FIND YOUR TRUE SELF 2 REALIZE YOUR POTENTIAL *& AWAKEN YOUR BLISS Hegliiig Yoga an POSES & TECHNIQUES TO CURE ANY 3 ca at ~ J 2 iUNLOCK THE POWER ge. OF YOUR £5 é: aa ga. HARNESS YOUR ENERGY *& RESTORE BALANCE * ACTIVATE THE CHAKRASake vi ile is now ubiquitous. You can find classes across the globe in workplaces ols, health centres and studios, prisons and spas. It is estimated that, in the UK alone, yoga generates over £800 million in revenue a year. Yet, just over eet Ee ae eR eee eee ane aaa Cr In 1893, a fiery, saffron-clad monk stepped onto a stage in Chicago at the ea age eae eg Rees Brothers and sisters of America ..” With this, Swami Vivekananda brought the entire audience to their feet, in a two-minute standing ovation. ‘Yoga’ ~ a word that comes from Sanskrit, the mother ofall Indo-European languages Se ee ee Cee RT eRe eee eC Poe eae In the West, the search for the eternal has been largely abandoned and we have lessened our reach, aiming instead for health and longevity. Yoga, with its array ‘of movements, seems to promise that. However, that is not all yoga offers. Yoga is a vast philosophy and practice that meets us on our mats in a gym, where we strive for a healthy body, but also guides us in a spiritual search for knowledge of ourselves. Sr ar eed ee ee aa ne pee age ee ‘many. The next ‘thing’ or ‘experience’ that we buy does not satisfy for long. Itis ea ee ee eg ee eM EE eo eeete a oe eee ed there is no way around this but through it. This book presents the panchatattva, or five great elements ~ part of yoga's map which provides an understanding and Ce ee Ree ee ee a Pea aie ee ee ee ca RTE LCN RV OZ EE Deu ReMi EVAN ous OUD CTUCONTENTS CT INTRODUCTION TO YOGA 6 Pe Surana aes Sonne eee tae y eee ee ee eee ery Serer! Peon ago ae) YOGA AND THE FIVE FORCES 28 Pra ee eed DSU Ensen) MeL Sree ers OUT) Ce eae aL) Sea} BYES LU eG crea) Oa Dee Ue) YOGA FOR SPECIFIC AILMENTS 148 eee) Peete) Insomnia 122 Peery Frequent infections (colds and flu) 124 cence eset Omer eae er Penge See foretnaeery CCU RU a UL ae)Wert TO YOGA Bee ea a Te Re ee The body is the chariot and awareness (buddhi) is the driver. The reins that the driver is holding are the mind (manas). The senses (indriyas) are the horses that those reins lead to, Peg cee SUR Re Is the enjoyer of the world and the doer of all actions. Rama nee ea rary translated by Swami Ambikananda Saraswat NO eee eer ete ee es‘When we make the space in our overcrowded schedules, and on the floors of our homes, to practise our yoga postures, what isit that we are hoping to accomplish? What magic do we expect of yoga that we cannot get elsewhere? ‘Yes, yoga does have the power to release ‘muscles from their habitual state of tension and return them to their resting length. And it can certainly increase the mobility of our joints, restricted by years of sitting and standing with little regard or respect for the body's form and structure. But wilt bring good health? will it make us live any longer? My guru, Swami Venkatesananda, a world- renowned yogi, died at the age of 62 after suffering from heart disease for a number of years. Indeed, in the West we have seen ‘yogis of all methods who have taught their message and then died after a more-or-less average lifespan. Does this mean the promise of yogs has failed? And if longer life is not the promise, what ist that draws us to yoga and ‘makes us dedicate hours of our lives to it? Perhaps what calls us to yoga in this, technological world of instant delivery and smart machines is that we are beginning to Understand the vision of the rishis (seers) of India from many thousands of years ago. Maybe we had to come through the industrial and technological revolutions in order to begin to ask the right questions about our own existence in ths time, to be able to understand the answers the rishis gave us from their time. ‘One of the most beautiful ancient Sanskrit texts associated with yoga is the dialogue between the goddess (Devi) Shakti and the god Shiva. The dialogue begins with the goddess posing Shiva a question: ‘The Devi asked, "God, god - 0 Greatest ofall the Gods ~ Shower me with your grace By giving me that knowledge Through which I may attain perfection.” Shiva replied, “The tattva, oh Great Devi, Are the cause of this Universe And they will bring about Its dissolution. To achieve perfection You must know the tattva.” sana. ANGER SER NTE ‘Thus the promise of yoga is perfection, which embraces health, happiness and the quality of ‘our lives, no matter how long we live. And, as we shal see, health isn’t an absence of disease, and happiness isn't an absence of tragedy. ‘Swami Venkatesananda, along with the many yogis who brought