Get the hint!

The beauty of the Patanjali Yogasutras is that though he speaks of asanas, he does NOT explain even one. Though he speaks of Pranayama, he does NOT explain even one. Yet this book is the foundation for all of the manifested bounty of Yoga we see globally. The root for ALL "practices" lies in the twin teachings of
1. Tada Drishtuh Swaroope Avasthanam - Reside in the form of an observer/witness
2. Tatra Stithau Yatnobhyasah - Doing that which takes you to the above "STATE" (of residing in the form of the observer/witness) is the "PRACTICE"!
The great Yogis of lore like Yagyavalkya (wrote the Yoga Yagyavalkya) and the ones from the middle ages like Rishi Gheranda (who wrote the Gheranda Samhita) and Rishi Swatmarama (who wrote Hatha Yoga Pradipika) and a whole galaxy of lesser known but equally if not more amazing Yogis like Matsyendranatha, Gorakhnatha, contributed to Yogic PRACTICES that contain details on the Asanas, Pranayamas, Bandhas and Kriyas that form the manifest Yoga we witness today. The modern saints of Yoga like Sri Kuvalayananda, Swami Sivananada and Sri Krishnamacharya and his wonderful disciples like BKS Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois have brought in their own light and understanding to this Agnostic body of knowledge. ALL these works and writings are elucidations of the understandings of these great Yogis on what brought them to "THE STATE" . AUM 🙏

Yogic Sadhana the great detoxifier

Yogic Sadhana the great detoxifier and internal cleanser. Aantarika Shuddhi and Shaucha

When Patanjali speaks of Shaucha or cleanliness in the Niyamas, we usually think of brushing our teeth and having a bath on a daily basis. The Asanas and Pranayamas ensure that there is cleansing at the cellular level as well. The lymphatic system is the sewerage system of the body and unlike the circulatory system has no pump and needs specific body movements to make it more efficient than it would normally be. It carries the waste from the cells and also the bodies of cells that die everyday in their millions!
A good Asana practice with Vinyasa like Surya Namaskars or Sun Salutations brings along with it not only aerobic benefits that ensure that nutrition and oxygen reach each and every cell, but also the circulation of the lymphatic fluids.
The "squeezing" action in the movements of many of the Asanas, coupled with the massaging effect of the diaphragm (when one breathes deep and uses the diaphragm to push deep down), results in the cellular waste getting pushed into the lymphatic system as well as dead cells getting eliminated in the process.
The end result is a fantastic detox of the entire body across ALL the various physiological systems we learn of, like the digestive,circulatory, nervous, endocrine, organs et all.
All this results not only in a super clean and healthy body but also a system in which the free and unimpeded flow of prana is established.
The way the human mind behaves at various levels of pranic flow and intensity is a very interesting subject of study! AUM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymphatic_system

Yoga is for the mind!

Yogena Chittasya - Through Yoga you helped the mind
Padena Vacham - Through Grammar you helped the words
Malam Sharirasya Cha Vaidyakena - Through your work in Ayurveda you helped the body get rid of illness
Yopa Karottam Pravaram Muninam - To that most excellent of sages who gave us all this
Patanjalim Pranjaliranatosmi - Patanjali, I salute thee

For all those who look at Yoga as something that effects the body - No. Yoga works on mental well-being and mental health. If our mind is in great shape, so will be our physical health. Kabir said a long time ago, Man Changa to Tan Changa!
For those who look at Patanjali as just a Yoga Guru - He worked on Yoga, Sanskrit Grammar and Ayurveda. Amazing isn't it?

So much to know about the great ones of Yore. Just like a Mira still lives on in her Bhajans or a great artist who has passed away still lives on in her/his works, may the great sage Patanjali continue to live on through "our study, understanding and PRACTICE" of his works

Observe the Comfort Zone

Stretching in Yoga....
In the stretch lies the expansion of the "Comfort Zone". The secret in going deeper in the practice is to keenly observe the point where your "Comfort Zone" ends. The "Discomfort" is not just with the physical limitations but more so with the impatience and frustrations of the mind. Once you reach the boundaries of your "Comfort Zone", take a baby step outside this "Comfort Zone" with "Awareness". This patience with the process, ensures that we expand what we define as the boundaries of our "Comfort Zone", till a point where we are simply "Comfortable" in any situation. This observation of the limits of our "Comfort Zone" should be part and parcel of the Yogic Sadhana. This ensures that we prevent injuries as well as develop immense patience with the process of Yoga...the race with no finish line 🙃
Panthi Hoon MainUss Path Ka...Anth Nahin Jis Ka 🌟
AUM AUM AUM 🙏🙏🙏😊

What is it being a Yogi? - A National Geographic/Discovery Channel Cameraman!

