Om Ganapathaye ! FIFTY TWO YEARS IN THE PROPAGATION OF CLASSICAL RISHICULTURE ASHTANGA YOGA This month's issue is devoted to the vital topic of INTERNATIONAL Yoga and Cultural Misappropriation and highlights the MONTHLY work done by the MAP team of Malini-Ananda- Padma who have created an invaluable e-resource, a road map for Vol.52 No. 07, JULY 2021 the manifestation of “Culturally Appropriate Yoga”. This was born out of one of Dr Ananda's Scintillating Saturday CONTENTS sessions where he delved deeply into the hot topic and expressed the need to change the narrative and restore a DHARMA CONTINUES TO MANIFEST - 02 vision of Dharma, the true context of Yoga. WITH BEAUTY AND GRACE This e-book was released officially on 21 June 2021 DHARMA ON CULTURAL MISAPPROPRIATION IN YOGA - 03 during the 7th International Day of Yoga 2021 and the A DHARMIC GUIDE TO YOGA AND virtual get-together of the Gitananda Yoga Parivar CULTURAL MISAPPROPRIATION - 10 attended by members of the Rishiculture Ashtanga Yoga GARUDA ASANA: EAGLE POSE - 13 tradition from all around the world. This e-book is THE RULE OF FIVE - 17 aesthetically designed, culturally relevant and filled with WE ARE DIVINE AND VERY HUMAN - 19 contemporary reading that will hopefully stimulate - 21 everyone in the field of Yoga to take another look at how ARE YOU READY FOR YOGA TEACHER TRAINING? - 22 Yoga is presented in modern times. Dr Ananda expresses his gratitude to Yogasadhaki Malini and Yogacharini THE THROES OF COVID MELANCHOLIA Padma for creating this most amazing resource with love, dedication and sincerity. Yoga without its cultural context, MATSYENDRASANA - THE POSTURE - 24 is no longer Yoga and hence we must be mindful of the OF THE LORD OF THE FISHES - 27 necessity to retain the content for Yoga to be alive through us. MY JOURNEY WITH DHIVYA PRIYA AKKA AT YOGNAT Pundit Satish K Sharma ji, Project Director of the THOUGHTS ABOUT PRANAYAMA IN THE - 28 British Board of Dharmic Scholars endorsed the resource GITANANDA YOGA TRADITION stating, “Whilst we are under enforced introspection, here's a beautiful potent guide to immersing, enjoying and teaching YogaVidya whilst also preserving and protecting the most valuable indigenous Darshana, the Science of Conscious Self Evolution”. As we firmly believe in caring and sharing the e- book may be downloaded for free from www.slideshare.net/anandabhavanani/yoga-cultural- misappropriation . However those who wish to support our work may also purchase it from https://icyer.in/product/yoga-and-cultural- misappropriation . The official publication of Yoga Jivana Satsangha (International); Vishwa Yoga Samaj (Worldwide Yoga Congress); Sri Kambaliswamy Madam (Samadhi Site); SPARC (The Society for the Preservation of Ancient Rishi Culture); ICYER (International Centre for Yoga Education and Research) at Ananda Ashram, Tamil Nadu. Published from Ananda Ashram City Centre at Yoganjali Natyalayam, 25, II Cross, lyyanar Nagar, Pondicherry-605 013, India. Note: All subscribers will be sent e-copies of Yoga Life every month from January 2021 onwards and hence are requested to register their preferred e-mail at [email protected] to ensure uninterrupted receipt of the journal. Editor and Publisher : Ammaji Yogacharini Meenakshi Devi Bhavanani, Editor: (I/C) Yogacharya Dr. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani. Phone: +91-0413-2241561. E-mail: [email protected]; Website: www.rishiculture.in Printers : Sarguru Printographs, Villupuram, Tamil Nadu, India. Subscription Rate: Indian Rs. 500/year; International 50 Euros/ year.
DHARMA CONTINUES TO MANIFEST WITH BEAUTY AND GRACE Yogacharya Dr. ANANDA BALAYOGI BHAVANANI Ashram Acharya and Chairman ICYER at Ananda Ashram, Pondicherry. The greatest blessing a parent can have in their lifetime is to see their children take up the responsibility of carrying their work forward. I have realized my life Dharma is to fulfill my destiny as charted through the work of Swamiji and Ammaji and the more I grow into this, the more fulfilling life becomes. Now, I as a parent get a chance to see this manifest again through my dearest and most darling Dhivya Priya Bhavanani who is slowly and steadily taking up the mantle of the Gitananda Yoga tradition in the Rishiculture Ashtanga Yoga Parampara. Celebrating with gaiety her 18th birthday on the International Day of Yoga, she was blessed by her most loving grandmother Ammaji and the presence of near and dear ones. The Gitananda Yoga Parivar came together to bless her and she had one of the “Bestest ever” birthdays that day. Loving and inspiring messages of greetings, benevolent gifts and warm wishes flowed in torrents for this most deserving young manifestation of this living tradition. Dhivya has over the past years grown tremendously in spirit and has truly become a torchbearer of this illustrious tradition. She has shone on the world stage and become a true leader of the “young pack”. She inspires so many young ones through her role modeling of what a life of beauty and grace can be when lived in tune with Yoga and the cultural fine arts. She has been sharing extensively through numerous virtual programs, online classes and in person day to day management of the ashram. We hope that she will continue to shine bright and illuminate the lives of many through her own natural growth and manifest the inherent divinity through her life of Yoga. In the traditional Vedic style we all come together to bless you with the mantra invoking the Divine to manifest a fulfilling life of 100 springs with fully functioning senses and faculties, thus enabling you to manifest with beauty and grace your svadharma at all levels of existence. Om rochano rochamanah, sobhanah sobhamanah kalyanah! shathamanam bhavathi shathayuh purushah shatendriya ayushyevendriye prathitishtathi! Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 02
DHARMA ON CULTURAL MISAPPROPRIATION IN YOGA Yogacharya Dr. ANANDA BALAYOGI BHAVANANI Ashram Acharya and Chairman ICYER at Ananda Ashram, Pondicherry. “Cultural Appropriation'' or “Cultural Misappropriation” in the field of Modern Yoga is a topic that keeps coming up and many write to me about it. When my Guru-Father came to Pondicherry in the late 1960s, he settled permanently, founding the Ananda Ashram initially in town, then at Lawspet and finally, at the Sri Kambaliswamy Madam. Ammaji joined him and this marvellous team started an amazing journey for countless students from all over the world who joined our Yoga family. Growing up in the ashram, I had a lot of exposure to westerners from different parts of the world who stayed to study with my parents for six months, one year and some stayed two years. I saw students who had become teachers taking Yoga back to their parts of the world. They used to write back to Swamiji, to Ammaji and now to me as the present lineage holder and Ashram Acarya. Swamiji and Ammaji have talked about it. Now I am talking about it. Over the past five decades, the main common thread was the struggle to share Yoga in its wholistic, cultural context in other parts of the world where this cultural context doesn't exist or is seen as suspect and primitive. When trained, students go home and want to know how to replicate and bring traditional Yoga alive in their environment. Without exception, everybody struggles. They go back where value may not be put on what is valued here. And value may be put on what is not valued here. Students want to keep what they have learnt in the ashram alive when teaching in their own country but the culture and lifestyle is not the same. In the ashram you get up in the morning, you do an arati and you have all these deities. You have Ganesha, Muruga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. You have the Guru. You sit for morning meditation and contemplation. You do Hatha Yoga, Karma Yoga around the ashram, then Raja Yoga, relaxation and pranayama mid- noon. In the afternoon, there is Yoga Chikitsa, mantra or yantra. In the evening we have Satsanga, music, bhajans and Sanskrit. On Sundays at Sri Kambaliswamy Madam, students join ceremonies done for the Guru Parampara. We work with young children in Yoga, dance and cultural infusion. Ananda Ashram is definitely not a cookie factory where all cookies come out the same size and shape. Each individual who comes out of the ashram, grows into who they can be, manifests who they are to the best of their ability, and then continues to grow on a trajectory that is the individuals' alone. You are on your own Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 03
DHARMA ON CULTURAL MISAPPROPRIATION IN YOGA path. There is no comparison. We have seen people's struggles going back to different religious, local, cultural and societal perspectives. Over a long time, we have seen it, although this group has been very organic. Another side is inorganic development. People come to India for a few weeks, get a Yoga certificate affiliated to some Yoga alliance type of organisation -- and many will affiliate you. When they go back, suddenly they are an expert who says, 'I studied in India.' If you talk, interact and observe them, you wonder if they really were in India or just the body while the 'rest of them' was not at all 'here'. These people take Yoga as a commodity and start selling it. Then they take one of two sides. Both create issues because they have gone to extremes. Yoga lies in balance. The first is when they remove everything Indian or Sanskrit. Sanitized Yoga is just a fitness regime, Ayoga Yoga, Viyoga Yoga, not Yoga. There is this misrepresentation of Yoga either without the Sanskrit or by creating unions. Up- donkey, down-donkey, why not when you have up-dog or down-dog? Sanskrit, the original sound, has a certain vibration that gets altered when you translate it. Take 'adho mukha' – adho means downward + mukha, face + shwana is dog + asana. In our tradition it's Meruasana, the mountain posture. Some call it Parvatasana. Not the dog. To put it in context to see how things have been mutated and mutilated, say the word adhomukhashwanaasana. It has a beautiful poetic melodious vibration and flow. Then it gets translated to downward facing dog. It's as if you are abusing someone. Adhomukhashwanaasana: It's as if you are blessing them. I have been in conferences and sessions where instructors yell at the top of their voice: 'Down-Dog! Up-Dog! Down-Dog! Up-Dog!' Hundreds of participants, just like a dog, are going down and up. It is insulting to the core values of humanity itself. Sanskrit is not just a language. Sanskrit is a vibration. When Yoga terms are used in the Sanskrit, that divine language, known as Samskrita Bhasha, has a certain vibration. When I say Yoga, Yoga has a certain vibration. If I just translate it as a union, that word union doesn't have the same vibration that the word Yoga has. When I say asana, it has a certain vibration that has, behind that vibration, infinite meanings and associations. When I say pose, it doesn't have that. When I say Nataraja, it has infinite connotations. When I say the dancer pose, it has none of those connotations. The other side is they glamourise and then use sacred symbols and sacred concepts without understanding what they are or where they are appropriate. Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 04