us this wisdom from the East, lived this perfection. Every day of his life was lived to the fll, ina wholeness and with a dynamic quality that can only be called “human perfection’ In the pages that follow, ‘we will explore how coming to ‘know the tattva’~the ‘Vitalties’— through the philosophy and practice of yoga can move us closer to discovering our own innate perfection. ecety° ANCIENT wisbom Iewould seem that, no matter who we are or what the measure (@_°f0u persona omer and authority maybe, we re clled upon teive even while the purpose o life remains mysterious. We are her, alive—but few cli to know wy. And nt knowing © the so bedevis us that we eek ether anewers or dtractons ‘Yoga isa way ofsecking answers to this mystery. © _ Tree sistem exited on ancient Indian so: oss, sama and tanva. They were nether selence nor eligion, yet each had ‘elements ofboth. They come tous from anancent human past, long before we began to see ourselves reflectod inthe machines we create or dvge ourselves ito parts and fragments that can be used and replaced. These systems cnt deny the experience ‘ofa universe made upo ‘parts, but they ways pointed us tals wholeness. life in which the disposable machine takes precedence ove 500 year-old tee or frag flower robs usof ‘what these stems pried most high vial. A machine doesn't possess vtalty— rather ithasa measured amount of energy poured int it to getit to work We humans use and transform ‘the energy of the universe to create our own enery. The success ‘wth which we do this canbe measured by the quality of ‘ur vitality, which we mus use to discover and full our purpose, orcharma ‘To understand yoga, we must have some knowledge of induiem and yoga’ ster scence, samy and tantra. Their ‘origins ar buried in the depths of nda’ ancient past. DISTANT ORIGINS ‘Around! 10,000 cr, human beings learned to grow crops, which hada profound impact onthe social order andthe envronment. ‘Treater,ciilaations began to appear alongide great river =the Nien Africa, the Euphrates in the Middle East andthe Indus in nda. The clation ofthe Indus, which has become ‘known narchaeologyas the Heappa culture, produced a least ‘two great cites Harappa and Mohenjo Dar (although both appear to have even more ancient cvlztion buried under ‘them, Fragments of terracotta pottery unearthed at these sites show that yor postures were already being practised this time, Yoga continued to evolve throughout Inan history a8 both phlosophy and a set of practices assimilating aspects of the anaisis of samihya and te practical knowledge of tantra, wile remaining an independent sytem. ‘Samkhya and tantra Tanta was an empirical system of agua medicinal, mathematical and other kinds of practical knowledge about the ‘wor, aka, onthe ther Rand, was founded by one of the most revered sages of india, Kapa ts philosophy deed into ‘the mystery off by examining theaiferet parts of ahuman being’ experience inorder to arrive ata complete krowedge of its wholeness The word Samy! means the count, and each of ‘the parts samy enumerated wos called atta The Sanskrit word tata! erally means ‘thatness t's aso that‘(tat)~ the iin inherent and inseparable from al things. he tates are the notes a he symphony in ich thee of mater and theif ofthe spitare woven together as one. The tats of sama which the yogis adopted, canbe sad to be the active principles ofthe divine. ‘The tatvas begin with Puusha and Prakitl Purusha can be trenslated as consciousness’ and Prati usually translated as “eeato’, ca just as appropriately be translated a ‘volition. Prakrte the materi evolution of Puruth: they are Ineeporble, ike mikand its whiteness, sugar anit sweetness. From Prakrtalthe other tats evolve, while Purusha resins the set and unimohed witnes. See oppose fr say's enumeration ofthe tattvas, which here are given ther viginal Sansht sels. From Pak an nelgent awareness evolves called buat {sometimes caled maha, or The Great One). From tis awareness ares the idea of the chor. This ithe socal person the person we are brought upto beleve we ae. rom these fir tatvas evolves invisible matterin its mos subtle frm the tonmatra~ sour tou, for, ase an smell Frm the tanta ‘emerge the porchotatus as called mahabhut creat elements) consisting of space a fre, waterand earth, whichin tum vere tothe ve means of knowede, the nonendive ‘arog, touch, sight, taste and smel. These means of knowledge ‘caste five means of con the karmendrye speech, movement ‘ofthe hands walking or movement ofthe fet, procreation an ‘retin, From all ofthese meas of knowledge and action evales ‘mares, the ming, which acts 2 rely station between them. Ths, tothe ancient yee a haran being was much more than «thinking machine The pilsophy and bodywork the yors ‘developed envision and celebrate the complenity ofa human ‘being, particulary the nteraton and unity ofthe tattvasin human experience. The three gunas ‘Ted in with ths metaphysics there are thee essential properties of Paki: the three gunas phases of italy known as ojos, {tomas and sot, Allo the tatvas, apart from Pursha, ce subject to these Everything inthe world of matter isin a constant state of change, and this change was called aas. But there \sraas, then ts opposite, inertia also present, and ‘this was calle tamas. Thus expansion and contraction, ‘or transformation and conservation, exist side by side ‘Ath qualty,sattva, was then added. Une tamas, this third {guna has no mass and, une rjas, no movement. if neither mass nor movements ative, then a sate of atve harmony and equilibrium exis.THE TATTVAS OF YOGA ‘These tattas of yoga at all thin the encompassing atv of hvara Tiss oRen incorrectly translated as ‘Lor! o& “Gost, but teraly means That whichis. AS with many Sanskrit terms, there sno exact translation and i's better to use ‘the Sanskrit term, then explore its meaning. {1 BUDDH- awareness cor inteligence—'s the highest form of Prkrt 2MANAS- mind ~isthat form of raksthat takes in Information fom the ences and eeates our ‘worl ‘Together these {orm cit. The sage bee defines youa as ‘gos ‘ta yt nha "Yoga isthe tiling ‘ofthe movement at ‘thought in chitta™ ® © —_ ——— — This evolution of Prakt continues int the remaining tatvas ae » \ 3 ANAMKARA™ the sense ofan “indvidual et — evolves from the activity of ‘Manas. Aharkara erally ‘means the maker’‘dnt mc ae blend bu rather react with ach other ach eeske VT Ds ml oO PEL eee AT ee Came earth, water, fire, air and space ~ These five constitute both the seen ee ee eae aN eae Ieee Rae es a oar ae ena ren eee cosThe system of yoga that was finaly coified by the reat sage Patarialias the Yoga Sutras became known as ashtanga yop ight-imbed yoga) or ja yous (the sovereign path of yoga) ts eight limbs’ or parts are detailed below. {LASANA (yoga posture) 2 PRANAYAMA (control ofthe vitality, usually ‘through conscious breathing) 3 YAMA (maintaining a certain set of values in your pranamasana on page 38). BB) Move your right fot forwards and place the foot © down with the toes pointing out (wo o'clock Me Position), Bend the right knee and take al of your ‘weight over your right leg, ensuring thatthe head. is aligned with the right heel. SY Breathe in, and as you breathe out lift your left leg ‘and bring it into position in front ofthe right leg. Atthe same time, move your arms into postion {pp ots he poate wile you keep the breath flowing. Be aware of all the dynamie movement ‘within your body as you hold the posture still and steady. Go deep into the inner se and sense the _atllness within the movement. Go onto all fours, knees hip distance apart and heels ofthe hands under the shoulders, BB) Take a step back with one leg and then the = other, and support the weight ofthe body onthe toes, which are tucked under, and the hands, o ‘Breathe in, and as you breathe out release ‘Once you are in the final posture don't Jet your shoulders come up around your ears Let your shoulder blades push down your back. Neither should you allow the back ‘of the neck to become crushed or shortened, Let the muscles there keep lengthening and releasing, Hold for two ‘or three breaths and relesseane Lae Release your weight down through the sitting ‘bones, which are resting on your heels. Your ‘heels should be hip distance apart with the big toes touching, SB) Let your weight continue down through the feet and into the for. VAJRASANA THUNDERBOLT POSTURE ‘Allow your spine to low upwards. Vajra means ‘thunderbolt, specifically the thunderbolt thats the weapon ofthe god Indra, ruler of heaven, It's a sacred weapon, and as such is ‘one used to slay our most potent enemy ~ the one ‘within, The enemy manifests itself in those internal Judgements that make us feel inadequate and inhibit ‘As the shoulders widen and the neck lengthens, ‘our potential. As you sit and watch the thoughts {eel the neck opening and energizing drifting through your consciousness, observe these ‘thoughts. Try not to let your attention wander off after any thought, nor attempt to suppress any thought. The power of this posture is observation. ‘We know from quantum physies that observation Impacts on that which i being observed. It's through the power ofthis observation that we are restored to wholeness. This sentiment was fist expressed by the sage Patanjali more than two thousand years ago as Let your shoulders release and widen, and Tet the ‘muscles atthe back of your neck