Truth About Yoga

7/27/2019 Truth About Yoga

1/63


2/63

Yoga is not an ancient myth buried in oblivion.

It is the most valuable inheritance o the present.

It is the essential need o today.

~ Swami Satyananda Saraswati


3/63

2010, International Yogalayam

http://www.theyogatutor.com

Introduction 5

Chapter 1

Clearing the Yoga Air 7

A Brief History of the Future of Yoga 7

Breaking Up is Hard to Do 8

Yoga and Stretching: Whats the Difference? 9

Stretching International Borders 10

Stretching the Margins of Yoga 11Is Yoga the New Aerobics? 12

Does Yoga Have a Shelf Life? 13

Rocking the Yoga Boat 13

Why Are There So Many New Yoga Styles Today? 14

A Look Behind the

Yoga Teacher Training Curtain 17

Chapter 2What Is Yoga? 26

A Yoga Reality Check 26

What is Yoga, Really? 27

The Yoga-Fit Phenomenon 28

Mystical Science 29

The Science of Life 30

Perfect Health 31Perfect Evolution 31

The Yoga re-Union 32

Get Out of Your Own Way 33

Contents
http://www.theyogatutor.com/http://www.theyogatutor.com/


4/63


http://www.theyogatutor.com

Ashtanga YogaEight Steps to Freedom 34

Hatha Yogausing the body to transcend the body 35

The Key to Hatha Yoga 36

Awareness: without it, yoga is just another stretch 36

1 Awareness of Body 37

2 Awareness of Emotions 39

3 Awareness of Mind 40

4 Awareness of Awareness 41

Mystical Magical Energy! 41

The Yoga of Re-Polarization 42

Are You Getting it Right? 43

Chapter 3

A Brighter Yoga Future 45The Body is the Beginning 45

The Body is Not the End 46

Breaking Some New Old Yoga Ground 47

Carving a Better Yoga Path 48

Why You Need to Practice Yoga at Home 49

Taking Yoga to the Next Level 50

Yogashramthe ultimate yoga experience 51Studying the Yoga Home Study Concept 52

Dont Give Up on Yoga Classes 54

A Bright Yoga Future 54

Appendices 57


5/63


http://www.theyogatutor.com5

IntroductionWee all head the expession, Nee jude a book

b its coe. A coe that appeals to ou senses o atitle that pookes us is sometimes hat makes us act

thouh. But ho oen does the content inside ail lie

up to the coes aade? A lot, I nd.

We could pobabl sa that this metapho is also an

appopiate one o people sometimes too. What e

see on the outside is not alas an accurate eection

o hat is inside. Im not talkin onl about someones

characte esus thei phsical appearance. Im sain

that the imae e hae o ouseles een, and hat e

eall ae miht be olds apart. Te poblem is that

e just dont ealize it et. I I could start this book ina rathe cryptic a, then I ould sa that oga is hat

helps us to come to this ealization.

You ant to kno the tuth about oga. Tats h

ou picked up this book. Te title made ou do it, so

ee cossed the st hudle alead. Te next ques-

tions that ou ant anseed ae:


6/63



1 Is thee eall a tuth about oga; some deep

dak secet that has been kept hidden om ou

all alon?

2 I thee is, ill this book eall eeal it to me?Te anse to both those questions is a denite

MAYBE. Tee ae man thins about oga that most

people ho practice it toda dont kno. I can tell ou

that ith 100% certaint. What I ill eeal in this

book ill hopeull shed a lot o liht on oga o somepeople. I o one ish I ould hae had some o this

inomation beoe I started leanin oga. It certainl

ould hae saed me a lot o okand mone too.

But I suppose sain time and eort isnt alas the

point, is it? I mean, I I didnt hae to put orth so much

time, enegy and eort oe the eas to lean eery-

thin that Ie leaned about oga, I ouldnt be able

to shae hat Im about to shae ith ou no. I hope

m time hasnt been asted and that this short book

ill be o some alue to those ho ae cuious about

ogathose ho ae ondein ho to et started, andthose ho ae crain moe o an undestandin o this

ancient science in ode to dele deepe into it.


7/63



Chapter 1

Clearing the Yoga Air

A Brief History of the Future of Yoga

Te last century has seen oga o om bein a ke part

o the abic o an Easten cultue, to a lobal phenom-

enon, and that escalation hasnt come ithout its shae

o oin pains.

Te ast majoit o people ho utte the od oga

toda hae nee been to India; the hae little to no

knolede o the cultural heitae om hich oga

has spun, and likel ery little inteest in becomin

too acquainted ith it eithe. Tat makes some ogaenthusiasts ery concened.

I the Indian (Vedic) cultue om hich the science

o oga deeloped is, in act, important to the practice

o ogahich it is to some peoplethen thee is ttin

cause o concen because the ideas about oga andits moden methods o practice hae moed pett a

om its oiins alead. A ston aument can de-

nitel be made b these olks that hat most people ae

doin unde the name o oga no cant accuratel be

called oga anmoe.

Just as man, and pobabl een a hole lot moe

othes, thouh, aent concened about this at all.

Tee not lookin o an existential cisis. Tee not


8/63



lookin o an philosophical input on lie in eneral

eithe. Tei motiations o tryin oga ae moe prac-

tical than all that. Te simpl ant to impoe thei

health and eel betteand thouh moden oga, thecan usuall et those thins pett easil.

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

I ill poide some ood, practical and useul stu about

oga hee o ou, I pomise. But as Ie just pointed

out aboe, the idea o hat oga means aies idel

om one peson to the next, so I need to quickl un

oe this ound so that ou can see hee ou ideas

about oga t in elation to the ideas o othes. What

I hae to shae in this book is not intended to conert

anones a o thinkin about oga. I hope, hoee,that it ill poide some aluable insiht o eeryone,

no matte hat thei take on oga miht be.

Without simpliin too much iht om the start,

lets just sa that thee ae to ail distinct oga camps

noadas: one that takes a decidedl Westen scien-

tic ie o oga and anothe that embraces the ra-

ditional spiitual oundations as its coe. Neithe is so

one-dimensional as to be summed up in one sentence

like that, o couse, but the main diision stems lael

alon the lines o hich pespectie the teachins o

oga ae ieed om: the Easten o the Westen.In tuth, both ae too mopic to do oga justice. I ou

adhee too iidl to traditional texts and metaphoi-


9/63



cal eeences, then ou miss the eat opportunities

that moden lanuae and scientic discoeies oes

to deepen ou pespecties on these ancient teach-

ins. Conesel, i ou onl ie the teachin o ogathouh Westen scientic and philosophical pespec-

ties, then ou ill not ull undestand it o achiee

een a raction o hat oga is capable o helpin ou

to achiee.

Yoga and Stretching: Whats theDifference?

When I st tied ogao at least hat I thouh as

ogaee so man eas ao, I could not een touch m

toes (thats a act!). In act, I couldnt een come close! I

spent eas deelopin moe exibilit, hen it nalldaned upon me one da that I could hae saed m-

sel a hole lot o touble. All I had to do, iht om the

start, as bend m knees and oila!

Tat asnt the point thouhto meel bin m

nes into contact ith m toes, as it? Te point asthat thee as a hole lot o tension in m phsical bod

that needed to be oked out. But no that the tension

is one and I can easil bend orwad to touch m toes,

hae I accomplished the oal o oga? O is inceasin

the exibilit o m limbs onl part o the oga pictue?

Let me put it this a. A ballet dances bends o-

ad to touch he toes. He alinment is alesshe

steadiness esolute. In oga e bend orwad to touch


10/63



ou toes in a phsicall identical postue called pada-

hastasana. I the oi and the ballet dance ee side

b side, it ould look exactl the same to me.

So, hats the dieence? What makes one oga andthe othe just a ood stetch?

Ie posed this sort o question to some oga teach-

es in the past, and the esponses I oen eceied ee

aueusuall ettin lost in some tenuous line o pseu-

do-scientic, peculia oga jaon that eall doesnt

hold much ate. What that tells me is that once e et

past the phsical perection o the pose, oga tends to

et a bit hazeen o a lot o oga teaches toda.

Stretching International Borders

Fortunatel, I had the opportunit to trael to India ea-l on in m exploration o oga and spent a lot o time

leanin ith teaches and alon side o othes ho

ee not indoctinated in the Westen oal-oiented,

phsical-tness obsessed cultue that I as.

Tose eal expeiences emoed a lot o the haze

o me and helped me to undestand oga beond the

stetch. I leaned that uin out ho to et m chin

don close to m shin, as the pime motiation o the

practice, as a colossal aste o timenot because thee

as no phsical benet in it (thee denitel as), but

because alone it had ery little to do ith oga. I leanedthat the alue o all o these oga execises, hen done

ith pope undestandin, extends ell beond ou


11/63



phsical healthand that teachin oga meant eentu-

all teachin this to m students as ell.

Stretching the Margins of Yoga

Te attention paid toda to the phsical stetches and

execises in oga is nothin short o obsessie. Reall

thouh, should e be supised at that? Yoga has no

enteed the mainsteam o a cultue alead obsessed

ith crain the perect bod. Tis exotic ne om o

execise ith its easil maketable spiitual mstique

as a no-braine and a lon-oedue eplacement o

aeobics and ash in the pan tness crazes like Jazze-

cise o Taibo.

Fo seeral eas no, oga has topped the list o

hottest ne tness tends. Aeobics as a pop-tnessactiit ma hae aded into the backound moe than

a decade ao, but the aeobics spaces haent complete-

l disappeaed. Man hae just been conerted into

oga studios. Te Leo stacks o plastic aeobics steps

at the back o the oom hae been eplaced b olled

oga mats and Stooam blocks. Te eleated staes

hae been emoed, the biht coloued alls painted

a moe neutral, calmin tone, and the oescent lihts

eplaced ith less obtusie enegy-sain haloens.

Te olumes on the mega-att sound sstems rael

et pushed passed leel to no, and the once ibrantand eneized spaces hae been transomed into oa-

ses o peace and tranquilit.


12/63



You teache is dieent no too. She no lone

eas hot-pink tihts, an Adidas headband, and com

le-ames. She uses natural skincae poducts and

he perectl sculpted size six phsique is adonedith skin-tiht oga ea that leaes nothin at all to

the imaination.

She is eery bit as likel to be a he no too. While

callin into question the masculinit o the rae male

aeobics instucto almost seemed an obligation, toda

man men teach oga too, and those ho do ae likel

to tun the heads o omen ho miht nee hae oth-

erwise ien them a second lance on the bus.

Sue, aeobics as tend; but oga is denitel sex.

Is Yoga the New Aerobics?Aeobics as a short-lied obsession. It came and ent

scacel ithin the span o a decade. Yoga, on the othe

hand, seems to be in its heda iht no, idin a ae

o populait that has alead eatl supassed that o

its tness pedecesso.

Yoga has certainl pemeated into neal eery ce-

ice o moden cultue, om ashion to beaut poducts,

om healthcae to spiitual transcendenceso much

so that its had to emembe that this lobal phenom-

enon is bael a couple decades oun too. Not oga, o

couse, hich is thousands o eas old, but the mod-en oga class, a elatiel ne innoation, hich can


13/63



no be ound in almost eery tness cente and health

club in ton, and in neal eery neihbouhood too.

Does Yoga Have a Shelf Life?

Tis explosion happened so ast that one cant help but

onde, ho did so man people suddenl et into

oga? Fom obscuit to mania practicall oeniht,

is somethin one miht bette associate ith cabbae

patch dolls, pet ocks, and bell-bottom jeans. Tus bes

the question, Is oga o eal, o is this megatend

headed o an eentual crash landin?

I oga is pimail put orth as just anothe exotic

om o stain in shape, hich sadl is oen the case

toda, it is doomed to the annals o hat once as,

that much is certain. Te bie question then is: Domoden oga teaches hae the knolede, skill, and

heeithal to keep inteest in this ancient science

alie, o is oga just anothe tness tend, the ne ae-

obics, destined o the same, unortunate ate?

Rocking the Yoga Boat

Tis is the part hee I ea Im oin to anno a lot o

people. When I sa the thins Im about to sa, it usu-

all does. It annos some oga teaches, and it annos

some oga students ho ae ery attached to thei oga

teaches. It is not m attention to oend anone, butno matte ho I attempt to ephrase this, it inaiabl

ields the same esults.


14/63



I also et just as man ods o praise and thanks,

thouh, om those ho hole-heartedl aee ith

hat I am about to sa. But o some othes, it pesents

an uncomortable look in the mioone that, no mat-te ho sol put o suga coated, illuminates a eal-

it that the ould much rathe pee le in the dak.

Nee the less, it is a subject that I must also speak

rankl o hee. I oe it to ouespeciall since I pom-

ised to tell ou the tuth about oga.

It starts ith the question

Why Are There So Many New Yoga Styles

Today?

I hae to bet that this is close to the numbe one ques-

tion about oga on most peoples minds toda. Testraiht-orwad anse is pett simplea lack o un-

destandin o oga.

Wait a minute!, ou sa. M inerted-hip-hop-

oga-o-naked-oles teache is a eal oga maste!

Ok, sacasm aside, thee ae denitel some ex-temel knoledeable, hihl expeienced, excep-

tional oga teaches out thee. Tees also some pool

trained teaches ith ery little expeience out thee

and thees a hole lot o teaches out thee ho t

somehee in beteen.

Te eat teaches hae a ood undestandin o

oga because the hae taken the time to popel stud

it and expeience eerythin about it st hand. Tats


15/63



no small task, and it has little to do ith hethe o not

someone is certied eisteed o boasts academic

cedentials o an othe sort. It has to do ith thei suc-

cess in alkin the oic path to eate health and un-destandin. You ont achiee that just om a com-

pletin a couse o stud. Youll et it om completin

a difcult pesonal joune.

Te teaches ho onl hae ery basic trainin, o

the most part, kno that the hae a lot to lean and ae

pobabl not likel to petend to be somethin that the

ae not. In the couse o m lie as a oga teache I hae

met man o these olks, and most I ould sa ae in-

spiinl humble in thei appoacheae to shae the

little bit that the kno ith iends and colleaues,

and ery eae to continue to lean moe about oga.Its the hole bunch o olks out thee teachin oga,

the ones that all somehee in beteen, ho ae the

enines behind this moden ne oga mania.

Yoga is a science o pesonal transomation. Ill

paint this landscape moe colourull a bit late in this

book, because undestandin hat oga is all about is

cucial to bein able to et the most out o the practice

o it. Sufce to sa o no that oga is a sstem that

has been tested and honed and perected oe centu-

ies b the eat scientists o ancient India knon as

the Rishis, o oga mastes.Touh thei tieless expeiments on themseles,

the discoeed just hat this Uniese o ous is all


16/63



about, and pehaps moe importantl, ho e ae as

human beins and hat ou place ithin it eall is.

Te discoeed hat it is that e need to do in ode

to nd eal lastin health, peace and happiness. Tatpocess is the sstem that e kno toda as oga; the

most compehensie and complete sstem o po-

ound pesonal chane.

Yet ho man peopleho man oga teaches

eenhae eall taken the time and put orth the nec-

essary eort in ode to eall undestand hat oga is

all about? B the looks o thins, not too man.

Granted, chanin ouseles is not alas eas. In

act, its an enomous challene een at the best o

times. Lets ace it, e like ou moden liestles, e

saou hat e eat, ee extemel attached to ouiends and amilies, and ou social and leisue ac-

tiities om the oundation o ou ery identit. Deep

don inside, e dont eall ant to hae to chane an

these thinseen thouh, unde close scutin, a lot

o them ae the pinciple causes o all ou toubles.

Rathe than usin oga, as it as intendedas a po-

erul a to chane ouseles o the bettee pe-

e to chane oga. Hodes o mainall trained oga

teaches that hae catapulted onto the oga scene in no

time at all hae done exactl that. Te one thin that

the hae in common is a lack o a eal deep unde-standin o oga. Tat lack has lead to the continual

e-ampin, e-okin, teakin and einentin o a


17/63



science that as and still is alead perectsomethin

that the ould kno i the had taken the pope time

to eall undestand it st, beoe comin up ith

thei on unique a to impoe it.

A Look Behind the

Yoga Teacher Training Curtain

I eceied an email om a oman ecentl ho echoed

somethin I oen hea. She said I thouht that a oga

teache trainin couse could be a means to bein to

deepen a pesonal practice. She didnt ant to teach

oga just lean it, and she ondeed i that ould be

the best a.

Most oga teaches that un a oga teache trainin

poram ill tell ou that thei couse is o eeryone,not just those ho ant to be a oga teache. Yet the

dont eall maket thei oga teache trainin po-

rams that a, and the certainl dont pice them to

t the budet o Aerae Joe ho just ants to lean

moe about oga eithe.Im not undamentall opposed to month-lon oga

trainin couses. I think the can be a hue step up

om the dop-in oga class cultue that dominates the

oga scene toda. But I hae difcult acceptin most o

these porams as qualied trainin ounds o ne

oga teaches. I think, deep don inside, man o those

ho un these porams also kno that the ae not

doin justice to the subject o oga in thei 200 o een


18/63



500-hou couses. Pesonall I ould pee, as Im sue

man o these teache-traines ould as too, to see

these porams eeed to as Yoga Leanin Couses,

and not Yoga eache rainin Couses.But thats not oin to happen.

Te aconm C (eache rainin Couse) is one o

the most econizable tems in the moden oga lino,

and it caies ith it a lot o maketin and commecial

eiht. Tose ho un these porams kno as ell as

I do that i the emoe the oga teache certicate

om the equation, then thell be had-pessed to et

een a handul o students sinin up.

People ho hae a enuine inteest in exploin

oga o thei on pesonal deelopment pale in com-

paison to the numbe o people ho ant to et that200-hou Yoga eache Certicate ith thei name on

ithich leaes people like the oman ho sent me

that email hain a had time uin out hat to do.

Hees an article that I published in the Apil 2009

issue o Te Yoga Nes, hich puts some moe inte-

estin pespecties on the moden oga teachin in-

dustry.


19/63



Yoga Cred. Have You Got Some?

(The Yoga News, April 2009)

There are now over a dozen well-recognized na-

tional and international yoga magazines, along with

literally thousands o yoga-related newsletters pub-

lished online every month. A Google search or yoga

blogs returns 2.39 million websites, and yoga ar-

ticles, 4.98 million. Amazon.com lists hundreds o

books with the word yoga in the title.

Do you have something to say about yoga? Get

in line.Despite its ancient roots and the act that yoga

remained virtually unknown in the West until just a

ew decades ago, all o a sudden it seems that ev-

eryone has two cents to throw in on the subject. But

who are all these olks teaching, talking and writing

about yoga all o a sudden, and is what they are

saying worth listening to?

There are some important questions that we

need to ask, such as who is really qualied to speak

with authority about yoga and has the experience

to write with genuine understanding about it? Who

knows enough about yoga to be called an expert?

And who, even, is really qualied to teach it?Those are more dicult questions to answer

than you might think. With yoga moving switly into

mainstream culture and thousands o budding new

yogis rushing in to make a name (and oten a dollar)

or themselves, credibility is becoming a big issue in

the yoga world.For the majority in the global yoga community,

the dilemma o how to properly assess the creden-

tials o todays yogis has yet to be solved. The cen-


20/63



tral question remains how to sanction practitioners

o an ancient science that does not t too easily

into our conventional Western structure o academ-

ic education.

Though yoga has been around or millennia,many traditional lineages have evolved to protect

and pass down its teachings, each developing their

own approach to the teaching and practice o yoga.

This makes standardization o yoga education a

near impossibility, creating quite a quandary when

it comes to establishing a yoga certication model.But this concern might pale in comparison to the

problem o a growing mess o modern yogis prac-

tising all manner o who knows what with the word

yoga attached to itthe connection o their phi-

losophies and practices to the roots o yoga oten

extremely vague.

These are issues that the newly ormed IndianYoga Association (IYA) is currently grappling with.

At the same time they are trying to work out just

how to ensure adequate knowledge and experience

or yoga teachers, without too narrowly mandating

what and how they are to be taught.

Years ago there was anticipation o this predic-ament in many places outside o India too, which

saw several sel-proclaimed yoga associations

spring orth. The apparent yoga visionaries who

spearheaded these initiatives quickly laid down

guidelines or yoga certication and the recognition

o yoga qualications, in an attempt to give street

cred to the growing number o wannabe yogis and

teachers in their countries.


21/63



But there was one big faw in their well-inten-

tioned eorts. Their guidelines, which were sup-

posed to elevate the standing o those who ol-

lowed them, were or the most part arbitrary. They

were not based upon any sound suggestion o justwhat it takes to be well schooled in the science o

yoga because many who ormulated them were

themselves, not well studied or experienced in the

yoga tradition. They were, perhaps, too quick to ap-

ply a Westernized model o education and certi-

cation to a science that demanded more than thattype o academic ramework to ully master.

This has resulted, in most places today, in re-

quirements to be a registered yoga teacher that are

well below what is really necessary to uphold the

integrity o yoga. These modern standards have re-

ally done more damage than good to the image o

yoga worldwide. They have given the overwhelmingimpression that yoga is not very deep at allthat it

is merely another eld o study that primarily re-

volves around physical exercises and techniques,

and requires little more than a ew hundred hours

to gain competency in.

The results certainly refect this oversight. Nowwe see tens o thousands o yoga teachers who

know very little about yoga spreading their ideas

about it to millions more yoga enthusiasts around

the globe, every day.

Drop into any bookstore and youll see the most

apparent extreme o this unortunate state that yoga

nds itsel in now. Shelves are literally overfowing

with books on yoga, making it perhaps one o the

most saturated o any non-ction genre o writing


22/63



today. O course there are a ew thoughtul books

about yoga on the market, but not many.

The vast majority o modern yoga books, in my

opinion, had no good reason at all to be written.

Rarely have I come across any volume that serves toimprove the publics understanding o yoga. Most,

in act, achieve just the opposite, putting yoga into

a piteously supercial light.

For the rare one who has a proound under-

standing o yoga, the immense amount o time and

eort that it takes to be adequately educated in it iswell appreciated. They know that one cannot hope

to scratch through even the surace o yoga in the

ew short months o training that the average yoga

teacher receives today. Learning yoga is no small

matter. It is a major pursuit that demands great sac-

rices, uncommon dedication, and extremely hard

work, along with years o study and practice.Given the accepted standards or assigning

credibility in yoga today, however, what is the incen-

tive or the aspiring yoga teacher to make such e-

orts? On the surace it seems like there really arent

many. One who goes to such heroic lengths in the

search or genuine understanding likely wont getmuch credit or it in the real worlda place that

cannot seem to see past paper certicates and o-

cial documents.

In act, when businesses are aced with the

choice between hiring a yoga teacher who is reg-

istered with the regional yoga association and has

only the requisite couple hundred hours o training,

or hiring someone who has dedicated their sel to

years o disciplined study and practice o yoga, the


23/63



one with the certication will almost certainly be

given a higher value.

The irony in this current state o yogic aairs

and there is a lot o itis that the one who has

dedicated him/hersel to the genuine explorationo yoga is probably the one who is regarded with

the most suspicion. Many Indian masters who have

dedicated their lives to this great science would not

even qualiy to be licensed yoga teachers in Ameri-

ca now. In a rather blind pursuit o yoga credibility,

it seems, we have orgotten about what it actuallymeans to learn yoga.

Where is Yoga Heading? As usual, those who

speak the loudest and those who gain the most rec-

ognition are usually those who know the least. Even

the Bhagavad-Gita cautions us that in Kali Yuga, our

present age, great orators are oten mistaken or

the wise.Yoga is not immune to this phenomenon and

a tragedy continues to unold as the mouthpieces

o yoga today, those who have made great names

or themselves, those who are playing the credibility

game to a T continue to sell yoga shortby a long

shot.Evermore voices are being raised, however, over

the concern that yoga has been trivialized and re-

duced rom its loty perch as the most comprehen-

sive science or personal growth and evolution to a

supercial system o practices that continues to be

reshaped and restyled into new and oten ridiculous

things by enterprising, but sadly uneducated yoga

enthusiasts.


24/63



New-age yoga may play well or a short time

in the marketplace, but it cant last orever. I yoga

continues to lack any real substance in the way it

is being taught or presented, then eventually the

masses will tire o it and move on to somethingnew and more enticing. That is something that we

humans have always done.

Yet yoga can and should have a bright uture.

The potential that it possesses to guide society or-

ward in increasingly stressul and uncertain times is

immense. All the good intentions o so many yogaadvocates can nd rmer roots i we all start look-

ing deeper into this wondrous science with greater

awareness and respect or what it is really all about.

No other credible proession would sanction

teachers who do not have advanced knowledge and

experience in their eld. Why should yoga? I we

want society to hold yoga in high esteem and viewit as the respectable science that it deserves to be

seen as, then we must promote teachers, our edu-

cators and ambassadors, who refect that image.

The infuence o those would-be yoga regula-

tors upon the yoga industry is enormous, and their

recognition o the current short-comings o theirestablished regulatory models is paramount to this

transormation happening. As yoga teachers, we

cannot let ourselves be guided by market-driven

orces into building the oundation o our proes-

sion upon shiting sandinto ollowing a model o

regulation and accreditation that doesnt yield a

proessional body with adequate knowledge and

experience to do yoga justice.


25/63



The bar or acceptable yoga education and ex-

perience needs to be raised and a new model or

recognition o yoga qualications established; one

that honours the tradition o yoga and recognizes

the vastness o this eld o study; and one thatrefects what it really takes to gain proper under-

standing o and competence in yoga.

A yoga teacher, at the very least, must have

knowledge o yoga that extends well beyond the

physical practices and techniques. They must have

the ability to speak o every aspect o lie rom ayogic perspective, and the ability to stretch their

mind beyond the conditionings o amily, society

and culture. They must be models o integrity and

honourable living, and demonstrate in each and ev-

ery moment o each and every day what it means

to live a yogic lie.

I this does not happen, then the fame o mod-ern yoga will soon be extinguished. Our duty as

practitioners is to insist on the establishment and

maintenance o a proper level o yoga credibility,

one with standards that are worthy o this most

proound science o lie, and one that will withstand

the test o time and the whims and ancies o anever-changing marketplace.


26/63



Chapter 2

What Is Yoga?

A Yoga Reality Check

Pehaps its time to step back and take a ood look in

the mio. Yeah, I kno, ou look antastic in ouLu-

lulemon oga pants, but hos lie? I mean, ae ou eel-

in moe content ith ou cicumstances in lie? Ae

ou less stessed? Moe optimistic? Able to sta cool as

a cucumbe in ustratin situations? What about ou

elationships? Ae the sailin smoothl no? Do ou

smile hen eeryone is onin? Ae ou ndin moe

time to spend ith ou kids? Do ou open the doo ostranes?

I oue hain a had time sain es to most o

those thins, then mabe its time to ask ousel i ou

ae eall ettin hat ou should be out o ogao i

oue just thee to look at ousel in the mio.Ho all these thins elate to oga miht seem ms-

teious to ou. Ae all, ho does the cat pose hae an-

thin to do ith holdin the doo open o stranes?

Ill tell ou exactl ho. But st, to make sue ee

all on the same pae, Id bette tell ou hat oga is.

I kno it seems like somethin e all should alead

kno, but Im supised at ho man people dontat

least the hole pictue anho.


27/63



What is Yoga, Really?

I as ecentl told o a oga teache ho had been teach-

in oga in China. When he asked his students hat

the kne about the oiins o oga, he as shocked tond that man o them thouht oga as an Ameican

keep-t execise! I chuckled as I told this to a oup

o North Ameican oga students, but some o them sat

ith peplexed looks on thei aces. Ten one peson

said, I thouht it as an Indian sstem o execise?Well, at least she as iht about the country.

o man, oga is a om o execise, thats tue. It has

also been accused b othes o bein a eliion. Die-

hads o oga thouh, poess it to be the supeme phi-

losoph, a denitie pschology, and the oadmap to

the meanin o lie itsel. Without doubt, thee ae lots

o people out thee ho see it as little moe than just

anothe ad too. Tee is no shortae o opinions about

oga toda, thats o sue.

One thin is also certainthee is a lot o diision

aound a science that is supposed to epesent union,hich is actuall the literal translation o the Sanskit

od oga. A hole lot o debate raes on beteen

those ho pomote oga o its utilitaian, health-en-

hancin appeal, and those ho demand a emoal o

the tem oga altoethe om pop tness cultue, ad-

ocatin a etun to the moe holistic oots o this an-

cient science.


28/63



Should one in out oe the othe, o is thee a union

o these ideals that could bette serve us all? Te tuth

is that neithe ie is ood enouh toda and that both

o them hae a lot to contibute to a moe aluable ap-poach to oga.

The Yoga-Fit Phenomenon

Its had to den the act that oga is bein portraed

toda, moe than anthin else, as a om o execise.

Tat it is a rathe exotic om o execise is pehaps

hat lends so much to its appeal. Exotic o not thouh,

the ie o oga b the eneral public eall doesnt o

too much beond the idea o oga bein a kind o exe-

cise class. Most peopleeen man o those ho prac-

tice oga eulalould pobabl be at a loss to samuch moe about it than that.

Een the expeienced practitione can be oien

o hain onl a aue and uncertain hold upon this

thin called oga thouh. Lets ace it, it seems like

eerybod and thei do is doin somethin ith the

od oga attached to it these das (and een some

people ith thei dos!). Yes, some o those thins ae

pett eid. Asked a tpical oga practitione toda

hat oga is and thei anse ill almost certainl be-

in and end ith desciptions o some om o anothe

o phsical techniques and practices. Tats a eal tra-ed because these execises, as onderul as the ae,

still onl epesent a ery small part o hat oga is all


29/63



about. I e limit ou ie o oga to these practices,

then e miss so much. Its like hikin to the top o a

mountain, but stoppin at a nice spot onl a raction o

the a up. I ant to help ou aoid allin pe to thislimited ie o oga.

Tose who have studied yoga will attest that this

Science o sciences is too comprehensive in its na-

ture and too proound in its scope o teachings to be

tted into the ramework o any particular philoso-phy, religion or belie, ancient or modern.

~ I.K. aimni, Te Science of Yoga

Mystical Science

Just about eeryone that is into oga ill aee thatthee is moe to it than just stetchin. What that moe

is, hoee, is a question hose anse doesnt alas

o condentl o thei tonue. In act, hat exactl is

oin on at a deepe leel in oga isnt ery clea to most

olks at all. As a esult e hea lots o aue eeences

to thins like enegy and plent o eneic statementsabout balancin mind and bod and thins like that.

Yoga teaches oen inject an ai o mstical cham into

thei classes too, ithout ettin too specicspiitual

musins, I like to call them. I suppose in a a that

adds to the exotic appeal o oga ithout eall com-mittin too much on the ideoloical ont. But does it

eall help us to et moe out o the practice?


30/63



Tees a poblem. On one hand, e miht kno

that thee is somethin deepe about all these oga

practices ee doin; but on the othe hand, e miht

not eall kno hat that deepe thin is. So hat domost people do then? Te adopt the attitude that i

the just practice the execises ith the coect pos-

tue and alinment, the deepe stu ill just happen to

them. Well, Im sory to tell ou, but it ont.

Dieentiatin oga execises om just plain exe-

cises equies an undestandin o oga on both a phil-

osophical leel, as ell as a phsical one. Lets start b

takin a nice boad look at hat oga is eall all about

(Yes, Im nall oin to anse that question!)

The Science of LifeIn simple ods, oga is a sstem o phsical, men-

tal, emotional and spiitual health. Its practice inoles

man dieent execises that each has puposes be-

ond just ou phsical healthsomethin Ill et moe

into shortl. Tee ae also man diet and liestle con-

sideration too, hich also serve multiple puposes be-

ond just ou phsical ellbein.

In the boadest sense, oga is a science that po-

ides a loical, step-b-step a o us to bette unde-

stand o ou seles and the uniese aound us. Reall,

oga is a Wa o Lie, one that is lied ith eateaaeness and undestandin.


31/63



Perfect Health

I ou hae engaed in some oic execises beoe,

then ou dont need me to tell ou ho ood the ae

o ou. Tee ery eectie o educin stess, e-chain ou enegy and helpin ou to eel ou ood

old sel again. Tees a eason h a lot o people ho

do oga look eat too, because the oic execises po-

ide eat phsical conditionin as ell. Te sa that

oga helps ou to lie a lone and healthie lie, andthee hae certainl been enouh examples to ie that

claim a lot o eiht. But the hole point o lie isnt

just to polon it. It is to impoe ou expeience o it.

Tats h all these phsical benets o oga ae eall

onl a steppin stone to the ultimate potential o oga,

hich is

Perfect Evolution

Te eal oal o oga is to help us to consciousl eole

into ise beins. Tat ma seem a tad pesumptuous

o oga, but ou ancient Rishis (oga mastes) set theba pett hih o themseles and ee detemined to

settle o nothin less than ealizin the ull potential

o ou human species. Te esult o thei ok is the

science o ogathe science o deliberatel attemptin

to accelerate ou natural eolution.


32/63



The Yoga re-Union

Te tem oga itsel comes om the ancient Sanskit

oot Yuj hich means to join, to oke toethe, to

uni o unite as one. Te Easten old ie is basedupon the undestandin that e ae all meel a unique

eection o the same unied souce. In act, at es-

sence, eerythin eal and uneal, maniest and none-

maniest in this ast uniese is ultimatel inseparable.

So that Union o Yoga is a natural consequence, andthe practice o oga then, meel a a to help us to

moe tanibl ealize ou tue, unied natue.

