Vinyasa Krama Yoga Newsletters 2010

VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS
VOLUME 01-12 / 2010
Vinyasa Krama Yoga

Newsletters 2010
Disclaimer: This document was compiled from Srivatsa Ramaswami’s Vinyasa Krama Yoga
Newsletters and contains volume 1-12 from 2010 - http://www.vinyasakrama.com
January 2010 Newsletter-One Verse Exposition of Adi Sankara

Hearty and Warm Greetings from Bright and Sunny Chennai, India. Wishyou a very Happy
prosperous., purposeful and peaceful New Year... aNew Decade. I am planning to do only a
few programs in 2010 as I amrequired to be in India due to some preoccupations. The main
programfor the year will be the Teacher Training Program in June/July atLMU, Los
Angeles. Best wishes Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami.i...@vinyasakrama.com
Ekasloki of Adi Sankara
Adi Sankara, the best known exponent of the advaitic interpretation ofVedantais said to have
lived for just 32 years. He became a monk evenas he was a boy and traveled the length and
breadth of India debatingand propagating this philosophy. He wrote many commentaries on
themajor Upanishads,the Brahma Sutras and the venerated Bhagavat Gita. Healso wrote
several devotional works on different orthodox deities asGanesa, Kumara, Siva, Sakti, Vishnu
and Surya. Further he also tookcare of ordinary mortals by writing excellent lucid works as
Vivekachudamani, Atma Bhoda etc. They were called prakarana works, some veryvery
exhaustive and some were very brief.
One such work is known as "Eka Sloki" or "single verse exposition".The story about it is as
follows.
Sankara was traveling on foot when he heard of an old man in hisdeathbed. The man was
frightened about death (abhinivesa), thecomplete darkness and the absense of any awareness--
feelingsassociated with death. Sankara went to him and after a few encouragingwords started
a brief conversation with him.
Sankara: What is light for you?Response: For me, the sun is the light during the day and the
lampduring night.Sankara: So it be. What is the light by which you can see the sun andthe
lamp (and the objects lit by them) ?Response:My eyes, of course.Sankara: When you close the
eyes, what is the light?Response; My intellect.Sankara: What is the light for you to see
(perceive) the intellect'sactivities.Response:That is ME (the Self or pure
consciousness)Sankara: So you are the ultimate light (and consciousness)Response:Yes, that
is right my Master.
The old man then saw himself to be the ultimate light andconsciousness. He realized that
truly in him there can be no darknessor lack of awareness. His face became serene. Shortly
thereafter hedied peacefully with the knowledge that he (the soul) was immortal,ultimate
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VOLUME 01-12 / 2010
light and pure consciousness. He left the gross and subtlebodies and attained Moksha or
liberation.
The conversation in the form of a sloka (verse) is as follows
Kim Jyothis tava bhanumaan ahani me. Ratrau pradeepadikam.Syaad evam ravi deepa
darshana vidhau kim jyothiraakhyahi me.Chakshuh tasya nimeelanaadi samaya kim dheeh
dheeyo darshana kimTatra aham Athah bhavaan paramakam jyothih tadasmi prabho.
How does it compare with the main message of Yoga Sutras?
February 2010 Newsletter From S. Ramaswami--Yoga Nerves

Warm Greetings!
I was in India for about seven weeks--- tough time. But I met two ofmy earliest yoga students
during that time. C S Sampath, nearingeighty, continues to practice and teach yoga. He was
also busyoverseeing the construction of a specialty pediatric block to thecharity hospital with
which he has been associated for about 50 yearsas a volunteer. It was nice meeting him.
I also met Amala Akkineni in Hyderabad. She was one of my first andbest students from
Kalakshetra. She used to and still does exquisiteyoga postures. She is an accomplished
Bharatanatyam dancer. Amalaacted in many Indian movies in the lead role and became a
celebrity.She is married to Sri Nagarjuna, a superstar in India. Mother of atalented
youngster, she teaches Yoga now at an excellent facility inHyderabad, where I taught a short
program. Compassionate and serviceminded she built and also runs an animal welfare center,
now aregistered society, www.bluecrosshyd.in. It was nice meeting Amalaafter about 25
years.
Another Yoga Teacher I met was Saraswathy in Chennai. She teaches indifferent parts of
India and has started visiting and teaching in USAand Canada She was a teacher at
Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram forabout 17 years. I also met Ravi and Srimathy talented
former teachersof KYM and who took some lessons from me.
I taught a workshop on an ambitious topic, “Pranayama, Mantras andMeditation” at New
York Open Center. After a long time I had a ‘fullhouse’.
My 200 Hr Teacher Training Program is scheduled to be run at LoyolaMarymount
University, Los Angeles, CA during June/July 2010.Registrations will open shortly. For more
details kindly write toAlana Bray, Yoga Coordinator at y...@lmu.edu
If you wish to read the earlier newsletters and articles contained inthem please click the
following linkhttp://groups.google.com/group/vinyasa-krama-announce/topics?hl=en
---------------
Here is a letter I received from Daniel DaleTrust you will love reading this very informative
letter
Dear Srivatsa Ramaswami,
Thank you for the ongoing teachings! It is always uplifting andinspiring to read your
messages. I regret it has been so long since Iwas able to attend a workshop.
Having considered your question regarding similarity between theEkasloki you have taught
us and the main message of the Yoga Sutras, Ihave some thoughts. It seems to me that the
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insight that the old manin this story attains on his deathbed (with Shankara's lovingguidance)
is essentially the central teaching of the sutras, which Ibelieve Patanjali points to again and
again in different ways, usingdifferent names, such as viveka khyati.
Being so much longer and more detailed than this one-verse text,Patanjali's sutras cover
almost all conceivable types of obstacles tosuch Self-realization. But for such a short text, the
Ekashlokicaptures nicely the essence of the sutras and the moksha shastras.
Not many have the predisposition to attain and maintain discriminativewisdom without a life
(or many lives?) of ardent practice, and farfewer will have the luck and honor of being visited
by a Shankara whenlying on their deathbed. Fortunately we do have, in the sutras, a
verythorough guide for a lifetime of practice, if we aspire to develop andmaintain such
awareness.
It is impressive how quickly the brilliant Shankara is able to leadthe old man to this
realization by means of dialectics. He may beanxious, but the old man answers all of the
saint's questions quitewell, which suggests that perhaps he already knows all he has to
know,and only needs a bit of encouragement to overcome certain samskarasthat have
overtaken him in a time of trial. Like most of us, he’s alittle viksipta. How many of us have not
found that some challengingevent in life can make us think or act in ways that surprise us?
Inthis story, what may seem to have been a sudden flash of insight maybe rather the
culmination of a life of practice on the part of the oldman.
I recall you have taught us that abhyasa (practice) as it is used byPatanjali (sutra I.12) refers to
the Samkhya practice of contemplatingall the tattvas in order to ultimately realize that each is
somethingother than Purusha. Sutras I.13 & I.14 emphasize that practice is theeffort to
achieve firm grounding in that realization through regularand correct practice over a long
time.
Interesting to me about the Ekashloki is that Shankaracharya teachesthe man through
metaphors involving vision, and the light thatilluminates objects so that they may be seen. In
the Yoga Sutras, thepurusha first comes up under a different name— that of the seer
ordrashtuh. It seems to me that at the very outset, in sutra I.3Patanjali already alludes to the
ultimate realization when speaking ofthe seer being established in its svarupa. Svarupa also
comes up inthe very last sutra of the text, where we encounter yet another termpointing to the
central realization: citishakti. The main goal for theyogi is to arrive at this insight which is
pointed to throughout thetext in many different ways. Vidya is another key term, which
ishinted at in the sutras in that its opposite, avidya, is mentionedrepeatedly. This ties in nicely
with Shankara’s teaching in theEkashloki, since vidya means literally “seeing.” There is
anotherShankaracharya text, Aparokshanubhuti, which refers in its very titleto an unveiling,
the lifting of the dark pall of ignorance or avidya(“not seeing”).
I am also reminded of the Buddhist vipassana: insight, or "specialseeing." I sense that the
central insight in the sutras and theEkalsoki, is essentially the same as the heart of the
Buddha’steachings, which to my limited knowledge is said to be that "all thatis subject to
arising is subject to ceasing." Not very different fromthe yoga darshan's discrimination
between prakrti and purusha (or, forthat matter, the vedantin’s realization of the non-
separateness of theAtman and Brahman). If one knows all the skandhas/gunas/tattvas/prakrti
to be impermanent (subject to arising and ceasing) one hasrealized pure consciousness— the
drastuh is swarupyat.
Transcending avidya, seeing through maya, becoming free the delusionof samsara (I think of
samsara halahala mohashantyai) may be somethingmost of us experience only occasionally
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and fleetingly, if ever, butfor the very exceptional, fully-realized person it is said to be
apermanent and unwavering state. We would hope to remain steady in suchknowledge when
on our own deathbeds. The three-pronged kriyayoga of YSII.1 seems to me the most concise
prescription for practice towardthat end, and especially Ishvarapranidhana. Of course, the
sutrascontain many gems of insight, and different portions of the YS may beuseful for
different people at different stages in their development.
I hope I have not been too long-winded. Your question definitely gotme to reflect.
All the best in 2010. Sarvamangalam,
Daniel Daleomagain.com
And from Michael Tibbs
Hello teacher, I have a student when laying down or in seated posture coughs andgets acid
sensation in throat when applying uddiyana bandha. Iwitnessed it 1st hand. Any suggestions
on this issue or remedies fromyour storehouse of wisdom? He is tall, lean, in his 40's. I also
heard from Jim Newman who is living in Bali thanks forletting him know I am also living in
his part of the world. I am inCebu, Philipppines, teaching vinyasa krama regularly my classes
aregrowing steadily. the folks here are enjoying it, thanks for guidingme into being a good
teacher of this wonderful yoga system. I havebeen given the opportunity to bring awareness
to vinyasa krama to manypeople and will continue doing so. It gives me a great sense
ofpurpose. Attached are some recent photo's taken while teaching at the Univ.of Cebu this
class had 110 attendees. Largest Vinyasa krama class Ihave ever taught to date.Peace,Michael
Tibbs R.Y.T.Certified Yoga Teacher
YOGA NERVES
The brain and its nerve pathways form an important system of the humanbeing and again
Yoga has some unique procedures to help the efficacyof the nervous system. The brain, the
spinal cord containing the nervefibers, the ganglions, the plexuses and the peripheral nerves
formthis system. We have already seen the benefit the yogic technique ofmeditation can bring
to the brain. It helps to create new neuralconnections and reduce disturbances. This Raja
Yoga technique workswithin the brain and transforms (parinama) it to a better
functioningorgan. The Hata Yogis through the Hata Yoga practices such asPranayama,
viparitakaranis and some mudras help to maintain goodhealth of the brain. The two postures
that really help the brain are,as you can guess, the inversions, Sirasasana and Sarvangasana.
Many people, when they start to practice Headstand, find that theirfaces flush and they feel a
rush of blood to the face and the skull.After some regular practice for a short period of time,
the bodyadjusts to the new posture and auto regulates the flow of blood. Evenso when one
practices this posture for a significant time, the bloodcirculation in the brain improves
considerably, since the bloodvessels in the brain do not contract or dilate the way other
bloodvessels do. This is very refreshing to the brain and normally peopleget a cleansed
feeling. Equally important is that the cerebro-spinalfluid, which is a clear and colorless liquid
surrounding the brain andthe spinal cord, drains and pools upon the top portion of the
brain.It enters the ventricles and small recesses in the brain and helps inthe nourishment of
the brain cells. The third ventricle conveys asmall recess to the posterior portion of the
pituitary gland. Thepressure of the CSF, while staying in Headstand, helps the gland
tosecrete more of the hormones into the CSF which again is said tostimulate the sympathetic
nervous system. So people who have a weaksympathetic system may benefit from remaining
in Headstand for aconsiderable amount of time. The weak sympathetic is considered to
beone of the causes of some ailments like bronchial asthma. Hence thisexercise could be
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useful for those who suffer from such conditions asbronchial asthma, its cousin eczema and
distant relative, epilepsy ystimulating the sympathetic.
Sarvangasana is similar to but yet different from Headstand. In this,instead of the crown, the
occipital portion of the head is on thefloor, and the CSF pools into the midbrain and the back
of the brainincluding the medulla. These areas are really stimulated by a goodstint in
Sarvangasana. It is said the Vagas nerve nuclei arestimulated by this exercise. Thus it results
in the activation of thepara sympathetic. It results in reduction in anxiety and insomnia.
MyGuru used to say that it helps normalize sexual functions. Thus ajudicious mix of
Headstand and Shoulder stand would help to bringabout a healthy balance between
sympathetic and parasympatheticnervous systems.
Yoga is particularly directed towards maintaining the integrity of thespine. The spinal cord is
about 45 cm long for men and 43cm for women.The enclosing bony vertebral column
protects the relatively shorterspinal cord. In fact, the spinal cord extends down to only the last
ofthe thoracic vertebrae, or the thoracic spine, and then the tail flowsdown the lumbar region.
The spinal cord is inside the neural canal --almost the diameter of the thumb-- of the
backbone. The nerves fromthe spine emanate on either side through openings called
neuralforamina and then proceed to the autonomic nervous system and thenvarious organs.
The slightest displacement of the vertebrae willresult in chronic or acute pain. In Yoga,
efforts are made to maintainthe spinal column in proper position and mobility. There are
fibers ofboth the central and autonomic nervous system. When there is somepressure on the
nerves due to even the slightest displacement of thevertebrae, there is pain which inhibits the
various impulses that passthrough the brain, spinal cord, the various organs and muscles.
Thiscan be compared to ‘noise’ in the telephone transmission system. Insuch cases the signals
do not properly reach the organs or the brainand spinal cord do not receive the signals
properly resulting in theinefficiency of those organs. So Yogis take special care to see thatthe
spinal column is properly exercised, mobile and supple. Theexercises are designed to prevent
any vertebral pressure on the nervesby maintaining a healthy inter-vertebral space. And then
these spinalexercises help to circulate blood and CSF to nourish the spinalnerves. They also
suggest strengthening the back muscles so that thespinal column is well supported.
Paschimatanasana, as the nameimplies, will meet the requirement admirably.
The movements for the spine include side bending, forward bending,curving the back, back
bending and of course twisting. These may bedone in different postures as is usually done in
Vinyasakrama. One ofthe simple sequences that helps achieve this is hasta vinyasas
andthoracic exercises in Tadasana, which include all these movements.(See my book
“Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga, Chapter on Tadasana).This stretching of the spine will be
enhanced if one practices thescores of vinyasas in inversion poses like Sarvangasana and
sirsasana.
The spinal cord is inside the thoracic region of the vertebral column.So when we move the
arms and do the various movements the spine at thethoracic region does not stretch as the
ribcage moves up and down asone unit. The intervertebral discs in the region of the thoracic
spineare much thinner than in the cervical and the lumbar regions. As aresult there is
generally less movement between the vertebrae of thethoracic spine. The yogis have found a
unique way of stretching thethoracic spine. This is achieved by doing all the movements with
deepbreathing, especially inhalation. When we do deep inhalation, thechest expands side to
side, front to back and also up and down whichwill help stretch the vertical thoracic spine and
maintain a goodintervertebral space for mobility and freedom for the nerves. Hencethe
vinyasakrama method of doing asanas with good breathing has thisadditional advantage.
Again a good stint of Pranayama practiceespecially Nadisodhana (nerve cleansing) with an
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easy, graceful andsecure Jalandharabandha should be very useful for the spinal
cord.Pranayamic deep inhalation and the long breath holding (1:4:2) afterinhalation (antah
kumbhaka) directly benefit the nerves inside thespine.. So when you do deep inhalation, hold
the breath and stretchthe spine, the breathing itself acts as an internal traction of thethoracic
spine.
With best regards
Srivatsa Ramaswami
March 2010 Newsletter--T.T Program--Yoga vs Ach..choo

Warm Greetings!
Teacher Training Program in Vinyasakrama Yoga
There are scores of Yoga Teacher Training Programs and almost everypromoter(me
included) claim that his/her program is unique. The 200 hrprogram I offer (registered with
Yoga Alliance) is designed to givea broad exposure and some in depth coverage of my
understanding ofYoga as I have learnt from my Guru. I must admit that my guru had
theuncanny knack of teaching what he considered to be important andrelevant to the
particular student. Hence all his student –teachers,though they have studied with the same
preceptor, show different yogiccharacteristics in their teachings that are obvious to even
casualobservers. A three decade study under him helped me to assimilate alot of what he
taught me, practice and reflect. What he taughtappealed to me profoundly. And I thought it
might to a few otherswith requirements and tendencies similar to mine who would
beinterested in and may benefit from the Yoga I imbibed from my Guru.Hence this 200 hr
Vinyasa krama Teacher Training Program. Here are thedetails.
1. The 60 hr Vinyasakrama asana course runs for 20days, three hoursper day. It consists of 10
major sequences broken into more than 120or so subsequences built around well known
asanas. There is a flow ofasanas/vinyasas with each slow movement synchronized with
theappropriate (brahmana and langhana) aspect of breathing. There areabout 700 Vinyasas.
It is a systematic way to learn asanas. Eventhough one may not be practicing all these asanas
and movements in adaily workout, it is necessary for a yoga teacher and serious studentsof
yoga to learn all asanas and vinyasas in a systematic manner. Ateacher or a yoga therapist has
to have in her/his arsenal all theyoga movements and asanas so that one can design an
appropriateprogram for one’s own practice and for varying individual requirementsof others.
The word Vinyasa is widely used in several arts like music,etc. In fact one meaning of Vinyasa
is art itself and so vinyasakramawould mean doing asanas as an art. Vinyasa is an artful
expansion ofthe physical culture called asana within certain specified parameters.There is a
certain nicety about Vinyasakrama approach. The sequencingis a logical progression of
Vinyasas. It is a yogasana gift from myGuru and in it there is something, nay, everything
(almost, that is)for everyone (almost, that is) from a toddler yogi to the consummateyogi.
2. The 20 hr Pranayama program is spread over 10 days of 2 hrsessions. My Guru, as the old
Hata yogis did, gave considerableimportance to Pranayama, which is another name of Hata
Yoga. OrthodoxIndians as they do their rituals to the Sun, do a minimum of 40
mantrapranayamas every day. It is considered a prerequisite of meditation,dhyana. In this
course the theory and practice of different types ofpranayamas will be taught and the various
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parameters. Practice is animportant aspect of this course. Many participants end up

makingpranayama an integral part of their daily yoga routine.
3. The third subject will be Mantras and Meditation another aspect ofdaily yoga practice.
Mantras are a convenient and powerful vehicle fortaking the mind along the path of one
pointedness. Sanskrit alphabetsalso known as matrukas, or mother mantras, along with some
of theimportant mantras like Gayatri will be taught. Using mantra, a step bystep approach to
meditation will be taught and participants will begiven the opportunity to practice meditation
on these lines. It is a20 hr program--10 sessions of 2 hrs each. Participants will also
beintroduced to Sanskrit recitation, another form of meditativepractice, an important aspect
of Sri Krishnamacharya’s teachings
4. There is a 25 hour segment of Yoga for Health. It consists of 10hours of Anatomy and
Physiology, a requirement of Yoga Alliance withwhich this program is registered. 5 hrs of
subtle anatomy willexplore the conceptual basis of the human system from the yogic pointof
view and will be discussed in some detail, based on old texts likeYoga Yogyavalkya, etc. and
attempts will be made to relate theseconcepts with modern ideas. My Guru was a great
exponent of Cikitsakrama or the therapeutic approach of yoga. In the 10 hr session ofYoga for
Internal Organs, the six main kosas** or organs and thesystems they support will be gone into
in details and the yogicpractices that are beneficial to these systems will be discussed.
(**hrudaya kosa or heart and the circulatory system, svasa kosa or thelungs and the
respiratory system, anna kosa or stomach and thedigestive system, garbha kosa or uterus and
the reproductive systemetc.)
5. A 25 hour segment is reserved to study Yoga as a darsana or aphilosophy. In this 5 hrs are
allotted to learn to chant some of theyoga sutras. In the remaining 20 hrs, the entire YS (Yoga
Sutras) willbe gone through word by word and sutra by sutra, so that during thisfirst reading
the participants will learn to stay close to the textand get a good understanding of the sutras
and the thought processcontained in this ancient text.
6. Sri Krishnamacharya’s works is the title of this 20 hr program.Even though my Guru is
well known, his works remain somewhat hidden.In this course reading of his works, “Yoga
Makaranda” and “Nathamuni’sYoga Rahasya” will be taken up. It will hopefully help
theparticipants to have a first hand view of some of the concepts ofKrishnamacharya’s Yoga.
7. In this short segment, 5 hours will be allotted for Yoga Businessand 5 hours for Teaching
Methodology
8. A twenty hour program titled “Visesha Vinyasas” made up of 5sessions of 4 hrs each
completes the 200 hours of instructions. Inthis special sequences like Sun Salutation,
Salutation to Directions,etc. will be taught. It will also cover all the parameters requiredto be
considered to design individualized programs based on thesecourses. Sri Krsihnamacharya’s
ingenuity lay in his ability to offerwhat the students or patients needed . Yoga takes care of the
needs ofeveryone, all through the life--to everyone according one’s changingneeds. A teacher
has to equip herself/himself with as much informationas possible in a logical way. Yoga is a
comprehensive subject and hasenough breadth and depth to meet the evolving requirements
of everyoneall through the life.
Well, the program is scheduled to start on June 15, 2010 and runs forfive weeks at Loyola
Marymount University in Los Angeles. You or oneof your friends may resonate with this
program. Registration is openand for details please contact:
Alana BrayYoga Coordinator,Loyola Marymount University1,LMU Drive, Suite 1840,Los
Angeles, CAY...@lmu.edu(310)338-2358
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********
Yoga vs. Ach..choo
In a room full of people if one sneezes, there are smiling faces allaround and many have a
pleasant “Bless You” to say. If there is secondsneeze, maybe one or two in the room will say
“bless you” in a moreshrill voice. A third sneeze will bring frowns and a quick glance atthe exit
door, indicating either they would like to go out of the roomor would want the multiple
sneezer to vacate the room.
And quadruple sneeze bout is said to be one of the documented causesof fatal road accidents!
The air we breathe day in and day out when it reaches the chest shouldbe lungs-friendly. It
should be warm at about body temperature evenwhen we walk in freezing cold. It should be
moist even if the humidityis very low outside. It should also be bereft of much
atmosphericpollutants like dust and particulate matter. It should be reasonablyfree of harmful
bacteria and viruses. So the respiratory tract shouldnot only add warmth and moisture to the
inhaled air, but also preventthe harmful substances and pathogens from reaching the lungs.
And thenthe Yogis of yesteryears insisted that the respiratory tract or thenadis ida and
pingala should be kept clean (nadI suddhi). Nadis aretubular structures--blood vessels in the
body are referred to asnadis, so also nerves; they could also be air passages.
So how does the respiratory tract deliver the conditioned air to thelungs and equally
important how is the health of the tract itselfmaintained and renewed continually? The
nostrils with those thickshort hairs (vibrissae) help to trap dust and some other
offendingsubstances within the nostrils. Then the air enters the nose and goesthrough the
much narrower naso-pharynx. The mucosa lining this tractis supplied by nerves from the
para sympathetic. It is said that thenose secretes a viscous liquid continuously, but alternately.
The leftpart of the nose gets secretion for about 2 to 2 ½ hrs and then thesecretion switches to
other side. The wet secretions help the nosetrap dust particles and some offending organisms
like virus/bacteria,etc. The cells of the respiratory epithelium have what are calledcilia which
move the particulate matter towards the pharynx, whichpasses into the esophagus and mostly
this, the mucous with theoffending trapped material goes to the throat . When they reach
thethroat, the tract changes and we involuntarily and periodicallyswallow it to be neutralized
by the powerful stomach acids. Sometimeswhen the upper respiratory tract is congested due
to infection etc.,the cilia do not function well and sometimes we snort the secretionsand bring
it to the throat, when it is normally coughed and spit outAfter the two hour cycle there is the
dry spell when one part of thenose dries and periodically we blow out the scabs.
There are three yoga procedures that are designed to keep thenasopharyngeal or the upper
respiratory tract in good functionalhealth. Use of the now popular neti pot helps to reduce
thecongestion and wash down trapped debris so that the passage of air toand from the lungs
will be smooth. Clean warm water with a pinch ofsalt helps to reduce naso-pharyngeal
congestion and breathe freely.This procedure may be followed for a short period of time until
theother more involved exercises, Kapalabhati and Nadishodhanaprocedures, start giving
more lasting benefits.
The Nadisodhana pranayama, as the name indicates, cleanses the nadisand here we are
concerned with the upper respiratory tract. Accordingto Yoga Yagnyavalkya, the two nadis
ida and pingala, emanating fromthe Kandasthana in the pelvic region, extend up to the tip of
the leftand right nostrils respectively. When we breathe in, the hollow of thenostrils first fill
up letting the vibrissae and moisture trap somepollutants. Then when the inhalation starts,
the air goes through themuch narrower nasal passage at a significantly higher velocity.
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Thiseffect is enhanced in Nadishodhana. In this pranayama we use theMrigi Mudra. In it

one closes the right nostril with the thumb anduses the little and ring fingers to partially close
the nasal passageon the left side, just below the ethamoid bone, giving more controlover the
process of inhalation. The powerful flow of air over themucus membrane of the entire air
passage when one sucks in or snortsduring inhalation phase of the nadisodhana pranayama
helps to trapmuch of the offending unfriendly pollutants and then evacuate into thethroat.
Further the area just beyond the ethanoid bone is considered verysensitive (asthmagenic) and
when allergens impinge on the membrane ofthis area, histamines are produced which send
signals to the sneezecenter (sneezing center) in the brain (medulla). (Believe me I didnot
make up the ‘sneeze center‘. It exists just as other centers suchas the cough center, respiratory
center etc). Sternutation or sneezingis a semi-autonomous convulsive expulsion of air from
the lungs
The Kapalabhati is a procedure that has multiple benefits (For moreinformation on
Kapalabhati, please refer to pages 190 to 194 in mybook “Yoga for Three Stages of Life“). It
also helps to clear upperrespiratory passages and remove congestion. Equally important is
thepossible beneficial effects it has on sneezing, the sneeze center.Come to think of it,
Kapalabhati as one can see, simulates or closelyresembles the activity of ‘sneezing‘. So when
one does Kapalabhati, afew times at a time, and repeats it a few times a day, the
procedurepresumably sends signals to the sneeze center and calms down theoveractive center
of those who suffer from hay fever and those whooverreact to allergens and pollutants. In
these people the sneezecenter is ‘on the edge’ so to speak. And they display a nervousresponse
to allergens, stress, etc. that is abnormal, usuallyresulting in nasal congestion and multiple
bouts of sneezing. ThisKapalabhati procedure if diligently practiced for a while should
helpbring about considerable control over excessive sneezing. It is saidby medical doctors
that some of the methods useful in the control ofsneezing would include deep exhalation of
the air held in the lungsand this is facilitated by both kapalabhati and deep exhalation
innadishodhana pranayama. Holding the breath after a deep inhalation fora count of 10 is
another commonly known suggestion. It is actuallyachieved while we hold the breath in
antahkumbhaka after a deepnadisodhana inhalation. Additionally, when we hold the breath
thesinuses are also filled with fresh air and are cleansed in theprocess. Applying pressure to
the nose is another commonly popularremedy suggested with respect to sneezing. In fact that
is exactlywhat is done when one holds the breath in antahkumbhaka ofNadisodhana. The
nostrils are closed just below the ethanoid bones ofthe nose by the thumb on the right side
and the last two fingers onthe left side, using Mrigi Mudra. Hence these yogic
procedures:Kapalabhati followed by Nadisodhana breathing with the appropriateoccasional
use of Neti could ensure the reduction and subsequentprevention of recurrent cold, hay fever/
allergic rhinitis, and otherupper respiratory problems. One will not over-sneeze.
Yoga vs. Ach..choo
Thank youSincerelySrivatsa Ramaswami
April 2010 Newsletter--Subhashita(Good Saying)

Warm Greetings.
While browsing the internet I stumbled on to a website which sells my cds of Sanskrit chants
made in India more than 25 years ago, like Yoga of Patanjali and Adi Sankara, Indrakshi
Sivakavacham and vedic chanting, Aditya hrudayam ( a sun worship work from the
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Ramayana) and Taittiriya Upanishad. These were all recorded during the 80s, theearliest
being the Yoga of Patanjali in 1982.
http://www.indiaclub.com/shop/AuthorSelect.asp?Author=Srivatsa+Ramaswami
They have an office in New Jersey. 1-856-424-9310
I subsequently checked with Sangeetha, the company that recorded all my cassettes/cds and
marketed them originally. They said that in India some more of my cds were in the market,
like Sandhyavandanam, Suryanamaskara, Sundara kanda from the Ramayana,
Mahanarayanopanishad, Vishnu Sahasranama etc. I also learn that two more cds ( marketed
by another company), Durga Sahasranama and Gayatri Sahasranama are also in the market.
Many of these I had learnt to chant from my Guru Sri Krishnamacharya. It was good feeling
to note that many of the cds of the chantings are floating around even after 25 years. But the
next thought was really humbling. The subjects I had the privilege to chant, after all, were
from the Vedas, Upanishads, Purans and itihasas, all of which have been floating around for
thousands of years, not just a couple of decades.
***********
Correspondence with (1) Gyl Evans of Bristol, UK and (2)with CarolineKeating from Los
Angeles, CA
On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 7:15 AM, Gyl Evans wrote:
Dear Sri Ramaswami,Many thanks for your March Newsletter - a very nice piece of
writingand very timely too as its something I definitely need to follow sinceI sadly seem to
have developed a seasonal reaction to tree pollenssince I returned here from Asia a few years
ago. Your informationabout the Teacher Training programme is also very interesting and
I'monly sorry you were not able to personally offer it in the UK lastyear as I understand there
were visa issues. This brings me to thefollowing question which I sincerely hope doesn't
cause you anyoffence.
I realise the teacher /student relationship is very important and thatof/to guru more so - and I
am assuming a slight difference here,however I'm wondering how you feel about your
students (or even thoseof Krishnamacharya himself) going to listen to lectures by other yogis/
spiritual masters?You see I'm getting the feeling that there's a prejudice against beingopen to
such talks by some yoga groups here so a kind of exclusivityand factionalism seems to develop
which I can't understand as beingparticularly healthy or in the spirit of union ( - of community
vsindividual). I've heard one opinion in the past of students gettingconfused or misled or of
other teachers undermining or abusing theirfaith & trust but while the relationship to guru I
feel personally issacrosanct(!) I can't quite see the relationship to other yogis andspiritual
masters (of any tradition) being so exclusive. ConsequentlyI feel open to hear their message
without having to abandon mydiscrimination-cum- gurus' armour! To me if the guru is the
seat ofall knowledge for his students' needs couldn't that also includehearing what others
have to say? Could you share with me your ownopinion sometime?.Many many thanks, Gyl
Evans, Bristol
On 6 March 2010 02:58, ramaswami srivatsa wrote:
Dear Gyl Evens: Thank you for your e mail. I studied with one teacherfor nearly 3 decades.
Once I went to listen to a well known spiritualGuru. I thought it was good. Then my Guru
when he heard about it, toldme rather bluntly that he knew what was good for me and could
givewhat I needed. However if I kept listening to other people I could getquite confused and
it will be more difficult for him to removeconflicts and misinformation. I felt relieved and
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stuck to my Guru andam happy for the interest and concern he had for me. The question
is,“Do we find Gurus like Sri Krishnamacharya who would confidentlyassure you that he
would take care of you and also create fullconfidence in the student?”. This question the
student should askherself/himself and if the answer is a confident yes then one need notlook
around. If one is not fully convinced about the teacher I thinkthere is nothing wrong in
listening to others, but the student shouldtake the responsibility of sifting the information,
contemplating andobtaining knowledge.
In the Guru/ student relationship, especially in orthodox subjectslike Yoga, the only
consideration is the transfer of knowledge fromthe teacher to the student. There are
responsibilities for both theteacher and the student. The student should be obedient,
attentive anddedicated to learning. The teacher should be competent, confident,impartial
and open to sharing knowledge. The shastras say that if thestudent is not satisfied with the
level of competence, openness, etc.,he/she should look for other teachers. The main
consideration is "Am Ilearning properly". The Vedas succinctly put it as follows. :"Thereare
two parts to learning--the teacher and the student. Propercommunication is the means and
the transfer of knowledge is the resultof this transaction". The student's interest is
paramount. Otherconsiderations are complementary.
Thank you and with best wishes
SincerelySrivatsa Ramaswami
Dear Sri Ramaswami,Many thanks for your reply ~ I really appreciated hearing your
viewsand I think you were very blessed to have been taught by SriKrishnamacharya! And also
that he was so clear & confident as to hisresponsibilities with you. That you yourself now
teach is a verywonderful tribute to him and the teachings.I also appreciate learning a little bit
of the student and teachers’qualities and responsibilities that they have to each other and
thesource testimony that supports that understanding. Thank you kindlyfor your considered
reply.Gyl Evans, Bristol
From Caroline Keating
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2010 16:19:40 -0800
Dear Ramaswami, I hope that all is well with you. I greatly appreciated the chants you
provided me with for saluting the directions. Thank you so very much. I also really appreciate
your email newsletters. I look forward to reading your stories. I was just in a conversation at
work that made me reflect on yoga therapy approaches to healing the whole individual. Do
you have anything to share about what techniques are helpful in working with healing
personality issues? In my work I have many clients who have been labeled with various
"personality disorders" and my peers (therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists say that it
takes avery long time to heal a disorder in one's personality and some personality disorders
can never be healed. My instinct is that self- observation/awareness techniques that allow one
to clearly see their actions in relationship with others would be healing for
personality disorders. I wanted to know if you had anything to share about this. How does
personality relate to the panchamaya kosha model? If you have any insights to this, I would be
so grateful to hearthem. Thanks you always for being such an incredible teacher.Best
wishes, Caroline Keating
Dear Caroline: Thank you for your e mail which I did not reply to fora long time. Sorry. I
think there is a bewildering array ofclassification of personality disorders in modern medicine.
Yogaclassifications are much more simple but the techniques are quitepowerful and transfers
the responsibility of getting well to thepatient. The classical example is from the Bhagavat
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Gita in which theultimate responsibility of reflecting and deciding is on the affected.The

therapist is only a catalyst. Since the affected Person getstotally involved with the yoga
practice, analysis and meditation etc.,the affected at the end of the exercise becomes well and
confident andbecomes self reliant. Though all the cases may not be amenable toyoga, I think
many of those affected can be helped by making them helpthemselves. With best wishes
Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami
***************Subhashita (good saying)
I started studying with my Guru when I was about 15 years old and inthe initial stages it used
to be for mostly asanas and a little bitof pranayama. He used to ask us to take rest pauses at
the appropriateintervals when he would find the student breathing heavily or appearedtired.
Usually it would be for a couple of minutes when you lie downkeeping all the limbs loose and
watching the breath. But occasionallyhe would utilize the rest pauses to talk about some
reference toancient texts and wise sayings form old sanskrit literature. I wish Ihad noted them
all, but now can remember only a few. Those would bevery appropriate and these references
helped me to appreciate thedeeper implications of the ancient texts and whetted my appetite
forstudies of old spiritual literature. These wise sayings are also knownas subhashitas
meaning simply “good sayings” . These are usually fromthe vast vedic, itihasa, puranic, smriti
and other texts. Hundreds ofsuch Subhashitas are now available and I thought that in this
letter Icould mention about a few of them that appealed to me.
The one that my Guru quoted in the early days was to impress upon meto pay attention to
abhyasa or home/private practice and not justattending classes.
anabhyase visham vidya
ajiirne bhojanam visham
visham sabha daridrasya
vrudhasya taruni visham (1)
Knowledge not put to practice is toxic;
In indigestion, food is poison
Poison is partying, for the poor;
To an old man, the young wife is toxic indeed
************
On the twin yogic disciplines of ahimsa and satya
“satyam bruyat hitam bruyat
na bruyat satyamapriyam
priyanca nanrutam bruyat
yesha dharmo sanatanah”----Manu Smriti (2)
One should speak what is true and what is helpful to others,
One should not speak the truth if it would
harm others (ahimsa in speech).
Pleasant speech if it is untrue, also should be eschewed.
This is considered eternal/universal dharma.
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Satyameva Jeyate, naanrutam-- Upanishad (3)

Truth alone triumphs, never untruth
ahimsa hi paramo dharmah ---Mahabharata (4)
ahimsa(non-harming) is the greatest virtue
***************
Pursuit of spirituality or the lack of it
balstavat kridasaktah
tarunastavattaruni saktah
vriddhastaavat cintaasaktah
pare brahmani kopi na saktah
--Adi Sankara (5)
In childhood play takes the time and attention
In adulthood, one is engrossed in sex/relationship
In old age worries and worries one is submerged in
Alas! None ever thinks of the Supreme Reality(Brahman)
sarvam khalu idam brahma
tat jalaaniti shanta upaasita
-Chandogya upanishad,Samaa Veda (6)
“All is Brahman indeed!
Everything springs from It, is sustained by It and merges into It”
Thus one should meditate with peace in heart
satyam jnanam anantam Brahma
-Taittiriya Upanishad (7)
Brahman is pure consciousness unaltered either by time or by space
visvam darpana drisyamana ….
Adi sankara in Dakshinamurti stotram (8)
The vast space of the Universe is
like the (virtual)space inside a mirror
Or like the dream space inside the consciousness when one sleeps--
Only to vanish when one wakes up
*************
On Santosha or Contentment
yecca kamasukham loke
yecca divyam mahatsukham
trishnaakshya sukhasyete
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naarhati shodasim kalaam. Mahabharata (9)

The happiness from fulfillment of worldly desires
And of the great heavenly desires
is not comparable to even a sixteenth part of
the happiness from the eradication of the very desires
santoshat anuttama sukha labhah ---Maharshi Patanjali (10)
From contentment arises an unsurpassed, agreeable mental space
(sukha).
****************
Appearances can be deceiving
kakopi krishnah pikopi krishnah
pika kakayor ko behdah
vasntakale samprapte
kakah kako pikaf pikah (11)
The crow is black and black is the cuckoo
What is the difference between the two?
When Spring time arrives
Crow is a crow(it crows), cuckoo is a cuckoo(it sings)
Now a white version of the same concept
hamsopi swetah bakopi swetah
bakahamsayoh ko bedhah
nirakshira viveke
hamsah hamso bakah bakah (12)
The Swan(hansa) is white and white is a crane(baka)
What difference is there between the two?
Milk diluted with water when offered
The swan is a swan, the crane is a crane
(There is a belief that a swan will be able to extract milk and
discard water from diluted milk which a crane can not do)
********
maitri karuna mudita upekshanam
sukha duhkha punya apunya vishayanam
bhavanats chitta prasaadanam-- Maharshi Patanjali (13)
Friendship with the contented,
Compassion towards sufferers
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Appreciation of those pious do-gooders

Keeping at arm's length those who harm others
Will help one maintain serenity.
Out of one's earnings
1/6th should go to taxes
1/6th should go to charity
1/6th should go to savings gruhya sutra (14)
yeta vrikshasya sampushpitasya durat gandovati
yevam punyasya karmano durat gandovati-- Yajur Veda (15)
The fragrance of a tree full of flowers travels far and wide
Likewise the sublime effects of meritorious activity travel all over
the universe.
*****************
Sun Salutation
adityasya namskaram ye kurvanti diney diney
janmantara sahasreshu daridriyam na upajayate (16)
One who does Sun Salutation every day
Will not be poor for a thousand lives.
How come? One name of Sun is Aruna or one without any debts. It alsois interpreted as the
divine one who removes all the debts(runa) ofits devotees. Hence worship of Sun is
associated with prosperity.
Arogyam bhaskarath iccheth (17)
Health is to be got from Saluting Sun
pasyema saradsshatam, jivema sardassatam,
nandama saradassatam modama saradssatam,
modama saradssatam, bhavama saradassatam,
srunavama saradssatam, prabravaama saradssatam,
ajitasyama saradssatam, jyokca suryam druse—Daily noon prayer to Sun
from Yajur veda (18)
Oh Lord Sun!
May we see for a hundred autumns(years)
May we live for a hundred autumns
May we enjoy life for a hundred autumns
May we be prosperous for a hundred autumns
May we live with dignity for a hundred autumns
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May we hear good things for a hundred autumns

