Ashtanga Yoga. Gregor Maehle

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СКАЧАТЬ of yoga, samadhi is reached by suspending the extremes of solar (pingala) and lunar (ida) mind. This state arises when the inner breath (prana) enters the central channel (sushumna). Then truth or deep reality suddenly flashes forth.

      Why a Traditional Practice is Still Applicable

      A peasant once spoke to the sage Ramakrishna thus: “I am a simple villager. Please give me in one sentence a method by which I can obtain happiness.” Ramakrishna’s answer was: “Totally accept the fact that you are a machine operated upon by God.” This needs to be deeply understood. It is through the belief that individuals exercise free will that ego is produced; and, in turn, ego produces suffering. In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna states, “All actions are done in all cases by the gunas (qualities) of prakrti (nature). He whose mind is deluded through egoism thinks I am the doer.”¹⁰

      This means that the entire cosmos, including our body-mind complex, is an unconscious machine operated upon by God. Our self, who is pure consciousness, is forever inactive. It merely witnesses. The giving up of the idea that it is we who act is echoed in the Yoga Sutra by Patanjali’s use of the term kaivalya. This final state of yoga is the realization of the complete independence of consciousness. Since it is completely independent, it has no way of influencing the world. Like a mirror, which simply reflects, consciousness can neither reject nor hold on to objects of its choice. Give up the sense of agency,¹¹ says Krishna: “Only a fool believes I am the doer.”

      The surrender of the illusion of free will is reflected in the vinyasa system by acceptance of the original system as expounded by the Rishi Vamana. Of course it is easy to make up our own sequences of asanas, and possibly commercial success and fame will result. But then we run the risk of falling for the ego, which says I am the doer and the creator. We are only pure consciousness — the seer, the witness, the self — which, as the Samkhya Karika¹² says, plays no active part in this world.

      That does not mean we cannot adapt the practice for some time if difficulties are to be met or yoga therapy needs to be practiced. We need to return to the original system whenever possible, though. Rishi Vamana’s system leads through outer structure and limitation to inner freedom. If we constantly practice self-made sequences, we create inner limitation through outer freedom.

      The rishis of old did not conceive the ancient arts and sciences by trial and error. The method they employed was samyama, which combines concentration (dharana), meditation (dhyana), and absorption (samadhi). In that way, deep knowledge of how things really are can be gained. Patanjali himself explains in the Yoga Sutra how he gained his knowledge. Knowledge of the mind, he says, is gained by doing samyama on the heart.¹³

      He also explains how the body can be understood. Medical knowledge, he says,¹⁴ is gained by practicing samyama on the navel chakra. This is how the science of Ayurveda came into being. It should be noted that Patanjali compiled the Charaka Samhita, an ayurvedic text. When we study and practice the ancient sciences today, we need to do this with a feeling of respect and devotion.

      The teachings of the ancient masters have never been declared invalid. They have only ever been added to.

      1. Krishnamacharya the Purnacharya, Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, Chennai.

      2. The Yoga Journal, San Francisco, November/December 1995.

      3. Bhagavad Gita III.7.

      4. Bhagavad Gita III.24.

      5. Yoga Sutra II.12.

      6. Maitri Upanishad VI.35.

      7. Vijnanabhairava, trans. and annot. Jaideva Singh, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1979, p. 23.

      8. Yoga Sutra I.41.

      9. Yoga Sutra I.43, quoted from The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, trans. C. Chapple, Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi, 1990, p. 53.

      10. Srimad Bhagavad Gita, trans. Sw. Vireswarananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras, p. 79.

      11. Frequently used in Indian texts, this word means “the condition of being in action or exercising power.”

      12. A text describing Samkhya, the ancient prototype of all Indian philosophies.

      13. Yoga Sutra III.34.

      14. Yoga Sutra III.29.

      

      Breath

      The most visible aspect of the Ashtanga Yoga system is the different yoga asanas (postures). More important, though, is the invisible content, which consists of three fundamental techniques. These techniques bind the postures together on a string so that they become a yoga mala or garland.¹

      In the Vinyasa Yoga system the body is used as a mantra, the postures represent beads, and the three fundamental techniques form the string that holds the beads together to create a garland of yoga postures. The system is designed to work as a movement meditation, where the transitions from each posture to the next are as important as the postures themselves.

      For the beginner it is essential to learn these three fundamental techniques at the outset. Once they are mastered, the practice will happen almost effortlessly. Without them it can become hard work. The three techniques are Ujjayi pranayama, Mula Bandha, and Uddiyana Bandha. We now focus on the first of these.

      Ujjayi pranayama means “victorious breath” or the victorious stretching of the breath. The term pranayama is a combination of two words, prana and ayama. Ayama means extending or stretching, while prana can have several meanings. It is usually taken to mean inner breath or life force, and as such it makes up part of the subtle anatomy of the body. Other elements of the subtle anatomy are nadis (energy channels) and chakras (energy centers). Sometimes, however, prana is used to refer to the outer or anatomical breath.² In this context pranayama means extension of breath: the adoption of a calm, peaceful, and steady breathing pattern. When the breath is calm, the mind is also calm.

      Ujjayi pranayama is a process of stretching the breath, and in this way extending the life force. Practicing it requires a slight constriction of the glottis — the upper opening of the larynx — by partially closing it with the epiglottis. The epiglottis is a lid on the throat that is closed when we drink water and open when we breathe. By half closing the epiglottis we stretch the breath and create a gentle hissing sound, which we listen to throughout the entire practice. The sound produced seemingly comes from the center of the chest and not from the throat. The vocal cords are not engaged, as that would lead to strain: any humming that accompanies a sound like wind in the trees or waves on the shore should be eradicated.

      Listening to the sound of your own breath has several implications. First and foremost it is a pratyahara technique. Pratyahara, the fifth limb of yoga, means “withdrawing the senses from the outer world” or, more simply, “going inside.” This will be considered in detail later. For now it will suffice to say that listening СКАЧАТЬ