But as Westenes, it can take some time to eall un-

destand hat this union o oga is all about. I mean,

sue, intellectuall e can et the idea pett easil, but

deep don inside, ou Westen ie o ho e ae and

ou elationship to eerythin aound us is quite di-

eent. Ou entie existence is built upon the sense o a

separate, indiidual sel.

Te union eeed to in oga is moe o a eunion

a eunion o the loe, oldl sel ith the Uniesal,hihe consciousnesshich the ancient Indian saes

call moksha (osamadhi, kaivalya, and jivana mukta

too). Tis is the tue oal o oga.

But these lo oals ae a lon joune aa o

most o us. Gettin thee, especiall i ou come om a

cultue that has quite a dieent a o seein thins,

takes some illinness to exploe lie om a pett di-

eent pespectie. Tat is hat oga can help us to do.


33/63



Get Out of Your Own Way

It miht supise ou to ealize that all o ou opinions

ou political ies, ou eliions belies, and ou

moral and philosophical attitudesdo not oiinateom ou. You hae meel been conditioned to beliee

them b ou paents, ou teaches, and the cultue

o the place that ou come om. Easten philosophical

thouht holds that it is these habits and conditionins

that ae the tue oots o dishamon, unhappiness, illhealth and ustrations in ou lie. As Epictetus said in

60 A.D,

Men are not disturbed by things , but by the views

they take o them.

Similal, m Yoga Guu, Sami Gitananda Gii, used

to tell his students,

You dont have a problem. You are the problem!

Touh the pope stud and practice o oga, e be-

in to see this quite cleal. Notice I said stud as ellas practice. Tat should point us to one ery cucial

secet about ogathat it is not just a phsical practice.

It is a mental one. I ou ae peromin a oga pose

ith the intent o perectin the phsical position onl,

then ou ae not doin ogaou ae just stetchin.But moe on that shortl.


34/63



Ashtanga YogaEight Steps to Freedom

Pehaps about 2500 eas ao, nobod knos exactl

hen, a eat oic sae named Patanjali penned 196

short aphoisms outlinin the oga pocess. Tat an-cient text, called Te Yoga Sutras, classies eiht dis-

tinct staes o oga. Te ae:

1 Yama (morals)

2 Niyama (ethics)

3 Asana (postues)4 Pranayama (beathin)

5 Pratyahara (sensory ithdraal)

6 Dharana (concentration)

7 Dhyana (meditation)

8 Samadhi (absoption)Numbe thee and numbe ou, oue pobabl head

o. Te poses and the beathin execises om, o the

most part, the bulk o the oga expeience o most

people toda. oethe ith yama and niyama, these

st ou staes compise the traditional branch ooga knon as Hatha, o the loe staes o oga. Te

last ou staes combined ae eeed to as Raja Yoga,

o the hihe staes o oga. Hatha and Raja ae to

ends o the same oga pole, so to speak.

Hatha is a ladder or ascending to Raja, and Rajais the goal o Hatha.

- Hatha Yoga Pradipika


35/63



Hatha Yogausing the body to transcend

the body

Someone once pointed out to me that a bab doesnt

cral because it cant alk. It crals so that it eentu-all can! In a a, thats hat the st ou limbs o oga

dothe pepae us to be able to successull alk the

hihe staes, the next ou limbs, hich is hee oga

eall ets oin. Yes, the moden oga class ma be

close to oga peschool than most o us ant to admit,but its still a necessary step in the oga pocess none

the less.

You oga teache miht not put it quite that a.

Most tend to keep pett quiet about the hihe sta-

es o oga, and pobabl o ood eason. Fistl, ery

e students ae ead to o thee. Secondl, the act

is that a lot o oga teaches haent eall one too a

in that diection et themseles. In all ainess, those

ou hihe staes o oga aent childs pla. It takes a

temendous amount o dedications and a lot o uid-

ance to naigate them successull. Te ealit is that tobecome a certied oga teache toda doesnt equie

anhee nea mastery o them.

I e ant to use oga o moe than just sheddin

a e pounds o killin a bit o stess, then e need

to set ou sites on this hihe ealm. Te step-b-steppocess o sae Patanjalis Ashtanga oga sstem is de-

sined to take us thee.


36/63



The Key to Hatha Yoga

One o the biest oga delusions people hae is think-

in that, because the can contort thei bod into all

sorts o exteme positions, the ae adanced in oga.Ho a ou can stetch has NOHING to do ith ou

leel o oic abilit. Some so-called ois aound to-

da, in act, ae bi time jeks! Te hae deeloped the

abilit to do amazin thins ith thei bodies, but the

haent taken een the most basic steps up the laddeo eolution et.

Tee I said it! Lets moe on. I m not hee to dell

on o speculate about ho is and ho is not a oi.

Dieent oga teaches ill hae dieent ideas

about hat ee tryin to accomplish ith ou oga

poses and execises. Some o these ideas ae ery tue.

Some, hoee, ae a little too ne ae o m likin

and thei connection to the pinciples o oga do seem

rathe tenuous.

One o the pimary puposes o the practices oHa-

tha Yoga is cultiatin eate aaeness.

Awareness: without it, yoga is just

another stretch

As I pointed out a bit ealie, the science o oga is a

means o conscious eolutiono speedin up thenatural pocess o the jiva, the indiidual soul, cclin

thouh its innumerable incanations on its joune


37/63



back to the Diine state o oneness ith the Supeme

Uniesal (o God, o hatee ou need to call it).

You cant perom an task successull i oue not

aae o hat oue doin, so the ke to bein able tomount a conscious eort toad eolution is aae-

ness. One o the main puposes o the oga execises

is the cultiation o moe and moe subtle leels o

aaeness. Yoga teaches us ou staes, o ou leels

o aaeness.

1. Awareness of Body

o be health e hae to be aae o hat leads to

health and hat destos it. Tats sounds obious, I

kno, but its shockin ho little some people actuall

seem to kno about ho the bod oks and ho totake cae o ito i the do kno, then the sue seem

to do a ood job not actin ery intellientl on that

knolede!

You ma hae head a couple eas ao about a man

ho, ae hain eaten endless meals oe his lietime

at McDonalds ast ood estaurant, sued the compan

claimin that he didnt kno that eatin Bi Macs and

Fench Fies ould make him at. Wee also seen class

action la-suits against cigaette companies because

people couldnt sumise that inhalin smoke om 2

packs o cigaettes a da o 10 eas as not oin to beood o them. So man people toda continue to oe

themseles on junk oods, dink alcohol, and inest all


38/63



manne o stimulants, chemical dus and medications

on a eula basis, seeminl ithout a clue o cae in

the least o the eects on thei health.

Knolede o iht diet, iht habits, iht execise,iht est, iht enionment, and all o the iht ac-

tions o the support o phsical healthhats hamul

as ell as hats ood o usis part o this st stae o

aaeness.

Aaeness o the bod also inoles aaeness o

hat the bod is doin. I sa a man alk iht thouh

a section o esh cement on the sidealk the othe da

and just keep on alkin, ithout a clue hat he had

done! What is ou postue like? Do ou slump in ont

o the compute o hous? O do ou slouch in a chai

hile ou ead the nespape? O stand o-kilte ithou hips to one side and ou shouldes hunched?

Most o us ae supised to discoe all the soe

points on ou bod hen someone starts to massae

themtension and stiness otherwise unnoticed du-

in dail actiities.

Without this conscious aaeness o ou moment

to moment moements and the eects o ou actions

and habit on the phsical state o ou bod, ho can

e hope to gain aaeness o hat e ae doin on

deepe, moe subtle leels o ou bein? Yoga bins us

man tools o ceatin a much eate aaeness onthat ossest leel, hich helps us to be able to culti-

ate the next leel o Aaeness.


39/63



2. Awareness of Emotions

Pope diet and phsical execise alone cannot bin

health to someone hose mind and emotions ae out o

contol. Ie seen people stule to oecome ill healthhile doin all the iht thinsmeanin that the eli-

iousl do the execises that thei therapist gae them,

eat the pope oods and eceie all the ecommended

healthcae teatments, et the dont seem to et much

bette. Tis suests that thee must be othe, mabeeen moe important actos o health. Tee is, and it

lies in ou abilit to contol ou emotions.

We all kno that exteme emotions like ane, anxi-

et and hih stess eak haoc on ou bod, caus-

in muscle tension, headaches, ulces and hen po-

loned, ultimatel a lot ose thins than those. Een

moden medicine is startin to embrace the ealit

that phsical smptoms cannot be teated b phsical

means alone; that the mind-bod-emotional complex

is inseparable hen it comes to health. Tis is hat the

tem pschosomatic means: emotions (pscho) aect-in the bod (soma). In oga, e call thisadhi-vyadhi.

