Understanding Yoga Fitness
Even if you are not a regular practitioner of yoga yet you will probably find that understanding its basic background will give you a good context around why you are practicing yoga fitness and what you are doing. By understanding that yoga is not just physical positions but also a full lifestyle you’ll come to appreciate its complete health benefits.
No one really knows who first developed yoga except for the fact that it seemed to have originated somewhere in the Indus Valley regions of Northern India. References to yoga first appeared in both archaeological and written references about 3000 to 5000 years ago. The first compilation of yoga practices seems to have appeared about 2200 years ago with the publication of a book called the ‘Yoga Sutras’ by Patanjali.
The Yoga Sutras are a compilation of 196 principles about the practice and philosophy of yoga that are meant to be memorized and incorporated into one’s lifestyle. These principles have become to be known as the foundation of Raja Yoga - sometimes referred to as Royal Yoga with a primary focus on the mind by taming the body and enhancing the spirit.
The Raja Yoga discipline as described in the sutras is divided into eight steps - otherwise known as the eight ‘limbs’. Each step focuses on aspects around lifestyle, purity, body, breathing and meditation. Here is a high level description of each:
1. Yama - abstentions for living virtuously such as truth, non-violence and continence
2. Niyama - observances and disciplines for mind and body
3. Asana - bodily postures for meditation
4. Pranayama - regulated breath and control of the life force
5. Pratyahara - sensory withdrawal of the mind from the physical world
6. Dharana - meditative concentration on an object - knowing you are meditating
7. Dhyana - meditation with no consciousness of the act of meditation
8. Samadhi - enlightenment
As you probably noticed modern yoga as it is typically practiced today is heavily influenced by steps three and four - Asana and Pranayama. Most modern yoga fitness programs are related to the practices of Hatha Yoga which is a system of physical purification to assist the meditative effects of steps five through nine. This system is comprised of a large number of bodily postures designed to develop balance, poise and strength.
The mainstream instruction of yoga includes many body positions and breathing exercises that have been found to be extremely beneficial to personal well being, fitness and health. Practiced over time yoga can become a path to improving anyone’s lifestyle. By combining this practice with the additional Raja ‘limbs’ yoga can lead you an enlightened life change.
D James is a writer and an aspiring yoga practitioner. Discover online yoga videos and other resources allow you to practice at home with a flexible schedule keeping mentally, physically and emotionally healthy at:
http://yogamotions.blogspot.com
Meditation: The Pause That Refreshes
Do you find yourself overworked, full of worry, or just plain stressed out? Then, it’s time to relax. Give your mind a break and your immune system a boost. Learn to meditate.
For many people, meditation is something quite mysterious. After all, meditation is a practice most often associated with ancient spiritual traditions. But, the fact the matter is, meditation is simply a way of relaxing your mind and your body which, in turn, helps to separate you from your everyday problems and worries. It is a process that can be learned and practiced by even the busiest person in today’s modern world.
There are many forms of meditation. However, experts often say that the various forms of meditation fall into two broad categories: concentrative meditation and mindfulness meditation.
In concentrative meditation, the person sits quietly and focuses attention on a physical object, a particular sound, an image, or on the most fundamental bodily process, breathing. Most people have heard of using a mantra to meditate. Here the person repeats a special word over and over. Repetition of the word provides the focus needed for meditation. No matter what the person uses, the purpose of the object of meditation is to give the mind an anchor to the here and now. As the mind becomes absorbed in its focus on the object of meditation, external distractions are reduced. The jumble of thoughts and anxiety so common to daily life disappear.
In mindfulness meditation, there is no specific object of meditation. Instead, the person sits quietly and simply witnesses or notices whatever happens to present itself mentally. It could be a thought, a mental image, a sound, or a bodily sensation. The goal of the person meditating is to observe whatever passes through the mind and let it go without reacting to it or elaborating on it. By practicing a kind of detached awareness of immediate experience, the person is encouraging the development of a calmer, clearer state of mind.