May we freely ambulate for a hundred autumns
May we live with freedom for a hundred autumns
We wish to be able to see the Sun(light) all our lives
Sanno vatafpavatam, maatarsva sannastapatu suryah
--Yajurveda (19)
May the wind blow gently
May the sun keep us warm
Like a mother (warms the child by cuddling it)
sa yeschayam purushe. Yeschavaditye. Sa ekah
--Yajur veda (20)
The One in this person here,
and the One in the Sun yonder,
It's Only One
And some more
durbalasya balam Raja, baalanam rodanam balam.
Balam murkhasya mounitvam, choraanam anrutam balam. (21)
For the weak(downtrodden), the King (Government) is the strength,
For children it is crying/tantrums
The ignorant covers the weakness with silence
The thief survives by telling lies
upakarishu yassadhuh
tasya sadhutve ko gunah
apakarishu yassadhuh
sasadbhiruchyate (22)
Being helpful to one who has helped
In such kindness, what is there to talk about?
Being helpful to even the one who has harmed
Such kindness is praised by one and all.
******************
On Dharmma
dharmo rakshati rakshitah (23)
Dharma protects one who protects (adheres to) dharma
darmam talai kakkum
--A Tamil saying (24)
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Dharma will protect one's head (life)

dharate uddharyate va iti dharma
-definition of dharma (25)
That(conduct) which supports, sustains and uplifts is dharma
dharmam cara....dharmat na pramaditavyam
--Taitiriya Upanishad (26)
Tread the path of dharma... never deviate from the path of dharma
dharmena gamanam urdhwam—Samkhya karika (27)
By dharma one moves upward ( to higher worlds and bliss)
dharmo jnana viraga ishwaryam, satwikametat rupam—Samkhya Karika (28)
A satwic mind treads the path of dharma (right conduct), jnana
(wisdom), viraga (dispassion) and yoga(siddha/aiswarya)
You may, if you wish, forward this letter to your friends students and others or reproduce it in
your blogs etc.
May 2010 Newsletter --Yoga and Bronchial Asthma

In Sri Krishnamacharya's yoga parlance, the word krama is usedextensively. It comes from
the root kR, to do, the same root for theword karma which means work, deed or action.
Krama usually is used toindicate a step by step method. So, vinyasa krama means a step by
stepartistic approach or methodology. Then we have vridhi krama indicatingthe method of
yoga practice during growing period of one's life.Sthiti krama indicates the logical steps in
yoga practice during themid part of one's life. And then chikitsa krama is the
yogamethodology to be adopted while treating a patient. So, since therequirements of people
at different stages and conditions of life varyfrom individual to individual, the different kramas
become valid.
Chikitsa Krama uses the variety of techniques and procedures availablein yoga, especially
vinyasa movements, pranayama, bandhas/mudras,meditating techniques and it has the
spiritual dimension. Thetherapist therefore has to have in her/his arsenal the complete
rangeof asanas and vinyasas and other yogic procedures so that he/she candesign a dynamic
tailor made therapeutic regimen for the patient, inwhich also Sri Krishnamacharya excelled.
Many people have been greatlyimpressed by the 1930s film clips of my guru doing exquisitely
verydifficult asanas . These and the pictures in the book “YogaMakaranda” have caught the
imagination of many modern dayyogabhyasis. However it should be remembered that these
tough posturesand routines are meant for a small percentage of able bodied skilledyoung
adults and not for the majority of people. But according to myGuru there is something Yoga
can do to help every one, asHatayogapradeepika says, whether one is young, grown up, old,
sick orinfirm yoga could be practiced. So as a Yoga teacher of excellence hetaught yoga to
everyone. And his helping/ healing hand had reachedmany who were having physical
ailments, physiological deficiencies,psychological problems and spiritual yearnings. Since
anyone may gothrough difficulties at different stages in life it will be worthwhilefor a involved
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yogi to expand the horizon and be able to help oneselfand others in a variety of ways with
Yoga.
Yoga and Bronchial Asthma
In an earlier letter I referred to the use of Neti, Nadishodhana.Kapalabhati, etc., for keeping
the upper respiratory tract in goodcondition and being able to deal with many upper
respiratory ailmentslike sinusitis, rhinitis, chronic sneezing, etc. Neti uses water or atwine to
cleanse the upper respiratory tract and Nadishodhana in a wayis neti using air as the
cleansing medium. The lower respiratory tracthas its own idiosyncrasies. The air warmed
and moistened in the upperrespiratory tract enters the trachea and flows through the
bronchialtubes to the lungs. The bronchial tubes are a sensitive pair and tendto contract and
dilate during the breathing cycle . Some yogis whohave one foot in yoga and the other in
modern medicine have suggestedthat the Kurma nadi mentioned in the yoga texts refers to
thebronchial section of the respiratory system—nadis are after all tubes.This sensitive nadi
causes problems in certain people. The bronchialtubes tend to dilate and contract
respectively during inhalation andexhalation in normal people at normal times. But in certain
peoplethey tend to contract during expiration but do not dilate sufficientlyor remain
contracted even during inhalation restricting the freepassage of air. Because of the narrowing
of this section of theairway, we hear the unique whistling sound as we find amongasthmatics.
These constrictions in certain advanced cases can becontinuous but with many asthmatics it
is intermittent.
The cause of this is usually attributed to allergens. Some allergens,like pollen, dust, peanuts,
cat's hair or the spouse's dandruff,produce a reaction in the respiratory center due to which
the impulsescoming from the Vagus nerve which control the bronchial tubes tend toproduce
bronchial spasm. While in most people this does not happen,this overreaction takes place in
asthmatics. The conventional approachto deal with this problem is two fold. One is to find
out those foodsand pollutants which produce this condition and develop vairagyatowards
them. Avoidance, a yogic trait is recommended. .”Keep awayfrom the offending allergens” is
the dictum. Another related approachis to find out the various substances that one is allergic
to and theninject small doses of the allergens into the system. Hopefully over aperiod of time
the patient will develop some immunity to thesesubstances which she or he did not have.
Related to this is to usetemporary medication to mainly dilate the bronchial tubes.
Suchmedications are available with allopathic doctors, ayurvedic vaidyasand also as home
remedies. My grandmother used to make a concoction ofseveral herbs (I do not remember
the English names of them), turmeric,black pepper, basil, cinnamon and a piece of dry date
(to make itpalatable). So avoidance, developing artificial immunity and temporarypalliatives
are the cures available for the millions of those whosuffer from the debilitating condition
called bronchial asthma.
But the Yogis go one step deeper and say it is a functional disorder.Even though allergens are
the precipitating cause the root cause issaid to be sudden abnormal activity in the broncho-
motor of the vagusnucleus of the medulla. The external protein, the offending allergen,excites
reflectively in an asthmatic when the vagus motor nucleus isirritable and unstable and
produces the spasm of the bronchial tubes.The lower tone of the sympathetic also contributes
to this condition.It is the malfunctioning of the respiratory center. In yogic parlanceit is the
disturbance (prana prakopa) of the pranamaya kosa.
So rather than dealing with this problem empirically the yogicprocedures directly attempt to
deal with and try to correct theabnormality. One of them is a unique procedure called
Ujjayibreathing. In this the vocal cords are approximated using the deepthroat and vocal
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chord muscles and the subject breathes through theconstriction produced, creating a unique
sound, the Ujjayi hissingsound. Normally we do not use these muscles in this particular
way.While yogis are familiar with this breathing for many others it isunfamiliar. But since we
keep the vocal cords together for aconsiderable amount of time, breathing in and out, we tend
to gaincontrol over these muscles. Since the bronchial tubes are alsocontrolled by the same
vagus nerve, one would gain control over themuscles activating the bronchial tubes. In fact
the effect is optimalif one does the Ujjayi correctly by using proper jalandhara bandha. Inthis
the chin is brought way down and placed against the breast boneand the whole rib cage
pulled up by straightening the spine, giving avery powerful bandha. In such a lock, one is able
to breathe,controlling the breathing way down in the respiratory tract, veryclose to the
bronchial tubes, the kurma nadi. A few days of attentivepractice of this unusual procedure
will bring very good control overthe lower respiratory tract musculature. Ujjayi breathing will
appearvery unusual for non yogis. Further the prolonged, deliberateconstriction of this area
will also stimulate the sympathetic to sendimpulses to open the bronchial tubes and tone of
the sympathetic alsowill be improved. A better tone of the sympathetic will help dilatethe
bronchial tubes during normal breathing. Without getting much intotechnicalities it may be
said that this reprogramming done for asufficiently long time will help the asthmatic have
improved breathingand less severe and less frequent attacks, and in some cases
completenormalcy. With proper care of food, reduced stress levels and otheryoga friendly life
style changes and regular practice one could,hopefully, be free of the debilitating asthmatic
attacks. Ujjayiclosely resembles asthmatic breathing. Another concomitant problem isthe dry
chronic cough. For this Bhastrika, which simulates a cough,should be practiced .
The other exercises that may be beneficial are, as you can guess, theinversions, especially head
stand. Once the patient is reasonablyhealthy and strong the head stand or its variants with or
without helpor props may be attempted. Headstand as it has been mentioned inearlier
articles, helps to direct the CSF into the ventricle in thebrain to stimulate the pituitary the
secretions which help produceadrenalin, a hormone which used to be given in the olden days
forasthmatics. Further it nourishes the spinal nerves which will help theproper functioning of
the autonomic nervous system thereby giving ahealthy control over the bronchial tubes. A
short stay in Sarvangasanaalso is helpful as it gives a natural jalandhaarabandha and
thequality of Ujjayi breathing is also good. AssistedsarvangasanaViparitakarani) can also be
attempted
It is also a good practice to work on the accessory muscles tobreathing. In an asthmatic the
chest muscles tend to be rigid andbreathing shallow. Arm exercises and thoracic exercises are
veryhelpful to free the tightness of the chest. Please refer to the hastavinyasas and the Parsva
bhangi vinyasas in the Tadasana sequence in mybook “The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga”.
Many of these exercises canbe done even sitting, and some even lying down depending on
thecondition of the patient. Singing (perhaps in the bathroom), fullthroated chanting
(prabalam adhiyita)and reading aloud (with orwithout an audience) are also helpful.
Yoga can be very useful for asthmatics as an adjunct therapy, one maycontinue with medical
treatment one is undergoing like allopathic,ayurvedic or any other. Normally it will be a good
idea to starttreating an asthmatic during the season when the atmosphericpollutants are the
least troublesome and asthmatic attacks minimal.One may start with the accessory muscle
exercises and then teachKapalabhati, then Bhastrika and Ujjayi breathing with Kumbhaka
withingone's capacity. Some kind of assisted inversion can be attemptedafter the participant
feels more comfortable. Over a period of timewith regular practice almost everyone shows
improvement. Thefrequency and severity of the attacks come down.
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When I started teaching way back in the mid seventies, with theblessings of my guru, I taught
yoga to a bunch of asthmatics in anearby hospital. The patients varied from about 8 years to
about 60years. I met each one individually once a week for about 8 weeks,teaching them
slowly and progressively. I did not keep any records butlater when I met the doctor he looked
quite pleased. He mentioned thatmany had shown improvements over a year and it was
possible to reduceand in one or two cases suspend medication. Their vital capacityshowed
significant improvement. One important aspect of yoga therapyis that the patient gets fully
involved in it. When you give medicinesalone, the patient is a passive helpless participant. In
yoga chikitsathe patient is fully involved and when she/he sees improvement thereis a
psychological boost-- a feeling of achievement is there whichwill help them practice regularly
and take care of themselves. Theyare slowly able to overcome the despair and helplessness
associatedwith these attacks and start becoming more positive. They startfeeling equal to the
challenge.
When anyone asks me if yoga cikitsa works for bronchial asthma, I sayyes. Because I was an
asthmatic as a teenager. Since I startedstudying with my Guru I have been—touch wood--
free of attacks, for 50years now. Children from families who have asthmatic members
maybenefit immensely from relevant yoga practice if they could startappropriate yoga early in
life.
*******
Two old wandering Sanyasins (renunciates) met on the banks of the holyGanges (ganga) and
started exchanging notes about their spiritualexperiences. Slowly the conversation turned to
their earlier lives—thekind of lives they had renounced. One of them talked about the
hugewealth he had made and why and how he renounced- his estates worthbillions of
rupees-- to pursue the spiritual path. The other chuckledand said. “ Yes I too renounced
billions of rupees. Millions of rupeesof debt I had accumulated as an unsuccessful stock
trader. I renouncedthem all and filed for bankruptcy so that I could follow thisspiritual
journey without any encumbrance”
**********
Please write your response, comments to i...@vinyasakrama.comEarlier newsletters with my
articles can be viewed from my websitewww,vinyasakrama.com and clicking 'newsletter'.
Best Wishes
June 2010 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami--Chitta Vritti

Chitta Vritti
The Sanskrit word vritti is used commonly in many Indian languages toindicate one's main
activity or avocation. A farmer is said to be inkrishi vritti or agriculture. A sanyasin is said to
live on Unchavritti or high way of living which is basically asking for minimalfood with a
begging bowl. So vritti is used to indicate one's jivanaor livelihood, vritti- jivane as the
grammar book says. One mantra inSuryanamaskara is “apa ca avrittim” which is a prayer to
be gainfullyemployed --a+vritti meaning joblessness. Some other prefixes alsomodify the
meaning of the word: pra+vritti or pravritti will indicateactivities towards getting what one
wants whereas ni+vritti ornivritti will indicate activities (and the result) associated
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withgetting rid of what one does not want. Chitta vritti would mean theactivity of the chitta.
Chitta itself has an interesting meaning.Chitta which is usually translated as mind-stuff or
brain is thatwhich though is inert matter appears to have consciousness. “Cit ivabhavayati”,
like my computer which does not even have life but appearsto be super intelligent ( I know I
have used this comparisonearlier).
So what does the chitta do, what are its vrittis or activities?Basically the chitta through the
vrittis gives us experiences ofvaried types. It projects different images within its confines--
inits own space, mental space, even though the projections appear to bein the outside real
space. For the sake of convenience several worksdivide functionally the chitta into manas
(mind), buddhi (intellect),ahamkara(ego) and smriti/citta(memory). I receive information
from theoutside world through my senses, eyes, ears, etc., due to the vrittisof the indriyas.
Then the manas or mind which is also known as the11th indriya collates and coordinates and
presents to another facultyof the chitta called buddhi. Buddhi analyzes all the information
andmakes a judgment and then the ego or ahankara aspect of chitta comesinto play. If it likes
the presentation, it is happy but if not itshows its unhappiness and produces various
reactions. When the Buddhior intellect is active then the chitta vritti is also known as
buddhivritti but when it is dominated by ahankara aspect of chitta thechitta vritti is known as
ahamkara vritti. When some one says that Iam a good person I am happy, my ahamkara vritti
makes me expansive andI hit the roof. If then someone says I am a lousy yoga teacher, I
feelbad, very bad and am down in the dumps due to the ahamkara vritti. Somoment after
moment I have a chitta vritti which includes images notonly of the outside objects but also me
as the subject of the wholeexperience. Therefore the chitta vritti is the totality of
myexperience at any given moment. The one that experiences or observesall these successive
chitta vritties is the real “I”, the purusha,the drashta or observer or the non-changing and
hence eternal pureconsciousness.Patanjali says the chitta is capable of transcending all the
vrittisand remaining oblivious to all the vrittis. To understand that statehe lists all the chitta
vrittis in five categories, the main purposeof it is to indirectly know or infer the state which is
beyond thechitta vritti state, trying to show the unknown from the known . Whatare these
known chitta vrittis? The first one is called the pramanavritti or those vrittis which produce
correct knowledge of the variousobjects. Through the senses, I get information of the outside
worldthanks to the tanmatras received from the objects and the knowledgeproduced is the
pramana vritti. If the knowledge produced is incorrectthen that vritti is classified as the
viparyaya vritti. Either oneinterprets the incoming information correctly or incorrectly but
thechitta produces a vritti for experience. The chitta sometimes needs nooutside information
to produce a vritti experience in which case it iscalled vikalpa vritti, the typical example is the
dream vritti. Thenwe have deep sleep which is considered another activity of the chittawhich
vritti is due to the dominance of Tamas and hence is known astamo vritti. Finally we have a
lot of information stored in our chittaand when we recall something vividly in the mind it is
termed smritivritti. Is there a moment in our lives when the chitta is without avritti? No,
according to the exhaustive classification of chittavrittis, there is not a moment when the
chitta stops its activities,its projections in the mental space, its vrittis.While ordinarily the
chitta wallows in these vrittis, Patanjali talksabout a state in which the chitta transcends all
the vrittismentioned above and remains in that state. That is the state of Yoga.It happens
when the chitta uses all its faculties and yogic trainingto concentrate and knows for sure the
true nature of the observingself/soul, the non-changing, hence eternal consciousness. With
thatknowledge, with that direct experience, the chitta remains in a stateof resolution, on
realizing the nature of the the Self in its trueform (svarupa). When there is realization in the
chitta that nothing,none of the vrittis changes the essential nature of the pure purusha,it
becomes quiet-- completely quiet. In that state the chitta does nothave any of the vrittis
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mentioned above. But when not in the state ofYoga, it does not know the true nature of the
soul. Rather than tryingto locate and realize the nature of the Self ( as a Raja Yogapractitioner
attempts to do), it creates and projects a shadow selfusing its own vritti, a viparyaya vritti.
The chitta is capable ofcreating this deception. Take for example what the lazy chitta
doesduring dream state. Getting out of deep sleep, but yet unable to wakeup completely, the
chitta creates its own dream space, dream objectsand also creates a self, a dream self, only to
discard it when itwakes up.Patanjali uses two terms about the nature of the Self and the
natureof the pseudo self. He uses the term swarupa or own form to indicatethe nature of the
true Self. He uses the term sarupa or somethingsimilar to the form of the Self for the self
image created by thechitta. It is like the difference between the subject and the waxmodel.
The model however much it may look like the original is still acopy and not the original/Self.
In fact Patanjali uses the termsarupa which would mean similar to rather than tadrupa which
wouldmean identical with or the exact replica. The emphasis is not so muchon how similar or
look alike they are (like the mirror image orreflection, etc. which would be tadrupa) but that
the model is not thereal thing. The implication is that the created self or ego orahamkara is a
creation of the chitta itself; it is itself a chittavritti (vritti saarupya).The ultimate state of Yoga
of the chitta is that in which ittranscends all its vrittis. In that trance-like state the Yogi
isoblivious to the surroundings, not sleeping, not dreaming nor thinkingof the past.The brain
or the mindstuff has also another set of vrittis. Thesamkhyas call it the samanya or samanya
karanaa vrittis. This set ofvrittis helps to maintain life even of the Yogi. These are vrittis
ofprana which itself is an aspect of chitta. These non-descript orordinary vrittis maintain life.
They are known as prana, apana, vyana,udana and samana vrittis and correspond to the life
sustainingautonomicactivities of the brain. They function until the Yogi decides to callit
quits.
What do I do?I teach a class.What do I experience?I experience that I teach a class.In the last
sentence, there are two “I”sWhich “I” am I?
July 2010 Newsletter From Srivatsa Ramaswami--Story Time