Tis second stae o aaeness inoles deelopin

a eate undestandin o ho ou emotions aect us

on all leel. It also inoles cultiatin an aaeness o

ou emotions as soon as the aise, so that e can act

on them in a moe eoled a. Yoga helps us to ceate

eate consciousness on this ont, and also to deelop

a moe consistentl positie emotional rame o mind,


40/63



hich in tun ill bin eate health and hamon to

ou lies.

Inner lie revelations and spiritual insights are

ound only when the emotions are controlled and

the mind is still and undisturbed.

~ Swami Gitananda

3. Awareness of Mind

Ou emotions aect ou bod, and ou bod aects ouemotions. Te mind can contol both o them. Leanin

ho the mind oks is the st step toads cultiatin

its immense poe. Tis is the thid state o aaeness

in oga.

Te mind possesses to undamental parts: the con-scious (manas) and the sub (un)conscious (chitta). Te

subconscious aspect o the mind lacks aaeness. It

meel eacts at the behest o the emotions. Te con-

scious mind, thouh, has the abilit to econize hat

is eall oin on at the subconscious leel. It can dis-

coe h certain stimuli cause us to act o think oeact in certain asa pocess o inne inquiry knon

assvadhyaya in oga. Tis leel o aaeness is cucial

o pesonal transomationo conscious eolution,

as ee alead called it.


41/63



4. Awareness of Awareness

Tis hihest state o aaeness is called samadhi in

oga. It is, in a sense, aaeness o aaeness itsel

the diect expeience o the tuth o ones on essence.Most o us hae a lon a to o beoe achiein this

leel o aaeness!

Smt. Meenakshi Dei Bhaanani, m teache also

added one urthe stae to this ou-old oga aae-

ness. She aptl pointed out that the ast majoit opeople aent een emotel aae o just ho unaae

the eall aehich is eall hat keeps them om

bein motiated to do anthin about it. So aaeness

o ho unaae e eall ae is pobabl the most im-

portant thin to start ith, isnt it?

Tis is hee the practices o oga serve one o thei

eatest the unctions. Seeminl simple beathin ex-

ecises can be a poerul trainin ound o aae-

ness. Asanas, kriyas and man otheHatha Yoga prac-

tices, hen popel peromed, also serve that same

ambition.

Mystical Magical Energy!

Much o moden technology is built upon the pinciple

o polaitthe idea that the to poles at opposite ends

o a bod each hae an opposite o contrastin natue,

eithe positie o negatie. Te action o a manet o in-

isibl in the pinciples o electomanetic liht-aes,


42/63



electicit, o the chane in potential o a cell due to the

accumulation o liberated gases all demonstrate ho

the negatie oce is able to o toads and unite

ith its positie countepart, leadin to a union o theto. Tis Uniesal Enegy Pinciple has been knon

in Easten traditions since ancient times. Te aoists

eeed to it as in-an. It is theshiva-shakti, o male-

emale pinciple o the ealie teachins o oga.

Te practices oHatha Yoga, as anothe one o thei

pimary unctions, hamonize these positie (ha) and

negatie (tha) oces, the union o hich is the enera-

tie oce behind health, as ell as the ultimate state o

union o oga.

The Yoga of Re-PolarizationPolait, o balance, is the ke to health and happiness.

Tis is tue on all leelsthe phsical as ell as the

mental and emotional. We become depolaized so to

speak, as a esult o thins like negatie thouhts, dis-

tubed emotions, impope beathin and stess.

Illness (phsical, mental, emotional) alas esults

om a pola imbalance. Health, on the othe hand,

comes om balance. In ode to etun the bod to the

state o health and hamon, polait must be e-estab-

lished, and the practices oHatha Yoga, hen popel

peromed, aid eatl in achiein that.


43/63



Are You Getting it Right?

Bein successul in oga equies moe than just ood

intentions. Tee is no shortae o enthusiastic oga

practitiones and teaches out thee toda. What islackin, hoee, is a eal deep undestandin o the

pinciples and practices o oga. Een some o the ery

basics, like pope aaeness and enegy balancin

ae bein oall botched in some moden oga stles

and practices, sometimes achiein een the exact op-posite eects.

A combination o a couple thins has contibuted to

this. Fist, the rapid spead o oga aound the old in

the last century, hich has ceated an entie ne indus-

try aound oga. Rapid desies o innoation and ac-

celerated trainin o teaches has caused a eat deal

o the oga undamentals to et lost, ateed don,

o missed altoetheto be eplaced b a sstem that

sometimes moe closel esembles the Westen phsi-

cal therap model than the Easten oic one.

Secondl, the moden appoach to oga instuc-tionthe oga classhas made popel leanin oga

ery difcult. Yoga teaches ae tasked ith conein

a ast and holistic science that equies a sstematic

appoach and a eat deal o dedication to popel

lean. Yet thei students come and o as the please

some once a eek; some tice a eek; some tice a

monthand the knolede and expeience o oga a-


44/63



ies idel beteen each o them too. What is a poo

oga teache to do, eall?

One thin that has been appaent to me o quite

some time no, and continues to become moe andmoe obious, is that most people ho do oga toda

eall kno ery little about the oga execises the ae

doinhich means the ae missin almost all the po-

tential benets. Tee is a bette a.


45/63



Chapter 3

A Brighter Yoga Future

The Body is the Beginning

I kno that Ie pobabl alead oe-stessed the

point that oga is a lot moe than just a ood stetch.

All oga teaches kno this too.

So h, 98% o the time, does oga seem to be tauht

like an execise class hee students ae simpl lead

thouh a seies o phsical postues (and sometimes

beathin practices)? Te short anse is that e hae

to start on the leel o consciousness hich is easiest o

most people to elate to. Since most people noadasae so thoouhl enthralled ith the phsical old,

includin thei phsical bodies, that is the best place

o oga teaches to bein to help students to cultiate

eate aaeness and impoe health.

Your physical body must be in balance with

nature, your mind must be in harmony with the

group-mind o the society that you live in, and your

soul must be in a satisying relationship with the

Universal Soul i you are to be truly healthy.

It is easiest to harmonise the body-mind-spirit

complex by starting with the body, which is


46/63



relatively stable. Balance o the mind and spirit,

which are ethereal and thereore inherently difcult

to stabilise, comes more easily once the body has

been made rm and healthy.~ D. R. Svoboda, Prakuti

The Body is Not the End

I thee is one oeidin misleadin idea ciculatin

in the moden oga old, its the idea about hat ad-

anced oga practice is. Tis, I ault the moden oga

teache o. Im sory i I oend anone hee, but ee

carved oga classes up into leels no, based solel

upon the phsical difcult o the execises tauht (i.e.,

beinne, adanced, etc.). I undestand hat teaches

ae ae. Fo one, thee tryin to take some o the in-timidation out o oga o necomes. But bein ad-

anced in oga has nothin (es NOHING) to do ith

ho skilled oue become at the peromance o some

phsical execises.

What makes someone adanced in oga? Is it ho

exible thei bod is? Is it ho raceul the moe

thouh a sequence oasanas and ho perectl alined

and ml stable the can hold difcult bod positions?

Well, i thats tue then thee ae hundeds o old-

class gymnasts, ballet dances, and cicus perom-

es ho must be bodeline oga mastes too, een ithee nee head the odyogasana beoe.


47/63



No, perection in the phsical aspects o oga alone

doesnt mean much at all. I continuall meet olks ho

can do amazin thins ith thei bodies, et cant seem

to contol the simplest o crains and desies. I atchpeople demonstratin thei phsical expertise and

then in the next rame see them muckin up thei pe-

sonal elationships like homone rain adolescents.

Ie seen contestants in a oga competition aue ith

each othe and neal come to blos!

Im sory to sa it, but I rael meet anone ho is

not a oga beinne, and that oes o most teaches

and hih-in oga pesonalities on the oga scene

toda too. o emed this unortunate state o oic a-

ais and to start seein some moe enlihtened ues

eolin om the moden oga scene, oga instuctionitsel needs to eole st. o start ith, it needs to in-

ole moe than just instuction in the phsical oga

practices.

