Ashtanga Yoga
Discipline and authority lie at the heart of Traditional Yoga (But how do we deal with this in modern TNY in the USA?) How is authority established through teaching and practice in the West?
· GURU-S’ISYA (teacher –disciple) relationship
· Physical Challenge of Daily Practice
· Textual foundations and antiquity of practice
· Physicality of teaching and traditional authority of the teacher
· Progressing through teacher’s touteledge
History
· First trained Norman Allen, David Williams and Nancy Gilgoff.
· 1974 brought PJ to calif
· Now popular around the world mostly in urban contexts
· Purpose: keeping fit and flexible and managing stress
Seriousness of Practice
· Physically demanding nature of asana practice
· Emphasis on daily practice
· Programmatic form guided by teacher
· Orientation toward PROGRESS (DRIVEN PERSON)
Role of HEAT
· Internal heat (TAPAS) integral to practice
o With heat even iron will bend
o Aestheticism, discipline and generation of actual INTERNAL HEAT
o Leads toward the perfection of the body-samadhi-blissful state
o Ritual heat is linked to personal transformation and spiritual refinement
· AGNI: purifying heat (burning out the impurities)
o Head heat turns one into a seer as well
o Tapas practice is in al important yoga textual sources
§ Gita: austerities of body speech & mind
§ Manusmriti: methods are prescribed for priests- to minimize their attachments
§ Yoga sutras: part of the definition of Kriya yoga (action)- Tapas is essential to the achievement of perfection alongside self study (Svadhyaya) and the worshipping of god (isvara pranidhana) 2.1
· Also third of the NIYAMA observances – activities conducive to the achievement of spiritual liberation. They provide the foundation for the higher LIMBS of yoga 2.43
· 4.1 foundation for Siddhis (extraordinary powers) and achievement of perfection
· YOGA MALA
o The strength gained through practice …we can come to know the method for bringing the mind and sense organs under control
o Yama, Niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana Samadhi
o The perfection of the body and sense organs …due to the intensity in spiritual practice (tapas), being the elimination of impurities.-observances performed to discipline the body and sense organs.
o Purification is about the GROSS PHYSICAL BODY, and the SUBTLE/ENERGETIC BODY.
§ SIRA- kind of nadi (internal mechanism) Dhamini, nadi sira…gross, subtle and very subtle channels which move internal energies within the body. (from the HYP)
§ When the body is purified, so is the breath, and then the mind because of this subtle linkage of the body to the “message center” through the siras.
o Pranayama (Ujjayi)
§ The breath regulates the vinyasa and ensures efficient circulation of blood. The result is a LIGHT, STRONG body.
§ Asana plus pranayama purifies the blood. 32 days and 1 drop of blood make VITAL NECTAR *Vria-life force). Stored in the crown chakra. Vria travels downward and is consumed by the upward flow of agni (digestive fire). If it is gone, we are lost. Asana and INVERSIONS safely store and maintain this vria in the AMRTABINDU
· Teaching authority
o Highly regulated by PJ and grandson now
o Emphasis on sweating as an indication of internal heat production
o Rub in sweat (LIGHT SHEEN is better than profuse sweating) (HYP)
o Sweating after the casting out of impurities leads to the trsansformation of the body which is the first stage of yogic transformation. (HYP) FIRM AND LIGHT
Achievement, Discipline, and Authority in Practice
· Controls yoga teachers certification and authorization
· Performance of spirituality (Nevrin) is regulated by PJ
· High energy atmosphere characteristic of the shala-COLLECTIVE NATURE
· No nonsense style of teaching
· Reverence for the guru
· Control over development of each students practice
· Weekly “conference” with guru, seated on a chair or raised dias while students sit on floor and listen
· Students wait in line to bow down in front of their guru and kiss or tough his feet three times in the traditional gesture of devotion
· Use of Sanskrit quotations in question and answer sessions, limited English tio answer questions. Relies on parable
· Challenging ADJUSTMENTS of AYRI-authority of teacher
o “openings” or injuries?
o Inherited from K who emphasized fierceness???
· Practices seen as CORRECT or INCORRECT by PJ
· Sequences confirmed by the YOGA KARUNTA and are unalterable
o Eaten by ants, acquired by K, but taught directly to PJ by K
In the WEST, the emphasis the PJ had on internal heat as a way of achieving spiritual transformation through cleansing the BODY (foundation for higher practices) is often replaced by the idea that the practice is about PERFECTING the body as a lean, strong and flexible machine through the perfect performance of asana. Tapas=EAST: (HYP)
· Elimination of toxins through the skin
· Internal purification of the gross and subtle aspects of the body
· Transubstantiation of bodily fluids into vital essence of AMRITA
*Heat will destroy all obstacles to transformation vs heated practice will perfect the body.
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