Learning to meditate is not a complex matter. However, as with any skill of value, learning to meditate does take some effort. Fortunately, there are many books and e-books on the market that can provide the beginner with simple “how to” instructions and helpful meditation exercises. Meditation also requires practice. But, the practice can be as little as ten minutes a day.
One key to successful meditation is consistency of effort. The person needs to find a time in the day to meditate regularly. The payoff for doing so may be enormous, both physically and psychologically. Modern research has shown that the regular use of meditation enhances immunity, lowers heart rate and blood pressure, reduces cholesterol, and speeds recovery. Psychologically, meditation seems to reduce anxiety and depression, while increasing creativity and feelings of happiness and joy. Given its power and simplicity, the practice of meditation should be included in any serious, holistic approach to health and wellness.
Douglas Hardwick, Ph.D., has extensive interests in human development and holistic health issues. He contributes to a holistic health information hub: http://www.holisticwebworks.com
Establishing A Daily Meditation Practice
It’s important to establish a daily practice and then stick to it. This doesn’t mean dedicating 12 hours a day to meditation, it just means creating a space in your home where you can take a few minutes and meditate and do the exercises. I advise people to start with some of the basic exercises and devote 10 -20 minutes a day as they develop their physical and mental abilities. Many people quite simply overload themselves and expect too much too soon, then get discouraged when they don’t see the results they thought they should see.
Getting Started
Set aside a corner in one of your rooms. You can stock it with whatever accoutrement you wish. Many folks have cushions, candles, incense and a small CD player for music or guided meditation CDs. Use whatever tools and accessories you want to, as there’s no right or wrong at this point.
Once you’ve created your sacred space then all you have to do is use it. Set aside a few minutes each day and begin working on your breathing and Full Body Awareness. Don’t worry at this point about how long you meditate, just get into the habit of doing it. The effects of meditation are cumulative, so 5 minutes a day everyday is better than 20 minutes once a week.
Eventually you’ll get to the point where you don’t need any accessories and you can clear your mind and meditate anywhere, at any time, but for now don’t worry about that, just create a pleasant, sacred atmosphere and get started.
On Expectation
In the spiritual circles we often hear people talking about doing things without expectation. It’s amazing how often the simple truths are all around us.
When we begin meditation or working towards the kundalini, we often feel that we should be able to do certain things within a certain time frame. We expect to be able to clear our minds and access our deeper abilities. We expect to be able to sit for an hour and meditate, or to see auras, or feel other people’s chi. Then when it doesn’t happen we become disappointed and confused. I can’t tell you how important it is to break free of these expectations.
When we let go of expectations and learn to just relax in the moment and just BE, then we are making progress of the most important kind. In the west we tend to be so goal oriented and have a need to see results, but frequently the cumulative effects of meditation aren’t noticeable until much later. Meditation is about this moment, about BEing totally in this moment, rather than about who you’ll be when you’ve become a good meditator.
The important thing with a regular practice is to just do it. The effects are cumulative and one day you’ll look back and see that all those short meditation sessions actually added up.
Copyright 2006 Robert Morgen. This article may be used by anyone, anywhere as long as the author’s bio and links are included.
is an excerpt from Robert Morgen’s book “Kundalini Awakening for Personal Mastery” (ISBN: 0-9773801-0-6)
See it at Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Kundalini-Awakening-Personal-Mastery-Robert/dp/0977380106
Basic Meditation Exercises
The following exercises range from pretty simple to pretty complicated, but as you develop your abilities you’ll eventually find that you can do them all at once and effortlessly. It can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few years to develop this ability, so remember what I said about expectations.
You’ll eventually be able to remember how to do these exercises by memory, and then after that you’ll get to the point where you just do them without having to think about them.
Grounding
Grounding will always be an important skill, no matter how advanced you become, so take the time to learn this now and to be able to do it effortlessly.