Warm Greetings from very pleasant Los Angeles. We are more than halfway through the 200
hour Vinyasa Krama Yoga program. We have completedeight sequences and the remaining
two mega sequences remain to becompleted. We have completed the 20 hr each of
Pranayama Program andthe Yoga Sutra Program. We have 19 participants registered and a
fewmore for individual courses. The participation has been exceptionallygood.
My friend David Hurwitz (Yogi Dave) with whom I coauthored a book“Yoga Beneath the
Surface' has completed a book on Yoga Sutras and itmay be released in the next few days
through most probably Amazon. Itis a very lucid presentation, titledA Brief Introduction to
Yoga Philosophy.The subtitle is: Based on the Lectures of Srivatsa Ramaswami.. It is based
on his attending my Yoga Sutra programs at LoyalaMarymount University in 2006 and then
in 2008. You may contact him formote details at yogid...@sbcglobal.net
I had mentioned about my retreat in India in December, 2010, organizedby Loyola
Marymount University. The dates are as followsFrom December 13th-23rd. We will be
beginning the retreat at the PurnaHolistic Centre in Delhi (13th to 17th). The 18th will be a
travel dayto the Parmarth Niketan Ashram by train to Rishikesh. From the 19th tothe 23rd
we will resume the Yoga retreat there. For more detailsincluding fee structure,
accommodation etc please write to Alana Bray,Yoga Coordinator at LMU, at y...@lmu.edu
The daily program is likelyto be three hrs of Vinyasa Krama Asanas, pranayama, mantra
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chantsand meditation.. We will cover all the 10 mega sequences of asanas.Then in the
afternoon it would be three hours divided between YogaPhilosophy and Yoga for Internal
Organs and systems.
I have been able to write a few articles in the last severalNewsletters. Some friends have taken
the trouble to reproduce them intheir websites, e mails or blogs which would help to reach
moreinterested yogis. I am particularly beholden to Linda-Sama Karl Dynekin Chicago,
Anthony Hall (Grimmly) and Steve Brandon in UK. And RickyTran from Texas. Thank you
very much, Linda,Tony, Steve and Rickyfor your generous support and sustained interest.
Here are a few responses to the Chitta Vritti article
Ramaswami,Thank you for taking the time in clarifying this important point. Iwas just in
your workshop at Esalen, and you mentioned this. I felt itwas an important concept, and was
intrigued. Now it is very clear,from your enhanced explanation. I also want to take a moment
to say -I learned so much in the workshop, and especially powerful was myexperience of
pranayama, and subsequent meditation. I can now see howone prepares me for the other. I
am a school teacher and will soon beon my summer break. I intend to make the practice you
taught us apriority, every day, and see what happens. I expect it will be a verydeeply expansive
experience.Thanks again,Lucy Taylor
Dear Teacher,Once again you delight me with the sharing of your wisdom.Thank You,Tony
Pena, Englewood, CO
Namaskaarams,
Hope you are well. I just finished reading your latest article andloved the byline - very
profound. With deepest reverence, my prostrations and namakaarams unto you.JyotiJC
I hope you had a successful trip. I thought your newsletter on chittawas very good, clear and
insightful. Thank you for taking the timeto write for all of us.
All the best,Eddie Stern
******
Stories of Ganesa
Sage Vyasa's name is known to many. He was called Veda Vyasa becausehe organized the
Vedic Mantras into the 4 Vedas. His name isassociated with a very popular commentary of
Yoga Sutras. He is alsocredited with writing the Mahabharata a great epic in which
appearsthe Bhagawat Gita. Many say that Vyasa was not just one person butthat many of this
lineage at different times in history did all theseworks. The name Vyas is found to be the
surname in certain parts ofIndia even now. Vyasa means a writer, a composer. There is a
storyassociated with his writings. Once he wanted to write a monumentalwork. He started
thinking of someone who would write for him as hedictated. In the absence of dictaphones or
shorthand writing he had tofind someone who could write very fast, someone who could keep
pacewith his gushing stream of thoughts. Ultimately he pitched on LordGanesa to do the
work. When he requested Ganesa to write his work,Ganesa agreed but stipulated a
condition. Ganesa said that Vyasashould dictate as fast as he could write. And if there was a
pause, hewould stop and leave. Vyasa had no option except to agree for it. Butthen he
proposed a counter condition. Vyasa said that Ganesa shouldfully understand the import of
his slokas and not mechanically ormindlessly write merely the words. With a wry smile
Ganesha agreed.(Can Ganesa smile? I see you smile.)
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Vyasa went on dictating furiously and Ganesa kept pace admirably. Itis said that Ganesa
broke one of his tusks and used it to write. Everynow and then Vyasa would use a difficult
word or concept which wouldmake Ganesa take a few moments to fully understand the
intention ofthe author Vysas before putting it down. By the time Ganesa wouldbriefly
ponder over and then write, Vysas would have thought of thenext bunch of verses. It was a
very interesting friendly duel.
As an example the following episode is narrated. There is a word,“Praagnya”. It appears in
Mandukya Upanishad and is used to describethe state of consciousness or atman during the
deep sleep stage. Theword can give entirely opposite meaning depending on the context,
howthe word was synthesized. If the word is split (vigraha) as pra+agnya, it would mean a
complete ignorant person. Agnya meaningignorant ' a' meaning not and gnya meaning
knowing. Even now manypeople in India use the word derisively to describe someone who
showsoff as very knowledgeable but is really ignorant. The word however ifsplit as Pra
+aagnya then it would mean someone who knows the subjectthoroughly, the 'aa' prefix
before gnya would mean complete. Sopraagnya could mean either a highly learned scholar or
a consummateblockhead. When Ganesaa came across this word he had to ponder alittle bit
to know the intentions of the author, does he use it as aclear description or use it derisively or
as a pun. By the time Ganesawrote, Vyasa was ready with the next bunch of verses.
Here is another story told about Ganesa. Lord Shiva with GoddessParvati was in his
heavenly abode called Kailasa (the Himalayas). Anold devotee during a visit to Kailas, offered
the Lord a deliciousmango. The Lord then turned to His sons, the elder Gajamukha/
Ganesa(the elephant headed) and the younger firebrand Sanmukha (one with sixheads) and
offered the mango to the one who would travel around theUniverse quicker. Soon enough
the younger Sanmukha mounted his peacockvahana (vehicle). (In Indian mythology many
gods have their vehicles,Lord Vishnu used a particular variety of the eagle family
calledGaruda; Saraswati, the goddess of learning glides around in her swanvehicle.) Each
Deva used a different vehicle as we use a Bentley orChevy Impala. Shanmukha had a head
start, he was off to a good starton his “around the world in.a jiffy” adventure. He was sure that
hewould win the race. It was just impossible for obese Ganesa to crawlalong on his mushika
vahana or mouse vehicle.
Ganesa had his own strategy. He held his hands in Anjali (salute)Mudra and went round his
parentsSiva and Parvati with great reverence. After completing hispradakshina
(perambulation) he told the divine parents that he hadwon the contest and asked for the
prized mango to be given to him. Hetold his quizzical parents “You two are the Universe, my
Lord and Ihave completed the task of going around the Universe, have I not?” heasked.
“And see, my brother is nowhere in the frame yet,”he saidtrunk in cheek. Sure enough, when
Shanmukha completed his round tripof this vast universe, he was flabbergasted to see his
sumptuouslooking brother eating the juicy mango. That he became angry and didnot accept
the verdict of his parents is another matter. He had lostthe race. The moral of the story is that
bhakti is easier to practicethan jnana, which is especially true of Kali Yuga according to my
guruSri Krishnamacharya. One's mother and father should be revered asGod, so says the
Taittiriya Upanishad. All parents agree.
(Here is a commercial break. I have lifted the story from my book“Yoga for the Three Stages
of Life” and I know not many people haveread the book, so knew nobody would notice it. It
contains many morestories from the puranas and others that are relevant to Yoga.)
Ok, what is the relevance of this story? In Yoga Sutras the firstchapter is intended for the
highest evolved yogis-- the UttamaAdhikaris – the born yogis who could get into a samadhi
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state at thedrop of a hat. Here there are two types of Yogis, the nirishwaraSamkhya oriented
philosophers who do not find the need to accept Godin the creation and running of the
Universe, even though it is anorthodox philosophy subscribing to the authority of the vedas,
and theyogis who accept God. Patanjali in his Yoga philosophy accepts the 25tatwas (24
tatwa of the prakriti or Universe and one distinct tatwa,the purusha) but, adds the 26th tatwa
Iswara or God to facilitate thespiritual journey of some aspirants. That is why Yoga
Philosophy isalso known as “seswara Samkhya” or Sankhya philosophy which includesIswara
or God.) While one set of yogis have difficulty in acceptingGod in their equation there is
considerable number who believe in God.One interesting facet of Yoga is that it is Universal.
It is foreverybody, believers and non-believers alike. So, in the firstchapter, Patanjali
addresses the question of Chitta Vritti nirodha andKaivalya for both the groups. Those who
follow the Samkhya path alonewould practice dispassion towards the 24 tatwas in four
groups(visesha avisesha lingamatra and alinga) because these 24 tatwas arethe non-self and
ultimately reach the stage of kaivalya. But Patanjalirecommends another approach -- rather
than muddling through thepractice of vairagya on all these 24 tatwas, one may meditate upon
theOne Tatwa (eka tatwa), Iswara or God and attain Kaivalya or freedom.People pray to
God for a number things. Here Patanjali suggestspraying for spiritual Freedom or kailvalya.
Madhava, who wrote a book“Sarva Darsana Sangraha” or a “Concise elucidation of
allphilosophies”, says (following Sankara ) that the born Yogi whopractices
Iswarapranidhana using the Pranava mantra and alsocontemplates on the import of the
Mantra attains salvation easily,like Ganesa who worshiped the Lord and Sakti unlike
Shanmukha who tookthe laborious and circuitous path going around the Universe.
Theimplication is: those yogis who have faith in God may do well to usethat devotional fervor
and make spiritual progress more easily. Infact my guru Sri Krishnamacharya in spite of his
enormous yogicpractice was an ardent Bhakti yogi. Of course one should admit that
ifsomeone has genuine difficulty in having faith in God that person mayfollow the step by step
yoga approach of the Samkhyas.
“How did Ganesa get the elephant head?” is the next story. Oncegoddess Parvati was resting
in her chambers. Desiring absoluteprivacy, she wanted to have someone guarding the closed
doors of herchamber. So she made a human form from dirt (prithvi) and endowed itwith life
(prana pratishta). Some time thereafter, Lord Siva came andwanted to enter the chamber of
Sakti but the newly created andappointed being refused to let Siva in. Siva is called asutoshi
or onewho is easily pleased. The other side of the coin is that he is alsoquickly displeased by
any wrong doing of the devotee. Enraged, Sivaremoved and threw away the head of the
gatekeeper and entered theprivate chamber of His consort Parvati. Knowing what happened
Parvati,who considered her new creation as her own son, become very upset.Siva promised
Parvati that he would bring it back to life, but firsthe had to find a new head. He went out
and the first being he foundwas an elephant sleeping with the head in the direction of North.
Sivaremoved the elephant head and placed it on the headless human body( by some intricate
plastic and micro surgery I guess). And thusGanesa became the elephant headed God. In
India even today there areseveral people (me included) who will not sleep with their head in
thenorthern direction. Some, who always want to give a “scientific”explanation to every
strange practice, say that when you lie down withyour head in the northern direction, the
powerful northern pole ofearth's magnet, produces very disturbing reactions in the human
brain.You may shake your head in disbelief but still hesitate to sleep withyour head in the
northern direction hereafter.
*****
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“What is the purpose of life?, a disciple asked Adi Sankara. Thepurpose of Life is to realize
that there is no purpose to life,Sankara said.
The reader then closed the book and asked his friend. “What use isthis knowledge to me?. I
am already born.” “But” said the friend, “Youcan take efforts to prevent a future birth”
“But how and why? asked the reader of the book.
“Why, because Patanjali says that according to the wise(viveki),almost all beings are unhappy
most of their lives. One can preventany future birth by making the karma bundle ineffective
by theunderstanding through Yoga the true nature of oneself which is pureunchanging
consciousness.” said the friend.
“I am not impressed” said the enquirer, “I do not believe in futurebirths.”
“Yes, that is another problem”, said the friend. “But the future birthdoes not depend upon
whether you believe in it or not.”
*****
August 2010 Newsletter--2010 VK-TT Program Feedback

Warm Summer Greetings!
Please send your responses and queries toi...@vinyasakrama.co
DAVID HURWITZ'S New Yoga BookAs mentioned in the earlier letter, David Hurwitz's
book, “A BriefIntroduction to Yoga Philosophy” is now available on line from Amazon.The
book is based on my lectures on the subject. Here is the link
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=pd_rhf_s_3?ie=UTF8&search-alias=aps&keywo...
**************
FORTHCOMING PROGRAMS
The India Retreat program sponsored by Loyola Marymount University isin place and the
registration is open. Please contact Alana Bray, YogaCoordinator at LMU at y...@lmu.edu.
The retreat description/registration is available at the following
http://registration.xenegrade.com/lmuextension/courseDisplay.cfm?schI...
In September 2010, I will be doing a ten day program at Chicago YogaCenter in Chicago.
The program includes two weekend workshops on YogaSutras of Patanjali (Ch I and II)
and on Mantras and Meditation. Theweek days program (25 hrs) will be a certificate
program on “CoreVinyasa Krama Yoga”. Contact e maili...@yogamind.com
********200 HR TT PROGRAM FEEDBACKS
The 200 hr Teacher Training Program at LMU concluded on July 16, 2010.Nineteen very
talented and dedicated participants were there. Thegroup was practically split between
ladies and gentlemen. It was veryenjoyable five weeks. It was remarkable the way the group
participatedin all the programs, be it the insipid (that is what it appears fromoutside)
Pranayama or exciting new subroutines in visesha vinyasas orstudies of texts like Yogasutras
or Yoga Makaranda or plain timefilling chanting, the participation was wholehearted. It was
very nicemeeting, talking, listening to or teaching for almost 200 hours andknowing all, each
one of them. Teaching has multiple benefits, youshare what you know, learn and also make a
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VOLUME 01-12 / 2010
living (pravritti). Thankyou all my friends for the wonderful time. All at LMU were
veryhelpful. I must thank Alana, Chris, Bob, Peggy,Pat, Steven, Louise anda host of others
for their help. This 200 hr TT program inVinyasakrama is an earnest attempt of an old man
to pass on-withminimal tinkering what little he learnt from his Guru over many
years,practiced and assimilated.
We had 80 hrs of asana practice. We covered 10 major sequencesconsisting of more than 100
subroutines and hundreds of vinyasas. Somelost significant weight, some lowered the blood
pressure, a few whohad never done Lotus were able to stay for a significant time in itand do
vinyasas too. Some said that they were breathing more freelyand deeply. I thought almost
everyone went a notch up thanks toeveryone's hard work. We had 20 hrs each of Pranayama
and meditation.Almost everyone did 80 pranayamas consistently day after day andmeditated
easily for about 15 minutes. All (almost) developed a wellrounded routine of asanas,
pranayama and meditation, call it, if youmay, the three pronged daily yoga practice. We had
25 hrs of YogaSutras including chanting, 25 hrs of Yoga for Health, 20 hrs of
SriKrishnamacharya's works, viz., Yoga Makaranda and Yoga Rahasya. Itwas a very
satisfying teaching experience, with such talent andcommitment around. I hope they will be
able to maintain a good dailypractice and teach too, so that they may maintain abiding
interest inYogaand keep developing. I was reminded of the vedic prayer of a Teacher
“May earnest students from all directions come to meMay students of varied capabilities
come to meMay highly gifted students come to meMay students with self control come to
meMay students with peace in their heart come to me”
It was very encouraging and may be we would repeat the program nextsummer. I am
mulling over the idea of making it a six week longprogram, it has been a rather crowded 5
weeks, with all the weekendsalso taken up, giving hardly any time to recover from a 7 hour
dailyroutine. It would enable everyone to reflect, renew and prepare forthe morrow.
********
COURSE PAPERSI had requested the participants to submit a paper if they wereinclined
to and few did write. I am reproducing excerpts or the wholepaper hereunder
BARRY WADSWORTH wrote a beautiful article on Consciousness and here is an
excerptfrom it.
“Being on this course, I’ve run into a whole new set of philosophiesto reconcile. In
Ramaswami’s Yoga Sutras class, it became apparentthat the Yoga of Patanjali was not the
yoga I had learned fromMaharishi years ago. Patanjali is said to have written the Yoga
Sutrasto clarify what had become a morass of conflicting yogic philosophiesin India. It was
also a reaction to challenges to “orthodox” Indianphilosophy from Jain and Buddhist sources.
But, in clarifying yoga,Patanjali actually set it apart from Vedantic Brahmanism
whileintroducing a devotional path for those so inclined as well as apurely meditative path for
those that do not accept the notion of aCreator God. Patanjali’s Yoga reaches its culmination
in therealization of the individual self (atman) as separate from theuniversal Self. According to
Patanjali, enlightenment is a state ofduality in which the individual Self is separate from all
otherphenomena, including the universal Self. The Vedantic tradition seesthis duality as the
last vestige of ignorance and seeks to remove it.Circling back to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s
teaching, the dualism ofPatanjali is equivalent to the state of Cosmic Consciousness. It is
astate of liberation, but not a fully enlightened state of Unity (orBrahman) Consciousness.”
Please read the full article from the following link
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VOLUME 01-12 / 2010
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?saved&&suggest¬e_id=412769562693Barry also
created a facebook group,Vinyasa Krama Yoga Group forexchanging thoughts/materials on
Vinyasa Krama Yoga. Here is the linkhttp://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?
gid=139381939420565&ref=ts
********
ANTHONY HALLthe non- teaching, 'teacher in the class',wrote the following paper,
reproduced in toto
Asana Madness :
Yoga Sutra III-37te samadhi vupasarga vyutthane siddhaya;For those interested in the
ultimate samadhi these siddhis areimpediments even though for a distracted mind they are
yogicaccomplishments YS III-37
This sutra refers back to previous sutras describing such remarkablesiddhis as gaining the
strength of an elephant III-24, enormous mentalstrength III-23, knowledge of the universe
III-26. Here though I wantto consider this sutra in relation to advanced asana
accomplishments.While not perhaps a siddhi, is there not a sense, where the attainingof ever
more complicated and challenging asana might be considered animpediment to yogic
development.
I came to Vinyasa Krama via Ashtanga (here Ashtanga relates to thepractice associated with
Pattabhi Jois )and while many senior Ashtangateachers will stress 'it's not about the asana'
there is a tendency inAshtanga practice to fall into the trap of asana madness and
becomefixated on the next posture, the next series. I've been guilty of thismyself, I moved on
to 2nd series quite quickly and then 3rd, I seem toremember I even tried a few 4th series
postures. One of the reasons Ibecame interested in The Complete book of Vinyasa Krama
(availablefrom all good bookstores) was that it covered a vast number of asanasand appeared
to offer an approach to the more complicated posturesthrough variations and postures that
might be considered aspreparatory, staging post, poses.
A curious thing happened as I began to practice Vinyasa Krama, despitehaving the freedom
to try any pose without fear of the Ashtangapolice, the more complicated and challenging
postures began to losetheir star quality. A long stay in Paschimottanasana or a spread
legseated subroutine began to feel as challenging and satisfying as PurnaMatsyendrasana. I
noticed I tended to feel more grounded in thisslower, deceptively gentle practice. Although
the breath is stressedin Ashtanga especially Jois' Yoga Mala (on almost every page) itwasn't
until I practiced Vinyasa Krama that I began to fully explorethe breath and bandhas as well as
the feeling of truly stretchingthrough a pose as opposed to a mere nodding acquaintance. So
thefixation on the 'next' asana, on the ever more challenging posturemight indeed be seen as
an impediment to finding the benefits inherentin the more subtle poses and sequences.
Recently the question was raised on the Vinyasa Krama TT course, 'Whatshould I teach for
my first Vinyasa Krama Class?' 'Tadasana sequence',came our teachers reply. Pregnant
silence. Everyone, other than ourteacher perhaps, saw the problem. Tadasana isn't sexy.
Used to theadventurous routines found in most modern yoga classes, the 'never thesame
vinyasa class', Tadasana sequence might seem a little....bland?And yet this is a shame because
the sequence has been a revelation,I've probably learnt more about yoga through this
sequence over thepast month than in all three of the Ashtanga series I had
practicedpreviously.
And yet Vinyasa Krama, as I mentioned before, includes a vast numberof postures and
variations, it's one of the facets that originallydrew me to system. Is asana madness, then,
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encouraged? There's adifference. In Ashtanga there is the desire to complete the series
andthen perhaps begin the next. In Vinyasa Krama the key word is Vinyasa(variation). It's not
so much a question of the next posture but of analternative posture. Vinyasa Krama seeks to
exercise and access everymuscle and organ of the body. As an example, take the
deceptivelysimple Tadasana sequence again, three hasta (hand) variations changethe focus of
the stretch from the thoracic to the cervical and lumbarregions.
Maintaining interest is also recognised as an important element ofsustaining a lifelong
practice and the large number of postures,subroutines and sequences help towards this.
While there are some keypostures that you are encouraged to practice everyday it is
alsosuggested that you add additional, supplementary sequences, as many astime allows, so
that you cover the majority of the poses available toyou within a week or so.
Vinyasa Krama does include some vary challenging postures, some foundin the advanced A
and B Ashtanga series, what of these, can't theselead to asana madness, fixation on a posture
that can be an impedimentto your practice? Challenging postures, I would argue, have
theirplace, they can add spice to your practice and help maintain interestbut they also focus
the mind intensly, although perhaps no more sothan a simple balancing posture. They can
also allow you to accessdeeper organs, in Purna Matsyendrasana the heel is forced ever
moredeeply into the body than in a half lotus variation. I remember only afew months ago
writing a possible daily practice schedule thatincluded most the four and five star postures,
this seems ridiculousto me now. In vinyasa Krama the 'challenging' postures inhabit
adifferent environment they are features of interest in a landscape asopposed to ledges on a
rock face. It is this environmental differencethat helps me to avoid the asana madness of
postural fixation thatwas, I now consider, an impediment to my yoga practice.
We might take this further by considering that while challengingpostures are put into context
through the use of Sub-routines andsequences, asana too is contextualized through the
importance ourteacher and his before him have placed on pranayama and meditation.Where
the challenging postures gain evermore importance as 'gatekeeper' poses in systems like Jois'
ashtanga, in contrast, their rolebecomes less significant in Vinyasa Krama where asana itself is
placedon an equal footing with pranayama and meditation.
Thank you so much for a wonderful course that has been everything Ihad hoped and so much
more besides.
RespectfullyAnthony Hall
Anthony Hall's bloghttp://grimmly2007.blogspot.com/
***********
CYNDI HOUCK
wrote in conclusion of her article “Yoga of Life”
“What yoga has come to mean to me is so much more than it meant even afew weeks ago. It
has been a true personal journey, opening my heartas well as educating my mind. Even at 53 I
am progressing in my asanapractice, not to where I once was (yet) but I am learning so
muchabout my body now. Pranayama is an exciting experience that I lookforward to. Having
learned it with you Sir, I am feeling the expansionin both my lungs and heart and the
preparation for meditation. As formeditation, I am true beginner but one who welcomes it at
long lastinto her life knowing the positive changes it has and will continue tobring.”
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CHRIS RAHLWESI had expected, would write on some asanas considering his
incrediblecapacity for doing almost any asana and that too at the drop of ahat, but wrote a
very interesting piece on Iswara. Following is anexcerpt
“In Samakhya there is no creator and its sister philosophy, yoga,borrows heavily from it, an
example would be the concept of the 24tattvas. I personally believe that Patanjali would not
force the non-believer to follow Isvarapranidhana in his system if this goes againstthe
individual’s belief, just as he would not force the believer toreject the lord. In my mind
anytime Isvara is brought up in the Sutra,one should view it as it was stated in Sutra I-23---
with an “or” infront of it---or, at least with the idea that Isvarapranidhana isreally just asking
for the individual to be modest.”
*****
LAUREEN SALOMON in her interesting article on Becoming a Teacher concluded it
asfollows“My certainty comes in knowing that success in my own practice needsto come first
and foremost. Only then can I be an authentic andsuccessful teacher and example to others.
This realization has slowlycrept into my mind and grows stronger as the strength of my
ownpractice, both of body and mind, continues to grow. This is the surprising conclusion
that I will have come away fromthis training with …the inner strength and commitment to be
a leaderand a teacher…but to myself first. The rest will follow. “
**********
DONALD P BRISKINwho has been supporting me for a long time, wrote as follows
“Another important aspect of Vinyasa Krama Yoga is that I have beenimpressed with is the
versatility of its asana practice. Thisversatility results from the sheer number of asanas within
the 10 mainsequences of Vinyasa Krama Yoga , and an array of variations for eachposture.
Moreover, there is also a wide range of difficulty of thevarious asanas from asanas which are
easy to perform to those whichare extremely difficult. As such, asana practice in Vinyasa
Krama yogacan be modified to meet the wide range of practitioners of differentskill
levels(beginners to highly skilled) ages( young to elderly) andstate of general health. This
versatility also allows sequences to beadjusted to work different regions of the body according
to personalneed or perhaps in a therapeutic context. Finally, sequences can bemodified
simply to keep daily practice interesting, fresh and fun.This is in contrast to other Yoga
systems that I have explored wherefixed sequences, involving the same asanas, are utilized.
While suchand approach can be beneficial in showing progress to the participanttowards
mastery of asanas and seqence, I found that after a whiledaily practice of the same sequence
leads to boredom. In addition,without the wide range in asana variation, it becomes difficult
toadjust sequences to make them accessible to beginners and challengingto more advanced
practitioners.”
**********
RENNIE SALOMON-LEVINEwhose graceful asanas were inspirational, concluded her
paper asfollows
Traditional yoga is a system for self-healing on a holistic level,bringinginto balance one’s
physical, mental and emotional health. Unlikealmostall other forms of exercise and healing,
the individual is invited toactivelyparticipate in his or her own health. Yoga is more than
exercise andmore thana healing modality. Yoga is a lifestyle: first one implements a
dailyyogasanaroutine to promote balance, strength, and mobility; then one
addspranayama,through which the internal organs get a workout, ensuring that
theentiresystem is functioning at its anabolic optimal level; then throughmeditationand
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chanting the patient’s mental health is also addressed. Withconsistentpractice of the ancient
art and science of traditional yoga, balanceis maintained.
thank you for your energy.thank you for your chanting.thank you for your sattvic
personality.thank you for your inspiration.thank you for your wisdom.
Thank you Friends, for the time and keenness about Yoga.
**********
Of all the bodies of knowledge, the knowledge of the Self/Soul is saidto be the highest (para
vidya). Such knowledge is known variously asatma vidya, para vidya, adhyatma vidya etc.
Yoga, Samkhya and Vedanta,especially the Upanishads are philosophies that deal with this
paravidya. Sri Krishnamacharya, himself a great scholar of this body ofknowledge desired and
encouraged his students to learn these subjectsin depth. I had the opportunity to study many
of these texts under myguru. I intend to write about these texts in the coming letters.
If you would like to access and read the articles in the earliernewsletters please visit my
websitewww.vinyaskrama.comand click on the Newsletter tab
******
ANJALI MUDRA,--- here is an excerpt from my article on my Guru SriKrishnamacharya I
wrote i n Namarupa a few years back. It has apicture I took of Sri Krishnamacharya a long
time back, Here is thelinkhttp://bhakticollective.com/2009/07/11/sri-krishnamacharyas-anjali-
mu...And the word Anjali itself means the cavity formed by folding andjoining the open
hands together and mudra means a gesture
NAMASTE... The Sanskrit word Namaste can be split(vigraha) into namahand te. Namah
comes from the root Nam to bend/bow. And namah wouldimply the act of bowing. te means
'to you' and hence namaste wouldmean (I) bow to you. Socially, it is done with folded hands,
in AnjaliMudra and the head slightly down (lazy jalandharabandha) in a gestureof bowing.
*****
Before I end, here is a dietary supplement advice given to me by myGuru Sri
Krishnamacharya. Add some ginger paste and gooseberry (amla)paste to about 2 to 3
tablespoonfuls of yogurt made from cow's milk(pachadi/ raita) and take it during lunch.He
also would say. ”Take care of the waist and thighs, keep them undercontrol and do not allow
them to grow.” It would be good for yogisto regularly watch the waist and thigh
measurements.He once said at the end of a class“As you get older you must spend more time
on aspects other thanasanas. If you do half an hour of asanas, do an hour of pranayama. Ifyou
do one hour of pranayama then do dhyana(meditation) for twice thattime. Then you may
experience a moment of Samadhi”
Best WishesSincerelySrivatsa Ramaswami
September 2010 Newsletter --Yoga Gymnastique

I thought this letter would be short because I am not writing aboutany program in August,
but became longer than the usual longletters.
The month between Aug 15 to Sep 15th is known as Shravana, or we maysay veda month. On
the full moon day during this month many in Indiawho have been initiated into vedic studies
do a ceremony restartingthe vedic studies and also chant a “Kamokarshit..” mantra 108
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times.It is a mantra asking for forgiveness for the various misdeedsviolating the yamas/
dharmas of the vedas, due to desire (kama) andanger (manyu), The following day one sits
down and does 1008 japa ofthe famous Gayatri, after doing 10 times of mantra pranayama. In
thenorth on the full moon day sisters tie a rakhi around the wrist oftheir brothers,
strengthening the bondage between the siblings. Aug25th, 1008 Gaytri Japa with the
preliminaries and rituals took about90 mts. (“We meditate on the orb of the sun, the luster of
the Lord.May It kindle/sparkle our intellect” –gayatri mantra). On 24th,shravan day, I
chanted a chapter from the Yajur veda, PravargyaBrahmana which took about 75 mts.
Between September 17th and 26th I will be teaching at SuddhaWeixler's Chicago Yoga
Center. There is a weekend program on YogaSutras Ch I and II, a week long Core Vinyasa
asana program and a weekend of asana, pranayama and meditation, the three pronged
yogasadhana. Here is the link
http://www.yogamind.com/workshop-ramaswami_TT10.shtml
LMU is registering for the December retreat in India (New Delhi andRishikesh). Here is
the link
http://registration.xenegrade.com/lmuextension/courseDisplay.cfm?schI...
Anthony Hall has created a blog Vinyasa Krama Yoga, with his videos ofmany asana sub-
sequences from my book “Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga”.Thank you very much Tony for
your energy, effort, expertise andfocus. Here is the link
http://vinyasakramayoga.blogspot.com/
I have written earlier requesting the scores of participants to myvarious programs to make a
video of at least one subroutine showingthe slow long fine breathing and the sedate,
controlled pace at whichvinyasakrama is done and load it on to You Tube or somewhere and
sendme the link. You may perhaps even use a cell phone to record it—may beyou could ask
your spouse or friend to do a favour of recording ashort video for you.
Madhu Berber has started a Vinyasa Krama Yoga School, called KaivalyanMaui, in Hawaii.
I wish him well.
I have confirmed programs to do; a 200 hr Vinyasakrama yoga TeacherTraining Program
(regd with Yoga Alliance) in June July 2011 at LMUand a one week program at Esalen
Institue in May 2011.
If you want to send a message or comment please send it toi...@vinyasakrama.com and not
use the reply tab.
******Yoga Gymnastique
Some eight years back I wangled a presenter assignment at a YogaConference in Texas. I
was never invited again because, among all thepresenters, I had the dubious distinction of
attracting the leastnumber of participants for every one of my presentations.
During one of the breaks a well known Yoga Teacher in US, came andsat by my side and
inquired about me, about where I was from etc. Imentioned that I was a student of Pandit
Krishnamcahary for 3 decades.With a quizzical look he asked, “What were you doing for 30
years withhim?', and with a wry smile he said, “Oh you must have been doing yourdaily
practice at his school”. He left before I could start my longanswer. “How can anyone study
Yoga for such a long period when thereare just a half a dozen sequences or just a little over a
score ofasanas?” He must have wondered
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“Krishnamacharya as I have mentioned earlier was like a manysplendoured diamond each

facet brilliant in its own way. He taughtyogasanas following the Vinyasakrama, the art form.
He also usedyogasanas, pranayama and meditiation for chikitsa or therapeuticapplications.
He taught a vast range of Sanskrit chants from the vedasand also from smritis. He taught
several traditional texts like theyoga sutras and the sibling philosophies including the
severalupanishads, following mainly the Visishtadwaita approach. He taughtvaishnava
religious texts as well to a number of his vaishnavafollowers. He was a well rounded Yogi and
he could make every classabsorbing. There would always be something new and insightful.
Onecould never get bored in his classes whether it be the asanas,chanting or textual studies...”
I wanted to explain these to mycelebrity friend but he was too busy to stay and listen.
Some research scholars have mentioned that Krishnamacharya's vinyasaapproach to yoga has
a considerable dose of physical exercisesystems prevalent at that time in India like the drills
and alsogymnastics imported into it. But my experience with Krishnamacharya'sasana
practice is somewhat different. It is true that some of thevinyasas and vinyasa sequences like
part of Surya Namaskra, the handstands, the jump throughs, jump arounds, push ups
(utplutis) mayappear to mimic floor exercises in gymnastics. Perhaps there are someasanas
and vinyasas Sri Krishnamacharya taught that had someresemblance to drills or gymnastics.
But he taught to me almost 1000vinyasas making up close to 150 asana subroutines. The head
stand, thesarvangasana, padmasana are distinctly different from gymnastics andeach one of
them has scores of vinyasas that are uniquely yogic and noother system seems to have
anything like that. Further yoga as aphysical culture is very old. We may not have records
because inancient times most of instructions were oral and the transmission ofknowledge
was from teacher to student and the only way to learn was togo to a teacher and learn,
practice and internalize. Later on a fewtexts were written as scripts were developed but they
were written ineasily perishable palm leaves—like the Yoga Kuranta-- and barely
onemanuscript , no xerox copies, no electronic books were available. Soin these matters we
have to rely upon authorities/tradition or as thevedas would call it “aitihya” or firmly held
belief. Even from theavailable texts like the puranas one can glean a lot of reference toyoga
practice including asana practice. The Brahma Sutras mention thata seated asana is a
necessity for meditation. Works written hundredsor even a thousand years back contain
sections on Yoga includingasanas. Thirumular, a yogi said to have lived 3000 years back
wroteabout several asanas in his Tamil classic Thirumandiram. Puranas,smritis and several
later day upanishads have sections on asanapractice. There is a dhyanasloka pertaining to the
Ramayana whichmentions that Sri Rama was in Vajrasana while seated in his
floweredbedecked, jeweled throne. In fact from time immemorial many people inIndia, as a
religious practice, have been doing sandhya or morningworship of the sun with specific sun
worship mantras and physicalmovements and gestures. It includes mantras like the
gayatri,pranayama and many postures like tadasana, uttanasana, utkatakaasanaand danda
namaskara and utakatasana are specifically mentioned in thesmritis. So in a way we may say
that suryanamaskara with mantras andthe physical exercise has been a very old practice. The
word Yoga isindeed a vedic word. You may check with my book “The Complete book
ofVinyasa Yoga” (here no commercial intended) based on my studies withmy guru and I do
not think it in any way resembles a book ofgymnastics. Yogasanas have their own distinct
nicety. Gymanstics ofcourse has its own charm. Gymnastics was one my favourite
programswhile watching the Olympics. I do not know if I would enjoy YogaOlympiad.
My Guru had mentioned on a couple of occasions that physical yoga hadbeen the core system
of physical exercises in India. It hadtechnically influenced several ancient systems like
wrestling,archery, fencing etc., very physically demanding disciplines,requiring a high degree
of strength, dexterity and focus. Yoga iscalled a sarvanga sadhana as it is helpful for all parts
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of the body,including the internal organs. There were other indigenous circus-likepractices
such as malcam, kazhakkoothu where they use ropes or polesand do routines very similar to
asanas. He had also mentioned thatalmost all the physical systems of the world, including
gymnastics,had borrowed heavily from Yoga, because the asana portion of Yoga wasthe most
ancient and developed physical culture system. Therefore itcould be that there were a few
similarities between asanas and someobscure gymnastic systems in different parts of the
world at differenttimes. Then one has to investigate the origin of those obscuresystems,
whether they were older than Yoga, or if they themselvesborrowed from ancient yoga
practices. My Guru himself was a passionateresearcher. He would always be looking for
works on yoga and othersystems. He even would advise us to go to different agraharams
(smallcluster of homes of scholars in certain villages) and look for workson Yoga available
with such scholars. He would say that we shouldvisit the hundreds of temples in India,
especially South India, andobserve the sculptures and idols all over the temples for study
ofyoga postures. And because of the oral tradition and relying ondegradable palm leaves,
Yoga itself had a checkered progression, inthe limelight during some time in history and
obscure at some othertimes. Then it becomes a futile exercise to try to determine
whichamong the physical exercise regimens came first, the seed or the treeor the better
known example of the chicken and the egg.
There are distinct differences between the yoga I learned from SriKrishnamacharya for a long
period of time and some of the aerobicexercises like gymnastics. In the vinyasa krama asana
practice, thebreathing is synchronized with the movements at the rate of anywherebetween 5
to 10 seconds for inhalation and exhalation thereby reducingthe breath rate to about 3 to 5 per
minute, whereas in contemporaryaerobic exercises including gymnastics and gym workouts,
the breathrate increases to much beyond the normal breathing rate of about 15 orso. This
alone makes yoga practice of Sri Krishnamacharya distinctlydifferent from other drills. The
variety of movements in Vinyasaasana practice is said to be designed to exercise all parts of
thebody including the internal organs. We do not find deep movement,synchronized
breathing, and the significantly profound exercises likethe bandhas-- which are an integral
part of Sri Krishnamacharya'sasana practice-- in other forms of physical exercises,
especiallygymnastics. Look at the 30's videos, the bandhas of my Guru, They arenot a
gymnast's cup of chai.
When I was young, some exercises were very popular. They were outsidethe pale of
yogasanas. One was known as “dandal”, which would lookvery much like a repetitive
movement between caturanga dandasana andthe plank or a simpler version of urdhwa mukha
swanasana. The otherwas known as, if I remember right, 'bhaski'. It involved standing
upand doing repeated squats. The first one, 'dandal' looks verysimilar to part of Surya
namaskara. Baski resembles a very popularritual that is done by thousands even today and is
known as“toppukaranam” in Tamil and “dorbhyam karanam” in Sanskrit. One holdsthe lobes
of the opposite ears with one's hands and squats usually infront of the idol of Lord Ganesha.
It could be 12 times or 108 times.It is both a good physical exercise and a loving devotional
practiceto the charming Lord Ganesha. Are these physical drills, yogaexercises or devotional
practices? Which came first? God knows, LordGanesa knows.
Then there is the question of whether Suryanamaskara is old, from thevedic times. The Surya
namaskara can be considered from two views; oneis the mantra portion the other is vyayama
or the physical part.Certainly Suryanamaskara mantras are from the vedas. In fact there isa
complete chapter of Suryanamaskra mantras from the veda which takesabout an hour to
chant. Again the other important Surya mantra,Gayatri, is also a vedic mantra. The vedas
exhort using Gayatri as amantra to worship the sun daily. Worship of the sun is considered
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adaily obligatory duty for the orthodox in India. We have a procedurecalled Sandhya
vandana which is supposed to be done thrice a day, butdefinitely once a day. This Sandhya
procedure is a kind of a worshipritual, towards the end of which one prostrates towards the
Sun. Whilethe gayatri japa portion is done sitting in a yogic posture afterrequired number of
pranayama, the upasthana or the second part is donestanding. Towards the conclusion the
worshipper of the sun has to do anamaskara, a prostration. So from the standing position,
usually onebends forward, half squats, places the palms on the floor, takes thelegs back by
jumping or taking one leg after the other and does ansaashtanga namaskara or the danda
namaskara (prostration). One has togo through these steps (from standing to prostration)
and if the stepsare properly organized we get the surya namaskara vyayama, a sequence,a
vinyasakrama. So, since one has to do sandhya daily and has to dothe namaskara startig from
standing and since the sandhya ismentioned as an obligatory duty, it will be correct to say
thatsuryanamaskara, both the mantra portion and physical namaskaraportion, are from the
vedic times. The actual steps may vary but thephysical namaskara to the sun is a procedure
practiced from ancientvedic times. Further In India you can see many people who do
notpractice yoga or the formal ritualistic sandhyavandana, standing onthe terrace or on the
beach, facing East early in the morning, anddoing prostrations a few times, returning to the
standing positionevery time. They do not call it Yoga but suryanamaskara. Some of
thepresent day yoga enthusiasts however do the suryanamaskara, probablyat night, in any
direction or directionless, do not use the mantras orthe devotional bhavana associated with it,
but as a mere workout.
I had chanted the suyanamaskara mantra almost on every Sunday with myGuru for several
years. Namarupa also published my article on Sandhyavandana with pictures of the steps
some time back. I also have the onehour long Suryanamaskara mantra chant from the Yajur
Veda (which Ilearned from Sri Krishnamacharya) recorded in mid 80s and the cds arestill
made available in India.
Sri Krishnamacharya's range of teaching was sweeping. I have mentionedabout the asana
teaching, his chikitsa krama and vinyasa krama. Hischanting of vedas was beautiful and very
engaging. I do not know of any yoga teacher during his times who could chant as well ashe
could from memory. Heearned the title “Veda Kesari”, or Lion of Vedas. He was a
Sanskritscholar, a Sanskrit Pandit. Hetaught the vedanta philosophy, the prastana trayas,
the upanishads,the Brahma sutra and the BhagavadGita in the visishtadvaita tradition. He
was given the title “VedantaVageesa”. He was also quitefamiliar with the advaitic
interpretation. He once said while doingthe sutra on Anandamaya“Anandamaya abhyasat” in
which the two interpretations, advaita andvisistadwaita differ from eachother, “If you want I
can teach you the advaitic interpretation, butadvaita may be intellectuallychallenging but does
not give the emotional satisfaction one gets fromthe visishtadvaitic approach”. He also taught
us several important upanishads. I studied with himseveral upanishad vidyas from the major
upanishads, like Brahadaranyaka, Chandogya, Taittiriya,Kaushitaki and others. Some of
thevidyas he taught include Pancha kosa Vidya, panchagni, pranava, madhu,Sandilya,
Dahara Pratardanaand many others. Once I asked him why if the goal is the
same,understanding Brahman the ultimateReality, then there are so many upanishads, why
so many vidyas. Hewould say that pupils havedifferent questions about the ultimate reality
and these vidyas takeyou from the known to the unknown. Supposing fifty people,
strangersfrom different places go to an unknown country, Pineland, and take a picture with
the leader of the country Mr Pineman. Every one sendshome a copy of the picture by email.
The way they would point to the unknown leader, Mr Pineman tothose back home would be
tostart from the known. The known entity in the picture will be the onewho sends the picture.
He may tell his son/daughter, ”the leader is three rows in front and eightto the right of me.
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Another personwould start first by asking his kid to identify him/her first in thepicture and
may say the leader is threerows behind and five seats to the left. Likewise all the variousvidyas
of the upanishads try to help the aspirants to realize theultimate truth, starting from a known
tatwa. I had the privilege ofstudying several upanishd vidyas from my Guru Sri
Krishnamacharya.
He also taught many of the sibling philosophies so that one'sunderstanding of Yoga and
Vedanta will be on firm grounds. He taughtSamkhya philosophy by explaining the Samkhya
karika with thecommentary of Gaudapada. He also taught Yoga Sutra in considerabledetail.
He had obtained the titles “Yogacharya” and “SamkhyaSiromani”. He also was an expert in
another profound philosophy calledNyaya and had been conferred the title “Nyayacharya”.
He also taughtsmaller or easier works like Tarka Sangraha to introduce the difficultNyaya
philosophy.
His religious studies were outstanding. He was such an expert in theVaishnava philosophy,
that he was in consideration to head a wellknown Vaishnava Mutt. He was truly a devotional
person. As hepracticed yoga he performed his daily puja with great devotion. He hadseveral
students who studied the Vaishnava religion in considerabledetail. He could quote from the
epics, Ramayana, Mahabharata andseveral other puranas like Vishnu Purana, Bhagavata
Purana etc.
I do not know of any person who was so well versed in the sastras andalso at the same time an
outstanding practising Yogi. SriKrishnamacharya is well known, it is almost exclusively due
to hisyogasana teachings. But his scholarship and teachings were enormous. Ifeel a bit sad
when he is portrayed as a hata yoga teacher whoplagiarized some exercises from gymnastics
and called it yoga to makea living, and nothing more. Maybe there is some common ground
betweenthese two different physical disciplines. I continue to remain in aweof his enormous
scholarship, practice and teachings and kindnesstowards his students. He was a teacher who
would uplift you, a trueAcharya. When you study with him, you get an unmistakable feeling
thathis only goal in life was to transmit the traditional knowledge andmake it accessible to the
student. He was a unique Yogi, a uniqueteacher, a unique individual. Twenty years after his
passing away, Iremember him everyday, while practicing, studying or teaching;sometimes in
dreams-- fondly.
****What should we call these?
“The outer mind does not know what the inner mind needs. The outermind is excited about
doing hours of alluring asana practice, but howcome the inner mind feels very comfortable
and serene with an hour 'spractice of what appears to the outer mind as insipid,
unexciting,monotonous, unvarying yoga practices like pranayama, meditation andchanting?
No, no, the outer mind does not know what the inner mindwants.”
“I have attained the highest, the spiritual realization, the hiddentreasure in my heart. I move
back and forth between samadhi (shyama)and waking state (sabala) with consummate ease. I
am like a gloriousfull moon just coming out of an eclipse; like a horse that shrugs offthe loose
hair, I toss away the sins (karma bundle) and attainfreedom.” Chandogya Upanishad
Bringing under control the breath (pavana) by pranayama and then thesenses (indriyas) by
pratyahara, one should meditate on the auspiciousprinciple (subhasraya)-- Vishnu PuranaThe
world talks in admiration of one who helps even those who hadharmed him/her. "What is
great in I-scratch- your- back, you- scratch-mine kind of help?"--adopted from a Sanskrit
proverb
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“The help a father can render to his son/offspring is to educate him/her so well that he/she
would be in the forefront in an assembly ofscholars” Tirukural, a 4th century Tamil classic
The best way to repay the debt of an offspring to one's parent is tomake the whole world
exclaim in admiration “What good karmas theparent should have done to beget such an
exemplaryoffspring”..Tirukkural a 4th century Tamil classic
The best Gurudakshina a student can offer to the teacher is to makethe teacher's teachings
known to the world (by practice, adherence andteaching). A Sanskrit saying.
The relationship (bondage) between a wife and husband is consideredvery sacred. The
relationship between a parent and offspring, teacherand student and the devotee and the
deity are all considered veryspecial. Any attempt to create a rift in these relationships
isconsidered 'no-good karma'.
The one in this human being and one in the sun yonder, are one and thesame -..One who
realizes this oneness (of the soul), never fears,never feels sorrow.-Taittiriya Upanishad
Certain days in the month are considered “anadhyayana” days. Somepeople ask if Yoga should
not be done on these anadhyayana days.During my studies with my teacher he did not specify
any days when weshould not practice Yoga. Anadhyayana is usually associated with studyof
the vedas and anadhyayana days are days one should not study thevedas, presumably with the
teacher. In short we may say that the vedapathasala or veda schools would be closed on these
days. I startedlearning veda chanting (with my father) when I was about 10 years oldand I had
a teacher who would come to our house at about 5 in themorning to teach vedic chanting.
But he would not come on these“anadhyayana” days. The smritis say that vedas should be
chanted daily(vedam nityam adhiyetaam). So we may say that the prohibition is withrespect
to studying, perhaps new lessons but not chanting the portionsalready learned (swadhyaya).
On anadhyayana days like the new moonday, one may refrain from learning with a teacher
new vedic lessons,but may chant what one has already learnt. It is a moot question ifthis
restriction applies to yogasana learning and certainly does notappear to apply to home
yogasana practice
If you wish, you may forward to anyone interested,reproduce or quotein your blogs or share
with others.
With best wishes
Mid-September 2010 Newsletter--Mr Mark Singleton's Letter

