INTRODUCTION
During a study trip to the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute
in Mysore in 1996,1 asked the Ashtanga master K. Pattabhi
Jois about the relevance of different scriptures for the
Ashtanga Vinyasa method. With the words 'This is Patanjali
Yoga', he pointed out that the text of prime importance
for this school was the Yoga Sutra compiled by the ancient
seer Patanjali. He said it was a difficult text, and only
sincere study could lead to an understanding. He urged
me to undertake daily study of the Yoga Sutra for a long
time. The combination of these studies with daily Ashtanga
Vinyasa practice led me eventually to realise that the
Yoga Sutra and the vinyasa method are really only two sides
of the same coin.
That is the central theme of this book. For yoga practice to
be successful, there can be no separation of practice and philosophy.
Indeed, new approaches to practice have always come out of
philosophy, while practice prepares the intellect for philosophy.
In fact the Yoga Sutra suggests that philosophical enquiry
- svadhyaya, or vichara as Shankara calls it -is itself a form
of practice, and an essential ingredient of the path to freedom.
This book is dedicated to bringing the two aspects back together
and to restoring what historically was one system, lost through
the lapse of time.
The rediscovery or the Ashtanga Vinyasa system
The notion that the Yoga Sutra and the vinyasa system are two
sides of one coin has been strongly present from the beginning
of the modern-day Ashtanga Yoga lineage. K.P. Jois received
the vinyasa method from his master, T. Krishnamacharya; Krishnamacharya's
own master, Ramamohan Brahmachary, instructed him to seek out
what was understood to be the last remaining copy of an elusive
scripture, the Yoga Korunta, thought to have been compiled
by the ancient seer Vamana.
According to Krishnamacharya's biography,' the Yoga
Korunta contained not only the vinyasa system but also the Yoga
Sutra of Patanjali and its commentary, Yoga
Bhasya, compiled by the
Rishi Vyasa. These were bound together in one volume. We can
see from this that, in ancient times, what are today regarded
as two systems that only share the same name - namely the Ashtanga
Yoga of Patanjali and the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga of the Rishi
Vamana -were in fact one.
We see here also the idea that yogic philosophy is taught together
with the practice. The practice of asana (posture) alone poses
a danger. According to K.P. Jois, 'Partial yoga methods out
of line with their internal purpose can build up the "six
enemies" (desire, anger, greed, illusion, infatuation
and envy) around the heart. The full Ashtanga system practised
with devotion leads to freedom within one's heart.'2
Today, however, we are in the situation where on the one hand
there are scholars who try to understand the Yoga Sutra without
knowing its practices, while on the other hand there are many
Ashtanga Vinyasa practitioners who are established in practice
but do not know the philosophy of their system. Both aspects
practised together will make practice easy, because we know
where it leads and how we get there. Without dedicated practice,
philosophy can turn into mere theory. Once established in practice,
we will swiftly internalise the philosophy and attain higher
yoga.
1. Krishnamacharya
the Purnacharya, Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram,
Chennai.
2. The Yoga Journal, San Francisco, November/December 1995.
The relevance or Ashtanga Yoga today
I do not claim here that Vinyasa Yoga is the only form of Patanjali
Yoga. That would be absurd. It is, however, one of the authentic
representations of Patanjali's surra that is still alive.
This system is precious - and
relevant - today because it was conceived by the ancient
seer Vamana, the author of the Yoga
Korunta, especially for householders (grihasta).
A householder is somebody who has a job and family, and lives
and works in
society, as opposed to a monk, hermit or ascetic (sannyasi).
Some forms of yoga are designed for hermits who have no social
responsibility and therefore can be engaged with meditation
techniques all day long.
Being a hermit or ascetic, however, was never
a requirement for yoga. As the Bhagavad Gita explains,
'One who outwardly performs his social duties but inwardly
stays free is a yogi'.3 If
everybody ceased performing their social responsibilities,
the text continues,4 this world would
be ruined, for obvious reasons. So we need not be disturbed
if responsibility for
others keeps us from devoting more time to our practice, since
fulfilling one's duty is practice. But what is important is
how we practise. How do we spend the precious rime we can allocate
to practising?
When T. Krishnamacharya had completed his training, his master,
R. Brahmachary, proposed to him that he should get married,
have a family and teach yoga to city-dwellers. This came as
a surprise to the younger man: being so highly trained, he
could have become a great scholar or the abbot of a monastery.
But as a teacher of yoga to city-dwellers he would have very
low social status.
Brahmachary told Krishnamacharya to study the Yoga
Korunta,
as he knew this would equip him best for teaching householders.
The Vinyasa Yoga described in that text was the ideal form
of Patanjali Yoga for householders, since it required only
around two hours of practice per day.
3. Bhagavad Gita III.7.
4. Bhagavad Gita 111.24.
The eight limbs or yoga, and how they work together
According to Patanjali there are eight 'limbs' of yoga. How
they work together can be understood from the following story:
Once upon a time a couple lived happily together
in a country that had an unjust king. The king became jealous
of their happiness
and threw the man into a prison tower. When his wife came
to the tower at night to comfort him, the man called down to
her that
she should
return the next night with a long silken thread, a strong
thread, a cord, a rope, a beetle and some honey. Although
puzzled by
the request, the wife returned the next evening with all
the items. Her husband then asked her to tie the silken thread
to the beetle and smear honey onto its antennae. She should
then place the beetle on the tower wall with its head facing
upwards. Smelling the honey, the beetle started to climb
up
the tower in expectation of finding more of it, dragging
the silken thread as it did so. When it reached the top of
the
tower the man took hold of the silken thread and called down
to his wife that she should tie the strong thread to the
other end. Pulling the strong thread up, he secured it also
and instructed
her further to tie the cord to the other end. Once he had
the cord the rest happened quickly. With the rope attached
to the
cord he pulled it up, secured one end of it and, climbing
down, escaped to freedom.
The couple are, of course, yogis. The prison tower represents
conditioned existence. The silken thread symbolises the purifying
of the body through asana. The strong thread represents pranayama,
breath extension, the cord symbolises meditation and the rope
stands for samadhi, the state of pure being. Once this rope
is held, freedom from conditioned existence is possible.
Patanjali's eight limbs of yoga relate
to Ashtanga Vinyasa practice thus:
The first limb consists of a set of ethics, which ensures that
the yogi interacts in a harmonious way with the surrounding
community. The ethical precepts are: not to harm others, to
be truthful, not to steal, to engage in intercourse only with
one's partner and to abstain from greed.
The second limb consists of observances,
which ensure that body and mind are not polluted once they
have been purified.
Purification in yoga has nothing to do with puritanism. Rather
it refers to the 'stainability' of body and mind. 'Stainability'
is the propensity of the body/mind to take on a conditioning
or imprint from the environment. The observances are physical
and mental cleanliness, contentment, simplicity, study of
sacred texts and acceptance of the existence of the Supreme
Being.
The first two limbs are initially implemented from the outside,
and they form a platform from which practice is undertaken.
Once we are
established in yoga they become our second nature: they will
arise naturally.
The third limb is asana. Many obstacles to knowing one's
true nature are manifested in the body, for example disease,
sluggishness and dullness. The body profoundly influences
and, if in bad condition, impinges on the functioning of
mind and intellect. Through the practice of yoga asanas the
body is made 'strong and light like the body of a lion',
to quote Shri K. Pattabhi Jois. Only then will it provide
the ideal vehicle on the path of yoga.
As the Yoga Sutra explains,5 every thought, emotion and experience
leaves a subconscious imprint (samskara) in the mind. These
imprints determine who we will be in the future. According
to the Brhad Aranyaka Upanishad, as long as liberation is
not achieved, the soul, like a caterpillar that draws itself
from one blade of grass over to the next, will, by the force
of its impressions in this life, reach out and draw itself
over to a new body in a new life.
This means that the body we have today is nothing but the
accumulation of our past thoughts, emotions and actions.
In fact our body is the crystallised history of our past
thoughts. This needs to be deeply understood and contemplated.
It means that asana is the method that releases us from past
conditioning, stored in the body, to arrive in the present
moment. It is to be noted that practising forcefully will
only superimpose a new layer of subconscious imprints based
on suffering and pain. It will also increase identification
with the body. In yoga, identification with anything that
is impermanent is called ignorance (avidya).
This may sound rather abstract at first, but all of us who
have seen a loved one die will remember the profound insight
that, once death has set in, the body looks just like an
empty shell left behind. Since the body is our vehicle and
the storehouse of our past, we want to practise asana to
the point where it serves us well, while releasing and letting
go of the past that is stored in it.
Yoga is the middle path between two extremes. On the one
hand, we can go to the extreme of practising fanatically
and striving for an ideal while denying the reality of this present
moment. The problem with this is that we are only ever
relating to ourselves as
what we
want to become in the future and not as what we are right
now. The other extreme is advocated by some schools of
psychotherapy, which focus on highlighting past traumas.
If we do this,
these traumas can increase their grip on us, and we relate
to ourselves as we have in the past, defining ourselves
by the 'stuff that's coming up' and the 'process that
we are
going through'. Asana is an invitation to say
goodbye to these extremes and arrive at the truth of
the present moment.
How do past emotions, thoughts and impressions manifest in
the body? Some students of yoga experience a lot of anger
on commencing forward bending. This is due to past anger
having been stored in the hamstrings. If we consciously
let go of the anger, the emotion will disappear. If not, it will
surface in some other form, possibly as an act of aggression
or as a chronic disease. Other students feel like crying
after intense backbending. Emotional pain is stored in
the chest, where it functions like armour, hardening around the
heart. This armour may be dissolved in backbending. If
we let go of the armour, a feeling of tremendous relief will
result, sometimes accompanied by crying.
Extreme stiffness can be related to mental rigidity or the
inability to let oneself be transported into unknown
situations. Extreme flexibility, on the other hand, can be related to
the inability to take a position in life and to set boundaries.
In this case, asana practice needs to be more
strength-based, to create a balance and to learn to resist
being stretched
to inappropriate places. Asana invites us to acknowledge
the past and let it go. This will in turn bring us into
the present moment and allow us to let go of limiting concepts
such as who we think we are.
The fourth limb is pranayama. Prana is the life force,
also referred to as the inner breath; pranayama means extension
of prana. The yogis discovered that the pulsating
or oscillating of prana happens simultaneously
with the movements of the mind (chitta vrtti).
The practice of pranayama is the study
and exercise of one's breath to a point where it is appeased
and does not agitate the mind.
In the vinyasa system, pranayama is
practised through applying the ujjayi breath.
By slightly constricting the glottis, the breath is stretched
long. We learn to let the movement follow the breath, which
eventually
leads to the body effortlessly riding the waves of the
breath.
At this point it is not we who move the body, but rather
the power of prana. We become able to breathe
into all parts of the body, which is equivalent to spreading
the prana evenly
throughout. This is ayama - the extension of the
breath.
The fifth limb is pratyahara - sense withdrawal. The Maitri
Upanishad says that, if one becomes preoccupied with
sense objects, the mind is fuelled, which will lead to
delusion
and suffering.6 If, however, the
fuel of the senses is withheld, then, like a fire that
dies down without fuel, the mind becomes
reabsorbed into its source, the heart. 'Heart' in yoga
is a metaphor not for emotions but for our centre, which
is
consciousness or the self.
In Vinyasa Yoga, sense withdrawal is practised through drishti -
focal point. Instead of looking around while practising asana, which
leads to the senses reaching out, we stay internal by turning our gaze towards
prescribed locations. The sense
of hearing is drawn in by listening to the sound of the
breath, which at the same time gives us feedback about the quality
of the asana. By keeping our attention from reaching
out, we develop what tantric philosophy calls the centre
(madhya).
By developing the centre, the mind is eventually suspended
and the prana, which is a manifestation of the
female aspect of creation, the Goddess or Shakti, ceases
to oscillate.
Then the state of divine consciousness (bhairava)
is recognised.7
The sixth limb is dharana - concentration. If you
have tried to meditate on the empty space between two thoughts, you
will know that the mind has the tendency to attach itself
to the next thought arising. Since all objects have form,
and the witnessing subject - the consciousness - is formless,
it tends to be overlooked by the mind. It takes a great
deal of focus to keep watching consciousness when distractions
are available.