Stand in the “Standing Stake” pose described above. Go through the breathing and Full Body Awareness exercises. Visualize roots growing from your feet down through the core of the earth, just like a tree. In later meditations you can add some variety by seeing the roots flow down to a large crystal at the earth’s core. Depending on the effect you want you can vary the crystals and access different energies, but that obviously beyond the scope of the exercise at this point.
As you inhale feel the energy of the earth being drawn up through your roots and up through your body and out through the top of your head. On your exhale, let that energy drop back down through your body and feel all the accumulated stress of your life flow out with it and back down through your roots and into the earth. Feel your muscles relax as the stress flows out. This is a good way to release all your stresses, fears, angers and feelings of inadequacy. Repeat this exercise for awhile, as many times as necessary to clean yourself out.
There’s nothing wrong (and a lot of benefit) to stopping at this point and just doing these exercises that I’ve gone over up to this point, until they become completely effortless. Whenever you feel yourself becoming stressed or angry learn to take a moment and ground yourself and let those feelings just flow out.
Progressive Relaxation
Progressive Relaxation is easy to do and you can do it anywhere and anytime. Assume your meditation position of choice (I like the half-lotus on a zafu) and go through all the exercises I’ve covered up to this point. Just take a moment and feel the relaxed energy that you should have after grounding and releasing all your stress. Are you ready to get deeper into this feeling?
Feel the energy that flows up through your roots and into your feet. Make fists with your feet by curling your toes in as far as you can until it hurts, then relax. Let that relaxed feeling flow from your toes back over your feet and feel them relax. As you inhale draw that relaxed feeling up over your ankles and feel them relax completely. On the exhale let any residual stress flow back out and down through the earth.
On your next inhale draw that relaxed feeling back up over your calves, letting them relax after walking all day. Draw that relaxed energy up over your thighs with the next inhale. They’re the biggest muscles in the body, so let them relax and rest now.
As you inhale feel that relaxed feeling flow up over your hips and buttocks. Feel the stress bleed away. We store a lost of stress here, so take a moment and let this area relax. Draw that relaxed feeling up over your stomach and lower back. Feel the muscles in your back relax and feel your stomach move with your inhale.
Bring the energy up over your chest and the middle of your back. Feel your heart area expand with the relaxed energy and feel all the accumulated stress in between your shoulder blades release and flow out and back down with your exhale.
Draw the feeling of relaxation up over your shoulders and neck. Feel any residual tension flow out with your exhale. Let that relaxed energy flow up and over your head. Let the muscles of your face and those at the base of your skull relax.
Just sit here and feel this relaxed body that you have. Remember this feeling as its how you should feel all the time. Tense muscles store energy, which means that your energy isn’t flowing through you, but rather sticking in certain places in your body.
When your muscles are relaxed then your energy flows unimpeded and is continually renewed, leaving you feeling much lighter and more refreshed.
Basic Meditation Exercises is an excerpt from Robert Morgen’s book “Kundalini Awakening for Personal Mastery” (ISBN: 0-9773801-0-6)
See it at Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Kundalini-Awakening-Personal-Mastery-Robert/dp/0977380106
Meditation Exercise - The Brain Scrub
The Brain Scrub is designed to help you overcome the “monkey mind” which leaps and bounces around from subject to subject in an uncontrolled manner. After mastering this exercise you’ll be able to instantly clear and calm your mind in any situation, allowing you to focus completely on any subject.
Sit on the floor Indian style. Don’t worry about trying to sit in any particular position. If you wish you can sit upright in a chair, just sit towards the front and let your feet rest flat on the floor. Keep your spine straight, shoulders back and just let your hands rest in your lap. Take a moment to relax and let your breathing soften.
Now, as you inhale focus on the number 1. Hold your focus and exhale. On the next inhale focus on the number 2 and so on until you get to 10. The purpose here is to focus entirely on the numbers and not allow any other thoughts to intrude.
DO NOT beat yourself up with this exercise! Our minds are constantly at work and the untrained mind will bounce from thought to thought continually (monkey mind) and even during this exercise you’ll have other thoughts arise.
