this appointment to become a true guru may never arrive.
The Grace of The Supreme flows through each true guru in wonderful and different ways; they’ve been embraced by Love and realize with every facet of their being that Love is both the method and the destination. It is the means and the end. There is no way to achieve a state of Love other than by loving. For the Divine or Truth speaks directly to the heart; the mind cannot apprehend Truth or the Self in its entirety, as a matter of fact, it can’t come close. It would be like trying to put the ocean in a teacup. It is easy to see how you can pour the contents of a teacup into the ocean and it becomes one with the ocean. But it’s a bit harder to dissolve the mind in the heart.
It seems astounding that some of the Avatars of the East (Shankaracharya, Vyasa, Buddha) and others do not agree on the finer points of what establishes Truth, or Reality, or the nature of the Self, and so on. They all see the same light, but don’t have the capacity to see it all at once so they each expound on it somewhat differently. Dattatreya, when asked to comment on the differences between Dvaita (dualism) and Advaita (Non-dualism), between Saguna (Realization with form) or Nirguna (Realization without form), looked kindly at the questioner and said, “If you are still concerned with such things, you still have a ways to go.”
Both teachers and gurus will agree that Love will take you all the way to the utmost goal of human existence, but true gurus are blessed with a unique set of skills and tools to help the finite part of us merge with the infinite part of us; dissolving our identification with the ego/self, moving us as expeditiously as possible into that state of being where we realize unity because we have attained it.
Both yoga and Ayurveda (the Indian Science of Healing) were inspired and developed by the great sages of ancient India, well over 5000 years ago. They were also both created to keep the body and mind strong, allowing students and practitioners to focus on what they considered their most important function, that of discovering the true Self and finding their true purpose in life. Although both these sciences are very old, neither one can be called “primitive.” Their advice is founded mostly on common sense, and has much to teach us about finding harmony and balance in the busy world we live in today.
Yoga happens to be the only science that has placed great emphasis on food, and it has done so for many centuries. There is actually a whole branch of yoga (called “Anna Yoga”) that is devoted to eating those foods that promote health and happiness.
Over these many centuries yoga has continued to develop a concept of a balanced whole-foods diet and an eating philosophy that stays current with changing times. These well established principles of good eating apply powerful techniques which are meant to help in creating and maintaining a strong, healthy body, a stress-free mind and a positive spirituality while living in this crazy, mixed-up world.
Never before has this yogic philosophy of a balanced whole-foods diet been more befitting than today when over 96% of all chronic illnesses and other health disorders can be traced directly to a diet insufficient in nutrition. Studies have shown that Indian civilizations (in the East) suffer less than Westerners from bowel problems, constipation, and indigestion plus a host of other food related disorders such as obesity. And the reason is because the Indian philosophy of cooking and eating draws heavily from the Ayurvedic and yogic philosophy of eating!
Ideally we should choose foods that are:
·Whole-foods in their most simple form possible,
·In season and as close to their source as possible,
·Unprocessed, chemical and additive free,
·In bulk and not pre-packaged.
Shopping for foods that we know are fresh and unprocessed is easier if we take as much of a hands-on approach in this process as possible.It’s always preferable to buy from farm stands and farmer’s markets, where we can meet the people that have grown the produce, which is often picked or harvested that same day.
Eating those foods that are both balancing and energizing will greatly aid and support us on the path of practice we have chosen to undertake.The very best diet for yoga students and practitioners is based on whole-foods, which generally means simple, unadulterated and unprocessed foods.Yogic cooking does not break-down foods into vitamins, minerals, protein, but rather demonstrates that the true benefits of whole-food ingredients can be had only when they are NOT isolated but are kept as true to their natural form as possible. Thus the key to optimal health and well-being is to have a balanced diet, one that ensures that all the faculties of the digestion process (absorption, assimilation and elimination) work efficiently and effectively.
It’s extremely important for us to realize that all 3 of these aspects (absorption, assimilation and elimination) work very well together, for when they work in harmony it’s very unlikely that we’ll suffer from chronic illnesses and all the many other health disorders (including obesity) that are epidemic in modern society today. “Synthetic” and/or “processed” foods (refined sugars, saturated fats/partially hydrogenated oils, fast foods, etc.) create conditions that disrupt this delicate balance, inevitably leading to numerous physical and psychological problems. Over time, the consequences can be dangerous and/or debilitating.
By being more discriminating and remaining consciously aware of how we feel in regard to the dietary choices we make, we’ll find those choices will start to become extremely supportive in our quest for optimal health, wellness and also a boon to our happiness.
