What Yoga can do?
The ancients who formulated the science of Yoga were technique ahead of us in our modern world of stress and hurry. Recognizing, thousands of years ago, man’s fundamental need for self control to counteract the physical and spiritual degeneration 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 intense and age-old truths with a technique of life acceptable to the modern mind. It was evolved from the Veda, one of the the bulk ancient scriptural books known to mankind in which Indian saints and sages taught that the Universe is one and that all religions are paths soaring the same mountain towards Eternal Truth. The amazing modern saint, Sri Ramakrishna, is often quoted as saying, ‘As a lot faiths, so a lot 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 effect the reunion of the devotee’s soul with God. It is a philosophy which integrates the individual life and the world surrounding us to attain a fundamental 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 basic 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 observe the light clearly via it. This fundamental 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 ideal machine. When this state of physical balance is achieved the mind can then be controlled and can realize the ultimate in pure cosidered and reason. I have yet to meet anybody who can successfully employ the processes 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 will be freed from pain and disease. This book is primarily concerned with this Yoga of the physical body known as Hatha Yoga. While the body and the mind cannot be separated and the health of one affects the health of the other, I have laid stress on the day to day troubles and ailments of the general person who wishes to improve his normal health. Not everyone has the mystic vocation to attain union with God, the Universal Spirit, which is the primary aim of all Yoga, but everyone would like to know how to improve his health. Many Westerners, moving as they do in a world of hurry and stress, feel that Yoga holds nothing for them and that the whole philosophy is rather remote, vague, and impractical. In this book my aim is to express readers how the ancient system of Yoga provides an effective answer to the a lot problems of our modern life. You can take an active part in the hurly burly of every day living and Yoga will act as a protection from the numerous stresses of your environment. While best outcomes are obtained by exercising and practicing breathing and relaxation alone, nevertheless you need not become a hermit to attain success and ameliorated health via Hatha Yoga. Recognizing then that you're not a mystic and you do not wish to spend years in meditation and mental self control to find the true meaning of God and Life, how then can Yoga aid you? Let us consider your problems. Are you overworked and tense and do you find it unachievable to relax even in bed at night? Are you overweight yet lack the will-power to diet? Do you sometimes find yourself not able to cope with the dash and tumult of every day life? Are you irritable, worried, nervous? Are you plagued by indigestion and other stress symptoms? Or simply do you seek something, you know not what, which goes above and beyond the superficial level of every day living? Yoga awaits your interest, your inspection, your first hesitant experiments. It is here, it has always been here, it's yours for the taking. Those who have delved into its intense philosophy and studied for years with patience and devotion to learn more and more have found something unique, priceless, and indestructible. The uninformed often speak of Yoga as some dark, hidden practice of magical rites for achieving wondrous powers. While it's an indisputable fact that some advanced Yogis are indeed possessed of such powers, they reached their state of heightened consciousness, not by bell, book, and candle, but by the restraining of the mind for which the first step is the perfecting of the physical body, via Hatha Yoga. The inner power of Yoga becomes apparent when one realizes that it has something to offer every thinking person, here and now, yet it's an ancient Hindu philosophy, its beginnings shrouded in the mists of time. The idea may sound fanciful but the evidence is manifold. Hatha Yoga is the preparation for all the higher forms of Yoga and, because of its advantages to the body and the mind, it's the the bulk popular form of Yoga and the the bulk acceptable to Western habits of thought. At the same time it's the the bulk misunderstood science on the face of the earth. Many well-meaning, but misguided individuals have a disparaging attitude towards Hatha Yoga, because its special province is the physical body. But the sages who formulated the disciplinary science of Hatha Yoga recognized that the first thing man desires and requirements is health, so they devised the best means of achieving and preserving it. While Hatha Yoga is the cause of much apprehension among people who effect to despise things physical and concentrate on higher matters, it has always been a source of interest to me how anybody can meditate on Higher Things while doubled up with pain or suffering any kind of physical discomfort. Having declared then that Hatha Yoga can aid you towards better health and calm your mind so that you could solve your personal problems, I do want to stress two facts. Firstly, that the aim of Hatha Yoga is not the acquisition of a superior muscular physique but the self control and the purification of the body that we may forget our earthly shell ample to reach a state of heightened awareness via the control of the mind. Secondly, that Hatha Yoga is neither the easiest nor the fastest system of physical culture to express results. Why then Hatha Yoga for your health? Why not weight lifting, club swinging, athletics, or even dancing? All of these will improve the circulation, the figure, and strengthen the muscles. What has Hatha Yoga to offer in addition to this? Simply that Hatha will provide an extraordinary control over the body and awaken the mind and spirit, the higher self if you like, as no purely physical culture system could possibly do. Also, the above-mentioned activities are beyond the capacities of a large section of the community, the aged, the infirm, the lame, and the physically frail. Those activities involve violent movement whereas Hatha Yoga is essentially a static science. Primarily one gets into a Yoga posture or asana and remains so for as long as possible. Stress is laid on pressure of certain organs, glands and muscles rather than on movement. When movement is important in Hatha Yoga it's always gentle and graceful, therefore anybody can benefit from Yoga regardless of age, sex, race, walk of life, or religious belief. It is a universal science. It can lead to more abundant living and a new knowledge of higher things via ridding your body of the pains and diseases which drag your mind back into the earth when it wants to wing its technique upwards towards the light. It is reported that Lord Buddha, whose philosophy is based on the Veda from which Yoga was evolved, said that the first step on the technique to spiritual freedom and salvation is ideal physical health. So if you're drawn towards Hatha Yoga do not be put off by others who might tell you that you will never reach a state of heightened consciousness by turning your body upside down or sitting in several leg-breaking postures. Tell them that if the blood is impure then the brain, the nerves, the psycho-spiritual life, yes even the thoughts, cannot but be affected. Tell them that a man cannot control his mind until his body is made pure and healthy. Even if you do not aim at mental discipline, and a lot of you I know do not, you could with persistent practice improve your normal health beyond belief. You will find that Yoga knowledge, once accumulated, will commence to affect and aid you in your everyday life, whoever you may be. It will steadily invade every part of your life, from your attitude towards your fellow men to the technique you sleep, breathe, think, and even eat. Did I say eat? What has consuming to do with Hatha Yoga? It has very much to do with it. It is a strange fact that Yoga’s doctrine of non-violence very soon influences even the the bulk enthusiastic meat-eater to think again about a vegetarian diet. As the senses become more acute via the practice of Yoga, one begins to experience a distaste for al! forms of killing and violence. Meat becomes unpalatable because a lot devotees of Yoga are actually able to observe the astral bodies of the slaughtered animals as they tuck into a thick, juicy steak. Their senses steadily becoming awakened, they think on things that never occurred to them before and in the case of slaughtering helpless animals they commence to comprehend and revolt at the hideous practices that go on in abattoirs all over the world. So you have been warned! You, who are reading a book on Yoga for probably the first time in your life, you who have ingested and enjoyed meat and fish for a lot years and intend to go on doing so, you will suddenly discover, if you practice Yoga, that meat is not quite so delicious as you hitherto cosidered and that other foods, cheese and vegetables and fruits, taste much better. You see it's impossible to practice Hatha Yoga as a kind of hobby and hope to keep it aside from your every day life, like knitting or woodwork. Inevitably it must affect your whole life and cosidered and make you, not a dissimilar person or even a better one, but into your real self ