What is yoga?

-Yoga- life style, therapy, spiritual practice, exercise, a trend and one of the worlds booming industries.
-Seeing the marketing out there you'd think there are so many styles but Yoga is interpretative
-Today in most studios we practice asana and breathing techniques.
-Before only selected chosen people, required seclusion then Colonialism -period of suppression,
deliberately kept a secret, later accessibility became important
-Precursor to hinduism
-In fact, your moral behaviour makes up the first two limbs of the 8 limbs of yoga as categorised by Patanjali
1500 years ago- this includes considering what you eat, when you wake up, the cleaning techniques, there
are 6. All part of preserving one's universal life force energy.
-Could we all be babas? No... You can lead a yogic life and be a householder. Asrama- there are numerous
stages of life (student, householder, retired, renunciate). The key is perhaps learning to feel happy with your
life.
-Yoga is limiting the circles of desires no matter what your activity be it asana, pranayama, office work, child
rearing and so on. W are always busy, fulfilling desires, never-ending effort when successful even not happy
and when unsuccessful not happy.
-In accepting the main cause of unhappiness is never ending desires, we can devote our lives to not
suffering, not desiring. No-one else is responsible for unhappiness, except ourselves
-It is a philosophy of life and it is discursive but it is also a religion. The practices are intended to give you
access to spirit through practice and not discussion because discussion is an academic process and doesn’t
allow for you to experience
- when I practice sometimes i feel it is me who is helping me in order that I can learn to respond to the world
with a wider more kinder mindset.
-Sometimes I am thinking more universally. Practising with devotion for something indescribable which
connects all life. Both are spiritual approaches. It is learning who you truly are.
-Vedas-body-mind as a dream, what is not a dream, is the self. Self as formless, not in space time. Bagavad
Gita - which is one of the puranic texts that emerged after the vedic period - “it is eternal - water can not wet
it…weapons can not shatter it, it is not subject to birth and death”. the mind and body is an experience in the
self’
-Another way to illustrate it: You don not have the same body mind you had two minutes ago. Deepak
Chopra - a leading academic, public speaker and meditation teacher. For example if you took a photo of the
ocean,
-In the same way we confuse ourselves with the photo of ourselves.
-Beyond fear and suffering. beyond clinging and the fear of impermanence, beyond identifying with the false
self, which really boils down to the fear of death - is who you are. Beyond the mind-body is a sense of
existence which we can tap into - in the stillness of a posture
-So Yoga is not just physical. Asana (postures) have certain therapeutic effects. The long a possible and be
comfortable, do not strain
-The breath is the most important. Any scientist will confer that the breath can be affected by how you feel
(think flight or fight response) and likewise you can affect how you feel by controlling the breath.

EXERCISE 1
a) Pavan muktasan
b) ab breath , full yogic breaths,

What Yoga IS - A RECAP

-Yoga connects with who you truly are, the thread that connects all beings
-The word yoga means union or oneness. Derived from the Sanskrit word ‘yuj’ which means to join. This is a
concept of joining the individual consciousness( jivatma) to the universal consciousness (paramatma).
-To achieve this a person must undergo purification and attain the most balanced state of existence or life.
It is the balancing of body and mind to access the soul and the practices have changed in recent years so
that the discipline looks more and more like exercise.
-As an exercise it can be categorised as an endurance rather than power or strength training although
strength is improved. Yogic exercise is hygienic as opposed to non hygenic. This means it engages the
mindset of the practitioner, who should not be under undue stress or strain, in fact they should embody a
positive frame of mind.The aim is to improve function of the whole body holistically rather aim to improve
isolated muscles or focusing on aesthetics of the body.
.
-It works on all aspects of the person: physical, vital. mental, emotional, psychic and spiritual The practices
include meditation, kriya (purification practices), asana (physical postures), mudra (gesture), bandha (body
lock) and pranayama(breathing techniques).
-Benefits include heightened awareness, stress and anxiety relief, improved strength flexibility and immunity
Certain postures and breathing techniques may not suit you depending on your condition - there are
numerous alternatives the practitioner can choose from which is why yoga is for Anyone