DHARMA ON CULTURAL MISAPPROPRIATION IN YOGA Without realising what the cultural symbolism is, it is put up as show pieces. Tattoos are one case. Or they start a studio decorated with colourful objects they bought in India, like bedsheets and blankets. Ganesha, Durga, Shiva everywhere but no idea what they are. It may be the Gayatri mantra written there. Om bhurbhuvahswahah, tat saviturvarenyam, bhargodevasyadhimahi, dhiyoyo nahpracodayate. Deep, primordial, most important sacred Gayatri is put on the floor. Or a very beautiful image of Ganesha used as a tablecloth. Nataraja is not a statue to be put in your lobby, or just a nice statue picked up someplace for a thousand dollars. Don't think it is exclusive to only what is happening in the west. Cultural misappropriation happens in Indian five star hotels. You go to any five star hotel in India and in the lobby, they'll have a huge Nataraja that should have been put in a temple and worshipped. Anybody who understands what Nataraja is will get offended. Symbols that are sacred are being misused and misrepresented without an iota of understanding. Culture means a living tradition of a society developed so it can grow– culturing. With gardens it's horticulture. With crops, it's agriculture. Working with worms, it's sericulture. In microbiology we do cultures of your blood, semen, urine, or stools to see what microorganisms are growing. Culture means to grow. Every culture, especially ancient culture, has amazing teachings. Asia, India, South America, South Africa, I respect them greatly. India is a living culture. It confuses many Indologists who would like to put India in a box in a museum and study it. There is a living culture which is constantly evolving, transforming, and Yoga is an integral part of this. You won't see that if you go to five star hotels. People come to India, stay in hotels where they have a 'keep fit' gym, have a smart Yoga instructor teach a few asanas in the morning and afternoon and spend the rest of the day sightseeing at the Taj Mahal, Qutub Minar and enjoy Mussoorie. When you take Yoga out of the culture, you have the body but not the soul. Cultural appropriation and misappropriation. Let's change the way people debate this. Cultural misappropriation is when people wear Indian clothes as a trend, to fit into the Yoga scene, or wear a whole set of Rudraksha malas and embellishments like a fancy dress party just to look cool. These are not worn as ornaments in India. Rudraksha and other malas have special meanings, and are used for specific types of practices or effects, are worn or not worn, kept covered and hidden, or allowed to be visible, for different purposes. When something so very Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 05
DHARMA ON CULTURAL MISAPPROPRIATION IN YOGA sacred, a symbol of renunciation is taken and misappropriated to serve your temporary fancy trend, you have just killed the whole spirit. Wearing a Rudraksha is a great responsibility, something you need to live up to in thought, word and deed. On the other hand, there is cultural appreciation, adoration, love, and respect. A majority of our western students sincerely adore Indian culture and get deep into it. When a westerner loves Indian culture, they realise wearing a sari is an art. Many of our students have mastered it well. They love wearing saris because it feels good. They connect to the Universal Divine Feminine power through it. They are not doing it for Instagram followers. We Indians here love such people who love our culture and understand it with depth. Sir John Woodroffe was one such westerner who came to India. He wrote one of the finest books on tantra, The Serpent Power under the name Arthur Avalon. He fell in love with India, learnt Sanskrit and went into the depths of tantric texts. He was a Judge and wore Indian clothes even in the High Court, no matter what fellow judges thought. He became what those teachings were. He loved them so much and we respect it. Nobody in any sense would ever say there is cultural misappropriation by someone like that. Taking the teachings without credit to the source is also cultural misappropriation. In an academic research paper, find out who has done what, collect this information and then write different statements of people who have worked before, put it together and cite them. In the references or bibliography their paper or the book or the chapter is appropriately cited and the context in which their work is used is given. This is academic integrity. Taking somebody's published work and pretending it is one's own without mentioning or citing the name or the reference is academic dishonesty and intellectual property theft. Same thing with the culture. Appropriate means everything is as it should be. When you have respect for the culture, when you use the cultural symbols or cultural context and you give proper reference, you are respecting it, you are quoting it, you are appreciating it and you are using it as it is meant to be used. Then the term is culturally appropriate Yoga. Culturally appropriate Yoga is what we need. We need to understand it, not take something and then say this is mine and package it. That is the digestion of Yoga. Many people take practices, repackage it, and there's no reference to the source at all or there's a trademark, a copyright on it. Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 06
DHARMA ON CULTURAL MISAPPROPRIATION IN YOGA When the Yoga masters from India went to the west, instead of standing up for what Yoga is, they modified it to suit whatever agenda would get them an audience. It got diluted into something so far from Yoga that today we are struggling. If you retrace the roots of it, much of the blame rests on some of the great Yoga masters who went to the west. Even people who trained with legitimate masters ended up with this type of total mutation occurring in the name of adaptation. Studying in India doesn't mean anything. People could have stayed in India for seven years smoking weed. I remember a singer at a festival in Milan who said he had stayed in Varanasi for seven years and studied in the traditional method. He announced he would sing for Shiva. And then he sang, 'Sarva mangalamangalye, Shive savarthasadhike.' This is a mantra for Mother Goddess. This guy didn't even understand that the Shive in that stanza refers to the consort of Shiva that is Shakti. That is misrepresentation and that is what hurts. This is not about someone with a pure heart, respect for the culture, wanting to know more about the culture of Yoga, understanding the fertile Indian culture from which Yoga has sprouted and which is sustaining, nourishing the growth and transformation of Yoga even these days. Someone who wishes to understand the culture, who has humility, love, adoration and appreciation for the culture is valued by anybody who has any brain cells working. Many people in the west think that just because they are Indian, or Indian origin, that they can do anything they want and it will be culturally appropriate. Indian five star hotels are doing cultural misappropriation by the way they misuse our sacred symbols. So, what is happening is there is a lot of misrepresentation and misappropriation. That has to be fought. That has to be pointed out. That has to be brought to the front. And that has to be worked on because it is wrong. It is wrong to take this thousands of years old culture, and just try to sell it as though you are the first one who has invented it. You are not the first one and you will not be the last one also. Because this is timeless, Sanatana Dharma is timeless. Just because somebody is white doesn't mean cultural misappropriation of Yoga. We have to be very careful because there are huge smear campaigns against legitimate people who love the culture. There are people who love the culture, who adore the culture, who follow the culture, who live Yoga. It boils down to that age- old duality – us versus them. This is not a black versus white, or white versus brown or anything like that. This is about whether you are valuing, respecting, using it as it is meant to be used. Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 07