The key is not to attach to any of those thoughts. When other thoughts arise just let them evaporate like a wisp of smoke, passing unheeded through your consciousness and on out of your head.
Your goal is to count from 1 to 10 without attaching to any intruding thoughts, and if you do find yourself thinking of anything other than your target number then go back to one and start over.
This exercise is invaluable for learning to control your mind, and even seasoned meditators will find it useful to go back and practice occasionally.
This exercise is especially good for the Druid because once you can completely calm your mind you open up to a whole new world of feeling and sensation. Now the world takes on a new feel because you have the ability to be so much more aware of it.
One of the problems with the monkey mind is the fact that it uses up your awareness. Once you can still the mind you can open up to the deeper levels and become aware of the inner voices (you can call them spirit guides, angels, demons or whatever) that can lead you in the directions you need to go. It also allows you to become aware of the other energies that surround you, making it easier to extend your senses in new directions.
EVERYTHING is about awareness and intention! (Get used to hearing that) Once you develop your awareness it’s very easy to focus your intention to create the results you’re looking for. That’s magick of the highest order.
The Brain Scrub is an excerpt from Robert Morgen’s book “Kundalini Awakening for Personal Mastery” (ISBN: 0-9773801-0-6)
See it at Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Kundalini-Awakening-Personal-Mastery-Robert/dp/0977380106
Meditation Exercise - Full Body Awareness
Developing full body awareness is very simple and easy to learn.
In addition to feeling your breath flow and your stomach and ribs expand, I want you to feel the energy that flows into your body with each breath. For me it feels like a lightness, or a very light feeling. It may feel different for you so take some time here and just open up and feel the energy.
Now when you draw the energy in can you feel it pooling at your center of gravity just below your belly button? Now as you breathe just let that pool of energy expand throughout your body. Can you feel it flowing down through your legs and up your back and down your arms? Take some time here and practice this feeling that energy pool expand through your whole body. Later we’ll expand it out even further, but for now just let it flow.
This exercise should help you to feel rejuvenated and refreshed as you’re drawing energy from an infinite pool. Do this exercise whenever you’re depressed or down, and eventually as you progress you’ll learn to do it all the time. It’s a habit that you have to grow into.
Awareness and Intention
EVERYTHING is about ‘Awareness’ and ‘Intention’. Now that you’ve begun to build an awareness of the energy, called Chi, Ki or Prana in some circles, you’ll be able to do things with it and move it around in your (and other peoples) body.
We move energy with ‘Intention’, and this is a very important fact. EVERYTHING is energy! Our thoughts, our actions, our beliefs, everything around us and everything we see, feel, hear, think and do is energy. Intention is what we do with that energy.
We are all connected in a vast energy pool that encompasses everything that is, was and will be. It doesn’t matter whether a person believes in it or can feel it; they still have the ability to affect it. How many times have you seen a person with a negative attitude who continually draws more negative reactions to himself? He’s broadcasting his intentions through his attitudes with the result that he becomes a human ‘crap magnet’, drawing in all the negative feelings and emotions and experiences.
The other side of this is the continually positive person who always approaches everything from a positive attitude. This doesn’t mean that everything always goes the way she wants it, but if you’ll watch you’ll see that even the bad times provide fuel for her growth and she tries to take every ‘bad experience’ as a lesson to help improve herself.
Just as our thoughts can influence Chi subconsciously, so can they move it around in our body. Energy follows thought, so when you think about moving energy then it will actually go where you send it. The important thing here is to stay out of its way. Energy moves in a spiral and at its own speed, so don’t try to micro-manage it, just let it flow.
Now take some time and do the Full Body Awareness exercise again, and this time feel the energy go where you send it. You can also play with this a bit. Send it down to your feet, now bring it back to your center and this time just send it down to your left foot, now your right. Now send it up to your head, and down to your left elbow.
Now, the next time you’re stuck in traffic, or impatiently waiting in line at the Motor Vehicles Office, just relax and start to play with this. Isn’t this a neat toy?
Full Body Awareness is an excerpt from Robert Morgen’s book “Kundalini Awakening for Personal Mastery” (ISBN: 0-9773801-0-6)
See it at Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Kundalini-Awakening-Personal-Mastery-Robert/dp/0977380106
A Brief Introduction To Hatha Yoga
Yoga at last is coming into its own in the Western world. After many years of being dismissed as a bizarre cult attractive only to eccentrics, it is today recognized as a fundamental art and skill. More than that, many of its most bitter opponents, people who were among the first to cry down Yogic culture, have now embraced it as a way of life.
The ancients who formulated the science of Yoga were way ahead of us in our modern world of stress and hurry. Recognizing, thousands of years ago, man’s basic need for discipline to counteract the physical and spiritual deterioration caused by the mere fight for survival, they evolved a science which is at once as ancient as India herself and as modern as the space age.
The law of Yoga is the law of Life. Yoga embodies the secrets of successful living and combines profound and age-old truths with a way of life acceptable to the modern mind. It was evolved from the Veda, one of the most ancient scriptural books known to mankind in which Indian saints and sages taught that the Universe is one and that all religions are paths ascending the same mountain towards Eternal Truth. The great modern saint, Sri Ramakrishna, is often quoted as saying, ‘As many faiths, so many paths.
But Yoga is not a religion, nor is it a mystic cult. It is a Hindu system of philosophic meditation and asceticism designed to affect the reunion of the devotee’s soul with God. It is a philosophy, which integrates the individual life and the world surrounding us to achieve a basic harmony and equilibrium in the heart and mind of man.
How is physical health a part of so spiritual a philosophy as Yoga? Simply that the trichotomy of our lives, divided into body, soul and spirit, is echoed in the complete Yogic philosophy whose three approaches - asana (posture), pranayama (breath control), and meditation - are unified as one approach to self discovery.
One of the fundamental doctrines of Yoga is that God is within each one of us but He reveals Himself only in conditions of purity, both spiritually and physically. To function on a higher level, either mentally or physically, the first step must always be to rid the body of the impurities that cause disease and which impede spiritual development. One can draw the analogy of the window, which must be cleaned before one can see the light clearly through it.
This basic principle of purification underlines all Yogic practice and at the same time it aims at establishing a balance in the body so that it functions, as it were, like a perfect machine. When this state of physical balance is achieved the mind can then be controlled and can realize the ultimate in pure thought and reason.
I have yet to meet anyone who can successfully employ the techniques of mind control while plagued with indigestion, asthma, a thumping headache or any other of the ills and stress symptoms which plague modern man. So first things first. Physical ills drag one downwards and the disciplinary science of Hatha Yoga was evolved that the body would be freed from pain and disease.
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Meditation Exercise - Breathing for Meditation
Breathing is the MOST important part of meditation and Kundalini Awakening. It’s the foundation of all the exercises and skills that come after, so taking the time to learn it now will make things much easier.
From our birth until death we breathe more or less continually, yet for the most part we do it without any awareness of our breath and its effects on us, and believe it or not most people in the western world do it wrong!
Breathe in through your nose and draw your breath down into the area just below your navel, allowing your stomach to expand as you breathe (Baby Breath) and filling your lungs entirely with each breath before exhaling through your nose.
Take a moment right now and feel your breath. Pay attention to the air as it flows in through your nostrils and down into your lungs. Don’t think about anything or do anything other than just breathe.
1. Are you taking a relatively shallow breath and just filling the upper lobes of your lungs?
2. Does your stomach move out as you breathe?
3. Do you feel the bones of your ribcage expanding and opening with each breath?
For most people the answer to 1 is YES and the answers to 2 and 3 are NO so lets expand this exercise a bit.
This time draw your breath down to a point about 2 inches below your navel (the body’s center of gravity). When you do this you’ll feel your stomach expand and push out in front of you. Most westerners usually keep their stomach pulled in and their chest out, so when you do this you’ll have to relax all those muscles. Just take a moment and be aware of your breath as it flows down into your center.
