Parvatasana

Posture The body is stretched to look like a mountain peak and so it is called the Parvatasana (parvat means mountain in Sanskrit).
Pre position :Sitting Position: Padmasana
Procedure :Take both the hands forward and lock the fingers of both the hands together.
Take the hands over the head and turn the palms downside up facing the roof. Stretch the body upwards with the arms stretched towards the sky.
Stabilize the position and continue normal breathing.
Position :In this asana stretching of the body is important but body is not actually lifted. Releasing
Relax the body and bring the hands as in position 1 in figure above.
Take the position as in Padmasana.
Straighten the left leg in the knee then straighten right leg.
Get both the legs together, take the sitting posture.
Duration :You can maintain this asana for long time without any problem.
Internal Effects: Stretching the arm, back and abdominal muscles improves the functioning of theses parts of the body. This helps cure certain problems of spinal column & cord.
Precaution :This asana is very simple and anyone can practice.

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Pranayama

In simple terms pranayama may be called the control of the breath. Its essence lies in the modification of our normal process of breathing. Breathing is an act in which we take air from the atmosphere into our lungs, absorb the oxygen from it into our blood, and expel the air again into the atmosphere together with carbon-di-oxide end water vapour. This act of inhalation and exhalation is repeated every four to five seconds. Thus normally we breathe about fifteen times every minute, each time taking about 500 ml. of air into the lungs. So we inhale and exhale approximately seven liters of air per minute. Every modification of this normal breathing process would not count as pranayama. The normal breathing pattern shows marked changes under various conditions. For instance, while we are lifting or carrying loads, walking uphill, running, or doing any physical exercise we breathe more rapidly and more forcefully. At high altitudes, in a rarefied atmosphere our breathing becomes heavy. Its pattern changes with emotional excitement and in the case of disorders such as asthma, tuberculosis, bronchitis and other lung affections. Modification of breathing under these conditions is brought about involuntarily and perhaps without awareness of it unless there is difficulty in breathing. In fact we are hardly ever aware of the fact that we are breathing.

Pranayama consists of modifications of the breathing process which we bring about deliberately and consciously. We can modify breathing in three different ways:

1. By inhaling and exhaling rapidly, taking shallow breaths.

2. By inhaling and exhaling slowly, taking long or deep breaths.

3. By stopping the act of breathing altogether.

The first way of modifying breathing is not usually included in pranayama proper, although it is sometimes closely associated with it. The second and third ways mentioned above do belong to the domain of pranayama. In fact, pranayama practice may very well be summarized in these two ways.

There is one more condition to be fulfilled if any breathing modification is to be called pranayama. That is regarding the posture. Pranayama is practiced in a sitting posture. There are about half a dozen postures available for this purpose. They are called meditation postures, because they are very suitable for meditation. The most renowned among them is Siddhasana. The simplest and most comfortable and less strenuous is Swastikasana. Padmasana is the one which is most recommended traditionally for pranayama. We shall describe these postures in detail in a later chapter. It may be enough to mention here that pranayamais defined by Patanjali as a modification of breathing in a sitting posture which is steady and comfortable. Such a posture is an essential part of pranayama.

Thus pranayama is a complex act in which after assuming a suitable posture the student inhales and exhales slowly, deeply, and completely, and also stops the breath. Inhalation in pranayama is called parka, which literally means ‘the act of filling’; Exhalation is called recheck, meaning ‘the act of emptying'. Retention of breath is called kumbhaka Kumbha means a water pot. Just as a water pot holds water when it is filled with it, so in kumbhaka the breath is held after filling the lungs.

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Bhujangasana (Snake pose)

The asana derives its name because it resembles a snake with its hood raised.The head and chest raised represent the hood while the rest of the body lying flat,the body of the snake.

1. Lie down on the carpet on your stomach,face down.
2. Relax all your muscles.
3. Place the palms of the hand on the floor in line with the sholders, each plam facing down and about 1 inch away from the tip of the shoulder.
4. Keep your feet together with the toes touching the ground.
5. Now slowly raise the head off the ground and take it up gradually so that the spine curves beautifully backwards.Do not exert force or do it suddenly.Each movement should be slow,continuous and without jerks.
6. Raise the spine little by little so that each vertebrate is gradually loosened.
7. Keep the body from the naval downwards touching the ground.
8. Retain the pose for a few seconds.
9. Gradually bring down the back to the original position of lying flat on your stomach.
10. Repeat the asana 6 times.
Once you have learnt the procedure of pose step-by-step,practice doing it with breathing.