DHARMA ON CULTURAL MISAPPROPRIATION IN YOGA My father said that 'everything is there for your use, that Yoga is the science of right use-ness.' Right-useness is righteousness – Dharma. Be in tune with Dharma by doing the right thing in the proper context. Then it is culturally appropriate Yoga. When taken out of context, it becomes mis-appropriation. Never think this is about Indian versus non-Indian, white versus brown, white versus black, Hindu versus others. Sanatana Dharma is a culture that blesses everyone. This is a culture that blesses the pure heart. The most important component for Yoga is a pure heart. If purity, sauca is there, Maharishi Patanjali so beautifully tells us 'You stop getting caught up with the other person's body: svangajugupsaparairasamsargah.' You are not worried whether the other person is white, black, green, blue, pink, tall, short. That doesn't matter because you have elevated yourself in saucha, or purity. You are witnessing the divine manifesting in the other. There is no duality. There is purity. He says: 'You then manifest cheerfulness: saumanasya. You start to have one-pointedness: ekagrya. You start to master the senses: indriyajaya. And you become fit to witness the Self: atmadarshanayogyatvani ca.' What beautiful teachings Maharishi Patanjali has given us. It is based on saucha, purity. Are you a visuddhaatma, a pure soul? Are you someone who can manifest purity and transcend bodily limitations, bodily hang-ups? By saying you are white, black, tall, skinny, you have six fingers, six toes, one leg, your pancreas, brain or heart doesn't work? When you have transcended the bodily limitations, gone into svangajugupsaparairasamsargah, then you connect with each person, each living being as a human being, respecting them for the divine manifest through them. The divine in you is bowing to the divine in them because you have got established in that purity. So many people have come from other cultures who have understood and respect the Indian culture and context of Yoga. They try to practice, teach and share it with respect. This is Culturally appropriate Yoga. If somebody is just trying to steal something it is misappropriation. Steya is misappropriation. You have not earned it and are not worthy of it. When you work on yourself, love it, respect it and value it, at that point you start to become worthy of it. You have the yogyata, the worthiness. Just because you are different from someone else, never let anybody say you are misappropriating Yoga. Misappropriating Yoga comes when credit is not given to the source, when it is not presented in the context and when the person is not living the teachings and is just showcasing something for the sake of packaging. Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 08
DHARMA ON CULTURAL MISAPPROPRIATION IN YOGA When culture is used as a packaging tool to sell your body based practice, it is misappropriation. I have students who are Indians and non-Indians and find people who love Yoga, who live Yoga, across the globe. The teachings of Yoga are universal at the highest level. When we start to come into that spirit of Yoga, let Yoga live with you. Every breath should be a breath of Yoga. Don't worry about barking dogs. As Swami Vivekananda used to say, 'The elephant walking through the marketplace, doesn't bother with the barking dogs.' Think about this because it is so important. There are always going to people to criticise you. I have my own share of people who criticise me. They enable me to see a perspective I would not see otherwise. Whenever there is another perspective, acknowledge it. Listen to it, contemplate it and see whether there is some truth. Find that truth and try to reflect on it. If change has to come, let it come from within. But not if you are true to Yoga and somebody is criticising just for the sake of marketing or pulling you down because they are jealous. There's a lot of jealousy in Yoga land and the easiest way is to point out what someone stands out for then to poke them about it. Integrity, fidelity and commitment to Yoga is of prime importance. When you have that and you have love and respect for the culture, it is totally culturally appropriate Yoga. I hope that this will enable many of you to take a stand on this. When people are misappropriating it, let us call them out. Let them know. Let us try to help people change for the better. But just because you don't like somebody, if their Yoga studio is the competition down the street, don't misuse this cultural appropriation tag. It is like the #metoo tag being misused. Cultural appropriation is a big problem, but it is also being misused. We have to understand that. Let us get to the root. The root is Yoga. Yoga is universal. Yoga is thriving, nourished by the culture of Sanatana Dharma. Love the culture. Love Yoga. Live Yoga. And let that manifest in every cell of your existence. The sounding of the Pranava AUM encompasses every sound made by man. Therefore, it is thought to be a fitting term for God. The Pranava AUM is the most profound of Mantras, devoid of language inadequacy and semantically correct. Yogamaharishi Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri Guru Maharaj Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 09
A DHARMIC GUIDE TO YOGA AND CULTURAL MISAPPROPRIATION Yogacharya Dr. ANANDA BALAYOGI BHAVANANI Ashram Acharya and Chairman ICYER at Ananda Ashram, Pondicherry. TERMINOLOGY Cultural Appreciation: Sincere participation in Indian culture and Sanatana Dharma with humility, love, adoration, respect and genuine understanding. Culturally Appropriate Yoga: Culturally appropriate means Yoga within a wholistic cultural context of a living sampradaya. It means integrity, fidelity and commitment to Yoga, living Yoga with humility, love and respect for the culture. Culturally Misappropriated Yoga: Cultural mis-appropriation of Yoga is mis-use, mis-representation and mis-understanding of Yoga that mis-leads others. Eg. Misappropriation by those who misunderstand Yoga misleads others. It removes Yoga from the genuine culture and acts against Sanatana Dharma. Denial: Assuming authority to deconstruct and then reconstruct a sterile Yoga with new names, meanings and theories that are devoid of cultural elements. Misrepresentation: Assuming authority to selectively uplift cultural elements, to redefine, reconfigure, reconstitute, repurpose or re-brand Yoga. Dharma: The principles of Sanatana Dharma. Righteousness. Right-use-ness. i.e: Right thought, right speech, right action. Cultural Misappropriation Cultural Appropriateness Misrepresentation- Denial Misrepresentation- Misuse Appreciation & Respect Positionality Positions oneself as the Positions oneself as the Integrity, fidelity and expert or authority over expert or the authority by commitment. Loves the Yoga by removing all reconstructing the culture. Loves Yoga. Lives cultural elements and teachings selectively Yoga. Has humility. failing to cite and refer to without understanding Knows their place in the the tradition or sources. and repackaging it as if it is lineage and is accountable Yoga sometimes to the traditional system of offensively. authority. Sacred Erases the Sanskrit and Misuses or reconstructs Respects, rightly applies Speech cultural elements the Sanskrit or traditional and understands the completely and sometimes concepts inaccurately or meanings of Sanskrit even renames Yoga offensively, even words in Yoga. methods, patents or patenting and trademarks them with trademarking them with new words. new or old Sanskrit words. Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 10
A DHARMIC GUIDE TO YOGA AND CULTURAL MISAPPROPRIATION Sacred Rejects all cultural Takes objects without Respects, rightly uses and Objects elements and sterilises the concern for correct use, understands the meanings environment. May create misuses and and the purposes of sacred Teaching objects that have nothing misrepresents their objects, sources, displays Yoga in common or be at odds meanings and and where they are being with Yoga in cultural significance. Creates or sold does so fairly, Teaching context to commoditise sells cultural neo-replicas ethically and to those who Teachers sterilised objects. without concern for their will similarly appreciate, cultural context or the respect and rightly use Studying Erases the culture, such as peoples who are the objects. Yoga Sanskrit, deities, and cultural IP custodians. spiritual elements to make Fabricates, dilutes, brands, Understands Yoga in its it a body-only fitness packages, trademarks, or wholistic cultural context practice. May even patent mis-constructs Yoga and presents it or trademark the methods including misusing sacred accordingly when they are with new names. elements incorrectly teaching. Inspires students and/or offensively. to love, live, respect and Teaches Yoga teachers to practice Yoga with teach in the above manner Creates an appearance of integrity, fidelity and without the cultural cultural authenticity commitment. elements and denies the whilst reproducing the importance of diluted, modified or Trains other teachers to comprehensive wholistic inaccurately represented appreciate and appro learning. teachings by creating priately teach others with teachers that teach it to respect, integrity, fidelity Studies Yoga only so far as others. and commitment to Yoga it is taught in a manner in its cultural context. that denies the cultural Studies Yoga from sources Inspires others' love for context and may recreate that have misrepresented Yoga in its cultural new forms of Yoga sans the cultural context, context, expects teacher root culture, does not even recreated or produced trainees to live Yoga, use let alone cite from the inaccurate cultural inspires teachers to teach traditional context at all, representations and their students to follow preferring sterilised Yoga refuses to acknowledge their appropriate role sources. teachers and scholars from modelling. within the cultural context, ignoring Learns Yoga and yogic traditional authority and scripture in the traditional refusing to cite or engage model of guru-disciple with them. relationship. Studies Yoga from the primary sources where possible and incorporates the texts and teachings of their own tradition and also when discussing or referring to other traditions, seeks to learn from the relevant sources from a recognised traditional authority. Cites and refers to the authors and texts correctly. Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 11