One of the quintessential requirements in Yoga, irrespective of which of its 8 limbs you are working upon, is that of "Observation". Tada Drishtuh Swaroope Avasthanam. Reside in the state of an observer says Patanjali. A great student always observes, and observes without overlapping the subject of observation with previous judgments or prejudices. Only then something new could be learnt.

Have you seen a National Geographic or Discovery Channel cameraman/woman? She/he spends years and many seasons following their subjects (wildlife like the big cats or dogs, the elephants and what have you in the wild!) and studying them with all the patience at their command. After years of this Tapasya (Penance), we the audience, get to see a 30-60 minute documentary of the same. :)

A Yogi is also like the National Geographic/Discovery Channel Cameraman, just that the camera has been turned onto one’s own self. Whether that understanding of the self is the body, the mind, the prana (bio electricity that runs the various body functions), the breath, the judging intellect or the ultimate silence/space that encompasses all these. Just like the cameraman who comes out with his documentary of 30-60 minutes after having spent years of patient observation of her/his subject, the Yogi come out with a few lines, a small book (the Yogasutras of Patanjali is 196 threads or aphorisms) or a blog! These learnings and teachings help the other students of Yoga, to go deeper into the subject!

The Buddha told his close disciple Ananda on his deathbed, to be a light unto oneself. The defining moments for the Yogi is when the realization dawns that we need to be scientists unto ourselves. Observing in dispassion and eternal patience. Yoga is a great and awesome framework for the Agnostic to know and learn. For the one who can unabashedly say "I Don't Know, but I am deeply interested and am willing to spend an eternity in the process of knowing"

AUM AUM AUM 

Yogah Yogyati Yoginah

We have heard much too often about the famous shloka Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah...which means that Dharma protects those who live by it, who protect it.

In my many years of Yoga practice I have realized that Yoga gives Yogyata or "the ability to unite with" thus Yogah Yogyati Yoginah

The loose English translation of the word Yogyata has been "Ability". However the way we can understand it at a deeper level is the ability to immerse oneself in whatever one aspires to do or engage with, in life. Nothing can be enjoyed (was very tempted to use the word "achieved", but then that means so many different things to different people) in life till one does immerse oneself into it. Even our day to day mundane work becomes so full of life, so very enjoyable, only when we are completely immersed in it. The "SIDDHI" or the ability to bring actions to results, does not happen till those actions were not performed, with all your heart, with complete immersion of oneself in the act.

How does Yoga bring about Yogyata then? Yoga itself means "to join", "to become one with"

Once the means and methods to engage ones 'SELF' with the subject, even if it is one's own body (example through Asana), is understood, Yogyata has happened in the individual.

AUM

The Table with Eight Legs

My loving Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar says something so deep and beautiful that only a Great yogi could ever. Speaking about Ashtanga Yoga that the sage Patanjali explains in the Yogasutras, He explained that these are NOT 8 steps or Ashtha Pada but 8 parts of the same body or Ashtanga. A table may have four legs but if you want to pull the table getting a grip on just on of its legs is good enough. The other 3 legs come along with it. Similarly going deep into just one part of Yoga will ensure that you attain the other 7 as well. There are many who have said probably getting your hands on more than one, could make the process faster. Maybe!

My many years of experience with my Asana and Pranayama practice coupled with the eternal and loving Grace of my Guru have brought me to realize the depth of His words.

I will at this point, revisit the eight limbs of Yoga which is very essential in the context of what I am trying to explain. The eight limbs of Yoga as elucidated by Patanjali are

1. Yama (What we owe to the world). There are 5 Yamas. They are
a. Ahimsa or non violence (Not just in deed but also in thought)
b. Sathya or truth (Not to be understood as purely verbal truth but the deeper understanding of what we experience as existence)
c. Aparigraha or non covetousness. A deep satisfaction within oneself that comes through a deep acceptance of what is. Once we realize that all there is in the world we perceive, is nothing but the manifestation of the the wonderful consciousness that alone is, Aparigraha is a natural happening
d. Brahmacharya. Probably the most misunderstood. Most understand it as sexual abstinence when the word itself when deconstructed would mean "Walking in Brahman". What would this mean? It simply means seeing the One in All and All in One.
e. Astheya or non stealing. Something that again is a direct result of understanding the greater consciousness that ALL is.