The practice of concentration, then, is a prerequisite and
preparation for meditation proper. The training of concentration enables
us to stay focused on whatever object is chosen. First,
simple objects are
selected, which
in turn prepare us for the penultimate 'object', formless
consciousness, which is nothing but pure awareness.
Concentration in Vinyasa Yoga is practised by focusing on
the bandhas. On an external level the focus is on Mula and
Uddiyana Bandha (pelvic and lower abdominal locks), but on
an internal level it is on the bonding together of movement,
breath and awareness (bandha = bonding). To achieve this
bonding, we have to let go of the beta brain-wave pattern,
which normally accompanies concentration. Instead we need
to shift to an alpha pattern, which enables multiple focus
and leads into simultaneous awareness of everything, or being
in this moment, which is meditation.
The seventh limb is dhyana - meditation. Meditation means
to rest, uninfluenced, between the extremes of the mind and
suddenly just 'be' instead of 'becoming'. The difference
between this and the previous limb is that, in concentration,
there is a conscious effort to exclude all thoughts that
are not relevant to our chosen object. In meditation there
is a constant flow of impressions from the object and of
awareness towards the object, without any effort of the will.
Typical objects chosen are the heart lotus, the inner sound,
the breath, the sense-of-I, the process of perception and
intellect, one's meditation deity (ishtadevata) or the Supreme
Being.
In Vinyasa Yoga, meditation starts when, rather than doing the practice, we are being
done or moved. At this point we
realise that, since we can watch the body, we are not the
body but a deeper-lying witnessing entity. The vinyasa practice
is the constant coming and going of postures, the constant
change of form, which we never hold onto. It is itself a
meditation on impermanence. When we come to the point of
realising that everything we have known so far - the world,
the body, the mind and the practice - are all subject to
constant change, we have arrived at meditation on intelligence
(buddhi).
Meditation does not, however, occur only in dhyana,
but in all stages of the practice. In fact the Ashtanga
Vinyasa
system is a movement meditation. First we meditate on the
position of the body in space, which is asana. Then we
meditate on the life force moving the body, which is pranayama.
The next
stage is to meditate on the senses through drishti and
listening to the breath, which is pratya-hara. Meditating
on the binding together of all aspects of the practice
is concentration (dharana).
The eighth limb, samadhi, is
of two kinds -objective and objectless. Objective samadhi
is when the mind for the
first time, like a clear jewel, reflects faithfully what
it is directed at and does not just produce another simulation
of reality.8 In other words the
mind is clarified to an extent that it does not modify
sensory input at all.
To experience this, we have to 'de-condition' ourselves
to the extent that we let go of all limiting and negative
programs of the past. Patanjali says, 'Memory is purified,
as if emptied of its own form'. 9 Then
all that can be known about an object is known.
Objectless samadhi is the highest form of yoga. It does
not depend on an object for its arising but, rather, the
witnessing subject or awareness, which is our true nature,
is revealed. In this samadhi the thought waves are suspended,
which leads to knowing of that which was always there:
consciousness or the divine self. This final state is beyond
achieving, beyond doing, beyond practising. It is a state
of pure ecstatic being described by the term kaivalya -
a state in which there is total freedom and independence
from any external stimulation whatsoever.
In the physical disciplines of yoga, samadhi is reached
by suspending the extremes of solar (pingala) and lunar
(ida) mind. This state arises when the inner breath (prana)
enters the central channel (sushumna). Then truth or deep
reality suddenly flashes forth.
5. Yoga Sutra 11.12.
6.
Maitri Upanishad VI.35.
7. Vijnanabhairava, trans. and annot. Jaideva Singh, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi,
1979, p. 23.
8. Yoga Sutra 1.41.
9. Yoga Sutra 1.43, quoted from The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, trans. C. Chappie,
Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi, 1990, p. 53.
Why
a traditional practice is still applicable
A peasant once spoke to the
sage Ramakrishna thus: 'I am a simple villager. Please
give me in one sentence a method
by which I can obtain happiness.'
Ramakrishna's answer was:
Totally accept the fact that you are a machine operated upon
by God.' This needs to be deeply understood. It is through
the belief that individuals exercise free will that ego is produced;
and, in turn, ego produces suffering. In the Bhagavad
Gita Lord Krishna states, 'All actions are done in all cases by
the gunas (qualities) of prakrti (nature). He whose mind
is deluded through egoism thinks I am the doer.' 10
This means that the entire cosmos, including
our body-mind complex, is an unconscious machine operated
upon by God.
Our self, who is pure consciousness, is forever inactive.
It merely witnesses. The giving up of the idea that it is
we who act is echoed in the Yoga Sutra by Patanjali's
use of the term kaivalya. This final state of yoga
is the realisation of the complete independence of consciousness.
Since it is
completely independent, it has no way of influencing the
world. Like a mirror, which simply reflects, consciousness
can neither reject nor hold on to objects of its choice.
Give up the sense of agency,11 says Krishna: 'Only a
fool believes I am the doer.'
The surrender of the illusion of free will
is reflected in the vinyasa system by acceptance
of the original system as expounded by the Rishi Vamana.
Of course it is easy to make
up our own sequences of asanas, and possibly commercial
success and fame will result. But then we run the risk of
falling
for the ego, which says I am the doer and the creator. We
are only pure consciousness - the seer, the witness, the
self - which, as the Samkhya Karika 12 says,
plays no active part in this world.
That does not mean we cannot adapt the practice for some
time if difficulties are to be met or yoga therapy needs
to be practised. We need to return to the original system
whenever possible, though. Rishi Vamana's system leads through
outer structure and limitation to inner freedom. If we constantly
practise self-made sequences, we create inner limitation
through outer freedom.
The rishis of old did not conceive the
ancient arts and sciences by trial and error. The method
they employed was samyama,
which combines concentration (dharana), meditation
(dhyana)
and absorption (samadhi). In that way, deep knowledge
of how things really are can be gained. Patanjali himself explains
in the Yoga Sutra how he gained his knowledge. Knowledge
of the mind, he says, is gained by doing samyama on the heart.13
He also explains how the body can be understood.
Medical knowledge, he says," is gained by practising samyama on
the navel chakra. This is how the science of Ayurveda came
into being. It should be noted that Patanjali compiled the
Charaka Samhita, an ayurvedic
text. When we study and practise the ancient sciences today,
we need to do this with a feeling of respect and devotion. The
teachings of the ancient masters have never been declared
invalid. They have only ever been added to.
10. Srimad Bhagavad Gita, trans. Sw. Vireswarananda, Sri
Ramakrishna Math, Madras, p. 79.
11. Frequently used in Indian texts, this word means 'the
condition of being in action or exercising power'.
12. A text describing Samkhya, the ancient prototype of all
Indian philosophies.
13. Yoga Sutra 111.34.
14. Yoga Sutra 111.29.
PART I
FUNDAMENTALS:
BREATH, BANDHAS, DRISHTI, VINYASA
Breath
The most visible aspect of the Ashtanga Yoga system is the
different yoga asanas (postures). More important, though,
is the invisible content, which consists of three fundamental
techniques. These techniques bind the postures together on
a string so that they become a yoga mala or garland.1
In the Vinyasa Yoga system the body is used as a mantra,
the postures represent beads and the three fundamental techniques
form the string that holds the beads together to create a
garland of yoga postures. The system is designed to work
as a movement meditation, where the transitions from each
posture to the next are as important as the postures themselves.
For the beginner it is essential to learn these three fundamental
techniques at the outset. Once they are mastered, the practice
will happen almost effortlessly. Without them it can become
hard work. The three techniques are Ujjayi pranayama, Mula
Bandha and Uddiyana Bandha. We now focus on the first of
these.
Ujjayi pranayama means 'victorious breath' or the victorious
stretching of the breath. The term pranayama is a combination
of two words, prana and ayama. Ayama means extending or stretching,
while prana can have several meanings. It is usually taken
to mean inner breath or life force, and as such it makes
up part of the subtle anatomy of the body. Other elements
of the subtle anatomy are nadis (energy channels) and chakras (energy centres). Sometimes, however, prana is used to refer
to the outer or anatomical breath.2 In this context pranayama means extension of breath: the adoption of a calm, peaceful
and steady breathing pattern. When the breath is calm, the
mind is also calm.
1. The expression 'yoga mala' was coined by Sri K. Pattabhi
Jois, and he is the author of a book with that title.
2. Prana has another meaning in the context of the principle
of the ten individual currents within the life force, where
it has reference to inhaling only.
Ujjayi pranayama is a process of stretching the breath, and
in this way extending the life force. Practising it requires
a slight constriction of the glottis - the upper opening
of the larynx - by partially closing it with the epiglottis.
The epiglottis is a lid on the throat that is closed when
we drink water and open when we breathe. By half closing
the epiglottis we stretch the breath and create a gentle
hissing sound, which we listen to throughout the entire practice.
The sound produced seemingly comes from the centre of the
chest and not from the throat. The vocal cords are not engaged,
as that would lead to strain: any humming that accompanies
a sound like wind in the trees or waves on the shore should
be eradicated.
Listening to the sound of your own breath has several implications.
First and foremost it is a pratyahara technique. Pratyahara,
the fifth limb of yoga, means 'withdrawing the senses from
the outer world' or, more simply, 'going inside'. This will
be considered in detail later. For now it will suffice to
say that listening to your own breath draws your attention
inward and takes it away from external sounds. This is a
meditation aid.
Furthermore the sound of the breath can teach us almost everything
we need to learn about our attitude in the posture. At times
the breath may sound strained, laboured, short, aggressive,
flat, shallow or fast. By bringing it back to the ideal of
a smooth, pleasant sound we begin to correct any negative
or unhelpful attitudes.
To practise Ujjayi, sit in an
upright but comfortable position. Start producing the Ujjayi sound
steadily, with no breaks between breaths. Give the sound
an even quality throughout
the entire length of the breath, both inhaling and exhaling.
Lengthen each breath and deepen it. Breathe evenly into the
ribcage. Breathe simultaneously into the sides, the front,
the back and finally into the upper lobes of the lungs. The
ribcage needs to have a gentle pulsating movement, which
means the internal intercostals (the muscles between the ribs)
relax on inhalation, allowing the ribcage to expand freely
as we breathe.
Our culture tends to focus only on abdominal breathing, which
leads not only to a slouching posture but also to rigidity
of the ribcage. This is due to the intercostal muscles lacking
exercise, which in turn blocks the flow of blood and life
force in the thorax and opens the way to coronary disease
and cardiopulmonary weakness. The slouching appearance in
this area is due to a relaxation of the rectus abdominis
muscle, commonly known as 'the abs'. This slouching makes
the belly soft and promotes abdominal breathing.
Furthermore this relaxation of the rectus abdominis allows
the pubic bone to drop, leading to an anterior (forward)
tilt of the pelvis, which produces a hyperlordotic low back,
commonly referred to as a sway back. This in turn lifts the
origin of the erector spinae,3 the main back extensor muscle.
Thus shortened, the erector spinae loses its effectiveness
in lifting the chest. The chest collapses, leading not only
to a slouching appearance but also to a rigid, hard ribcage.
This prevents the thoracic organs from getting massaged during
breathing. The lack of massage and movement of heart and
lungs lowers their resistance to disease. The compensatory
pattern, leading to a sway back, an anteriorly tilted pelvis
and a collapsed chest, is one of the worst postural imbalances,
and its main cause is favouring abdominal breathing and the
resulting weakness of the abdominals.
In yoga we use both the abdomen and the thorax to breathe.
The intercostals are exercised through actively breathing.
The air is literally pumped out of the lungs until all that
remains is the respiratory rest volume, the amount of air
left after a full exhalation. The aim is to breathe more
deeply so as to increase vitality. The way to achieve this
is not by inhaling as much as possible but by first exhaling
completely in order to create space for the new inhalation.
There are two vital reasons for wanting to increase breath
volume. Firstly, by increasing our inhalation we increase
the amount of oxygen supplied.
Secondly, by increasing our exhalation we exhale more toxins.
These toxins fall into several categories:
•
Mental toxins - examples include the thought of conflict
towards another being or collective conflict like the wish
to go to war with another nation for whatever reason.
•
Emotional toxins - fear, anger, hatred, jealousy, attachment
to suffering and the like.
•
Physical toxins - metabolic waste products that are not being
excreted.
•
Environmental toxins - lead, nicotine, carbon dioxide, sulfur
dioxide, recreational drugs and the like.
All of these toxins have a tendency to be held and stored
in the body in 'stale', 'dead' areas where there is only
a small amount of oxygen, often around the joints or in adipose
tissue (fat). The build-up of these toxins - a literal energetic
dying of certain body areas long before the death of the
entire organism - can eventually lead to chronic disease.
In fact the buildup of toxins and the simultaneous depletion
of oxygen in certain tissues is the number-one cause of chronic
disease.
By breathing deeply, exhaling accumulated toxins and inhaling
oxygen, we take the first steps towards returning the body
to its original state of health. More steps are required,
and these will be covered later. Briefly they are storing
energy (in the section below on bandhas) and awakening the
whole body (Part 2, Asana).
The main reason for practising Ujjayi
pranayama is not, however,
for its physical benefits, but rather in order to still the
mind. Why should the mind be stilled? Yoga Sutra 1.2 states,
'Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind'. Sutra
1.3 says, 'Only then when the mind is still abides the seer
in its true nature'.
The mind can be likened to a lake. If thought waves (vrtti)
appear, the surface of the lake is disturbed and ripples
appear. Looking into the water you can see only a distorted
representation of your appearance. This distortion is what
we constantly see, and it is the reason we don't know our
true selves. This leads to suffering (duhkha) and ignorance
(avidya).
When the thought waves have subsided and the surface of the
lake of the mind becomes still for the first time, we can
see who we really are. The mind is completely
clear and, as a result, we can achieve identity with the
object it is directed at.4 The notion of stilling the fluctuations
of the mind is often referred to as the arresting of the
mind or mind control in yogic literature. The term 'mind
control' is misleading and unfortunate, however. It was rigorously
criticised by sages like Ramana Maharshi, who said that if
you want to control the mind you need a second mind to control
the first one, and a third to control the second. Aside from
this infinite regression, having separate parts of your mind
struggle for control over each other can lead to schizophrenia.
In less extreme cases it can lead to becoming a 'control
freak', which makes for being a thoroughly unhappy person.
Ancient yogis found a solution to this
problem when they realised that thinking (vrtti)
and movement of life force (prana) happen together.
According to the Hatha
Yoga Pradipika,
'Both the mind and the breath are united together like milk
and water and both of them are equal in their activities.
The mind begins its activities where there is the breath,
and the prana begins its activities where there is the mind.' 5
We know now that mind and breath move together. Influencing
the mind directly is regarded as difficult, but through directing
the breath it can be achieved much more easily. The extension
of the breath through the practice of Ujjayi pranayama smooths
the flow of prana.
It is important always to breathe through the nose only.
If we breathe through the mouth, heat and energy will be
lost. It will also dry us out too much. According to Indian
tradition, if the mouth is kept open demons will enter. Apparently
demons become very jealous of the merit that a yogi accumulates.
I will leave this view to individual evaluation.
Remember the connection between breath and movement: every
movement comes out of breath. Rather than moving with and
following the breath, the breath should initiate the movement.
Practising this way, we will be moved by the breath like
the autumn wind picking up leaves.
3. The origin
of a muscle is the end that is closer to the centre of the
body, called the proximal end; its insertion is the end more
distant from the centre of the body, called the distal end.
4. Yoga Sutra 1.41.
5. Hatha Yoga Pradipika FV.24, trans. Pancham Sinh, Sri Satguru
Publications, Delhi, 1915, p. 50.
Bandhas
We have learned in the previous section about the importance
of deep breathing. What is it exactly that makes yogic breathing
so effective?
To answer this we have to look again at the idea of prana.
As we already know, prana can refer to the anatomical breath,
but it most often denotes life force, located in the subtle
body. It is important to understand that the two are not
identical. However, the movements of the life force that
occur in the subtle or energetic body have some correlation
to the movement of breath in the gross body. The flow of
prana can be influenced by directing one's breath. It can
even be accumulated and stored. Most of us have heard accounts
of yogis who managed to survive without oxygen for extended
periods of time. Although it is not the purpose of yoga to
perform such feats, it is nevertheless possible using a set
of exercises called mudras, mudra meaning 'seal'. They are
a combination of posture, breath and bandha, and they produce
the sealing of prana. It is this process of gaining control
of the life force that differentiates yogic exercise from
mere gymnastics. Gymnastics and sport can make one fit, but
they don't have the energy-preserving effect of yoga, because
they do not use mudra and bandha. It is the combination of
posture with pranayama and bandha that makes yoga so effective.
The term bandha is related to the English word 'bonding'.
We bond breath, movement and awareness together. The first
bandha is called Mula Bandha, which translates as 'root lock'.
The root referred to here is the root of the spine, the pelvic
floor or, more precisely, the centre of the pelvic floor,
the perineum. The perineum is the muscular body between the
anus and the genitals. By slightly contracting the pubo-coccygeal
(PC) muscle, which goes from the pubic bone to the tail bone
(coccyx), we create an energetic seal that locks prana into
the body and so prevents it from leaking out at the base
of the spine. Mula Bandha is said to move prana into the
central channel, called sushumna, which is the subtle equivalent
of the spine.
Locating the PC muscle might be difficult
at first. It has been suggested that one should tighten the
anus, or alternatively
contract the muscle that one would use to stop urination,
but these indications are not entirely accurate: Mula
Bandha is neither of these two muscles
but located right between them. These suggestions have their
value, however, offering some guidance until we become more
sensitive and are able to isolate the PC muscle more precisely.
For females it is essential not to mistake Mula Bandha for
a contraction of the cervix. This contraction tends to occur
especially during strenuous activity. Should a woman do this
on a daily basis when engaged in two hours of yoga practice,
she could experience difficulty in giving birth.
In the beginning we employ mainly a gross muscular lock,
which works mainly on the gross body. Through practice we
shift to an energetic lock, which works more on the subtle
or pranic body. When mastered, Mula Bandha becomes exclusively
mental, and works on the causal body.
