Yoga Sampad

There is a popular believe about the existence of different types of yoga:  physical,  mental and spiritual yoga. We need to examine these concepts in order to bring some understanding and clarity about the purposes of yoga.A physical yoga cannot exist. And the existance of diferent types of yoga is a misconception. There are three reasons for this.

First of all, yoga’s aim, or rather, Patanjali yoga‘s aim, is not to improve our physical well-being but to reach the purification of the individual consciousness as the key column for transforming our view and knowledge of ourselves, of the world and of God.

Secondly, using the physical body does not mean that the pursued target is physical. The physical body is used to reform the boy-mind-senses complex.

The third reason for this is that there is no written support in any yoga fundamental text of the existence of a physical yoga. Read More

A few weeks ago I added an image to the blog’s banner that says: DISCIPLINE, STUDY, and DEVOTION. I chose these words as I believe they symbolize perfectly well the yoga principles and what the entire system covers, and because they complete the human being development.

The next phrase in fact belongs to the Sutra II.1 of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. This is one of the big sutras that feature the three pillars on which Patanjali’s yoga is settled.

The sutra II.1 says:

Tapah svadhyaya Isvarapranidhanani kriyayogah.

“Burning zeal in practice, self-study and study of scriptures, and surrender to I̅śvara (the Lord) are the acts of yoga” (B.K.S. Iyengar’s Translation)

Why do I say that they “complete”? Because I believe that with these three works, discipline, study and devotion, one walks a big part of the path that leads to clearing up the fundamental truths.

Discipline

Discipline contains the ethical principles (yama and niyama) that one must adopt for oneself and in his relationship with other members of society and that are, undoubtedly, the base on which the entire system is set. If they are not observed and followed, the yoga student will not make any progress. The ethical behaviors and dharma are the base that prepares and shapes the student’s nature and allows us to follow the lifestyle that will lead us to the teachings assimilation. Read More

I receive emails from people who want to start to study and practice astanga yoga and ask me on several questions we have all wondered about.

How to start? In which school? Can I practice at home? Can I start with just a book? Which asanas are recommended for such and such health problems?

There is only one answer to all these questions: they all need a teacher.

Why? Yoga’s tradition is ORAL and is transmitted in-person, from teacher to student, from teacher to disciple. So it has been for centuries and so it will ever be. There is no other way for it. We cannot short-circuit or replace the on-site learning of a teacher with other means such as books, DVDs, web sites, etc. Tradition is oral and on-site. The student puts himself under the teacher’s guiding, which fulfils all the requirements to make it an adequate learning instrument. Read More

There is a verse in the Muṇdaka ūpaniṣad that describes our need of self- knowledge and tells us how to gain it:
परीक्ष्य लोकान् कर्मचितान् भामणो | निर्वेदमाय् आन्नास्त्यकृतः कृतेब | तद्विज्आन् आर्थं स  गुरुमेवाभिगच्चेत् समित्पाणिः |  श्रोत्रियं ब्रह्मनिष्ठम्

parīkṣya lokān karmacitān bhāmaṇo

nirvedamāy ānnāstyakṛataḥ kṛteba

tadvijān ārthaṁ sa  gurumevābhigaccet

samitpāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahmaniṣṭham

“”By analyzing the world experiences obtained through effort, a mature person earns dispassion, clearly distinguishes that what is not created (therefore limitless) cannot be produced by any action. To know That (what is non created or limitless), that person must call on a teacher, who is knowledgeable in the Scriptures and resolute/firm in self-knowledge“”

The teacher is necessary
As it it stated in this verse, tradition shows that a teacher is needed to gain this  knowledge that is myself. This is compulsory, essential. This is how it works and there is no short-cut to avoid this.  One must approach the qualified teacher who has the vision and knows how to handle the words and the teaching methodology so the student is able to understand and assimilate without any doubts. This cannot be accomplished by reading a book. There is teaching tradition and there is a valid prama̅ṇa (a means of knowledge) which needs to be operated by the teacher so it can create the jñana vṛttis in the student that destroys the ignorance. Read More

I still keep having surprises: this last weekend a yoga “practitioner” told me that scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gi̅ta̅ are beliefs for which he has no interest at all, that what he cares for is only “practice”.

This is a very common patter. He wanted to convey he wanted only “experiences”. He wanted to consume more experiences. In spite of all what he had experienced over many decades, he clearly said that he wanted more experiences, new experiences, experiences where he could go consume  the  ”eternal”, “blissful”, “ecstatic” self.

This sounds to me like an advertisement from BMW or Coca-Cola. But it is a very good example on a very important topic about how self-knowledge is gained.

A mystic experience is not required to know the self.
There is a general assumption that we can know the  self only through some kind of mystic experience that requires lots of effort, mind control,  even  ”supra-consciousness”. The goal for many is to reachg this so called supra-consciousness which is a state that goes beyond the mind as if the mind or the  self were really separate and very far from the mind or as it were there another  consciousness seating apart from consciousness, apart from oneself.  For them, the mind is a real problem, so they want to switch it off so they can “experience” the self. When there is no proper understanding and a  lot of demagogy, we need to question the fallacies in this kind of reasoning.

Chopping off your head does not solve the problem.
Suppose a person has a headache and goes to the doctor and the doctor says “Cut off your head, your problem will be solved” Do you think this is reasonable? Obviously not.