Breathing : (a) Exhale completely when lying flat.
(b) Inhale slowly as you gradually raise the head and spine to form the hood.
(c) Retain the breath so long as you remain in the pose.
(d) Exhale slowly as you come down to your original position.

Benefits : Bhujangasana is one of the best asanas for all spinal and back-ache problems.The health and youth of a person depend upon the elasticity and suppleness of his back-bone.Most of us have noticed how as old age sets in,the back begins to stiffen.Bhujangasana tones up the entire spinal column pulling at the same time, the abdominal muscles.The pressure on these muscles gives relief from constipation.This asana is of particular help in toning up sluggish uterine muscles and overies.It is a powerful antidote against wet-dreams and leucorrhoea.It develops the chest and firms the bust.

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Siddhasana (Pose of the Adept)

Siddha means an adept. Siddhasana is the pose of an adept.

(1) Sit erect on the carpet with the legs outstretched as in the previous pose.
(2) Take hold of the left foot,behind it at the keen and place the heel such that it presses against the anal aperture.
(3) Next,bending the right foot also at the keen,place the right heel against the root of the reproductive organ taking care to see no pressure is felt on the delicate organs.
(4) Place the hands with the palms one on top of the other on the feet as in Padmasana.
(5) Make sure the head,neck and trunk are in one straight line.

Benefits : Siddhasana is also one of the best postures for meditation and concentration.It is supposed to help one get established in Brahmacharya or celibacy.

Siddhasana is easier to assume than Padmasana.Novices can Practice this first before attempting Padmasana particularly if they are not used to squatting on the floor.

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Padmasana

This is the best pose for meditation and japa.The sole of the two feet upturned and resting on the thighs resemble the petals of lotus and hence,the name.

(1) Spread a blanket or carpet on the floor. If available , a deer skin can also be used and is always highly recommended if i for dhyana or japa.
(2) Sit erect on it with the two legs out stretched.
(3) Take hold of the right foot and bending it at the knee,place it high on the thigh,the sole upturned.
(4) Now, catch the left foot and place it symmetrically across the right ankle so that the foot rests on the right thigh.
(5) Adjust the feet high up against the thigh so that the upturned heels are as near the abdomen as possible.
(6) Place the palms one on top of the other over the upturned soles.
(7) Make sure the head,the neck and the trunk are in one straight line and the back is straight.
(8) Also make sure both the thighs and knees are pressed against the floor.You will find in the beginning one of the thighs slightly off the ground.Slowly and carefully press the thigh against the ground and retain the pose for a few seconds.

Benefits : Padmasana is an excellent posture for all meditative and pranayamic practices.It loosens the joint in the lower parts of the body and removes rheumatism.It tones up the three humours (wind,phlegm and bile)in the system harmonising their functions.It strengthens the nerve and muscles of the legs and thighs.

If you are used to eating on the floor as we do in India,Padmasana will be easy to assume.Otherwise,do not force yourself as this can injure you. By gradual practice,train the legs to assume the pose. However,three months should be enough even for one with very stiff legs to assume Padmasana properly.

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MEDITATIVE POSES

These poses are so designed by the ancient sages who discovered them,that enable one to sit in the same pose for hours together at a stretch steadily and without jerks.This steady posture enables one to attain one-pointedness of mind.

Padmasana is the famous lotus-pose commonly known as the Buddha pose.Siddhasana is another pose generally used for meditation.

Practice each pose starting with a few seconds in the beginning and gradually increase the period to 15 minutes an more.

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Introduction to Yoga

Ahimsa (non-injury), Satya (truth), Asteya (non-covetousness), Brahmacharya (continence) and Aparagriha (abstinence from avarice) come under Yama.

The word Yoga automatically calls to mind Sage "Patanjali" the founder and father of Yoga. He lived around three centuries before Christ, and was a great philosopher and grammarian. he was also a physician and a medical work is attributed to him. However this work is now lost in the pages of time.