A DHARMIC GUIDE TO YOGA AND CULTURAL MISAPPROPRIATION Writing on Writes on Yoga in a Writes on Yoga in a Represents the culture and Yoga culturally negated manner manner that distorts or the teachings accurately, choosing to leave out the misrepresents the with respect, love, Yoga cultural elements entirely traditional culture, integrity, fidelity and Advocacy or may reduce, minimise, misinterprets or commitment. Inspires in deny and violate the reconstructs that into a others through their tradition in contrast to reconstituted model that writing to uphold Dharma validate their own appears to be Indian, or and creates works that if sterilised mode. Cites only Sanskritised although it in reiterated by others from other sources who fact contradicts the content increase knowledge and have sterilised Yoga or or violates the meanings truth, leading them from from those with whom one whether by omission or avidya to vidya. Cites disagrees to justify their commission. Cites sources accurately and cultural negation. whilst misrepresenting respectfully using sources their contents or cites that are selected for their sources that already have. accuracy and integrity. Fails to cite those sources Right use. that accurately represent the culture and its contents. Advocates for Yoga Advocates by misusing Advocates within the against the principles of and misrepresenting what parampara system with Dharma, of Yoga and appears to be cultural permission of their guru, violates the meanings of contents by redefining and only speaking up or taking yogic principles like yama reconstituting it into a stand where it is right to and niyama by uplifting, inconsistent frameworks do so, consistent to the redefining and that go against the principles, teachings and reconstructing them into principles of Yoga and aims of the tradition, in a inconsistent cultural and Dharma or instrument culturally appropriate moral frameworks. alises the teachings for framework, and in a Negates the value and personal agendas, manner that maintains, content of the yogic personal gain and by promotes and grows tradition and its texts, misleading others harms Dharma. Where others are using that negation to both the tradition and available who are more legitimate decontext other Yoga practitioners. qualified to speak, ualised activities that advocates defer to contradict the teachings or knowledge holders as per have nothing to do with the Sampradaya system. Yoga values. If we are looking at dharma as doing the right thing, in the right way, for the right person, being in the right place at the right time, we see that we are creating a structure in which we can use in the proper way everything that we have been blessed with. Ancient Indian philosophy sees life as an opportuity to use rather than misuse or abuse our blessings. Yogacharya Dr. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 12
GARUDA ASANA: EAGLE POSE Yoga Shakti MARION MUGS MCCONNELL, Senior Mentor, SOYA, Canada Garuda is the mythical golden winged bird in Vedic literature, which is half man, half bird. Traditionally we see Garuda as an Eagle, but it can also be a large bird like a Kite. Garuda is the vehicle for Vishnu, the preserver. In Hindu mythology, Garuda has a white face, beak, golden wings and talons of an eagle or kite, and the body and limbs of a man. He is said to have stolen a pot of amrita, the nectar of immortality, to give to the serpents in exchange for them to release his stolen mother. There are many names for Garuda, reflecting his mythological traits and features, such as Sitanana, white faced; Suvarna-kaya, golden bodied; Khageswara, king of birds; Sarparati, enemy of serpents; Amritaharana, stealer of amrita; and Vishnu-ratha, vehicle of Vishnu, to name a few. In this asana, arms and legs intertwine with each other while we balance on one foot. Hands cross at the wrists, like Garuda's wings embracing and protecting you. There are four different Hasta Mudras in this asana. Sometimes the hands are pointing down and sometimes pointing up. Try to hold each hand position for about 15 seconds each. METHOD l Stand in Tadasana or Samasthiti. Inhale tall. l As you exhale, transfer the weight onto the right leg. Bend the right knee slightly and cross the left leg over the right leg. Wrap the toes of the left foot behind the calf of the standing leg if possible. l Find your balance, breathing rhythmically. l Hold your gaze or drishti steady about 6 feet in front of the eyes. l Now hold the arms out in front of you, and cross the right wrist over the left wrist. Place the palms together, pointing down. This is Garuda Hasta Mudra position 1. l Take a few breaths here. l Now rotate your fingertips in toward your belly and the elbows outward so that you can bring your hands up to chest level. This is Garuda Hasta Mudra position. Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 13
GARUDA ASANA: EAGLE POSE l Take a few breaths here. l Keeping the palms together if possible, raise the arms up a little higher, so the hands are in front of the face. This is Garuda Hasta Mudra position 3. l Take a few breaths here. l Rotate the hands in and down toward the chest while the elbows raise, allowing you to rotate the arms and bring the hands up overhead. This is Garuda Hasta Mudra position 4. l Take a few breaths here. l To come out of the pose, in reverse order, slowly move through the four Garuda Hasta mudras and unwind the arms. Then unwind the legs, returning to standing position. l Repeat this process on the other side. Physical Benefits Notably this posture requires great concentration to be stable and still with the legs, yet moving with the arms. Physically this pose gives a great rotation in the shoulders, wrists and elbows as the arms move from pointing down at the pelvis, rotating upward to the chest, raising further to the face and overhead. Hands extending down at the pelvis simulate the glands lining the inside of the legs and the pelvic cavity. Hands at the mid-chest stimulate the chest glands. Hands at the face stimulate the neck and facial glands, and hands and arms overhead stimulate the exocrine glands under the arms, in the breasts, the pituitary and pineal glands within the brain. This posture helps with lymphatic drainage in the groin, breasts, throat and under the armpits. Many cancerous disorders may arise from congestion in these areas, so this pose creates that pressure and release for lymphatic drainage, becoming a line of defense against infection in the body. Because of this glandular stimulation, we can classify this asana also as a mudra. Garuda Asana will help to relieve stiff muscles. We balance as we stretch up, creating an isometric pull. It gives a superb long stretch of the spinal column while standing. It has been found to be helpful with low back pain resulting from slipped or herniated discs. It also counters any overstretching that can occur in postures such as the seated forward bend, Paschimottanasana. Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 14
GARUDA ASANA: EAGLE POSE More Subtle Benefits If we really want to reap the benefits of an asana, then we need to embody the pose for all it's meaning and worth. In this asana we consciously bind (tension) and unwind (relax). This“squeeze and release” flushes and cleanses the body throughout. This binding also restrains the animal nature within us, which is represented by the lower limbs, so the higher mind can then dictate, as represented by the upper limbs. Eagles have the benefit of 'eagle eye view' by seeing the big picture from above with keen observation, beyond the perspective of our tiny selves. In this steadiness we can expand our perspective of life's situations and consciously take in the full perspective. The arms and legs are like braided electrical cables, representing strength and flexibility. Braided cables shield from magnetic influences so when we are intertwined like this we shield ourselves from other influences. Energetically we are intertwining the Ida and Pingala nadis around the Sushumna, bringing balance to the left and right sides, or all the opposites for that matter. This balance and harmony is imperative for spiritual growth. Vines grow in circular motions, spiralling upwards, also representing our personal growth. Garuda Asana even resembles the caduceus, the staff of Hermes intertwined by two serpents, and two wings at the top. It is like the two lotus petals at the ajna chakra, with the bindu between the brows. Hermes is the Greek god representing superhuman or Olympian strength, stamina, and agility, and the ability to move easily between Heaven and Earth. The caduceus is traditionally associated with healing and is often seen as a logo representing health care. Garuda Asana is truly a healing asana, harmonising the energies of the physical and the subtle body,binding it all together so the spiritual Kundalini energy can flow. It is rising above the physical to the spiritual. Look at how the arms and legs intertwine, like Kundalini coiled 3.5 times and extending upward. DNA is a double helix bound. Our lower and upper limbs intertwined may magnify our own DNA structure. Kundalini coils 3.5 times at the base of Brahma's canal. 3.4 Aº (Angstroms) is the exact measurement between repetitions of the human DNA helix. Another interesting point is that 3.5 is not that far off from 3.14, and in ancient times 3.14 could easily have been mistaken as 3.5. As Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 15