To become familiar with Mula Bandha, sit tall and upright
in a comfortable position and focus on slightly contracting
the perineum, which is the centre of the pelvic floor. With
the exhalation, visualise the breath beginning at the nostrils
and slowly reaching down through the throat, the chest and
the abdomen until it eventually hooks into the pelvic floor,
which contracts slightly. As the inhalation starts, there
will be an automatic reaching upwards. Since we keep the
breath hooked into the pelvic floor through contracting the
PC muscle, we create suction and an energetic lift upwards
through the entire core of the body. This is Mula Bandha.
With this movement the first step is taken to arrest the
downward flow of life force, which increases with age and
invites death, disease and decay like the withering of a
plant, and convert it into an upward flow that promotes growth
and further blossoming.
Mula Bandha is held throughout
the entire breathing cycle and during the whole practice.
Every posture needs to grow
out of its root. This is only finally released during deep
relaxation in complete surrender. The second bandha is Uddiyana
Bandha. It is sometimes confused with Uddiyana,
one of the shot karmas or six actions, also called kriyas,
of Hatha Yoga. This Uddiyana is a preparation for nauli,
the stomach roll. Nauli is practised by sucking
the entire abdominal content up into the thoracic cavity.
It is done only during
breath retention (kumbhaka) and it is very different
from the technique practised in Vinyasa Yoga. The Uddiyana
Bandha of Vinyasa Yoga is a much gentler exercise.
It consists of lightly contracting the transverse abdominis
muscle, which runs horizontally across the abdomen and is
used to draw the abdominal contents in against the spine.
To successfully switch on Uddiyana
Bandha, it is important
to isolate the upper transverse abdominis muscle from the
lower part and use only the part below the navel. Doing otherwise
impinges on the free movement of the diaphragm. If the movement
of the diaphragm is restricted for a long time, aggressive,
boastful, egotistical and macho-like tendencies can develop
in the psyche. This is not endorsed by traditional teaching,
however. Shankara and Patanjali provide us with the following
explanations. True posture, according to Shankara, is that
which leads effortlessly to meditation on Brahman and not
to pain and self-torture. Patanjali says that asana is perfected
when meditation on the infinite (ananta) is achieved through
the releasing of excess effort. 6
Some have claimed that Ashtanga Yoga is warrior yoga, and
that warriors used it to psych themselves up for battle.
This is a very sad misunderstanding. Those who have had a
true experience of the practice will have come away feeling
tired and happy -and definitely not psyched up for battle.
Rather, one feels more like hugging one's enemy and, in complete
surrender, handing them whatever they demand - perhaps even
imparting genuine advice as to how to enjoy their life and
not waste it with such stupidities as aggression and warfare.
There is no warrior yoga. War and yoga exclude each other
because the first yogic commandment is ahimsa -non-violence.
Richard Freeman says that Uddiyana
Bandha is in fact only
a slight suction inward just above the pubic bone. The more
subtle Uddiyana Bandha becomes, the more blissful, peaceful,
childlike and innocent becomes the character of the practitioner.
I suggest starting by firming the abdominal wall below the
navel and then, as awareness increases with years of practice,
allow Uddiyana Bandha to slide downwards. Again, the more
subtle it becomes, the more influence Uddiyana Bandha will
have on the subtle body.
As I have mentioned in the previous section, a lot of emphasis
has been placed on abdominal breathing in our culture in
the last forty years. This has its place in the performing
arts - especially dance and theatre - and for therapy. It
is certainly helpful for singers and actors, and for someone
undergoing psychotherapy. Abdominal breathing, with complete
relaxation of the abdominal wall, is recommended as useful
whenever we want to connect to our emotions and bring them
to the fore. In the New Age movement in particular, emotions
are seen as something sacred that one needs to follow and
live out. Abdominal breathing is a good idea whenever one
wants to intensify one's emotions.
In many other situations, though, it is
not helpful to heighten one's emotions. After all, emotions
are only a form of the
mind. To be emotional means to react to a present situation
according to a past conditioning. For example, if I am rejected
in a certain situation that is new to me, I will feel hurt.
If I find myself in a similar situation again, I will become
emotional even before any new hurt has been inflicted. I
will emote 'hurt' before I actually feel it. An emotion is
a conserved feeling that arises because the original feeling
has left a subconscious imprint in the mind. Patanjali calls
this imprint samskara. The theory that being emotional
is being more authentic is flawed, since an emotional person
is as much in the past as a person who is constantly 'in
their head'.
Besides the fact that it makes one emotional, constant abdominal
breathing also has negative physical repercussions. It leads
to sagging, collapsing abdominal organs with enlarged, weak
blood vessels and stagnant blood. Then follow a lack of oxygen
supply, a decrease in vitality and eventually the development
of chronic disease.
If the lower abdominal wall is kept firm
and the upper wall is relaxed, the diaphragm moves up and
down freely and the
whole abdomen functions like the combustion chamber of an
engine, with the diaphragm as the piston. This produces a
strong oscillation of infra-abdominal blood pressure, and
it is exactly this mechanism that produces healthy abdominal
organs. When the diaphragm moves down and the abdominal wall
is held, the pressure in the combustion chamber will rise.
When the diaphragm moves up, all the blood is sucked out
of the abdomen and blood pressure drops. This strong oscillation
of abdominal
blood pressure constantly massages the internal organs and
leads to strong, healthy tissue. 7
We look now at the subtle mechanics of Uddiyana
Bandha. Uddiyana means flying up.
The Hatha
Yoga Pradipika states that, because
of Uddiyana Bandha, the great bird of prana flies
up incessantly through the sushumna. 8 Sushumna is the central
energy channel,
which lies, albeit in the subtle body, roughly in front of
the spine and originates at the perineum. It terminates within
the head - some sources say at the highest point of the head,
but more often it is described as ending where the head is
joined to the spine. The sushumna is usually dormant. It
is accompanied by two other nadis (energy channels), which
wind around it like the snakes of the caduceus. These are
the lunar (ida) and solar (pingala) channels. There are certain
parallels between solar and lunar energy channels on the
one hand and the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous
systems on the other, but we cannot say that the one is the
other.