Now as you inhale and draw your breath down, also let your ribcage expand. You’ll feel your floating ribs at the bottom of your ribcage spread and move, and you may get a few pops out of your spine also. Just take a few moments and breathe this way. Don’t think or let your mind wander, just breathe. If you’ve never meditated before then congratulations, you just did! It’s exactly that simple.
There are many benefits to proper breathing. The extra oxygen in your system means that your heart doesn’t have to beat as fast, lowering your pulse and your blood pressure. Drawing the breath down into your center also helps to massage your internal organs, providing more oxygen to them as well as helping to release the accumulated stresses that build up there. The long term health benefits are immeasurable and have been repeatedly proven for thousands of years.
Breathing is by far the most important part of the kundalini awakening exercises, although it sounds so simple. Paying attention to the breath is the beginning of opening up your awareness and it’s seen in every meditative culture on the planet.
Take some time to practice this, as it’s the foundation for everything that comes next. If you have to dedicate your meditation time to breathwork for awhile then that’s good, as we all proceed at our own pace.
I recently read a translation of some of Jesus’ teachings from the original Aramaic (the language he actually spoke, although he apparently wasn’t literate) and it was very interesting to me that in Aramaic they used the same word for “wind”, “breath” and “spirit”. Those with a Chi Kung background might find it interesting to take another look at the New Testament and insert the word “breath” every time you see the word “spirit”.
It’s funny that something as simple as proper breathing can have such a profound effect on the rest of your life, but don’t take my word for it, you can find out for yourself beginning with your next inhale.
Breathing for Meditation is an excerpt from Robert Morgen’s book “Kundalini Awakening for Personal Mastery” (ISBN: 0-9773801-0-6)
See it at Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Kundalini-Awakening-Personal-Mastery-Robert/dp/0977380106
Drawing and Moving Energy
During various exercises we’ll be drawing energy in through our chakras, into our organs and even through the entire area of our skin. Drawing energy into yourself is fairly easy to do and simply requires a heightened sense of self-awareness to feel.
To begin drawing energy just take a moment and focus on your breathing. Feel your breath as it flows in through your nostrils and down to your Dan Tien, the area two finger-widths below your belly button. Feel the chi as it flows in with your breath down to your Dan Tien. Take a few breaths and let the energy build up and spread through your body.
Now, as silly as it sounds, imagine a nose or an opening that covers your heart chakra, just over your sternum. Remember what it feels like when you draw the chi in through your nostrils? As you inhale let the nose over your heart chakra inhale chi directly into your heart. It may take awhile to really feel this, so don’t be worried if it doesn’t seem to come easily. As you exhale let any stress or unhappiness in your heart chakra flow down through your legs and deep into the earth.
Take some time and practice inhaling energy this way. As you get comfortable with it you’ll be able to draw chi into yourself in many different ways. Below are some sample exercises that you can experiment with. You’ll probably come up with some others on your own as the possibilities here are literally endless.
Chakra Breathing
We’ll get deeper into this in the Chakra Chapters, but you can draw energy into any of your chakras at any time just like we did for the heart chakra.
Energizing your organs
This can be a lot of fun and really help strengthen your immune system and improve your overall health. It’s also an exercise in using intention to send energy where you want it to go.
Take a moment and relax as we did above. On your inhale draw chi into your liver. Don’t worry if you don’t know exactly where your liver is, you don’t have to. Just intend for relaxing, healing energy to flow into your liver as you inhale, and then draw it in. On your exhale let the stresses and built up energies flow out of your liver and down into the earth. Can you feel the lightness and relaxation? The liver is related to anger and aggression. The next time you find yourself becoming angry do this exercise and see if it doesn’t help to shed some of those feelings.
You can run chi into any of your organs exactly the same way. The infusion of energy will help cleanse your organs and release bound stresses and memories, so you may find yourself having some unexpected emotional releases as that energy has to go somewhere once it’s released.