Breaking Some New Old Yoga Ground

In ancient times, leanin oga as not eas. Fist o all,

ndin someone to teach ou usuall meant traellin

lon distances, oen to emote oest o mountain a-

eas. Once the maste as ound, conincin him to take

ou on as a student as the next bi hudle.

oda, oga has simpl taken its position in the ma-ketplace. Anone ho ants it just has to sho up and

pa the ee. But the ancient oga mastes ee not so


48/63



pomiscuous ith thei teachins. Te kne the im-

mense poe that oga possessed, and the also kne

that it took an uncommon commitment to popel

undestand it. Aboe all else, the kne that, as AlbertEinstein amousl emaked, a little knolede can

be a daneous thin. Tis tuism is no moe appa-

ent anhee than it pehaps is in oga toda, hee a

lot o people ith a little knolede ae tistin and

adaptin and usin oga into a hole host o thins

that no hae ery little to do ith its oiins. Tese

moden practices ma hae some utilitaian aluelike

stess eduction, a bit o eiht loss and tness, etc.

but thei poe to achiee the immensities that the an-

cient science o oga can is all but lost.

Retunin to a sstem o stud that asks us to ieup eas o ou lies in oic immesion in some a o

oic monastery (called ayoga ashram), e all kno, is

not ery practical o most o us.

But that doesnt mean e cant do a bette job as

moden oga teaches than the amilia dop-in oga

class stuctue that dominates the oga landscape to-

da. In act, edenitely can.

Carving a Better Yoga Path

Fo all the claims that oga, amon othe thins, aak-

ens ou deepest ceatie sel, I am eall supised atho unceatie most oga teaches ae hen it comes to

teachin oga. Te eithe, 1. Open a oga studio, make


49/63



a schedule o classes and hie teaches o a handul o

the most popula moden oga stles, o 2. Make a id-

eo o thei sel leadin a oga execise class and try to

sell it. Tats the to oerwhelminl equent as it isdone toda, and neithe o them could be arthe aa

om the traditional a o teachin oga. In tuth, ou

ould pobabl be had-pessed to nd less eectie

as o teachin oga too!

Dont et me on. I dont mean to suest that

thee is no alue in those thins. Tee is. Te ae just

not a ood a to teach oga. You just hae to ask an-

bod that attends oga classes as thei sole means o

leanin oga hat the kno about oga, and most o

the time oull nd out ery little om them. In act, the

majoit o olks, een those ho hae one eulal toclasses o moe than a ea, still aent able to practice

oga at home, on thei on, hich is eall ho oga is

meant to be practiced.

As oga teaches, e can do a bette job b beak-

in out o this oga class mentalit and iin ou stu-

dents moe than just a ood phsical and mental ok-

out at the end o thei stessul da.

Why You Need to Practice Yoga at Home

Yoga is a pesonal pusuit. We can lean some o it alon

side o othes, o couse, but ultimatel practicin ogashould be a solitary, intenal pocessone that e do in

the piac o ou on saced space.


50/63



Tis idea ihtens a lot o moden oga teaches

the idea o helpin thei students to deelop the abilit

to practice oga on thei on. But a docto does not

aoid cuin patients so that his appointment book e-mains ull, and a oga teache need not aoid teach-

in students to practice oga on thei on to keep thei

classes ull. Tats not h e teach oga. In act, m ex-

peience is that the opposite is actuall tue. Te moe

I am able to eall help students lean oga, the moe

enduin ou teache-student elationship is likel to

beand the less likel I am to hae students constantl

comin and oin, unable to eall touch thei lies too

deepl ith this poound science o oga.

Taking Yoga to the Next LevelOn one hand oga classes help a hole lot o people in

one a o anothe. On the othe hand, the ae ene-

all allin ell short o touchin people ery deepl.

Almost eery oga teache I kno aees ith that, and

man o them ae stiin to nd a bette appoach.

Tese das e see moe and moe oga okshops be-

in oeed, hee students ae equied to commit to a

seies o classes, hich allos the teache to oe moe

compehensie, step b step oga instuction. Tis is a

eat start. I hae oen ound that the onl eason most

students seem uninteested in oin deepe into ogais that the dont eall hae an idea hat deepe into

oga actuall means. Te pobabl think that it just


51/63



means doin hade stetcheshich isnt the case. So

okshops o short couses ae a eat a o teach-

es to help ie thei students a boade expeience o

ogaand hen the do, a lot o those students becomemoe inteested in urthe leanin.

Anothe popula tend is the oga eteat. Simila

to the okshops and short couses, oga eteats ie

oga teaches an opportunit to ie students a eate

exposue to ogaand it is oen done in some rathe

exotic location too. Tat not onl adds to the appeal,

but it also adds to the expeience. When e ae able to

step aa om ou bus liestleset out o the house

and aa om ou jobs and othe dail obligations

then it denitel enhances ou leanin expeience.

Te main draback o oga eteats thouh, ae costand timeto thins that the aerae peson usuall

cant aod ery much o.

Yogashramthe ultimate yoga experience

In m opinion, its had to eall appeciate the ull cul-

tural and spiitual extent o oga unless oue been

to India. Some oga teaches balk hen I sa that, but

the ae alas the ones ho hae nee been thee.

Most o those that hae ill aee.

But oin to India is not like bookin a to-eek

cuise. Its not onl a holida, but an adentue thatoue denitel ot to be ead o. Eeryone Ie ee


52/63



knon ho has made the tip to India aees that the

expeience is one heck o a ide!

Tee is denitel no shortae o places to lean oga

in India, but bues beae. Te majoit o these so-called oga schools ae eaed toad Westen oga

touists and those ho un them not necessail ell-

schooled in oga themseles. Te el mostl upon

thei exotic appeal o bein Indian hich, o man

Westenes ho do not kno an bette, is enouh.

Tee ae still, hoee, a e traditional yoga ash-

rams in Indiaplaces hee ou can o and spend se-

eral months (o moe) and immese ousel into the

teachins o oga unde the uidance o a eal oga

maste. A e, I sabut not man.

Needless to sa, decidin to take this plune equiesa bi commitmentone that onl a e olks ill ee ul-

timatel be illin to make. When/i ou ae ead and

illin to eall dele into the depth o oga, thouh,

theyogashram expeience is one not to be missed.

Studying the Yoga Home Study Concept

Id been studin and practicin oga o some time

beoe I came acoss Sami Gitanandas oga co-

espondence couse, Yoga Step b Step. Up until that

point I had been a m beliee that oga could onl be

leaned ace to ace, in a oga class.But Samijis couse intiued me o some eason,

so I decided to ie it a shotand as it tuned out, that


53/63



couse chaned m lie! I had ead a hole lot o books

on oga beoe that, and thouh them I gained a bit

o insiht into dieent aspects o oga. But I ouldnt

sa that I as eall leanin oga thouh them. But inthat one quick little decision I made to take his couse,

I nall leaned just ho much I as missin!

Samijis oga coespondence couse as the point

hee I elt I ent om doin oga execises, to eall

practicin oga, and m on oic joune has been a

tul marvellous one ee since!

I cedit Sami Gitananda Gii 100% o that. Anbod

can ceate a coespondence o home stud couse, but

Samiji literall shoed me ho it as done! No, as

a oga teache, I eel like I hae a much ide pespec-

tie on ho oga can be eectiel tauht. I still teachoga classes om time to time, but I also kno ho

limitin the can be o poidin eal compehensie

oga education.

I also kno, om m on pesonal expeience, ho

strane the idea o leanin oga ia coespondence o

home stud can seem hen ou oga old ma ne-

e hae been stetched too a outside o the oga stu-

dio. So oud think Id et tied o ansein the same

question oe and oe again. Can I eall lean oga

thouh a home stud couse? But I dont et tied be-

cause Ie had a lot o success ith m students aleadand, as a esult, I kno that it can ok ery ell. Its


54/63



just like an othe appoach to teachin ogato be e-

ectie, it has to be done popel.

Dont Give Up on Yoga Classes

One o the biest (and unaranted) eas that a lot

o oga teaches hae is that i the teach students to

practice oga at home, thei classes ill start to empt.

Well, thats absolutel, positiel NO tue. In act, as

I mentioned ealie, the opposite is tue. When oga

students start to gain a deepe undestandin o and

appeciation o oga, then the ae een moe enthu-

siastic about makin it a eula part o thei liesand

as oga teaches, e ill alas hae lots moe to teach

them.

I et equent emails om students o m oga homestud and coespondence couses thankin me o

makin thei local oga classes moe ulllinsain

that the no hae a much bette undestandin o

hat the ae doin ith oga, both in and out o the

oga studio, and that the ae ettin so much moe out

o thei oga classes no too!