His best known work is Patanjali Yoga Sutras of Aphorisms on Yoga. The path outlined is called Raja Yoga or the sovereign path. It is so called because of the regal, noble method by which the self is united with the overself.

Patanjali's Yoga has essentially to do with the mind and its modifications. It deals with the training of the mind to achieve oneness with the Universe. Incidental to this objective are the acquisition of siddhis or powers.

The aim of Patanjali Yoga is to set man free from the cage of matter. Mind is the highest form of matter and man freed from this dragnet of Chitta or Ahankara (mind or ego) becomes a pure being.

The mind or Chitta is said to operate at two levels-intellectual and emotional. Both these levels of operation must be removed and a dispassionate outlook replace them. Constant Vichara (enquiry) and Viveka (discrimination between the pleasant and the good) are the two means to slay the ego enmeshed in the intellect and emotions. Vairagya or dispassion is said to free one from the pain of opposites love and hate, pleasure and pain, honour and ignominy, happiness and sorrow.

The easiest path to reach this state of dispassion and undisturbed tranquillity is the path of Bhakti or love. Here, man surrenders his all-mind, soul, ego-to the Divine Being and is only led on by the Divine will. Self-surrender the Diving Name. Such repetition must not be mechanical but one-pointed and full of favor. For this, concentration is necessary. concentration can be there only if man has practiced to fix his attention on a particular object without letting it dwell on anything else.

Concentration also calls for regulation of conduct if Bhakti must develop. Good cheer, compassion, absence of jealousy, complacence towards the virtuous and consideration towards the wicked must be consciously cultivated.

There are also methods of regulated breathing which help reach concentration.

Yoga is an art and takes into purview the mind, the body and the soul of the man in its aim of reaching Divinity. The body must be purified and strengthened through various practices. The mind must be cleansed of all gross and the soul should turn inwards if a man should become a yogic adept. Study purifies the mind and surrender takes the soul towards God.

The human mind is subject to certain weaknesses which are universal. avidya-wrong notions of the external world, asmita-wrong notions of the external world, asmita-wrong notions of oneself, raga-longing and attachment for sensory objects and affections, dweshad is like and hatred for objects and persons, and abinivesha or the love of life are the five defects of the mind that must be removed. Constant meditation and introspection eradicate these mental flaws.

The human body is a vehicle for journeying this life. It must be kept in proper form if the mind should function well. For this, there are practices too, but Patanjali does not elucidate on them.

The Yoga of Patanjali is Ashtanga or comprised of 8 limbs.

These five austerities are universal and absolute. Under no condition should they be deviated from. A Yogi must not cause injury or pain to another in thought, word or deed, One must not hurt even in self-defence. This is Ahimsa.

Truth is concurrence between thought, word and deed. it must be true to fact and at the same time pleasant. If by speaking the truth, another is hurt it ceases to be truth and becomes himsa. There is a story which illustrates this point.

In olden days there was a sage renowned for his austerities and observance of the vow of truth. It so happened that once when he was sitting by his little hut, a frightened man with a bundle ran past him and disappeared into a cave nearby. a couple of minutes later there came a band of fierce robbers with gleaming knives, apparently looking for this man. Knowing that the sage would not lie, they asked him where the man with the bundle was hiding. At once, the sage, true to his vow of not uttering falsehood, showed them the cave/ The cruel robbers rushed into it, dragged out the scared man, killed him mercilessly and departed with his bundle. the sage never realised God in spite of his austerities and tenacity for truth for he had been instrumental in the murder of a man. This is not the kind of truth that yoga requires. It would have been better if the sage had remained quiet for that would have saved the poor man. Great care is therefore to be exercised in speaking and each word must be carefully weighed before it is uttered.

Yoga shows us all happiness is within our selves and trying to quench desires is like pouring ghee on fire which only makes it blaze more instead of putting it out. So with desire, It is never satisfied. yoga shows us that happiness for which we are eternally searching can be obtained through non-desire.

To achieve a state of non-desire, the mind must be trained to think clearly. A healthy mind requires a healthy body. This is where Hatha Yoga comes in.

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