A potted history
Yoga was originated in India, earliest archeological findings have been discovered in the Indus Valley dated
5000yearsbut others date it as far back as 10,000 years old
- a system practiced by the rishis (sages) of ancient India as a means for self realisation.
- It was first introduced purposefully by an Indian Swami to the western world by Swami Vivekananda in
1890s - who suffered great hardship to have his message heard but eventually was heard at the
Parliament of World Religions in Chicago.. He founded schools during his visit and spoke of Patanjali's
Yoga Sutra' of Hinduism. He said: "India has a beautiful jewel but is lying in the mud, America has a
beautiful case but has nothing inside". He wanted to bring the two cultures together. He told the audience
that each person was god himself. He was responsible for translating many Sanskrit texts into English. But
the interest he generated was mostly academic, he trasnmitted the philosphical essence of Yoga and
Hinduism - reward and result example.
- By the 1950's and 60's swedish gymnastics influenced the way yoga developed in India changed Yoga
substantially. The palace where Krishnamacharya trained the royal family in Mysore also housed a
gymnasium which he would have had to pass in order to visit the space where he taught power yoga to
the royal family and military, a dynamic form of yoga which was the precursor to ashtanga.
- Pathabi Jois and Iyengar were his students
- Baba Laxman Das who in the 1970s was sought out by many famous Hollywood actors such as Julia
Roberts and entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs and influenced many Western spiritualist teachers Ram
Das, Krishna Das, Bhagavan Das and JaiUttal transmitted the message of devotion to others or Bhakti
Yoga. He sat in meditation for most of his life.
- Sivananda, which is our shared linage was a- dr wanted more spiritual and authentic approach to the
proliferation of yoga in the world. 1930s founded an asram in Rishikesh. Wrote much. Combined all 4 paths
of Yoga, Bhakti, Jnana, Raja and Karma. Vishnudevananda spread his teachinsg through TTC movement
today a minimum of 200hrs is generally considered as a qualification be a teacher. The course covers
Anatomy and physiology, Yoga history and philosophy, Diet and nutrition, Practicals on various Yogic
practices etc. You can learn in any number of 'styles'
-modern Vinyasa - satisfy desire for movement - is it truly yogic?
- Yoga is more concerned with interoceptive and tonic impulses rather than jumpy or jerky movements which
concern phasic muscle groups (fast twitch) which do not affect the psycho-physiological behaviour of man to
the same extent as tonic functions in the body.
-The idea is t o attain a steady posture - innervation and coordination is as much required as in the execution
of movement as it is when holding a posture but it causes less mental disturbances. The autonomic nervous
system is not stressed in yogic exercise, neither in the endocrinal system taxed, no high demand is made on
circulation, respiration or metabolism, no necessity to feed the muscles with energy
- No negative state of emotion ought to be entered, hence yogic exercise should be approached
progressively, regularly and very gradually without strain - which is why its so important in class that you do
not feel competitive and know to take rest.
-It is better understood as a philosophy before a physical practice. It is no wonder people hurt themselves
doing it because we strive too much
-There is mention in the Rig Veda of a daily routine as a worship to the sun. In more recent years scientists
have found that sun salutations meets many of the norms outlined by the sports science community of
exercise that benefits include elasticity of the muscles, strength endurance core stability and power of the
mind. At least for the past 400 years we can trace the use of sun salutations to promote health and devotion
in India. In the early 20th century sun salutations was popularised by the Raja of Aundh as a national pride.

EXERCISE 2
Sun Salutations

- As you can see from the time line the seminal text Hatha Yoga Pradikipa emerged in the 15th century some
time after the vedas were compiled, after patanjali and even the puranic period and after the tantric period.
This is the first text where many of the modern practices we perform in yoga studios today, were first
explicitly mentioned. 84 postures of which 4 are the most important - shiva passed to matsyendranath.
-Lets go back...Patanjali spoke of lotus pose, of sitting like a curlew or a camel//the use of animal names is
common for yoga poses but downward dog as a name for the inverted V posture is relatively modern
Shoulder stand only arrives in yoga manuals in the 1800s although much earlier teachings explains that
inversions help life force energy to drip to the head to stave off death.
Warrior postures and Triangle pose do not appear at all in the ancient manuscripts but are practised by
Krishnnamacharya's students and appears in the Sivananda sequence. Lets try some ancient postures...