A Bright Yoga Future

Its eas to eel pessimistic about the utue o oga, hat

ith all the eall idiculous thins that some people

seem to be attachin the od oga too toda. But adsill alas come and o. Te science o oga has pese-

eed o millennia thouh, and thees a ood eason


55/63



o thatits teachins and practices ae timeless! One

o the benets, pehaps, o all the hpe and mass ma-

ket enthusiasm that has sept oga into a hole ne

leel o lobal consciousness, is that people no knoabout it. Most ho engae in some oga-elated acti-

it o anothe ma not necessail be too inteested

in delin too deepl into oga, but o those ho ae,

moe and moe opportunities ae emein.

Findin a eal oga maste and takin the plune

into total immesion in a enuine yoga ashram is and

has alas been the ideal a to lean oga. Couses,

okshops and eteats, thouh still ell short o this

ideal, ae nonetheless a step in the iht oga diection.

Yoga home stud, hen stuctued popel, can also

do a lot o urthein the undestandin and practiceo oga toda. Te challene o todas oga teaches

is to esist iin it to the demands o the maket place

ith classes that cente too much on a quick-x, utili-

taian oga, and continue to seek bette as to diect

people toads a moe a-sihted appoach to oga.

I e do that, then the utue o oga looks a hole

lot bihte indeed.


56/63



Yoga is the cessation o

the whirlpools o the mind.

~ Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured

and to endure what cannot be cured.

~ B.K.S. Iyenga

Yoga is the science and art o accelerating our

progress towards liberation.

~ Yoga Kosa (Kaivalyadhama Institute)

Be even tempered in both success and ailure. Tis

mental evenness is what is meant by Yoga.Indeed, equanimity is Yoga!

~ Bhagavad-Gita (Ch. 2, V. 48)

(He) who looks upon opposites as equals, who has

risen above duality, and thus reed himsel rom

both vice and virtue, is a Yogi. Verily, work done to

perection is Yoga. Yoga is skill in action.

~ Bhagavad-Gita (Ch. 2, V. 50)

Yoga makes us truly Humane Beings.

~ Swami Gitananda Gii Guumaharaj


57/63



Appendices

Furthe itins on oga b Yogacharya Michael:

Reinvent Yourself Through Yoga

What does it take to reinvent yoursel? Perhaps a

better question to start with is, Why would you even

want to? Sure, maybe you wouldnt mind shedding

a ew pounds. Perhaps a bit less stress would be

nice too and no doubt youd be happy to havea little more ree time in your lie. But these things

surely dont require a complete personal overhaul,

do they?

Nobody is perect. The main point o our lives

here on this earth is not even to attain perection. It

is to learn through our experiences and to use that

wisdom to grow, to evolve, and to make changes or

the better.

Now that is something that we can all denitely

do, cant we? So why do we oten have such a hard

time doing it?

Because we get stuck in a rut - stuck in a rou-

tine way o thinking and acting.For instance, youve probably driven the exact

same route to work everyday or the past ve years

and never given it a second thought.


58/63



What happens, though, when there is road con-

struction one day and youre orced o o your usu-

al course? Frustration? Anxiety? Do you get down-

right upset?

Maybe it made you late or work, but thats notthe point here. The point is that there are probably

several dierent ways or you to arrive at your des-

tination on time, but youve gotten stuck on one

specic route, and you just dont like to veer rom it.

In eect, thats exactly how we live most o our

lives. Weve gotten used to typical ways o doingthings and usual ways o viewing things, and that

keeps us rom seeing all the innite possibilities we

have all around us in each and every moment.

How to Break the Habit? Reinvent yoursel,

thats how!

But wait, getting back to the act that you may

only be looking to shed a ew pounds or get rid osome stress, isnt all this reinventing yoursel talk a

bit o overkill?

No, in act its not, as the ollowing story might

help to illustrate:

When I was younger I came across a quote that

stirred something within me. The saying was:

I you do what youve always done, youll get

what youve always gotten.

I wrote it out in big letters on a piece o pa-

per and taped it to the back o my bedroom door.

Everyday, when I got up and headed out into the

world, it was the rst thing I saw. At the end o each

day, it reminded me once again. Over time I began


59/63



to eel the truth o this simple little statementthe

truth that I really am the architect o everything I

have and o everything that happens to me.

I began to travel the world. Over a seven- year

period I passed through over 50 countries, all thewhile playing with this whole reinvent mysel idea.

At some point during my travels, it dawned on

me that I didnt have to be ME anymore. I didnt

have to keep my same old attitudes toward things

that happened around me. Things did not always

have to be exactly the way I wanted them to be. Idecided it was time to leave the old baggage at the

next airport.

Being a thousand miles rom home, in a place

where I was virtually anonymous, reinventing my-

sel seemed strangely easy. One day I could be the

most patient person on the planet - and see what

happens. The next I could be the riendliest personin town - and see what happens. The day ater that,

I could simply go with the fow, no matter what -

and just see what happens!

And what happened astounded me! Opportuni-

ties to see and do things that I would never even

have imagined beore sprung up constantly. I sawthat, although things did not always turn out like I

thought I wanted them to, they oten turned out in

a way that brought something new, unoreseen, and

exciting into my lie.

I realized that when I stopped doing what I al-

ways did, I got dierent results! The yogis knew this

principle well. They called it karma, the simple law

o cause and eect. It was my rst real proound

yogic lesson in lie!


60/63



Reinvent Yourself, Through Yoga.

The complete 8-limbed system o classical ashtanga

yoga is one o the most proound tools to help us

reinvent ourselves. It teaches us, step by step, how

to make that changes we need to make in order to

live the live weve always been meant to live.

The Yoga Ashram

The ultimate place to reinvent yoursel is the yoga

ashram. Exploring yoursel under the watchul eye

o a guru is a transormative event that cannot beexperienced any other way

Taking some yoga classes to lose a ew pounds

or to calm your nerves is a great idea. But remem-

ber that the reasons why you have these issues to

deal with in the rst place wont magically vanish

just through the practice o a ew yoga asanas or

yoga breathing techniques.In yoga, we have a potent tool to reinvent our-

selves. Its called svadhyaya, or sel-study, and its

through this essential practice that we conquer our

problems once and or all. As my dear teacher Meen-

askshi Devi Bhavanani once reminded me, Without

svadhyaya, there is NO YOGA!This process o inner inquiry reveals to us that

everything in our lives, rom the state o our rela-

tionships, to our physical health, and everything in

between, exists because o what we think and how

we act and react. It makes us understand that i we

want to change our lives, then WE, ourselves, MUST

CHANGE!

So the next time youre orced to ollow a detour

on the way to work, try thinking This is my lucky


61/63



day! Im being orcing to break out o my routine

and to see another way!

Sure, you might be late or work, but with a

healthy yogic attitude, youll be a better person or

it!(published in The Yoga News, Sept. 2009)

How to Live and Extraordinary Life

Theres an old Quaker saying, Sometimes me thinks

that the whole world is mad except Thou and I, andsometimes Im not so sure about Thee!

Isnt it ironic that the one thing most all o us

have in common is the eeling that we are dierent

rom the crowd? O course, when we look around

us sometimes and see so much stress and unease

in our riends lives, who wouldnt want to be di-

erent?

But believing that were dierent and actually

living in a way that is not in lock-step with the mass-

es isnt the same thing, as this little able related by

Robert Servine in the August 2006 issue o Yoga

Lie magazine so wonderul illustrates:

Once upon a time Khidr, the teacher o Moses,called upon mankind with a warning. At a certain

date, he said, all o the water in the world which

has not been specially hoarded would disappear. It

would then be renewed with dierent water, which

would drive men mad.

Only one man listened to this advice. He col-

lected water and stored it in a secret place. On the

appointed date, the streams stopped running and

the wells went dry. The man who had listened went


62/63



to his retreat and happily drank o the water that

he had stored.

When he saw rom his security that the wateralls

had again begun to fow, he descended back down

to join the other sons o Man. However, he oundthat they were thinking and talking in an entirely

dierent way rom beore; yet they had no memory

o what had happened, or o having been warned.

When he tried to talk to them, he realized that they

thought he was mad, and they showed hostility, not

compassion toward him.At rst he drank none o the new water, but

went back to the saety o his hideaway and secret

supply. Finally, however, he made the decision to

drink the new water because he could not bear the

loneliness o living, behaving and thinking in a way

that was dierent rom everyone else.

He drank the new water and became like every-one else. His ellows then began to look upon him

as a madman who had miraculously been restored

to sanity.

Being dierent isnt always easy, but it has re-

wards which cannot be ound in the common ap-

proach to living. I we want uncommon results inour lie

Documents

Truth About Yoga