2. Niyama (What we owe to ourselves)
a. Shaucha or cleanliness. This is not just external but is deeply internal at the level of the body and the mind as well. Internal physical cleanliness can be achieved through deep asana practice that rids the body of Aama (undigested matter) at the macro visceral level as well as the micro cellular level. At the level of the cells, the same is achieved through the optimum working of the Lymphatic system which is known as the body's sewerage system. The Lymphatic system unlike its luckier cousin, the circulatory system, does not have a pump (aka the heart) to ensure good movement of its contents (the waste from the cells). Good Asana practice coupled with deep and slow breathing (that works the diaphragm) helps in pumping of the Lymphatic system. Deep meditative practice of Asana (Sthiram Sukham Asanam combined with Prayatna Shaittilya Anantha Samapattibhyam) purifies the mind (which is not just what we think of as the manifestation of the nervous system but as the bio electric field that envelopes every cell of our bodies) by calming it down beautifully and making it impervious to the duality of life. Patanjali says in yogasutra 2.48 tatah dwandwa anabhigata. That one moves beyond the dualities. This experience has a deep cleansing effect on the subtle body represented mostly by the mind.
b. Santosha or happiness, cheerfulness that is not hostage to events. When the deeper realization of truth sets in, Santosha is the manifestation. Bliss which is not hostage to events.
c. Tapasya or going through the difficulties with a smile. Do 108 Surya Namaskars daily to understand what this means :D
d. Swadhyaya or Self Study through patient observation of all our koshas over years of continuous and respectful practice (Satu Dheerga Kaala Nairantarya Satkara Sevita Dridha Bhoomi)
e. Ishwarapranidhana or the deep inquisitiveness to know more about the One Consciousness that is. This is something that is understood in the depths of meditative Asana practice.
The explanation of how Asana brings about the fulfillment of Yama and Niyama are explained in a diagram below


3. Asana - Gurudev explains Asana as respecting your body. And what is respect? Being with the practice 100% in full awareness. The tension that Asana brings in different parts of the body helps the awareness to manifest deep in those parts which normally would be very difficult to attain.
4. Pranayama - Gurudev explains Pranayama as respecting your breath. Giving it 100% attention and awareness to the way our breath behaves and moves in the body, when being in various Asanas and at various levels of progression in those Asanas. For example, the way we breathe when we do Paschimottanasana is very different from any other Asana, and even here, the patterns of breath vary depending on the level of progression made by the Sadhaka.
5. Pratyahara - Going completely within oneself like how a tortoise pulls back all its 5 limbs (including head), pulling back from the world of 5 senses and residing in the form of the observer. Tada Drishtuh Swaroope Avasthanam. Doing Bhramari Pranayama in Shanmukhi Mudra is a wonderful way to experience Pratyahara.
6. Dharana - single pointed focus. Understanding the various instructions of how to do the Asanas and continuously observing and improving on them brings about the single pointed focus that we call as Dharana.
7. Dhyana - Complete but conscious relaxation. Prayatna Shaittilyam Anantha Samapattibhyam. Dropping all efforts and experiencing the Infinity. Something that is done not by dropping the Asana but by being in the Asana and dropping the efforts at the level of the mind. The whole Asana experience becomes meditative when this is done.
8. Samadhi - Only when it happens, One knows what it is. All efforts to explain what it is, would stop here!

The deep practice of Asana, accompanied with a deep awareness of one's body, the fine levels of alignment that one needs to be aware of, and understanding the patterns of breath involved at various levels of advancement and progression (wont use the word difficulty though initially I was tempted to do the same), and the effect the same has on the movements of the diaphragm and the consequent effect on the various organs and parts of the body, brings a realization of all the above.
The deep realization of the One Consciousess in the depths of meditative Asana practice helps in triggering off the Yamas. The beautiful effects of the Asana on the body helps understand how the Niyamas are being brought into effect by cleansing not just externally at the level of the skin through the sweat glands, but every cell of the body through the beautiful massaging that is experienced, resulting in Shaucha at a very deep physical level. the meditative effects of Asana cleanses the entire Pranic body and subsequently the mind which is so deeply dependent on the Prana levels for its state of manifestation. A low Prana level results in a very different state of mind compared to a high Prana level. These are all understood effortlessly by those who practice (continuously with love and respect). Asana practice done respectfully of not just the details of the Asana (which results in Dharana), but also the diligent practice of relaxing at the level of the mind (resulting in effortless execution of the Asana) leads one to Dhyana. Samadhi is the ultimate result. Hence going deep into just one of the limbs of Yoga, namely Asana, helps one to achieve Yoga in its entirety.

AUM.