Relaxing Stress Knots out of your muscles
Whenever you feel a stress knot building up in your muscles just draw energy directly into the knot on the inhale and let the stress flow down into the earth on your exhale. As an exercise in awareness you can take some time and just choose a body part at random and draw energy into it.
Improve your eyesight and hearing
I’ve personally experienced some radical healing in both my eyesight and hearing just by drawing more chi into my eyes and ears. At an age when my eyes should be getting worse I actually have gotten to the point where I only wear my glasses when I’m working on the computer or watching a movie.
Drawing energy from trees, rocks and plants
Sit with your back to a tree or better yet face it and wrap your arms around it. Relax and spend a few moments practicing feeling your own energy. Expand your awareness to the tree. Can you feel the rough bark against your skin and hear the rustle of wind in the leaves and branches. Can you smell it? Can you feel the energy from it? Create a circuit with the tree. As you inhale feel the energy from the tree flow into you. As you exhale let your energy flow into the tree. Let your friends who haven’t experienced this laugh at you for being a tree hugger. Experiment with this with other plants as well as rocks and crystals. Do they all feel the same? Can you tell the difference between tree species based on the feel of their energy? Can you differentiate between different crystals based on their energy? You could keep yourself occupied indefinitely in the backyard with this exercise.
Drawing energy is something that you can do at any time, any place. As you get better at drawing energy and more comfortable with it you’ll also be able to develop more control over your emotions and your physical responses by using variations on the exercises above. Don’t be afraid to play with this exercise and experiment with the healing energies as this is all about building up your personal catalog of feelings and experiences.
Drawing Energy is an excerpt from Robert Morgen’s book “Easy Meditation for Martial Artists” (ISBN: 978-0-9773801-3-8)
See it at Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Meditation-Martial-Artists-Robert-Morgen/dp/0977380130
The Importance Of The Breath
The air we breathe is the only element our body cannot do without for even the shortest time. We can, if necessary, survive without food for as long as a month, without water for many days. But deprive the body of oxygen and we die within minutes. Cut off the supply of oxygen to the brain, and vital tissues are permanently destroyed.
Thousands of years ago the Hindi had come to understand the importance of breath so thoroughly that we find the following legend told in one of their oldest scriptures, the Bri-hadaranyaka Upanishad:
“The senses, quarreling amongst themselves one day as to who was the best, went to Brahma and said, ‘Who is the richest of us - tell us!’ And Brahma replied, ‘He by whose departure the body seems worst, he is the richest.’ And they determined to find out.
“First the eye departed, and having been absent a year it came back, asking, ‘How have you been able to live without me?’ They replied, ‘Like blind people, not seeing with the eye, but breathing with the breath, speaking with the tongue, hearing with the ear, knowing with the mind, generating with the seed. Thus have we lived.’ And the eye returned to its place.
“Next the ear departed, and at the end of a year it came back, asking the same question. And they replied, ‘Like deaf people have we lived, not hearing with the ear, but breathing with the breath, speaking with the tongue, seeing with the eye, knowing with the mind, generating with the seed.’ And the ear returned to its place.
“Next it was the turn of the mind, and after it had been gone a year, and returned, they said, ‘We have lived like fools without you, but we have lived.’ And to the seed, after it had been gone a year, they said, ‘We have lived like impotent people, but we have lived.’ And the mind and the seed each returned to his place.
“And now it was the turn of the breath. And on the point of departing it tore up the other senses, as a great excellent horse of the Sindhu country might tear up the pegs to which he is tethered. Then all the other senses called out to him, ‘Sir, do not leave us! We shall not be able to live without thee’!”
Is it not surprising that this ancient parable coincides with scientific truth? The first step toward re-orienting and improving the functioning of your mind and body is learning to utilize - really utilize - the air you breathe. The Yogis were the first to discover the importance of this and so actually devised an exact science of breathing. They called it prana-yama, from the Sanskrit word prana, meaning breath, and yama, its cessation. They also explored pranayama from every point of view - the practical and physiological and also the mystical - for to them breathing was much more than just one of the necessary body processes.
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