This is how they want to solve the problem, by chopping off the head with only mind control. And because there are so many wrong notions about the mind, they believe in mind control,  which is a very lucrative business and  a good way to control people. Everybody will be agree to control the mind, as if the poor mind was the responsible. This is really sad and leads to numerous problems. The mind is an instrument to know and it must be used. What needs to be eradicate are the wrong notions that are in the mind, but not the mind itself!!! And for this we need to know, to employ a means of knowledge using the mind, not cutting off the mind. Read More

Few western yoga schools pay a great attention to the study in detail of the Yoga Scriptures and the Vedic Culture. They also seem to ignore the importance that the tradition gives to these Scriptures as a means of knowledge to reveal the self. A means of knowledge , taken for granted to eliminate the fundamental problem we all face: the ignorance of the self.

The whole tradition is an oral tradition where the student sits and listen, inquire, contemplate and analyse the words of the teacher to dissipate the ignorance of the self. But now, in modern times, and with the inclusion of marketing in all aspects of our life, the most easy way is to sell “yoga” as an array of experiences that leads to some form of sensory, physical or organic pleasure that release us from body-mind pressures oand take us to new dimensions of “spirirtual” bliss and “eternal” freedom. Such “nice” words are now being used  now and it seems that they carry any meaning. Not at all.

Few are those who pay enough attention to the study of the texts and to the teaching methodology that our teachers have passed on us. And what is most surprising is that due to a lack of information and investigation it is firmly believed that the listening, analysis and contemplation of the words in the Scriptures are just a “theoretical” knowledge that has nothing to do with the real knowledge that experience or certain states of mind can produce by themselves.

There is nothing as far from truth as that.  This is a topic we should analyse and discuss  since there is a lot of confusion here about what is the traditional teaching methodology. Read More

There is a big difference when you follow a rigorous and well structured sadhana and you undertake not to fail, to be zealous in your study, practice and observation of the yoga principles.

By ‘not to fail’ I mean to commit yourself to practice daily and for a long time, be it warm or cold, may your mind feel like doing it/adequate or not, may you have any doubts on it being convenient or not.

When one tries practicing this way –that is, by very often forcing oneself to practice-, spreads the mat and begins to practice and to study, one starts discerning the fruits and possibilities that the yoga texts and our teachers talk about.

I understand that we cannot consider ourselves yoga adepts if we are not internally committed to undertake regular practice and study. This is not possible. An intermittent practice will not give the expected fruits. If, for instance, you practice during 3 hours one day but you do not at all the day after because you consider you did enough yesterday. Or when you practice three days and then rest during another three days. Or even if you practice daily without following an organized ana adecuate program. This will not work. Read More

As yoga adepts, we should understand what the word yoga entails in its different aspects and contexts.

Generally speaking, there is a lot of confusion of the real meaning of it. Even among its teachers and those dedicated to “yoga” some ideas drifted apart from the real meanings of the word yoga still exist.
We will now take a look at the most used classical definitions to try to understand its meanings and implications.

We must read and study the classical texts. This is not just an option or a complement: it is a must. Love of Knowledge and Truth hold hands, along with the Yogic culture, the Dharma and a disciplined life.
This article is based in part of the first chapter of the book “Light over Yoga” of our master BKS Iyengar. In this text BKS Iyengar uses thirteen verses of the Bhagavad G̅ita̅, one of the Yoga Su̅tras and one of the Kathopaniṣad. With such references, we can grasp the importance of the Bhagavad G̅ita̅ in yoga’s conceptions. Read More

I still keep having surprises: this last weekend a yoga “adept” told me that scriptures such as Bhagavad Gita are beliefs for which he has no interest at all, that what he cares for is only “practice”. Well!

Oh, my God!!, as the English say. And what do we do now?

I do not know where they take such ideas from. What do they read? Who tells them such nonsense? And what is most curious is to see what he considered as yoga “practice”…

Bhagavad Gītā’s teaching is not a philosophy
Unlike other speculative teachings, scripture teachings such as Bhagavad Gita, that are revealed, ṣrutiḥ, are not the product of a single human being’s brain and do not depend upon the philosopher’s vision or point of view. Nor they speak about anything exterior to us but about one self.

They are a methodology teaching and, especially, a teaching with a sampra̅daya, with an oral tradition that is still prevalent after centuries, by getting initiated with the Lord, or for those having faith or not, by starting with the first teacher and then our teachers’ teachers. Read More

In another article I wrote on yoga’s classical definitions. Today I will write on some basic notions of the Iyengar Yoga as I understand what Iyengar Yoga is by studying the BKS Iyengar, Prashant Iyengar and Geeta Iyengar texts. The best one can do to understand what the “Iyengar” Yoga means is obviously to directly ask BKS Iyengar himself, study with the Iyengars, visit the Institute and to read his books.

As per yoga’s definitions, speaking about the Iyengar Yoga is complex as it is a very broad matter which covers all human being aspects and from different angles and perspectives such as philosophy, art, science, psychology and religion.

The term “Iyengar”

The term Iyengar is an affectionate term given by some of the B.K.S. Iyengar’s students to make it different from other Yoga schools. B.K.S. Iyengar himself does not use such term but regards it with some surprise or even fun.

Iyengar Yoga is Patañajali’s Yoga

What B.K.S. Iyengar understands, teaches and practices is simply Patañjali’s classical teaching. He was an Indian Master probably born around the 3^rd century BC and the main exponent of the darśana yoga, one of the six orthodox Hindu systems and doctrines that basically deals on the skill and command over the human mind. Read More