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika explains
that prana should be directed
into sushumna by closing the ida and pin-gala. 9 The
same text states that, by practising Mula Bandha, prana will
enter sushumna. In a later stanza of the text a
great truth is revealed: time (which we perceive as the fluctuation
of
night and day) is produced by the sun and moon. 10 In
other words, it is the illusion of time that prevents us
from recognising
deep reality (Brahman), which is timeless and is fabricated
by the moment of inner breath (prana) in the pingala (solar)
and ida (lunar) energy channels.
The stanza goes on to reveal the key to all physical yoga,
which is that the sushumna devours time. In other
words, if prana is made to enter the central channel
it will devour time, which is itself a creation of the fluctuating
mind
and which keeps us from abiding in deep reality, the timeless
consciousness (Brahman). Time is the operating system of
the human mind; to go beyond time is to go beyond mind. This
is possible when the great bird of prana flies up in sushumna,
and sushumna devours time. For this the use of Mula and Uddiyana
Bandha is prescribed.
Even the great Shankara says that Mula
Bandha should always
be practised, since it is fit for raja yogins. In other words,
even raja yogins - those who practise mind suspension and
who are sometimes disparaging about Hatha yogins and their
preoccupation with their bodies - should take up the practice
of Mula Bandha, since it leads to going beyond mind. If we
remember now Patanjali's definition of yoga being the suspension
of mind," we begin to understand the importance of Mula and Uddiyana
Bandha.
6. Yoga Sutra
11.47.
7. This process
is described by Andre Van Lysbeth in his book Die gross? Kraft
des Atems, which he wrote after he studied with K. Pattabhi
Jois in the 1960s.
8. Hatha Yoga Pradipika 111.56.
9. Hatha Yoga Pradipika 111.73.
10. Hatha Yoga Pradipika IV.17.
Drishti
We move on now to drishti or focal point. As we have seen,
the fifth limb of yoga is sense withdrawal (pratyahara).
The Upanishads explain that the senses deliver the fuel for
the mind in the form of sense objects. The mind then develops
desires, which are the source of suffering. The mind's basic
concept is that we are lacking. This lack, according to the
mind, can only be alleviated through a constant supply of
stimulation from outside.
The concept of yoga, on the other hand, holds that we are
always in the original and pristine state of bliss, which
is consciousness. This original state is formless, however;
and, since the mind has the tendency to attach itself
to whatever comes along next, we forget our true nature. Sense
withdrawal means to accept the fact that external stimuli
can never truly fulfil us. Once that is accepted, we
are free to realise that what we were desperately looking for
on the outside was present inside all along. The Upanishads explain further that, as a fire dies down when the fuel is
withheld, so the mind will return to its source when the
fuel of the senses is withheld. The method - or rather the
collection of methods -by which this can be brought about
is sense withdrawal (pratyahara).
As has been explained, the withdrawal of the audio sense
is brought about by listening to one's own breath rather
than to external sounds. The
11. Yoga Sutra 1.2.
withdrawal or turning in of the visual sense is practised
through drishti, the attachment of one's gaze to various
focal points. These are:
• towards the nose
• towards the centre of the forehead (third eye)
• towards the navel
• towards the hand
• towards the toes
• towards the side
• towards the thumb
• upwards
By doing this, one prevents oneself from looking around,
which would let the mind reach out. Following drishti, the
practice becomes deeply internal and meditative.
Drishti is also a practice of concentration (dharana), the
sixth of Patanjali's limbs of yoga. If we practise in a distracted
way, we may find ourselves listening to the birds outside
and gazing around the room. To perform all of the prescribed
actions - bandha, ujjayi, drishti and finding proper alignment
- the mind needs to be fully concentrated; otherwise one
of the elements will miss out. In this way the practice provides
us with constant feedback about whether we are in dharana.
In time dharana will lead to meditation (dhyana).
Drishti has also a significant
energetic aspect. According to the Yoga Yajnavalkya,
which contains the yoga teachings of the sage Yajnavalkya,
'One must endeavour to retain all
the prana through the mind, in the navel, the
tip of the nose and the big toes. Focussing at the tip
of the nose is
the means to mastery over prana. By focussing
on the navel all diseases are removed. The body attains
lightness by focussing
on the big toes.' 12 According to
A.G. Mohan, a student of T. Krishnamacharya and translator
of the Yoga Yajnavalkya,
the aim of yoga is to concentrate the prana in the body,
whereas it is usually scattered. A scattered prana will
correspond to a scattered state of mind.
The scattered state of mind is called vikshipta in the Yoga
Sutra. Prana that is drawn inwards and concentrated in the
body corresponds to the single-pointed (ekagra) and suspended (nirodha) states of mind,
which lead to objective (samprajnata) and objectless
(asamprajnata) samadhi. In the Ashtanga Vinyasa method,
drishti is one of the vital techniques to draw the prana inwards. Anyone who has practised in front of a mirror
may have noticed how looking into it draws awareness
away from the core towards the surface. Exactly this
happens to the flow of prana, which follows awareness.
Practising in front of a mirror might be helpful from
time to time to check one's alignment if no teacher is
present, but it is preferable to develop proprioceptive
awareness - awareness that does not depend on visual
clues. This type of awareness draws prana inwards, which
corresponds to what the Upanishads call dissolving the
mind into the heart. The permanent establishing of prana in the core of the body leads to samadhi or liberation.
As enthusiastic as some scriptures
are about techniques like drishti, we have
to remember we are still just operating within conditioned
existence. The master Shankara reminds
us: 'Converting the ordinary vision into one of knowledge
one should view the world as brahman (consciousness)
itself. That is the noblest vision and not that which
is directed
to the tip of the nose." 13
12. Yoga-Yajnavalkya,
trans. A.G. Mohan, Ganesh & Co, Madras, pp. 81-82.
13. Aparokshanubhuti of Sri Shankaracharya, trans. Sw.
Vimuktananda, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, 1938, p. 63.
Vinyasa
Vinyasa Yoga is a system of yoga specifically designed
for householders. The difference between a householder
(grihasta) and a renunciate (sannyasi) is that the latter
has no social duties and can therefore devote ten or more
hours per day to practice. In fact, if individual techniques
pertaining to all the eight limbs were practised daily,
one would easily spend more than ten hours practising.