Hello Friends: This is an out of turn letter. I thought I should share
the lucid and informative letter with you which I received from Mr
Mark Singleton and is pasted below. Thank you and with best wishes
Sicerely Srivatsa Rama
Dear Mr. Ramaswami,Thank you for your recent article "Yoga Gymnastique". I am not
asubscriber to your newsletter, but several people have forwarded it onto me since the article
appears to be talking about my book, YogaBody, The Origins of Modern Posture Practice.
Neither I nor the bookare mentioned by name, so it's possible that I (and they) aremistaken.
But it seems obvious enough that you are engaging on somelevel with my material and not
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somebody else's. That said, there issomething very puzzling about the article: in general it is
very clearthat your responses are not in any way a pertinent critique of mythesis. I therefore
have to wonder whether you yourself have had thechance to read the book yet. In other
words, there is little doubt inmy mind that you generally have missed the point of my
argument, and Itherefore have to surmise that it has been represented to you inaccurately or
out of context.Actually, I believe that we find ourselves in agreement on most of thepoints you
raise. I would therefore like to take a few moments toaddress some of the ways that my
arguments are misrepresented in yourarticle. Now it could be (since you don't name me) that
you aretalking about a different "research scholar". If that is the case,please forgive my
presumption. However, it seemed obvious to everyonewho forwarded the newsletter on to
me that you were in fact critiquingYoga Body. I greatly admire your work and trust your
judgement onmatters of yoga. Because of this, I'm particularly concerned about howyou
appear to have misunderstood my thesis, and that as a result ofthis newsletter your students
will also form a negative and ill-informed notion of it. I fear that the result will be a
lostopportunity for discussion. So I hope you will allow me a fewthoughts.I am intrigued by
your opening anecdote about the Texas yogaconference that you attended some years ago. At
that conference, yourelate, a well known teacher wondered at what you might have
beendoing with Sri T. Krishnamacharya for thirty years-his hastyconclusion was that you
must have been doing a daily practice of thesix series (presumably of Ashtanga Vinyasa as
taught by the late SriK. Pattabhi Jois). You use this example as a prelude to an explanationof
the immense and multi-faceted learning of T. Krishnamacharya, ofwhich this particular high
profile teacher was oblivious.This kind of encounter is precisely where my book's inquiry
begins.How is it possible that such misunderstanding can occur? How is itthat this American
teacher (and, presumably, thousands of otherteachers and practitioners like him) can have
such a narrow vision ofthe totality of yoga on the one hand, and of the vast learning of
T.Krishnamacharya on the other? How can this teacher assume that thesesix series represent
the sum of Krishnamacharya's yoga legacy over hissixty year teaching career? I'm not entirely
sure of the meaning ofthis anecdote in relation to the whole article, but I presume you
aresuggesting that I am making the same mistake as this Americanteacher.The fact is that
such misunderstandings do occur on a very regular andwidespread basis. My book is an
attempt to explain why this is so.Just to be clear, I am *not* making an argument about the
relative ageof asanas, nor whether they came before or after physical cultureexercises: I agree
with you completely that such a genealogy is futileand beside the point. Rather, I am
interested in showing how certainmeanings become attached to physical practice, whether it
be yoga orgymnastics, and how these accreted meanings inevitably change the waypeople
approach these disciplines. In sum, my investigation aims toshow how modern
understandings have altered the meaning of yogapractice for many people. It is not an attack
on the venerability ofyoga as such, but on how yoga has been taken and shaped by
modernideas.Let me take an example. You write, "The head stand, the
sarvangasana,padmasana are distinctly different from gymnastics and each one ofthem has
scores of vinyasas that are uniquely yogic and no othersystem seems to have anything like
that." While that is true in onesense, it is also true that "gymnastic" systems from the
earlytwentieth century did in fact routinely use positions such as the onesyou mention.
Physical culture journals are full of representations ofthese postural shapes. However, it
should be clear that the meaning isquite different in the modern, non-yogic context. To take
oneinstance: a shape very much like sarvangasana was the emblem of theBritish Women's
League of Health and Beauty during the 1920s. It wasnot associated with yoga, but rather
had its own characteristic set ofmeanings. It helped one to stay young, trimmed fat around
the waistand so on. Obviously, this cosmetic reading of the posture makes itsomething wholly
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other than the meaning of the posture in a medievalhatha yoga context (notwithstanding
some overlaps). My study is reallyabout how these other meanings come to attach themselves
to yoga. Itinvestigates how modern, scientific, physical culture-orientedunderstandings are
read back into the original yoga posture, and howthey thus alter the original meaning of that
posture.It is as if one were to take two pieces of tracing paper and on thefirst draw a yogi in
sarvangasana. On the other, one draws the emblemof the Women's League. Placed one on
top of the other, these figuresappear identical-and yet they carry vastly different meanings.
Butwhat happens as yoga begins to enter the modern gymnastic-dominatedworld is that
these two meanings compete and sometimes merge. Thesarvangasana that many people
know today (especially in "gym yoga"contexts) incorporates some mix of both. This is what is
interestingabout how yoga has developed, for better or worse, in the West. Onemight well
lament this as a degradation of the integrity ofsarvangasana (or whichever posture is in
question), but it seems to methat this describes quite well the actual process of
yoga'stransformation in modern Western society, as it is reflected in theunderstandings (and
misunderstandings) of its practitioners.When one makes this process the primary focus of
study, it then makeslittle sense to argue about whether gymnastics or yoga came first, orto
squabble about the relative age of asanas. This is a false debate,and it is largely irrelevant to
my project. It seems to me that youhave wrongly assumed that this is what I'm up to, which is
why I haveto assume that you haven't yet had chance to read the book thoroughly.Of course
there are postures that date back a long time. I, for one,would certainly not want to assert
otherwise. And of course yoga isnot just gymnastics: as I argue consistently in Yoga Body,
this is aspurious claim-often made by those that want to denigrate yoga,particularly hatha
yoga. That said, I do think that a lot of the bodypractices that we see emerging in the modern
period reflect a veryparticular zeitgeist, and that many people (in India and elsewhere)were
innovating new, radically adapted physical practices in the nameof "yoga". Let me be clear: I
am not judging one way or another on thedesirability and integrity of these experiments, but
merely presentingthe facts as I see them. This period of experimentation is ahistorical fact. It
also seems incontrovertible that many of thesesystems were in some sense new, insofar as they
incorporated modernunderstandings into yogic knowledge. Regardless of whether
youconsider these experiments as lamentable betrayals of yoga per se, oras developments of
tradition, there is no doubt (historicallyspeaking) that things were changing very quickly in
the early years ofthe twentieth century. We only have to look at the self-consciouslygymnastic
experiments in yoga of the likes of B. C. Ghosh, Prof.Sundaram, Shri Yogendra, Swami
Kuvalayananda and others to see thatthis is the case.But it is also important to note the
narrowing of the term"gymnastics" from the 1960s onwards, such that when people hear
theword today, the immediate association is with televised displays suchas those of the
Olympics. This is clearly also your primaryassociation. But it is inadequate. The term used to
carry a muchwider, richer meaning that has far less to do with Nadia Comăneci andher ilk
than most people today assume. Imagine that Bikram Choudhury'sattempt to make yoga an
Olympic event is successful: millions ofpeople around the world will begin to associate yoga
primarily (andprobably uniquely) with a particular kind of asana display. This wouldbe as
narrow and skewed an understanding of "yoga" as is ourcontemporary understanding of
"gymnastics". As well as being ways tostay fit and healthy, early modern gymnastics traditions
were oftendeeply spiritually oriented-they were understood as methods of usingthe body to
access the divine. In many ways, they match thepredominant understanding today of the
practices and function of yogaitself. This is no accident. You write:"We do not find deep
movement, synchronized breathing, and thesignificantly profound exercises like the bandhas--
which are anintegral part of Sri Krishnamacharya's asana practice-- in other formsof physical
exercises, especially gymnastics."Well, the fact is that we do find all these things (or
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closeapproximations of them) in early modern, non-Indian gymnasticstraditions. Deep

movement is usually a cornerstone of the gymnastictraditions I investigate, and it is often
assumed that such movementmust always be accompanied by synchronized breathing
(termed "rhythmicbreathing" in the parlance of the time). Surprisingly, exercises thatappear-
at least in form-to be identical with the mula, uddiyana andjalandhara bandhas also crop up in
these early gymnastic practices. So"gymnastics" is historically a tradition that is much richer,
andstructurally closer to Sri Krishnamacharya's method, than you aregiving it credit for.That
said, the meaning of the deep movement, the synchronizedbreathing, the gymnastic
"bandhas" is obviously different in thiscontext. Compare a gymnastic manual of the time with
the HathaPradipika and one sees in a moment how distinct the frames ofunderstanding are.
However, this historical perspective is notimmediately available to practitioners of yoga. And
the result, onceagain, is that meanings start to merge. It's not hard to see why thishappens:
the gymnastic frame of reference was likely to be morefamiliar to modern audiences, and so
the practices of yoga whichappear to overlap with gymnastics are interpreted and
(mis-)understood in that context, rather than in the unfamiliar, andapparently arcane, context
of classical yoga. The learning was justnot available, and besides, people were happy and
comfortable withtheir "gymnastic" understanding of yoga. Once again, this is not judgethis
process for better or worse. My job has been to show how it cameabout.You focus
particularly on the aspect of breathing as a distinguishingfeature of the yoga tradition. I have
already mentioned the key rolethat synchronized breathing played in many of the
"spiritual"gymnastics traditions of the time (there are more details in my book).Further, you
note that in yoga the respiration rate is often reducedto 3-5 breaths per minute, as opposed to
"contemporary aerobicexercises including gymnastics and gym workouts". While this is
verytrue, a quick review of the audio CD of the Ashtanga Vinyasa primaryseries by Sharat
Rangaswamy (grandson of K. Pattabhi Jois), shows thateach full pose (not including entry
and exit) takes about 20 seconds.As you know, there are five breaths per pose, which makes
about onebreath every four seconds, or one inhalation and one exhalation everytwo seconds.
This is, from my own experience, also roughly the speedthat the sequence, as taught to him
by T. Krishnamacharya, used to becounted through by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois (with the entire
series oftenbeing completed in just over and hour). These are just roughestimates, but it
seems clear that the Ashtanga system moves away fromthe principles of breathing that you lay
out as being in some sensesdefining of "yoga", and particularly of the yoga of
T.Krishnamacharya. How do we explain this?Well, you yourself have contextualized this
particular aspect ofKrishnamacharya's teaching as srustikrama, a method of practice
foryoungsters, and which was particularly suited to group situations.Children like to move,
and breathe, faster than adults, generallyspeaking. T. K. V. Desikachar has expressed a
similar opinion on morethan one occasion, and has added that during that period his
fatherwas experimenting with the vinyasa forms that have become so familiarto us through
the Ashtanga Vinyasa of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. What Ipoint out in chapter 9 of my book is that
this particular method hasmany similarities with the standard pedagogical gymnastics of the
timein India. Two of the closest relatives of this system, I propose, areSwami
Kuvalayananda's immensely popular and widespread regimens ofchildren's gymnastics
("yaugik sangh vyayam"), and a system innovatedby the Dane Niels Bukh called "Primary
Gymnastics", which was thesecond most popular system of physical exercise in India at the
time.If you read the book you will see that I am careful NOT to proposethat
Krishnamacharya borrowed his system from either of these sources.There is no way of
knowing this apart from suggestive speculation.Rather, I suggest that this teaching format
appears to closely matchthe wider zeitgeist of the time. If Krishnamacharya was innovating
inresponse to that zeitgeist (as Mr. Desikachar suggests he was), thenit seems reasonable that
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he would have come up with similar methods,particularly in his capacity as a yoga teacher to
the royal youth. Italso seems perfectly in accord with the principle of adaptation
(toconstitution, age, country etc.) that is, to my understanding, centralto Krishnamacharya's
teaching ethos. It seems reasonable to look tothis principle in order to understand the way
Krishnamacharya taughtin that particular time and place.And, incidentally, I do not suggest
that his position at the Palacecompromised his teaching: merely that he had a job to do, and
he usedall the available resources to do it to the best of his ability.Please correct me if I am
wrong about any of this. To say that Iportray Krishnamacharya as "a hata teacher who
plagiarized someexercises from gymnastics and called it yoga to make a living, andnothing
more" is very saddening to me. It is the cartoon version of myresearch. It's very unfortunate
that now your readership considersthat I am a disrespectful ignoramus who neither knows
nor cares aboutKrishnamacharya's vast learning and scholarship. For the record, thatis not
the case.Note also that I am very careful to point out in the book that thisinnovation within
tradition is perfectly consistent with standard,orthodox procedures of knowledge
transmission, as I understand them.The fact that Sri Krishnamacharya was adapting and
innovating is not,as far as I can see, inconsistent with his status as the most learnedand
influential yoga teacher of the modern age, nor with his beingsteeped in and faithful to
tradition. You yourself write that"dandals" were "outside the pale of yogasanas". However,
we see theirentry into the popular yoga lexicon in the early twentieth century viathe system of
suryanamaskar. Around this time, Sri Yogendra iscomplaining that suryanamaskar has been
mixed up with yoga by theuninformed: it was, in other words, a new addition to the
standardbody of practices as he understood it. This is a fact whoseimplications are often
misunderstood. I am not claiming, as yourarticle seems to imply, that there are not ancient
traditions ofprostration to the sun. Of course there are. I recognize thisexplicitly in the book,
and I have recently commented on the sametopic in Yoga Journal. Again, this is to take the
mistaken view that Iam primarily interested in showing which practices are old and whichare
new, presumably with the aim of debunking the new ones (?). No.No. What I am interested
in is how innovators like the Raja of Aundhrevived suryanamaskar in the context of vyayama,
and how it wasinitially promoted as an Indian alternative to Sandow bodybuilding. Iam also
interested in how (to Sri Yogendra's chagrin) it wassubsequently incorporated by others into
physical culture-orientedyoga practices.You ask, "Are these physical drills, yoga exercises or
devotionalpractices? Which came first? God knows, Lord Ganesa knows". Well, theanswer is
that it depends entirely on context. In modern times thecontext can often be radically
different. For example, into whichcategory should we place a mass drill-type practice of
suryanamaskarfor children led by the Raja of Aundh circa 1935? Certainly he did
notcategorize it as yoga himself. It would have looked to many like astandard drill gymnastics
of the time, and was to some extentconceived by the Raja as a replacement for this. And yet
he clearlyalso recognized the "traditional" meaning of sun prostration. So howone answers
your question depends on which aspect is foregrounded.Modern yoga practice, in its popular
form, is usually a similar kindof mix of meanings. Once again, to protest that sun worship in
Indiais ancient, and to believe one has said something counter to mythesis, is to entirely miss
the point of my inquiry. What is far moreinteresting to me (given that the age of sun worship
is not at all inquestion) is how divergent meanings become attached and harmonized
inmodern expressions of yoga.To sum up: I am not particularly interested in judging the
relativevalue of these experiments in yoga, but rather in describing how aparticular set of
historical factors contributed to the creation of adistinctly modern form of practice. One may
wish, in some cases, tojudge these innovations as modern "misunderstandings" of the
yogatradition. But my job has been simply to document them. No doubt onaccount of a lack
of such outspoken condemnation on my part, somepeople superficially read my book as an
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attack on yoga itself.It could be that yoga has been handed down whole and entire from
timeimmemorial. It could be that all expressions of yoga are traditionaland immune from the
historical forces of modernity. But this seemshugely unlikely to me. To assert that yoga
adapts to the conditions itfinds itself in does not seem like a contentious assertion. Nor doesit
necessarily impugn the "authenticity" of the teachings. I believethat modern Western
practitioners today sorely need tools to navigatethrough the bewildering, and often crass,
market place of yoga. Suchpractitioners do not, in general, have access to truly
qualifiedtraditional teachers, nor are they born and bred in places where thereare adequate
societal frameworks for understanding yoga practice. Thisproblem becomes increasingly
acute with the sheer volume ofmisinformation about yoga on the internet and in books. Being
aware ofthe recent history of yoga, and how it has changed, adapted anddiversified in
response to modern and global concerns can helppractitioners to understand where they are
coming from, and spur themto go deeper into their inquiry into yoga traditions.I hope that
my study goes some way to aiding yoga practitioners inthis process. I have already seen it
happening in response to thebook, which is heartening. But if Yoga Body is misrepresented
simplyas an attack on the authenticity of yoga, then I have utterly failedto get my message
across. The tired old debate of whether yoga is oldor not is a boring and fruitless one.
Practitioners squabble over thisin yoga studios all over the world. It's not surprising, then,
thatsome of them instantly assume that my book is part of the samesquabble. I am
disappointed that your article tends in a similardirection.I hope you will receive this in the
spirit is intended. I am a yogapractitioner and teacher (in the Iyengar system) as well as a
devotedpractitioner. I have given the last fifteen years to deepening myunderstanding of yoga,
through my sadhana and through my research. Iremain committed to the practice and study
of yoga. Your books havebeen very helpful in my understanding over the years, and for that
Ihumbly thank you. However, I do think that you have missed the pointof my work, for
reasons that I can only speculate about. I hope youdon't mind me trying to set the record
straight here.I would be happy to talk about any of this further, perhaps in personone day. I
will be visiting Loyola Marymount University in the nearfuture (for possible collaboration
with Chris Chapple), so perhaps ifyou are around we can meet and get to know each other a
little. Iwould also be interested in perhaps recording a conversation with you,perhaps for
publication somewhere, if that seemed appropriate. In themean time, you are welcome to
reproduce any or all of this letter,should you wish. And I would be happy to send you a copy
of my book.Yours Sincerely,Mark SIngleton
October 2010 Newsletter--Pancha Kosa Vidya

For the last several years I have been making some presentations atthe excellent facility of our
friend Suddha Weixler's Chicago YogaCenter. It has always been a very satisfying experience
teaching here.This year I spent one weekend more than usual. I taught during thefirst
weekend the first two chapters of Yoga Sutras apart from anevening on mantras. It is always a
great experience going through theextraordinary work of Patanjali. It is so rich and
absorbing. Then forfive days during the week I taught a core program on Vinyasakramaasana
practice running to 25 hours. We covered tens of asanas from allthe 10 major sequences and
scores of vinyasas. The second weekend wasfor asana, pranayama and mantra meditation the
three pronged dailypractice and I thought it also went well. Thank you all theparticipnts and
also Suddha Weixler for affording me another excellentopportunity to teach to a very talented
and interested group of yogis.I hope to return to Chicago next year the same time.
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LMU has confirmed my next 200 Teacher Training Program from June 6th2011 for six weeks
at Los Angeles. Also I plan to do aweeklongprogram at Esalen Institute during May 2011
******
Pancha Kosa Vidya
In my previous newsletter I wrote about the enormous scholarship of myrevered Guru Sri
Krishnamacharya. He taught several traditional textsincluding many upanishads
I had mentioned the general approach of the old works to guide thestudent from the known
to the unknown. One of the well known vidyas ofthe upanishads, the pancha-kosa-vidya is
popular with many yogastudents, teachers and spiritual seekers. The Yogasutras refer to
theknown-- of seen person (drusya atma)-- to lead to the subtle unseen'self' or Purusha. The
pancha kosa vidya leads the inquirer from theseen or known five-kosa-person to the
indwelling Self or atman in astep by step approach. It urges the sadhaka to contemplate on
each ofthe kosas in succession to ultimately arrive at the true self. This isthe main purpose of
this vidya found in Tattiriya Upanishad.
In the Yoga Sutra the physical person seen is made up of basically thethree gunas, the five
bhutas and the eleven indriyas and this body-mind complex is used by most people for
experiences, pleasant andunpleasant, but a few use this person for 'roll back' or resolution
tothe basic elements of prakriti which is identified as nirodha. Whilemost persons look
outward to obtain experiences (bhoga) , the yogiuses the body and life time to look and work
inward (apavarga)toobtain the state of Kaivalya.
The Taittiriya upanishad looks at the 'seen person' as one made up offive kosas, and exhorts
the spiritual seeker to transcend the 'fivekosa seen person' by deep step by step contemplation
and understandthe nature of the atman. These five kosas are envisaged, each one ofthem as
made up of the five parts of a bird, and each one of thekosas more subtle than the outer one.
The five kosas start with theone made of food or matter, the physical body. It is made of
physicalmatter consisting of five distinct portions as the head, the rightand left wings, the
body of the front and the tail or the back. Itgets energy from anna or food/matter. This kosa
should be kept pureand yogasanas are said to help one achieve this goal. There is a
vedicprayer which helps one pray for the pure satvic quality of thephysical body made fully of
anna(annamaya) or matter.
This physical body is identified by everybody, including a child, asthe person, the self. But the
self by definition is the innermost,subtlest principle in every human being. Is there anything
more subtlethan the physical body? The upanishad begins to investigate.
And it finds out that there is an inner self to the physical body madefully of life force called
prana, in the same mold of the physicalbody. This pranamaya permeates the whole physical
body and isvisualized as the self of the physical body or annamaya kosa. It alsois visualized
with five distinct parts, the head, the two wings, thechest and then the tail. The Prana, the
main life force is the headof vyana and apana are the right and left wings, then udana is
thebody or heart of this kosa and then samana is the tail or support ofthis system. A regular
pranayama workout will help maintain this kosain good stead.
There is an inner self, of the shape of the person, to this prana mayakosa which itself is a
sheath or a kosa called mano maya. It ispermeated with an aspect of the chitta called manas.
Manas coordinatesall the senses and instruments of action. Interestingly the mostimportant
sense for a vedic scholar is the sense of hearing. Hearingthe vedas from the teacher the vedic
student learns by heart thevedas. Also this vedic student has his mano maya kosa full of
vedicknowledge. The head of this mano maya is the yajur veda, the rightand the left wings
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are the rik and sama vedas. The body or the chestis the vedic injunctions (adesa or the
brahmana portion) and the tailis the last veda, the atharva veda. It therefore actually refers
toour entire memory kosa. This kosa according to yogis can be kept ingood condition by
pratyahara. The vaidics would say chanting of thevedas keeps the manomaya kosa in good
shape.
Is there anything subtler than this? Yes, says the Upanishad. Subtlerthan the mano maya is
the vigyana maya or the kosa of intellect. Thisis the self of the previous kosa, of the human
form but is visualizedwith a head which is shraddha or faith(in the scriptures). Since thevedic
scholar is doing this self analysis and investigation, he usesthis kosa towards the spiritual end.
So the right wing isrighteousness or straight forwardness(rtam) and the left wing is satyaor
the ultimate spiritual Truth. Then the heart or the atma of thissheath is yoga or the ability to
remain concentrated or go intosamadhi. The whole kosa is supported by mahat or
universalintelligence. The upanishad sadhaka has to have this kosa in goodstead to clearly
understand the nature of the self using this kosadiligently. And dhyana or meditation is the
means of keeping this kosaunpolluted.
The soul of this kosa is another subtle kosa called ananda maya whichis translated roughly as
the bliss kosa. Again this kosa is in thehuman form but is visualized as a bird. The head of
this kosa isaffection (priya), the right wing is glee (moda), the left wing isecstasy (pramoda)
and the heart is bliss (ananda) and the support ofthis is Brahman, the ultimate reality. The
ultimate reality, the Atman/Brahman which is defined (swarupa lakshana) as pure
consciousnessunaffected by ether time or space (satyam, gnanam anantam brahma) andwhose
realization is possible by the path shown (tatasta lakshana) bythe knowledge called the
pancha maya (kosa) vidya is what is to beknown to end the evil of transmigratory existence.
The first step is to consider the human body, called the annamaya, aspart of the outside
matter of the universe as it is that which is madeup of five elements, earth, water, etc., returns
to the earth/universeafter death. During the lifetime, the annamaya body is sustained byanna
or food/matter, itself drawing the energy from it. The subtleself of the human body which is
the inner sheath known as pranamaya isthe one that keeps the body alive. The force that
maintains it iscalled prana sakti. It is said that udana, one of the five forceskeeps the balance
between prana the inward life force and apana theoutward life force under balance. Once the
udana loses that control atthe time of death, the apana with prana and other life forces
leavesthe body. The other three sheaths , the manomaya, its inner core/atman, the vigyana
maya and the subtlest sheath the ananda maya arecontrolled by the power of veil or ignorance
called the avaranasakthi. This is the power which prevents the individual from realizingthe
true nature of one's core or atman which is pure consciousness andbeyond the five kosas. This
power when it operates in the subtlest orthe ananda maya kosa is known as ichha sakti or the
power of desire.When it operates in the vignyana maya kosa it is known as gnana saktior
power of discrimination and then when it operates in the mano mayait is known as kriya sakti.
The desire for the desirable object arsingin the ananda maya leads the vignyana maya to
contemplate the meansfor fulfilling it and thereafter the manomaya directs the physicalbody
to do the necessary physical work to achieve the goal, which itsucceeds in sometimes and not
some other times leading to the feelingof happiness or unhappiness in the ananda maya self.
Thus even thoughthe spiritual nature of the self is clearly discernible from thepancha maya
vidya of the Upanishads, it is obscured by the power ofthe avarana sakthi or the power of
spiritual ignorance which gets moreand more strengthened by the operation of this sakthi, life
afterlife. Hence the upanishad not only explains the nature of the realself as opposed to the
mistaken self (mithya atma) made up of fivekosas but also gives a step by step approach to
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strengthen thespiritual knowledge leading to transcending the evil of endlesstransmigratory

existence.
Since the human body returns to earth and other elements the entireuniverse including the
human body is considered one virat one wholeuniverse of anna or matter of the five elements.
The prana which isthe subtle self of the human body is considered the subtle selftherefore of
the universe and then regressing further one arrives atthe individual soul or atman as the self.
And since now it is also theSelf of the Universe it is called Brahman and the advaitins
proclaimsthe oneness (advaita) of the individual self (atman) and the supremeself (brahman)
as one and the same
Taittiriya Upanishad is one of the 10 major upanishads and is chantedregularly especially
(early on the 12th day after full moon and newmoon days, after a day of fasting, Ekadasi) in
South India. I had madea recording some 25 years ago of this Upanishad and I find it
isavailable in USA now at
http://www.indiaclub.com/shop/SearchResults.asp?ProdStock=26770
This is a very brief introductory sketch and those who areinterested will find Upanishadic
study very fascinating anduplifting.Excellent commentaries by Adi Sankara and Ramanuja
and a fewothers are studied and pored over by spiritual seekers.
******
The powerful should be careful about themselves, for to them, crueltycomes quicker than
compassionI
Truth alone triumphs; not falsehood.
The more engrossed one is in Yoga, the more Yoga reveals itself.--VyasaJust as virtue
(dharma) leads to happiness (sukha), yoga leads todiscriminative/spiritual knowledge—Vyasa
A well balanced yogic diet of asanas pranayama and dhyana helps totouch base with the peace
center of one's brain regularly
Best wishes
Sincerely
Srivatsa Ramaswami
November 2010 Newsletter From S.Ramaswami--Yajnyavalkya

A few years back I wrote an article about my Guru Yogacharya Sri TKrishnamacharya which
appeared in Namarupa magazine. It contains a fewexclusive pictures of him from my personal
album. Here is the linkhttp://www.namarupa.org/magazine/nr06/downloads/05_NR6-
Srivatsa.pdf
Like stories? I wrote the “Story of Patanjali” in my book “Yoga forthe Three Stages of Life”
published in 2000 by Inner Traditions. InGoogle books I was able to access it (free) pages 21
to 29. It alsocontains many nice hand drawn sketches to go with the story. I hopeyou can find
these pages.http://books.google.com/books?
id=sUzBl2k7Z98C&printsec=frontcover&dq=...
***********
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In one of my earlier newsletters I had written about “anadhtyayana”days as follows