lengthen, CAUTION sf yousufer from arose veinsor problems with yor ices dons det on {our bees Plsce sal sedation ooo fled Yogas chitta-vrtti-nirodhah rogunder our bucks Yoga is the stilling of the movement of thought in consciousness. ‘Akasha Tattva contains the creative potential of, ‘any moment or mass. I's movement from chaos to order. Before beginning an Akasha sequence of asanas, adopt Vajrasana (see right). Rest your hands ‘on your thighs, palms facing down. (If your knees {eel uncomfortable, place a folded towel under your buttocks) In this posture the ligaments supporting the hip joint become perfectly relaxed, and the ‘muscles of the lower back are able to release better. ‘While maintaining the posture, let your gaze rest ‘on the floor about four feet in front of you and {ollow the directions given to the right.ea oS S~ PRANAMASANA | THE POSTURE OF GREETING (Our first moment of meeting ~ whether a person, ‘or @ new day or situation - is the moment that contains all the potential of what isto follow. Yet, rather than bringing full consciousness to it, we easily slide past, directly to contact. Pranamasana gives us the opportunity to recognize that moment. Begin in standing pose, tadasana. The body's inner ‘wisdom knows how to stand up straight, but we interfere with this by placing tensions in muscles instead of allowing a natural muscle tone to emerge. Stand in tadasana, with your feet hip distance apart so as not fo ereate tension in the lower back and buttocks, Let your arms release down tothe side, withthe shoulders widening, Feel that your head is perfectly balanced between your heels. Allow your weight to flow down through your body, legs and feet into the ground, Don't try to ‘pull up’ As you release your weight down, you will become aware of the energy flow up through the body and through the back to the erown of the head, Observe this down-up flow of forces. a a es trate ote foie ce ats Sao fa Po ple touching an ihe ceery of Ahn Te decending in tha are ere Soa ) Sera toeaton tow corm, renting celine yur 2 ction Hold ne acre she ete ot reine afew bret etre ons > SIRSHASANA HEADSTAND POSTURE ‘The headstand posture is probably the most recognizable ofall yoga postures. In this and the other inverted postures the prana is prevented from flowing down sushumna nadi and gathers in the throat and head area — adding to the vitality of ‘Akasha Tattva, Don't the shoulder Ensure that you ep the blades side towards the backopen and song and shoulders and shorten the muscles a the Back thebackofthe neck. of theneckangthene. Sit in vajrasana (ee page 37) and, Teaning forwards, place your left orearm on the ground, extended out in front of you, Place the othe elbow on ‘the ground, with the fingers resting on ‘the forearm of the extended arm. This ‘will give you a measurement forthe distance ofthe arms.. . 5 eed CONTRAINDICATIONS Ifyou sufer from any of the following conditions, consult your health practitioner for advice before attempting inversion postures: + High blood pressure. While the flow of blood to the brain is kept constant, even during inversion, your own physician should be contacted for advice prior to any practice. + Glaucoma or detached retina, The blood vessels of the eye become engorged during inversions and could ‘worsen the condition + Dise problems in your neck or thoracic vertebrae, particularly cervical spondylitis; reduced dise space inthe vertebrae ofthe neck or arthritis in the cervical vertebrae, In an inversion posture the weight of the body is. taken through the neck. Bring the right hand out to meet the left hand Straighten your legs and let them flow up, Place the crown of yourhead on the ground, with [sr allowing your heels to align above your head. the back ofthe head resting against your Hold the posture, breathing with awareness, for interlocked fingers. Ths wil give you a as long as is comfortable, then release by measurement forthe distance ofthe arms bending the knees and slowiy lowering the feet to the floor Never sit up directly after the Posture ~ go into shankhasana (see page 61) for eee tee are emanates and push up, straightening your legs Slowly walk coming up. “s towards your head, breathing freely. Continue this walking, taking small steps until you feel the point of balance when the hips are over the shoulders. (Once you have felt the point of balance, slowly ‘bento raise your legs, ending the es, Dont e try tock up Tha’ wasted effort. Sty patient CAUTION and work on the posture. Ove time, as your scot pos ou re confidence grows, you will find that moment of | ee Srcomior fargo . petfect balance even inthis inverted potion A eee 0 “hemo maese a post cncusess = al »_ @ re ps ae »