For example a wonderful day could be had by practising
asana for two hours, pranayama for two hours, mudra and
japa (repetition of mantra) each for one hour, reading
of scripture one hour, chanting of scripture one hour,
reflection and contemplation one hour, meditation one hour.
A householder - meaning someone who
has a family and a job or a business to attend to -
can never spend so much time on the practice. The idea
of completely
turning your back on society is actually fairly recent,
relatively speaking. It was introduced by Gautama Buddha
and elaborated on by Shankara. The ancient Vedic and
upanishadic rishis, although they spent considerable
time in the forest,
were not dropouts. Rishis like Yajnavalkya, Vasishta
and Vishvamitra had wives and children, and held positions
such as priest or royal counsellor.
For a yoga practice to work for householders, it would
be necessary to compress it into two hours and yet retain
its benefits, and so the eight limbs would have to be practised
simultaneously and not sequentially. With this in mind
Rishi Vamana created the Vinyasa Yoga. The rishi arranged
the practice in sequences, such that the postures were
potentiating their effects, and combined them with mudra,
pranayama and meditation so that a ten-hour practice could
be effectively compressed into two hours.
One of Vinyasa Yoga's outstanding features is that postures
are not held for a long time. One of the greatest traps
in physical yoga is to get identified with postures and
preoccupied with the body. One thinks, 'Now I am sitting
in Padmasana. This is yoga!' One couldn't be more wrong.
To perceive the awareness that witnesses sitting in Padmasana -that is yoga.
The core idea of Vinyasa Yoga is to shift emphasis from
posture to breath and therefore to realise that postures,
like all forms, are impermanent. The formed - asanas, bodies
of life-forms, structures, nations, planets etc. - come
and go. The quest of yoga is for the formless (consciousness)
- for what was here before form arose and what will be
here after form has subsided. For this reason it was necessary
to organise the practice in such a way that nothing impermanent
is held on to. Vinyasa Yoga is a meditation on impermanence.
The only thing permanent in the practice
is the constant focus on the breath. According to the
Brahma Sutra, 14 'ata
eva pranah' - the breath verily is Brahman. The breath
is here identified as a metaphor for Brahman (= deep
reality, ultimate reality, infinite consciousness).
This assertion
is based on the authority of the Chandogya Upanishad,
where the question is asked: Which is that divinity?15 Answer:
'Breath ... Verily, indeed
all beings enter (into life) with breath and depart (from
life) with breath' 16 Through vinyasa the
postures are linked to form a mala.
A mala is commonly
used to count mantras during mantra meditation, whereas
in Vinyasa Yoga every asana becomes a bead
on this mala of yoga postures. In this way
the practice becomes a movement meditation.
The practice produces heat, which is needed to burn
toxins. Not only physical toxins are meant here, but
also the poison of ignorance and delusion. The full-vinyasa practice, which entails coming back to standing between
postures, has a flushing effect through the constant
forward bending. It can be recommended in cases of
strong, persistent toxicity and for recuperation after
disease. The half-vinyasa practice, in which one jumps
back between performance of the right and left sides
of sitting postures, is designed to create a balance
between strength and flexibility and to increase heat.
If asana only is practised, this might lead to excess
flexibility, which can destabilise the body. The proper
position of the bones in the body, and especially of
the spine, is remembered by sustaining a certain core
tension in the muscles. If the tension is insufficient,
frequent visits to a chiropractor or osteopath may
become necessary.
In the vinyasa method, this possibility is avoided
by jumping back between sides, which gives us the strength
to support the amount of flexibility that is gained.
This concept is important to understand. Flexibility
that cannot be supported by strength should not be
aimed for.
The underlying principle here is
that of simultaneous expansion into opposing directions.
Whenever we expand
into one direction, we at the same time need to counteract
that by expanding into the opposite direction. In this
way we are not caught into extremes of body and mind.
Patanjali says, "Thus one is unassailed by the
pair of opposites'. 17 For this
reason one needs to place the same importance on vinyasa as on asana. As
Rishi Vamana put it, 'Yogi don't practise asana without
vinyasa'.
14. Brahma Sutra I.I.23.
15. Chandogya Upanishad 1:11:5.
16. G.C. Adams, Jr, trans. and comment., Badarayana's
Brahma Sutras, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1993, p.
60.
17. Yoga Sutra 11.48.
Vinyasa count
In colloquial language today, the term vinyasa is taken
to refer to the jumping back and jumping through between
the sides of postures (half vinyasa) and the movement
that brings us to standing between postures (full vinyasa).
In the ancient treatise Yoga
Korunta, vinyasa refers
to every counted movement, accompanied by breath and
focal point. The vinyasa count is a format in which
the Rishi Vamana recorded the Ashtanga practice in
the Yoga Korunta.
Each movement that is needed to enter and exit a pose
in the traditional way is counted. Since the postures
differ not only greatly from each other but also as
to the way in which they are entered and exited, they
also differ very much in regard to the number of sequential
movements that are needed to perform them (their vinyasa counts). So Padangush-tasana has only three vinyasas (counted movements) whereas Supta
Padangushtasana has
twenty-eight. All vinyasas are flowing movements. The
only one that is held is the vinyasa where we are in
the state of the asana. To be in the state of the asana means to be in and to hold a posture. For Padangushtasana,
for example, this is vinyasa three. This vinyasa is
held usually for five breaths, though for therapeutic
purposes it may be held for twenty-five breaths or
more. The fact that one vinyasa may consist of up to
twenty-five breaths leads us to the understanding that
vinyasa count and the number of breaths, the breath
count, are not identical.
In the following section I describe the postures following
the half-vinyasa count. That is the way I learned it
in Mysore and it is the normal mode of practice today.
To make this text more accessible to beginners I have
counted the vinyasas in English. The original vinyasa count is, however, in Sanskrit, and it is important
to preserve this precious tradition. Accordingly, I
use the Sanskrit count when I conduct a vinyasa-count
class. For those who want to study the vinyasa count
more closely I recommend K. Pattabhi Jois's Yoga
Mala and Lino Mieles's Ashtanga
Yoga.
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