EXERCISE 3
Cowface, Spinal twist, Bow and arrow, Cobra - Pradikipa
Camel, Curlew, Lotus - Patanjali

Disease is one of two things: 1)stagnation of waste products in certain regions which has a toxic effect on
the body as a whole or 2)a faulty system of neuro-muscular and neuro-glandular reactions - these two
reactions are inter dependent
- this may be from poor diet, poor posture, psychological disturbances. Yoga asana attends to all these to
help the body to fight the offending factor or restore its homeostasis
-Our autonomic nervous system is the part of our nervous system that controls involuntary actions, such as
the beating of our heart and the widening or narrowing of blood vessels.
The sympathetic and the parasympathetic systems are subdivisions of the autonomic nervous system. They
are the balancing act that ensures we have just the right amount of stress to function optimally in our
lives. The sympathetic system is what switches on when a threat to our existence means that we need to
react quickly with the fight or flight response, the parasympathetic system is in charge of involuntary
responses to do with the ‘resting’ parts of our survival (ie ‘rest and digest’ or ‘feed and breed’).
-Savasana can enhance the parasympathetic activity, blunt the sympathetic activity and reduce the load on
the heart… It enables us to absorb and overcome the debilitating effects of everyday hassles, stress,
anxiety and hypertension. the digestion works optimally. The more the parasympathetic is practiced, the
deeper you may dive into sympathetic and parasympathetic responses and you can eventually possess
control over their use.
-The calming, centering soothing effect of yoga practice can only arise when proper rest is taken afterward.

EXERCISE 4
Savasana - tension and release and auto suggestion
aware forgetfulness, not awake nor asleep

-If there is a forest full of thorns will you ask someone to go and remove all the thorns or wear shoes to
protect your feet?
-Breathing techniques prepare the practitioner to increase vital energy, increase your lung capacity which
over time, you can train the mind to overcome panic, to reduce the impact of disturbances on your health, to
develop an internal capacity to withstand disturbances rather than taking external measures to save
ourselves from disturbing factors. The body's ability to adapt to circumstances can be trained. Just as the
mind ability to adapt to circumstances can be trained.
-One particular practice is anuloma viloma which means with the grain/against the grain. There are many
variations of this technique of breathing.
-It is said to balance left and right hemispheres of the brain, helps to regulate breathing through both nasal
passages. It has been noted that the right nostril conserves heat while the left dissipates heat
- ancient yogic knowledge suggests the right nostril connects to the energy channel referred to as pingala
- it is the solar element in the body while the ida nadi or energy channel is responsible for the lunar element
in the body. The goal is a balance between the two to allow energy to channel evenly up the body from the
base of the spine through the central nadi to the brain to bring the practitioner a sense of peace.
-scientifically speaking a healthy body will naturally dillate and constrict the capillaries in order to bring about
a balance and sound health. Science also suggests the extremeties of the body which could include the
nose but certainly includes fingers and toes, respond to changes in the environment through vaso-
constriction and dilation. You could say Yoga prepares the individual physically to adapt to the environment
oustide and inside, how to stay calm in tense situations - how to be mentally prepared for death even.
-Constricting the breath certainly induces panic - some of that is physical . Much of it is psychosomatic but it
is important not to strain...

EXERCISE 5
alternate nostrils

Taking time to ourselves in the day for those parts we can't see -our breath - the feeling of quietening the
mind, meditating on compassion, contemplating love or consciousness, know our limits and at one point we
have to give up have faith, something divine will help us, surrender, rest, stop, breath, quiet time to reflect on
how you experience this existence in the present moment

EXERCISE 6
guided meditation - simple Patanjali and anapana (which is also in sutras as pranadharana)