Certain days in the month are considered “anadhyayana” days. Somepeople ask if Yoga should
not be done on these anadhyayana days.During my studies with my teacher he did not specify
any days when weshould not practice Yoga. Anadhyayana is usually associated with studyof
the vedas and anadhyayana days are days one should not study thevedas, presumably with the
teacher. In short we may say that the vedapathasala or veda schools would be closed on these
days. I startedlearning veda chanting (with my father) when I was about 10 years oldand I had
a teacher who would come to our house at about 5 in themorningto teach vedic chanting. But
he would not come on these“anadhyayana” days. The smritis say that vedas should be chanted
daily(vedam nityam adhiyetaam). So we may say that the prohibition is withrespect to
studying, perhaps new lessons but not chanting the portionsalready learned (swadhyaya). On
anadhyayana days like the new moonday, one may refrain from learning with a teacher new
vedic lessons,but may chant what one has already learnt. It is a moot question ifthis
restriction applies to yogasana learning and certainly does notappear to apply to home
yogasana practice
Here is a response from Eddie Stern, a long time disciple of SriPattabhi Joisand also editor of
Namarupa magazine
Dear Srivatsa Ramaswami,Thank you once again for your latest newsletter, which is, as
usual,very informative and a delight to read.
I had one friendly comment to pass on about the 'anandhyanana' days:
It is possible that the student who asked you about any prohibition ofpracticing yoga on the
full or new moon days was doing so because ofthe observances of Pattabhi Jois. Much has
been made of thisobservance, with all sorts of ideas about why he does this, and
whatsignificance it may have. However, the matter is quite simple. As youknow, the
Maharaja's Pathashala (Sankrit College) was closed eachmonth for classes on the moon days,
and the day before and after.Studies were continued by the students, but no new lessons
taught. Onereason for this was that on amavasya and purnima, certain rituals hadto be
performed by the teachers and students alike, who are allbrahmins - for example, the pitr
tarpana which needs to be performedon amavasya, and the ritual bathing the day after the
moons - allthese things take time to be performed. As well, though I have neverbeen able to
find the reference, Pattabhi Jois used to quote to us -and I also heard this from my old
Bhagavad Gita teacher in Mysore -that if a teacher teaches new subjects on the moon days,
his knowledgewill decline, and on the day before or after, the knowledge of thestudent will
decline! Perhaps you might know where this referencecomes from? When I spoke to Pattabhi
Jois's astrologer whileinterviewing him for the "Guruji" book, he concurred with the ideathat
it has something to do with the idea of as above, so below: ourmind is the moon, and waxes,
wanes, and retains information in asimilar cycle as the moon in the sky. Since Pattabhi Jois
was a student at the Maharaja's Pathashala, andthen was the Professor of Yoga there from
1937 to 1973, this became ahabit and observance for him. Since he held the view that yoga was
apractice of Vedic origin, and that the knowledge of the Upanishads wasto be accessed only
through the doorway of asanas and pranayama, heascribed the same observances to teaching
them as he did to teachingVeda. He further used to say that on the full and new moon days,
therewas a particular conjunction of nakshatras that made it easier to getinjured, and that the
injury would take longer to heal. I have neverbeen able to verify this through jyotish; perhaps
this is somethingthat he learned from his father, who was an accomplished jyotishi.Pattabhi
Jois knew quite a bit too - the name Jois is a South Indiancorruption of Jyotish, and astrology
was in his family tradition. I say all this to make the simple point that Pattabhi Jois had
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certainhabits from the time he was 14. Why he had these habits isinteresting, and though we
may not be brahmins, or even Indian, as hisstudents it is good to understand why certain
things were done by him,and accept that if he felt them important enough to follow, that
theyare applicable to us too. But we should not go making a big thing ofit and creating all
sorts of fantastical ideas! Below is a funny storyto illustrate what happens when we (for
example, Ashtanga Yogastudents!) do not take the time to investigate simple things in
arational manner:A saintly scholar used to give a class on Bhagavad Gita each
eveningbeneath a tree near a village. He had a pet cat, and this cat wouldsometimes run
through the crowd, making a disturbance. As a result thesage began to tie the cat to the tree
during the class. After sometime the speaker shuffled off his mortal coil. One of his
disciplescontinued to give the Bhagavad Gita class under the tree, andcontinued to tie the cat
to the tree during the class. After some timethe cat passed away, and the disciple bought
another cat. After threegenerations a disciple wrote a paper on the sacred tradition of tyinga
cat to the tree while giving a class on Bhagavad Gita.So, all that being said, I think that the
moon day/practice observanceshould be followed by the Ashtanga Yoga students out of
respect forPattabhi Jois and his methods. The purpose of following these things,and
submitting ourselves to a lineage, is to create humility andthoughtfulness in the student. We
will (most likely) not go to hell ifwe practice on these days, but surrendering oneself to a
lineage hasits own charm and effect on our character, so why should we not tryit? I do not
believe that all yoga students should refrain frompractice on these days - they too should
follow the observances oftheir teachers, and hopefully by aligning our minds with
higherprinciples, will we all find happiness in our practices. On moon daysor not!Thank you
very much. I hope that I did not go on for too long, or present anymisinformation.Yours
truly,Eddie Stern **********
YAJNYAVALKYA
Sage Yajnyavalkya sat down with his two wives, Katyayani and Maitreyito discuss something
very important. Katyayani was the typicalobedient wife and would abide by everything her
husband would tellher. She had three children and was generally a very contented
person.Maitreyi was an intellectual and had married the sage due to hisbrilliance. She adored
him for his wisdom and enormous scholarship,debating abilities and spiritual achievements.
The sage said withoutbeating around the bush,”I have decided to take the fourth
stage(ashram) of life, viz., sanyasa or renunciation and live alone in theforest. I will divide my
property between you two equally.” Katyayanisaid that she would abide by her husband's
decision, as Yajnyavalkyawould do the right thing. Maitreyi thought for a moment. My
husband,this Yajnyavalkya is no ordinary man. He earned a huge amount ofwealth, with his
scholarship and supported the family admirably. Hehad a very large number of milch cows,
landed property and even potsof gold, perhaps he was the richest 'scholar' on earth. If he
shouldrenounce all this which he had righteously earned and assiduouslynurtured, there
should be something greater he was going after. It issaid that she asked him what was that he
was going after which washigher than the huge wealth he had earned. She asked him, “Will
allthe wealth you give me make me immortal?'' “No, no!” saidYajnyavalkya, it will only make
you a mortal, a rich mortal. Wealthcan not give one immortality” In that case I am not
interested in thiswealth, she said, please tell me about that which would giveimmortality, that
you are going after by this renunciation. Teach methat which gives that wisdom.
Yajnyavalkya was mighty pleased with hisbeloved wife's earnest query. “Yes, I will tell that
momentarily andlisten to me carefully”, he said. After you hear it, sit down andthink about it,
ponder over it with a concentrated mind until it isunambiguously clear to you. Then never
deviate from It.
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We all love several beings and objects outside of us. The reason why awife loves her husband
is not for the sake of the husband per se, butbecause basically the wife loves her Atman,
herself. Likewise ahusband loves his wife not merely for the sake of the wife butbecause he
loves his own atman, his self. Yagnyavalkya gave a numberof examples in our daily lives. The
implication is that we love beingsand objects like the spouse and wealth because they give us
happinessand comfort. Everyone basically loves oneself and subconsciouslyworks for one's
own happiness. All our lives we act to bringhappiness to ourselves and remove unhappiness.
However there aredifferences among people as to what would give them happiness.
Somepeople, satwic people appear selfless and go out of the way to helpothers. The reason
they do it is because making others happy makesthem happy. There are a few others who may
perhaps derive pleasure atthe misery of others and tend to even cause pain to others
orsubjugate others to pain to get happiness for themselves. Butbasically everyone looks for
happiness as everyone loves oneself. Herethe purpose of this narration is not to merely talk
about what oneshould do to just change oneself so that one may get happiness due toright
conduct (dharma). What the sage wants his wife to know is thatsince everyone is after one's
own happiness, one should reallyunderstand/ know what constitutes the real self for whose
happinessone strives hard all through the life. According to the scripturesespecially the
Upanishad and Patanjali's Yoga, there is a completemisunderstanding (avidya) about the
nature of one's self and thescriptures by several means or vidyas try to help lead the
earnestseeker to understand the true nature of one's self. Here the sagetells his spouse to
understand the nature of the self from thescriptures (srotavya), then deeply analyze and
contemplate upon it(mantavya) and then remain completely established in
it(nidhidhyasitavya). Since the real self is established by thesescriptures as pure, non-
changing or immutable consciousness, theself is considered immortal. Inference and
meditation of these sayingsthrough different vidyas help one to remain well established in
theSelf itself.
The sastras that exhort the aspirants to go by this path are callednivritti sastras and also
known as adhyatma vidyas or the subjectdealing with the nature of the Self. Among the
foremost of this groupof philosophies is Yoga, Raja Yoga. Others include the
Upanishads,Samkhya, etc. Even though there are differences among these
siblingphilosophies, these are supposed to lead one to immortality as theSelf is immortal and
knowing, identifying with the Self leads toimmortality, as the Upanishad says “Mrutyor ma
amrutam gamaya” or leadme from death to immortality. Sage Yajnyavalkya urged his
wifeMaitreyi to follow the spiritual path. And that was his answer to herregarding
immortality. He also answered her further queries.
Sage Yajnyavalkya was a very revered person in the vedic lore. Brash,brilliant and benevolent
his incisive understanding of the vedicwisdom brought him fame and some trouble. When
young, he studied thethree different Vedas—rik, sama and atharva-- from three
differentmasters then finally settled down to study his own veda, the Yajurveda under his
maternal uncle Vaisampayana, who was then an authorityon Yajur veda.
Yajavalkya was just exceptional. The Uncle was pretty pleased with thecapacity of his
nephew. He not only got the entire Yajur veda by heartbut also went into details of the
philosophies and the minute detailsof the various rites described in the Yajur veda. There
were otherstudents in Vaisampayana's ashram, but none was comparable to him.Slowly the
young student started helping the uncle in the performanceof various religious rites. Initially
everything was honky dory.Slowly the young scholar started finding some infirmities in the
waythe uncle was handling the teaching and using the vedas. He found thatin the branch of
yajur veda Vaisampayana was teaching, there wasmixing up of the ritual portion and the
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mantra portion. The uncle wasslowly getting restless with the brilliance of his nephew,
theadoration was giving way to apathy and then anger and then jealousy.There was a time
when Vaisampayana was wanting to perform a particularrite to expiate an adharmic action,
but Yajnyavalkya who had studiedthe other vedas opined that the proper propitiatory act was
only inanother veda the atharva veda and what his uncle was contemplatingfrom yajur veda
would not work. That was the last straw. Vaisampayanashouted at his nephew to leave his
ashram. As Yajnyavalkya was walkingtowards the door, the uncle angrily said that since he
had no respectfor what he taught he could as well return the knowledge. The youngman
withdrew all the knowledge he learnt from the uncle and threw itup, as it were. Vysampayana
then directed his other disciples toswallow it and they took the form of tittiri birds and
swallowed whatwas discarded by Yajnyavalkya. The tittiri birds got back the humanforms
and chanted the whole veda which came to be known as taittiriyabranch of Yajur veda. This
portion of yajur veda contains the famoustaittiriya upanishad which contains the panch kosa
or five sheathvidya, with which many yoga students are familiar.
Yajnyavalkya, a perfectionist, vowed he would never again go back to ahuman Guru. As said
in the sutra Ishwarapranidhana, he decided tosurrender to the Lord. He did intense tapas or
penance to Surya or Sungod, the Almighty manifest. Ultimately he reached the world of sun
anddirectly imbibed the yajur veda in its purest form. Upon his return hewrote the entire
yajur veda which because it was said to be pure, cameto be known as shukla or white/pure
Yajur veda. In contrast thevaisampayana's older version was known as krishna or black yajur
vedaas it was contaminated. But in practice Krishna Yjur veda is the onethat is in vogue in
most part of India especially South India. My Guruand my family belong to the Krishna
Yajur veda school. People whofollow the shukla yajur veda are not too many. But it is a
beautifulwork. Unlike the krishna yajur veda which uses three notes or swaras,this has two
notes like the rhythmic notes of a horse trot. The twooutstanding upanishads of this veda are
the Brihadaranyaka (the greatforest) and isavasya upanishad, both of which are highly
venerated andare part of the top ten upanishads. Yajnyavalkya also became one ofthe
foremost vedic scholars excelling in all aspects especially thespiritual aspect of vedic
knowledge. Yajnyavalkya means one who isclad (valkya) in the yagna or the vedas.
Yajnyavalkya=clad in vedas
The name Yajnyavalkya is found in several old texts, the smritis, thevedas, upanishads, the
puranas and other works. So, many conclude thatYagnyavalkya became the name of a
particular lineage and there weremany great personages with the same name. It is believed
that one ofthe oldest works on Hatayoga was authored by Sage Yajnyavalkya. It isknown as
Yoga Yajyavalkya or Yoga Yajnyavalkya samhita and givesdetailed description of ashtanga
yoga. This work can be considered asone of the works which could be helpful for those who
would like tofind material for therapeutic yoga. He says “That all internaldiseases and toxins
are destroyed by the practice of asana, yama andniyama” and that pranayama (breath
practices) is said to destroydiseases in all three doshas (psycho-physical body constitutions).
Itdescribes the marmasthanas or vital points, the important nadis theirlocations, and
kandasthana, kundalini and other details. The detaileddescriptions of all the eight angas and
a close affinity to vedantamakes it an exceptional work on Yoga.
Traditional followers of Yajnyavalkya call him YogeeswaraYajnyavalkya. He defines Yoga as
the union of the individual soul andthe supreme soul, following the vedantic school.. I studied
both YogaYajnyavalkya and several upanishad vidyas from BrihadaranyakaUpanishad from
my guru Sri Krishnamacharya.
It is said that Yajnyavalkya was also well versed in classical Indianmusic and perhaps played
an old string instrument called Veena, stillvery popular . Veena is mentioned in the vedas. It
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is said thatplaying the veena gives spiritual experience. As per an old slokaattributed to the
sage, one who plays the veena with the correctknowledge of the instrument, well versed in
swaras or notes (raga)and rhythm or beats(tala), reaches the ultimate Brahman
effortlessly(veena vaadana tatwajah, swara sastr visaradah| talgnascha
aprayatnenaparabrahmadhi gacchati.) Sri Krishnamacharya was able to play theveena
*******
A few days ago I had gone to my son's house to spend time with my 3year old grandsons
(twins). They said that they were in preschool.They were rattling on about what went on in
the school and suddenlyone of them lay on the back on the floor, drew the feet close
andpressing the feet and back of the head and neck, lifted the hips.Looking at me he said that
he was doing ‘bridge’ and asked me, “Canyou do it thatha (grandpa)”?
******
Any comments or suggestions may be sent toi...@vinyasakrama.com
If you wish you may reproduce my letters and articles in your e mailsor webpage or blogs.
You may access the articles contained in the earlier newsletters---click on newsletter tab in my
website www.vinyasakrama.comThanking you,
With best wishesSincerelySrivatsa Ramaswami
December 2010 Newsletter from Srivatsa Raaswami--Durvasa

Warm Greetings from bright and sunny Chennai, Madras that was. It isalmost the fag end of
the monsoon season here, a three month periodwhen the Northeast monsoon is very active
and brings copious rains tothe south eastern part of India. It has been a vigorous monsoon
thisyear I hear. The reservoirs, village tanks and millions of wells arequite full., In the city of
Chennai, during the last few years,'rainharvesting' has been resorted to to recharge the
underground waters.Most of the households, and buildings with a terrace, direct
therainwater to deep holes (about 20 feet) filled with small rocks andsand and rain water
quickly drains into these and helps to raise theunderground waster level. Due to the city
being with roads asphaltedand pathways concreted, the rainwater has less chance to seep
throughand hence this rainwater harvesting has been found to be quitehelpful. In my own
house now the well water is hardly three feetbelow the ground level. Of course it will quickly
recede when the rainstops and the early summer starts. But still this is good for thecity's
water supply position during the long hot summer months.
Thanks to the kind efforts of our friend Jyoti Chittur, I will bedoing a 5 day 20 hour full yoga
sutra program at Long IslandUniversity in New York. I am also likely to teach for the
TeacherTrainees at Ananda Asram in New York State. I hope to be able to do acouple of
other programs outside of USA during 2011.
Standing pose sequences
In Vinyasa krama yoga practice there are three major standingsequences. Each one has its
own charm and challenges. The tadasanasequence is very comprehensive routine, working
on the major jointsand muscles. There is a certain nicety about the sequence
involvingsimple to involved vinyasas and asanas. According to my Guru thissequence helps
to align the chakras in the body and is perhaps thebest sequence to start one's practice and it
helps to first normalizethe body. The various arm movements actually help to open up
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thechest. The trikonasana series with such asanas as Trikonasana,Virabhadrasana etc affords
using the major joints and muscles in avery powerful and graceful manner.
Prasiratapadottanasana andsamakonasana may be considered as extensions of this sequence.
I have written earlier about the poses requiring balancing on one leg,which may be termed as
Tapas poses. This sequence requiresconsiderable focus or ekagrata while practicing and does
help to bringa sense of balance not only to the body but also the mind. There arequite a few
poses and vinyasas and some of them are quite challenging.It helps to develop attention and
patience.
For more details please refer to my book “The Complete Book of VinyasaYoga”.
Story of Durvasa:
Siva means auspiciousness, peace. But one aspect of Siva is Rudra,which name indicates
extreme anger, rage. It is said that Sakti oncetold Siva that it was getting impossible to live
with Him because ofHis anger and short tempered nature. Siva took the cue and shed a
partof his anger and created a sage called Durvasa, the name Durvasaitslef would indicate
one who is impossible to live with dus meaningdifficult vaasa meaning to live. In fact it is
common to refer tothose who are short tempered as Durvasa. You often find a daughter,
awife or a son or a subordinate showing great reluctance to deal with'that durvasa'. But
being Siva's amsa or aspect, he was a greattapasvin and was revered for his knowledge and
because of his shorttempered nature many would not come near him as they were afraid ofhis
nature and his curses which because of his tapas could come topass. At the same time if ever
he would be pleased he would conferunprecedented boons.
King Ambarisha was a great king, highly venerated and a great devoteeof Lord Vishnu. He
faithfully followed the religious observances andrituals which he did with great devotion and
sincerity with hiswonderful wife. A just king he was revered by his subjects. He wasalso very
charitable by nature. He regularly observed fasting on everyEkadasi and on the next day as
per the religious practice wouldtake an early meal on the following dwadasi (12th day after
moon days)day. He would piously follow the procedures faithfully including vedicchanting
like the Taittiriya Upanishad. Once he and his wife after aday of ekadasi fasting were about
to break the fast the followingmorning when sage Durvasa came with a large number of his
disciplesand landed at the doorsteps of King Ambarisha's palace. He grandlyannounced that
he and his wards would be the athitis (guests withoutnotice or invitation). The King
immediately fell at his feet and saidthat he was honoured to have him and his men as guests
on such anauspicious day as dwadasi. The sage said that he would go to theriver, have his
bath and come back for meals.
Once in the river he and his men took an enormous time to completetheir ritualistic bath. In
the meantime the King was waiting for hisguests, but it is stipulated that one should have the
meals on Dwadasiday very early, it being the day after a day of complete fasting.After a while
the priests of the palace—including sage Vasishta-- saidthat the sastras demand that he
should not delay having the meal butthe King said that with the guests expected to come, one
should nothave a meal without the guests. Either way he would be violating somedharma or
the other the priests opined and suggested to the King thatinstead of a regular meal he could
just take a basil leaf and breakthe fast and it could be construed also as not having a meal.
This viamedia suggestion finally appealed to the reluctant Ambarisha. So hetook one small
basil leaf and put it into his mouth with a spoonful ofwater and just then Durvasa made a
dramatic entry. He shouted at theking and said that he had insulted a great sage and would
have to bearthe brunt of his curse. Durvasa, using his enormour tapas power,created a
demon to destroy the King for insulting him. The pious Kingwith the head bowed prayed to
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Lord Vishnu for guidance. The Lordimmediately sent His weapon the chakra, called
Sudharsana chakra orwheel which came whirling and instantly destroyed the demon
andquickly went after the sage. It is said that the Lord may sometimestolerate any disrespect
to Him but never any insult or harm done toHis devotees. So the chakra went after the sage
and the sage startedrunning for his life. He first went to brahma the creator and one ofthe
trinities., but he politely said that he has no powers to goagainst the just actions of the Lord.
Then the sage ran to Siva and healso said something very similar, but advised him to go to
Lord Vishnuwhose weapon was threatening him So finally after almost a yearrunning helter
and skelter, the sage finally fell at the feet of LordVishnu and prayed for forgiveness. The
Lord then said that the onlyperson who could save him was King Ambarisha with whom he
had behavedvery badly, The sage came running to Ambarisha's palace. As Durvasawas about
to fall at the feet of the king, the king bowed to himinstead in great reverence and directed the
Sudarsana chakra to returnto Lord Vishnu without causing any harm to the great sage. Then
thesage granted extraordinary boons to the king and left chastened.
A similar story about Durvasa appears in the epic Mahabharata. ThePandavas were in the
forest incognito as per the conditions of theirexile. The Pandavas with their mother Kunti
were hiding in the forestfor a year. They prayed to lord Krishna for food as they were
notwanting to be seen openly in the forest looking for food. The Lordgave them a vessel
which had the ability to give one meal a day forthe family. Kunti used to feed her sons, the
Pandavas everyday withthe limited food from the vessel. The cooking vessel would be
washedwith water and thereafter they could get food only on the followingday. So the
Pandavas like yogis were eating once a day.
It is said that sage Durvasa wanted to create problems for thePandavas. So one day he came
to their place after they had had theirlunch from the magic vessel. Then it was washed and
kept aside to beused only the following day. In the olden days, any stranger askingfor food
should be provided with food. It is considered a sin not togive food. So the sage with his army
of followers descended on thehide out of the Pandavas and asked them to keep the lunch and
theywould return after bath in the nearby river. There was no way theycould get food
because the vessel would not give food once it iswashed and kept aside. So Kunti prayed to
Lord Krishna to save themfrom the predicament and the wrath of the short tempered sage.
TheLord appeared before them and took the vessel and found a minuteparticle of spinach
sticking to the cleaned vessel. Smilingly, he tookit in his finger and put it his mouth with
mouthful of water. As heswallowed the piece of spinach, Durvasa and his army who were
taking ariver bath, suddenly felt that their stomachs were full and startedbloating. They felt as
though they had eaten a sumptuous meal and hadno space for even a morsel of food. They
decided discretion wasbetter than going for a lunch, and teaching a lesson for which theydid
not have the stomach. They quickly disappeared into thin airgiving a sigh a of relief to the
Pandavas who praised the Lord for Hisdivine help.
Of course there are a few episodes that show Durvasa in a betterlight. But Durvasasana is an
exquisite pose though a difficult one.Another one legged pose that is awesome in the one leg
up pose calledTrivikrama. This truly is a majestic pose. Trivikrama is actually anavatar
(incarnation) of Lord Vishnu and story of the avatar of Vishnuas Trivikrama is very
absorbing. A few temples in South India have theicon of Lord Trivikrama. It is also one of
the 12 names of the Lordused in daily prayers.
With best Wishes
PAGE 52 OF 52

Vinyasa Krama Yoga Newsletters 2010

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VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS

VOLUME 01-12 / 2010

Vinyasa Krama Yoga

January 2010 Newsletter-One Verse Exposition of Adi Sankara

February 2010 Newsletter From S. Ramaswami--Yoga Nerves

March 2010 Newsletter--T.T Program--Yoga vs Ach..choo

parameters. Practice is animportant aspect of this course. Many participants end up

Thiseﬀect is enhanced in Nadishodhana. In this pranayama we use theMrigi Mudra. In it

April 2010 Newsletter--Subhashita(Good Saying)

Gita in which theultimate responsibility of reflecting and deciding is on the aﬀected.The

Satyameva Jeyate, naanrutam-- Upanishad (3)

naarhati shodasim kalaam. Mahabharata (9)

Appreciation of those pious do-gooders

May we hear good things for a hundred autumns

Dharma will protect one's head (life)

May 2010 Newsletter --Yoga and Bronchial Asthma

June 2010 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami--Chitta Vritti

July 2010 Newsletter From Srivatsa Ramaswami--Story Time

August 2010 Newsletter--2010 VK-TT Program Feedback

September 2010 Newsletter --Yoga Gymnastique

“Krishnamacharya as I have mentioned earlier was like a manysplendoured diamond each

Mid-September 2010 Newsletter--Mr Mark Singleton's Letter

closeapproximations of them) in early modern, non-Indian gymnasticstraditions. Deep

October 2010 Newsletter--Pancha Kosa Vidya

strengthen thespiritual knowledge leading to transcending the evil of endlesstransmigratory

November 2010 Newsletter From S.Ramaswami--Yajnyavalkya

In one of my earlier newsletters I had written about “anadhtyayana”days as follows

December 2010 Newsletter from Srivatsa Raaswami--Durvasa

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