GARUDA ASANA: EAGLE POSE we know, the mathematician's number of PI, or 3.14, is known as the 'infinite decimal' that goes on forever. Similarly the 'golden ratio' of 1.61803398875 and the self-similar Logarithmic spiral are replicated in nature everywhere: i.e. nautilus shell, petals of flowers, water going down the drain, etc. Could it be that the 3.5 times around the base of the Brahmi Nadi has also refers to the divine self-similarity between finite self and infinite Self realised by the ascent of Kundalini? The multi layers of an asana go deep, beyond our wildest imaginations if we take the time to self-study it. Garuda is said to hold a pot of '“amrita”', the nectar of immortality… Perhaps this amrita relates to the DNA that carries forth in our offspring, creating another layer of our infinite selves. WANT MORE? If you would like to enjoy more on Garuda Asana, please watch Dr. Ananda BalayogiBhavanani's discussion on “Scintillating Saturdays” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YabJ-DWI5Mo Marion Mugs McConnell is the author of Letters from the Yoga Masters: Teachings Revealed through Correspondence from Paramhhansa Yogananda, RamanaMaharshi, Swami Sivananda, and Others, published by North Atlantic Books copyright © 2016 ISBN 978-1-62317-035-6. Article Resources: l Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri Maharaj, Yoga Step by Step. l Dr Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani, Garudasana https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YabJ-DWI5Mo l Sri Kant George on Yoga Step by Step Lesson 29 l Heather Thomas SOYA 500 hr graduate YTT answer in one of her lessons on Kundalini. l John Dowson. (1992) A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion: Geography, History and Literature. Delhi: Heritage Publishers. pp 109-110. l “Garuda”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Dec. 2018. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Garuda. l Kristin D. (2021). Caduceus Magical Staff of Hermes. https://classicalwisdom.com/culture/the-caduceus-magical-staff-of-hermes/ Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 16
THE RULE OF FIVE Yogacharini JNANASUNDARI, Senior Mentor, Gitananda Yoga, France Five is the number of Shiva, the Lord of Yoga. He has five faces, one for each of his five functions: creation, preservation, concealment, revelation and destruction. In Yantra, five is the number of change. It presents us with the possibility of change for the better, and this number crops up often in our asana practice. Most asanas have five forms: sapurna, the incomplete form; ardha, the half posture; purna, the full form; paripurna, literally 'beyond full' - the perfected form; and finally paravritta, variation. Each asana also has five phases. Sometimes we may be in too much of a hurry to really experience these five phases, which means that the practice remains mostly physical. However taking time in each phase gives the opportunity to perceive the aspects of the asana. The five phases are: preparation, entry, stasis, exit and completion. You can memorise them using the mnemonic PESEC. 1. Preparation. This phase also has five aspects. 1.1. Position, which will depend upon our personal needs. For example a person with vertigo or Ménière's syndrome will probably prefer to be parallel to a wall for support, even if it is only psychological. A person with visual difficulties may prefer to be near a window for better light. 1.2. Bringing the body into the foundation asana. Every asana has a foundation asana in which we prepare. For a standing asana it is samasthiti, seated it is dandasana, lying supine it is shavasana, lying prone it is unmukhasana. 1.3. Visualisation of the asana we plan to do. This is particularly important with the balancing asanas as they demand that our attention should be sharp in order to avoid falling. 1.4. Choosing a calming breathing rate to calm both the body and the mind. Savitri pranayama is always useful. 1.5. Finding a focal spot about two metres in front of the eyes to rest the gaze upon to help balance - a sort of 'extra leg'- then relaxing the eye muscles to avoid waste of energy. Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 17
THE RULE OF FIVE 2. Entry. We move from samasthiti into the chosen asana with smooth, graceful movements. 3. Stasis. We breathe calmly, remain immobile and experience the asana from the point of view of its title. Let's take vrikshasana as an example. Who doesn't love trees? They are so generous, always giving oxygen, fruit, flowers, protection and beauty with no thought of recompense. Here we can use the idea of TREE to stabilize the body. Feel the roots that plunge into the earth to stabilize and feed the tree; feel the trunk, strong and sturdy, and the sap that rises up through it towards the sky; be aware of the branches, decorated with leaves, flowers, fruits. 4. Exit. Returning from the asana with consciousness, control and fluid, graceful movements. 5. Completion. This is a very important phase that is so often lost! Now is the moment to observe what is happening – the sthula sharira, gross body, is absorbing the benefits of what has just happened. The sukshma sharira, subtle body, is also absorbing the benefits: the mind is calmer, the nervous system too. And as a result we have a connection with the karaņa sharira, the causal body. And there again there is the Rule of Five as these contain the panca kosha. In being conscious of all this happening we greatly increase these effects. So you can see that these five steps or phases provide us with a journey from mere activity to consciousness. In giving ourselves the time to be aware, alive, and relax into the asana, we can move from merely doing the asana, through understanding it into being it. IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT Yoga Life has moved completely online from January 2021 and hence all subscribers and members of Yoga Jivana Satsangha are requested to send us their preferred e-mail to update the database at the earliest. The whole world has moved online, and it is only fitting that Yoga Life also follows suit in these times of virtual reality Please send your email to [email protected] Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 18
WE ARE DIVINE AND VERY HUMAN Yogacharini SANGEETA LAURA BIAGI, Senior Mentor, Gitananda Yoga, Italy Swamiji's Jnana Kriyas are superb practices that help us cleanse and rejuvenate by releasing impurities, mala, at the mental, emotional and physical levels. Toxic release is a prerequisite to access the higher planes of the advanced teachings of Yoga Step by Step. We are here taught how to clean our gross and subtle layers of being. When we release impurities that are clogging our systems, it is important to stay hydrated and practice a positive attitude and mindframe. We may feel more tired, moody and psychologically vulnerable; or, we may feel really strong and energetic and then crash unexpectedly. This also depends on our level of awareness and the intensity of our practice. Regardless, let's plan life accordingly. In this course of study, we are changing at a fast speed in a fast world. It may be possible to let the people around us who care for us, that we are cleansing, stretching, learning to 'uplift the self by the Self', and that we may not behave in the same ways they are used to. In the Nadi Jnana Kriya of Lesson 29, we were invited to imagine ourselves as a hollow tube, moving toxic materials like unclean water, smoke, oil, etc. out of our feet. The concept of a tube that is hollow, commencing at the top of the head and ending at the feet, is useful to understand the upcoming spinal twists of Lesson 30. The spinal twists, very much like the Nadi Jnana Kriya, facilitate a release of the toxins out of our vertebral areas, from the bottom of the spine all the way up to the last cervical vertebra. By twisting, gently and slowly, we unclog areas of our body that we may not be using otherwise. By untwisting, we allow freshly oxygenated blood to flush through our system. The flow of Prana can now 'ride the flow' of the blood and other fluids. We squeeze and stretch the skin, fascia, muscles, tendons, arteries, veins, and more! Go slowly, step by step, and feel everything, as much as you can. The breath is our guide, vehicle, and tool to stay present, grounded and alert, and to remember to bring our minds to the subtleties of the pranic flows. In the twists of Vakra Asana, Matsyendra Asana, and Brahmadanda Asana and their variations, the buttocks and legs are relaxed and strong, grounding the twist into the earth. The spiralling motion of the twist begins at the root of the spine on an inhalation, then slowly moves upward, gradually and mindfully, until the top of the Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 19
WE ARE DIVINE AND VERY HUMAN head and above. The chin is also on the spiral, and so are the eyes. [Note: relax the mouth and lips; it is not uncommon to clench the teeth or press the lips]. Breathe here and continue to feel the downard twist towards the earth and the upward twist towards the sky. I remember that, when learning these practices at the Ashram, we were often given the metaphor of the torso as a wet towel that we squeezed, gently and firmly. I like to think of it this way, as well as the metaphor of the spiralling rope that Sri Kant offered in the demonstration of Garuda Asana, in Lesson 29. The legs and arms move through various postures, bending, stretching, supporting. While the focus is on the Brahmadanda, the Staff of Brahma, the vertebral column, and its movements, the limbs move around it. This, too, creates an increased flow in the Prana as well as its correspondent flows in our bodies. There is so much to feel that the mind is able to quiet down. If, on the other hand, it is whispering words of judgment - perhaps saying that you are 'not as good' as you would like in these postures, or you 'don't look good' - hear them and contemplate them. They, too, are the mala that you are moving and flushing out. Depending on the length of your limbs, the health of your spine, the shape of your breasts and belly, these postures will be more or less accessible in their complete form. What is the rush? Yoga is a way of life and, step by step, we are on our journey to Kaivalya! Let's go slowly, mindfully, and full of care for ourselves and, as importantly, these practices themselves. AUM SHIVA! JOIN THE YOGA: STEP-BY-STEP TRAINING ONLINE Yogamaharishi Dr Swami Gitananda Giri Guru Maharaj's Yoga: Step-by-Step correspondence course is now offered through online recorded sessions. The 52 lessons are well illustrated and contain a practical, systematic step-by- step instruction in Rishiculture Ashtanga (Gitananda) Yoga. The course has now been converted into an ONLINE RECORDED OFFERING led by Yogacharya Dr Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani and assisted by a team of 25 International Mentors of the Gitananda Tradition. The course is being run as 4 modules as originally devised by Swamiji and students register for each module separately Module I - Introductory Practices of Gitananda Yoga Module II - Intermediate Practices of Gitananda Yoga Module III - Advanced Practices of Gitananda Yoga Module IV - Senior Practices of Gitananda Yoga Students will receive soft copies of the study materials for each module and additional audio and video links will be circulated for each lesson. Those who complete all four modules and submit a thesis will be eligible for final certification (Certificate of Proficiency in Rishiculture Gitananda Yoga) approved as an Advanced Certificate in Yoga by the Indian Yoga Association. For registrations contact [email protected] Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 20
ARE YOU READY FOR YOGA TEACHER TRAINING? Yogacharini KALAVATHI DEVI, Senior Mentor, Gitananda Yoga, UK The first Sutra in the Samadhi Pada as codified by Sage Patanjali is 'Atha Yoganusasanam'. In his commentary of Patanjali's Yoga sutras, The Yoga Darshan, Yogacharya Dr Ananda Bhavanani says that 'In the first sutra of the Samadhi Pada, we start this journey of integration, reintegration, of union and reunion. This is a journey of harmony, a journey that helps put together all the pieces blown into chaos as a result of ignorance.' Dr Ananda goes on to say how it is avidya, ignorance, that explodes individuals and how it is the process of Yoga that reintegrates the individual. His father, Swami Gitananda would tell you to 'pick up the pieces you wish to keep and put yourself back together'. If we break the sutra up into its parts we can surmise that 'atha' means now. What better time is there for anything than 'now'. Now is the best time to start something and this is the start of a journey, a journey back to the self: a journey home or OM Sweet hOMe. Anusasanam refers to the experience of change or a transformation on an inner level. Dr Ananda says that 'Anushasanam requires intense preparation and training built up in a step-by-step manner. Anushasanam is not merely the study or practice of Yoga. It implies an experiential inner journey through intense practice based on a regime of strict discipline.' So how will we know if we are ready to embark on a Yoga Teacher Training Course? It might be impossible to really know if we are ready but we need to be prepared for hard work and lots of self reflection. I always tell my trainees at the beginning of the course to forget everything that they think they know and to open themselves up to the possibilities of change, leave any baggage behind and learn with a clean slate and experience afresh. We need to be disciplined to practice every day but we also need to be disciplined to study our self. Yoga is not something you just learn from in a book. Yoga is not just a selection of postures that you memorise and instruct others in. Yoga is not an instagram pose on a beach with a beautiful sunset. Yoga is about transformation so to be able to teach Yoga we need to have gone through our own experience of transformation. Teaching Yoga means being a guide to help others find this opportunity to transform themselves and how can we show them the way if we do not know the way ourselves. Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 21
THE THROES OF COVID MELANCHOLIA Dr N ANANTHAKRISHNAN, Professor of Eminence, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Pondicherry. A year and a half ago it was, when Covid 19 showed its face, From bats, apparently the virus to humans made its way, Very soon it seemed to better like its new found race, No matter how it started, mankind began its deadly race that day. Ignorance of the virus' path ruled the roost, It began with lockdowns lasting for weeks and months, Hand washing, masking, social distancing got a boost, Still millions got infected in spite of forced “bandhs.” Little by little, knowledge gained, light at last shone, On methods of preventing the spread of the beast, Still, jobs lost, massive migrations, deaths full blown, The world was rocked while the virus had a human feast. Headless chicken became the Homo sapiens race, Anxious eyes, wrinkled foreheads, ears ringed by mask strings, As the world went round and round with covered face, Nowhere to go, it seemed the world had lost its wings. Came September '20, we seemed to get our bearings back, For the first time, daily infected numbers seemed to slack, It appeared that life was not all that gloomy, bleak and black Light at the end of the tunnel one hoped would come back. Then came the promise of hordes of vaccines, Suspicions, rumors galore, led to vaccine hesitancy, Endless fears, overconfidence, countless controversies, Hence demand became slack with no signs of buoyancy. Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 22
THE THROES OF COVID MELANCHOLIA The world relaxed, all restrictions abandoned, Came back the virus with regained strength, The old scenes rewound, hospitals full, countless pyres burned, Stretching queues at hospitals, gained in length. Had humans lost their collective minds, Massive rallies, no precautions to be seen, As the political jamboree endlessly winds, No one cares, it's as if the past has never been. Vaccine hesitancy gave place to vaccine craving, Too little, too late, no drug available for the jab, Vaccine shortage led in desperation to crowds leaving, Only to go in vain to another place, another center, another lab. New scenarios and as yet unexplored track, In a country of excess production, deaths due to oxygen lack, What a pity, that trucks were stopped at borders for men to sack, The breath of life became a target for some to steal and hack. No one knows, when, if at all, it will end, Rulers are mad, men have lost the reasoning trend, When can one say we have crossed the bend? Or must one wait for Gods to come and mend. We have seen chaos, political jamborees, indifferent governance, Selfishness, hoarding and black marketing of drugs, Lack of coordination, mismanagement beyond remembrance, Realization has come too late, mankind to fix has many bugs. There are lessons to learn, time for sanity to return, “All will be well” only when there is wellness for “each and every one”, No man is an island said the great poet John Donne, For the world to be healthy, mankind must work as one. Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 23
MATSYENDRASANA - THE POSTURE OF THE LORD OF THE FISHES Yogacharini JNANASUNDARI, Senior Mentor, Gitananda Yoga, France. It was a hot morning just before the monsoon, in Benares in 1974. The flies bothered the cow at the bottom of the garden and the monkeys, irritated by the heaviness of the weather, were arguing in the trees. I was starting to tire of the Hindi lesson when, without warning, the teacher Pandit Ambikadatta launched into a story. 'Ek din, Shiva aur Parvati Chandradveepa gae…' Suddenly I became very attentive. Panditji was well aware of my appetite for stories about Shiva, but normally he did not comply with my wishes. Maybe he too felt the heat and wanted a change, and this is how I first learned the story of Matsyendra. One day, Shiva and his wife Parvati went to Chandradvipa, literally the Island of the Moon, where he taught her the secrets of Tantric philosophy. Shiva answered Parvati's questions, she answered his and so the lesson was going well, when Shiva became aware of a presence, even though the island was deserted. Eventually he found a motionless fish near the shore that seemed to be listening intently to him. And when Shiva asked it a question, the fish answered with wisdom! Seeing that the fish had assimilated the teachings so well, Shiva blessed it and gave it a human form, which he called Matsyendra, the Lord of the Fishes. He also gave him the task of disseminating these teachings to deserving human beings. Perhaps you, like me, are asking the question: why seek a desert island far from any habitation to teach secretly - and immediately afterwards instruct someone to share the teachings with others? Well, who can explain the reasoning of the gods? That said, it's lucky for us, the inheritors! Several years later I learned variations of this story. Sometimes the differences were only subtle, and in others there were more diverse elements. They all have the same background, only the shape changes. According to the 6th Century Skanda Purana, a fisherman saw a group of Brahmin hermits practicing secret rites on the banks of the river, probably Ganga Ma in the Sundarbans region. He asked them what they were doing in such a secluded place. The hermits questioned him and decided that he was worthy. Then they initiated him, making him swear to keep the teachings secret. Six months later, he was swallowed by a shark! Swallowed, but not killed. One day the shark passed Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 24
MATSYENDRASANA - THE POSTURE OF THE LORD OF THE FISHES the Island of the Moon and the fisherman in its belly heard the conversation between Shiva and Parvati. He learned the secret Yoga directly from Shiva, who freed him and gave him his name. Matsyendra spent years looking for a worthy disciple, without success. Then one day while walking in the forest he met a Chola king. The king made great efforts to convince Matsyendra to pass the teaching on to him. It is this king who anonymously transmitted the teachings in the form of Matsyendra Samhita, circa 13c. In another version, Shiva was teaching the knowledge of Tantric philosophy to Parvati on an isolated island. Kartika, their son, was also present in secret, disguised as a mouse. He stole the knowledge and threw it into the sea where it was swallowed by a fish. We don't know why he did this – such strange behaviour of a son towards his divine daddy! Shiva discovered this and, taking the form of Matsyendra, he grabbed the fish, opened it and retrieved the secret knowledge. An enraged Kartika dug an underground passage to steal the teaching a second time and again threw it into the sea where it was again devoured by a shark. Shiva then used his spiritual powers to weave a net and catch the shark. But the shark struggled. It was a very strong shark, as strong as Shiva himself. In order to kill the shark and regain this knowledge, Shiva had to give up his status as a Brahmin and became a humble fisherman, named Matsyendra. And another version… A child, born under an inauspicious star, was thrown into the sea by his parents wishing to protect the rest of the family (it could not have been an easy decision). The baby was swallowed by a fish in whose belly he survived for twelve years. It was this fish that was hiding on the shore of the island where Shiva was teaching the secrets of Yoga to Parvati. The child listened and began his sadhana in the belly of the fish. Twelve years later he emerged from the fish as a Siddha, one who attained the highest goal. And again… at the beginning of Kali Yuga, Brahma's sperm was dispersed over the world to promote high moral values and principles. A drop entered the mouth of a fish which became pregnant. In this version it was the egg who heard the speech of Shiva and Parvati and answered Shiva's questions. For example, 'What is the basis of all illusory creation?' And the egg answered, 'Brahma Tattva' - the divine element. Amazed, Shiva turned towards the water and saw the child in the egg in the fish, blessed him and promised to give him diksha at the age of twelve. The fish was later washed up on the beach where it was found by - you guessed it - a childless couple who adopted the baby, and named it Macchindranath. Macchin = fish, just Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 25
MATSYENDRASANA - THE POSTURE OF THE LORD OF THE FISHES like matsya = fish. Matsyendranath is also called Macchindranath in some areas, in others it is Minanath - mina = fish. One day the child threw the fisherman's catch into the river out of compassion. The adoptive father asked him: how can I make a living now? To which the boy replied,:'it is better to beg and eat food without sin.' Then he fled north to Badrinath, where he meditated and ate fruit for twelve years. It was there that Shiva reappeared and gave him diksha, making him a Siddha. You may have noticed the frequent occurrence of the number 12, indicating influence and expression, in the Yantra system. So historically who was Matsyendra? There is no agreement among historians on the dates, which vary from 5th-13thC. Some say he was born in Bengal, others claim in Nepal. For some Buddhists he is revered as an embodiment of the Bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara. Some researchers associate the origins of Hatha Yoga with Nath yogis, in particular Matsyendranath and Gorakshanath. In any case, Matsyendranath is considered to be the author of the Kaulajnananirnaya, discussion on knowledge of the Yogini Kaula tradition, the Matsyendra Samhita and the Akula-viratantra, which are among the earliest Sanskrit texts on Hatha Yoga. Whatever the case, the story of Matsyendra is a beautiful illustration of what one can do alone, without disturbance, if one is initiated into powerful meditation techniques. In our modern world, we have these techniques that have been kept secret for centuries, carefully hidden from laymens' eyes. We have such a plethora of information, such a variety and abundance of techniques at our fingertips, but we remain busy people with so much to do that we don't take the time to just sit and turn our attention to the interior. Instead of being human beings, we have become human doings! Prana, the first manifestation of Cosmic Energy, the Universal catalyst of all other energies as well as matter, is sometimes termed the \"Mother Energy\" of the Universe and is associated with Shakti, the female Goddess of Energy. Prana Shakti is used to describe a particular catalytic energy. The word Prana is derived from the compounding of \"Pra\" - \"self existence\", prior existence, prior to\"; and \"Ana\" - \"cells, conglomerates, units, food\". Therefore, Prana means that which existed before anything was created, yet is present in all things that are manifested or created. Yogamaharishi Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri Guru Maharaj Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 26
MY JOURNEY WITH DHIVYA PRIYA AKKA AT YOGNAT AVNI RAMRAKSHANI, Student Yoganjali Natyalayam https://avniyati.blogspot.com As far as I remember, as a child, I used to love learning the Sanskrit mantras and bhajans from my mother. However, I wasn't as keen to learn and recite the Hanuman Chalisa which my mother used to recite regularly. During the lockdown, I was fortunate to witness Dhivya Priya akka singing the Hanuman Chalisa during one of the Healing Prayer sessions for Ammaji! And believe me, I was inspired by her singing. Even more, I admire her bond with her grandmother, Ammaji Meenakshi Devi Bhavanani, for whom she conducted the Global Prayers for super-speedy recovery!! I started practicing the Hanuman Chalisa every day and found myself loving it more and more, day by day! I love Akka's 'Twinkling Thursdays' and 'Tell me Appa?' Youtube series which she hosted along with her father- Yogacharya Dr.Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani. She is a true all-rounder! Balancing studies along with singing, dancing, and justifying the post of Deputy Director at Yoganjali Natyalayam! I also love listening to her mother- Yogacharini Devasena Bhavanani singing beautifully composed bhajans in the \"Wonderful Wednesdays\" series. I started taking interest in singing along with my family during our evening prayers, and was praying silently to learn music and dance from such inspiring teachers at Yoganjali Natyalayam! Once, during the 'Tell me Appa? Season II', the Silver Jubilee (25th) Episode on 'Jai Veer Hanuman', I was delighted to hear from Dhivya akka ,that Yoganjali Natyalayam has started online Yoga and Bharatanatyam classes. My mom got us (me and my younger sister, Niyati) enrolled in both the classes in November 2020 and later didn't miss the opportunity to sign me up for Carnatic Music Classes as well! Summer Solstice, June 21st 2021 is International Day of Yoga, World Music Day and also happens to be a very special person's 18th birthday! Therefore, I decided to release my 1st blogging webpage on this Divine soul's birthday. One who always encourages everybody, and is unique and graceful in her own way!! Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 27
THOUGHTS ABOUT PRANAYAMA IN THE GITANANDA YOGA TRADITION Yogasadhaki MADELEINE SEROWY, Gitananda Yoga, Berlin Continued from last month... Breathing Rhythms: Savitri Pranayama (Savitri means rhythm or harmony) is a rhythmical form of breathing that brings harmony or oneness into the entire system. There are four functions to the breath: Purakha is the in-breath, Kumbhaka, the held-in breath, Rechaka, the out-going breath and Shunyaka, the held-out breath. The Sanskrit word for rhythm is Tala. If done to a four Tala, the timing becomes eight by four by eight by four, 8x4x8x4. The various Talas have their own subtle effects. The \"two\" helps promote growth. The \"three\" helps balance emotions. The \"four\" Tala strengthens and stabilizes the body. The \"five\" Tala helps increase metabolism. The \"six\" Tala helps to send excess oxygen to the brain. The \"seven\" Tala promotes serenity and peace. The \"eight\" Tala is for rejuvenation. There are other, higher Talas representing senior disciplines in Pranayama Yoga. In Chandra Nadi and Surya Nadi Pranayama is found an excellent set of Pranayamas stimulating the peripheral nerves of the Central Nervous System. Chandra Nadi is the Pranic Current that moves in the left nostril and Surya Nadi is the Pranic current that moves in the right nostril. When these two flows meet the peripheral nerves, they are termed Ida Nadi and Pingala Nadi. It is very relaxing to do it while lying in Surya or Chandra Nadi Asana and breathing deeply in this position until you are aware that one is predominantly a right or a left nostril breather. Cleansing techniques for Pranayama There is a group of Pranayamas called Bhastrika, which helps to cleanse the body by active breathing. A basic Bhastrika is called Mukha Bhastrika in which the breath is blasted out like a Bellows Breath through the mouth, which is puckered up as though you were going to whistle, called Kaki Mudra, the Crow Gesture. This gesture stimulates the nerves of the mouth, tongue and throat so that a free cleansing may take place, but the main purpose is to reduce the level of carbon dioxide present in the bloodstream. A further form of Bhastrika is the Nasarga Bhastrika, also a cleansing form of Pranayama but also known as \"Healing Breath'', which is done in a sitting position as in Vajra Asana, Siddha Asana or the Padma Asana. In this Nasarga Bhastrika, the Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 28
THOUGHTS ABOUT PRANAYAMA IN THE GITANANDA YOGA TRADITION breath is taken in and out of both nostrils. To use this Bhastrika as a Healing Breath, a held-in breath is employed after the rapid moving of the breath. When the required number of rounds have been completed, take in a deep, complete breath. Swallow the breath and hold the breath for as long as it is comfortable. Now let the breath out very slowly and with great control, all the while mentally concentrating upon any body part requiring healing or rejuvenation. The whole cycle of breath can be repeated up to three times a session. A short rest should follow the practice of this form of Bhastrika. The number of breaths in a Prana Garshana or breath cycle will depend upon the lung and breath strength. Swami Gitananda teaches that one hundred and twenty rounds are the maximum to be done. In all the Bhastrikas, the air is moved rapidly in and out of the lungs. Alternate Nostril Breathing Nadi Shoddhana and Nadi Shuddhi are nerve cleansing Pranayamas, a kind of run-off in the nervous system to release mental tension. There are 72 thousand subtle nerve groupings in the human body, and in some cases, tension builds up within the nerves so that a cleansing of the nerves becomes necessary to alleviate hyper-tension and hyper-sensitivity in other organs and glands associated with those nerves. In Yogic thinking the nerves are capable of holding and withholding memory impulses in the same manner that organs are used to hold and store certain refuse material before discharging this material through the body's cleansing processes. The Yogic version of psychosomatics known as Adhi-vyadhi is built upon this knowledge. Nadi Shoddhana is a rougher cleanser while the purifier is called Nadi Shuddhi. Both of these techniques employ a form of Alternate Nostril Breathing. There are a number of these breathing techniques and it is taught that a vital Pranic force enters the Surya Nadi, the nerves terminating on the inside of the right nostril with the incoming breath and a negative a-Pranic force leaves the body through the nerve terminals of Chandra Nadi in the left nostril. The goal of this Alternate Nostril Breathing is to balance these positive and negative forces. There is also a beautiful Mudra employed in rhythmic breathing that is a great aid to the development of Yoga Pranayama, called Surya Pranayama Mudra. The breath rhythm is Savitri Pranayama, rhythmical breathing. Savitri is a mystic name for one of the twelve suns of the Cosmic Universe, but also stands for the Solar Plexus Chakra in the twelve Chakras of the higher and lower bodies. To perform the Surya Mudra a time just at dawn is the best while sitting in a position like Vajra Asana or Sukha Asana or a similar position. The hands are drawn together in Namaskar Mudra, the prayer-like gesture and slowly moving the hands towards the sun on the Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 29
THOUGHTS ABOUT PRANAYAMA IN THE GITANANDA YOGA TRADITION incoming breath, turning the hands outwards until only the tips of the thumbs touch. The sun must be between the giant cavity created by the outstretched hands. A symbol of the sun on rainy days does it also for me. While retaining the breath the beneficial rays of the sun enter through the nerve-terminals of the hands vivifying the entire body. On the outgoing breath draw the hands back to the Namaskara Mudra and maintain that position while the breath is held out. In this particular Pranayama Mudra the breath will be continually extended in a rhythmic fashion from a slow count of 6x3x6x3 to as high a rhythmic count as possible. Also belonging to rhythmic breathing is the Sama Vritta Pranayama, also called Prana/Apana Pranayama. Vritta is an undulation, current or rhythm, while Sama means the same or equal. Here one can try to create the sensation of rhythm or one could visualize an undulating circuit of Prana/Apana while breathing. In Asama Vritta Pranayama the breath is taken to one count and let out for double the count, 1x2. This technique will keep the blood pressure down and the heartbeat slow. In the second stage of Asama Vritta Pranayama one would reverse the sequence of the breath to 2x1. This routine is excellent to cure breathing difficulties created by the habit of smoking tobacco or playing woodwind or brass musical instruments. Of course, there are a multitude of other examples of Rhythmic Breathing, especially in Lesson Forty Six, but I like to concentrate on these ones, which I really worked on in my own Yoga practice. It is such a wealth of Pranayamas which is given by Guru Swami Gitananda in his Step-by-Step Yoga instruction so I feel a lifetime will not be enough to work through it. When I read and study the texts of the lessons, I always discover something new, which provokes my interest again. The next two Pranayamas are the two I greatly prefer to do, especially the second one: Loma - Viloma Pranayama and Aloma - Viloma Pranayama. These Pranayamas are also Alternate Nostril Breathing. The first one, Loma Viloma Pranayama, begins with an incoming breath through the right nostril, then the breath is briefly held in, and finally released through the left nostril. The hand gesture to control the alternate nostril flow is called Vishnu Mudra or a comparable gesture called Nasarga Mudra, which are also used in Nadi Shoddhana and Nadi Shuddhi. The breathing rhythm is in the pattern of Savitri Pranayama 8x4x8x4. In Aloma-Viloma Pranayama begins the incoming breath through the right nostril, the outgoing breath is then let out through the left nostril (Surya Bhedana). Then again breathe in through the left nostril and let the breath out through the right nostril (Chandra Bhedana). This cycle is repeated many times in the pattern of Savitri Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 30
THOUGHTS ABOUT PRANAYAMA IN THE GITANANDA YOGA TRADITION Pranayama 8x4x8x4. This form of Pranayama actually \"feeds'' the nervous system and is extremely beneficial to those who suffer from neurasthenia and psychasthenia, the most common nerve and emotional condition in the world today, typified by lassitude, inertia, fatigue and loss of initiative. The psychic state of psychasthenia is restless fidgeting, hypersensitivity and undue irritability with outbursts of tantrums and senseless outrage. Cooling Pranayamas Lesson 46 is titled Hot Weather Pranayamas which are cooling Pranayamas and belong also to the eight classical Pranayamas according to Hatha Pradipika. The eight classical Kumbhakas or Pranayamas are Surya Bhedana (Sun Cleaving Breath), Ujjayi (The Victorious Breath), Sitkari (Hissing Breath), Sheetali (Icing Breath), Bhastrika (Bellows Breath), Bhramari (Sound of Bee Breath), Murccha (Fainting or Swooning Breath) and Plavini (Floating Breath). In the Hot Weather Pranayamas it is especially important to mention that it is inhaled through the mouth and exhaled through the nose as opposed to most of the other Pranayamas. In this group of Pranayamas various Mudras, such as Jiva Mudra the Tongue Gesture in Sitkari Pranayama, or Kakachandra Mudra in Sheetali, are used to produce coolness of the air, but also to cool the blood stream. These techniques are extremely valuable for those suffering from any form of acidosis or for women experiencing menopause. Sheetali Pranayama also has a very good effect upon Vaata (wind) and Kapha (mucous) disorders. In Bhramari Pranayama the 'Six Opening Gesture', Shanmuki Mudra, also called Yoni Mudra, is used. This Mudra is a hand position closing all of the six orifices of the face. The fingers of both hands are used to close the eyes, ears and nostrils. This is an excellent pacifier for excessive stress when used with the Bhramari Pranayama. Advanced Pranayama At the end of my detailing Pranayama, I wish to refer to Kapalabhati Pranayama, the Skull Cleanser. Kapalabhati is considered one of the Shat Karmas, or Six Major Methods of Purging in the Hatha Yoga System. Kapala means the \"Skull\" and \"Bhati\" to shine or to make clean, or lustre.\" This Karma or Kriya is to control and clean the Pancha Bhutas or the Five Elements of earth, water, fire, air and ether associated with the brain. Earth stands for the physical matter of the brain, water for the cerebro-spinal fluid, fire for the nerve tissues and cells, air for the pressure holding the brain in its skull cavity, and ether for the subtle energies moving in the arachnoid and subarachnoid cavity of the brain. Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 31
THOUGHTS ABOUT PRANAYAMA IN THE GITANANDA YOGA TRADITION Kapalabhati is very much like Nasarga Bhastrika, but the out-breath is flung upwards, as in Uddiyana Bandha, the Flying-up Restraint. Kapalabhati starts on an active outgoing breath. Pull the diaphragm as high as possible. At the same time visualize the silvery Apanic Magnetic Flow being flung upwards along the spinal area, against the floor of the brain, then into the brain itself and circulating from the back of the skull to the top of the skull, then to the front of the skull and then turning under the lower floor of the brain. On the in breath, which is more passive the Pranic Flow must be visualized as an energy source directly in front of the face. Imagine this Prana as a bright reddish-golden coloured force and pull it in with the breath through the front of the face, along the floor of the brain, to the back of the skull. Then let the flow turn up inside of the back of the skull, over the top of the brain, and back again to the front of the skull. Each in breath should have the same visualization of the Pranic Flow, and each outgoing breath, the visualization of the up-flung silvery Apanic Flow. Practise at a very slow speed until the visualization is achieved. Do thirty slow out and in - breaths at the beginning, being carefully not to create any dizziness from hyperventilation or fainting. Then speed up to a medium speed, and then to a fast speed. Day by day increase the rounds by one or two out- and in-breaths until 120 in- and out-breaths can be done at a sitting. There is no point going beyond 120 breaths in each Prana Garshana. After ending Kapalabhati it is recommended to do Mukha Bhastrika and recline forward in Dharmika Asana or stretch out and relax in Shava Asana for two or five minutes. Kapalabhati can clear away many brain disorders and is an essential Pranayama for anyone approaching Adhyatmika concentration and meditation. Expressing gratitude Ending now my reflections about Pranayama, I would like to express my deep gratitude to be a part of the great Yoga Family in the tradition of Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri, to have had the wonderful opportunity to learn and study the step- by- step teachings and be in process to grow with this immeasurable knowledge and wisdom. Deep thanks to my beloved Ammaji and her reliable and poetic support, also of Dr. Ananda and his “sparkling with wit” teachings and not to forget many thanks to Yogacharini Latha, 'the door opener' and to Thomas, my husband, who always stands by my side. (Concluded) Vol.52 No. 07, July 2021 www.rishiculture.in 32
www.rishiculture.in
Search
Read the Text Version
- 1 - 36
Pages:
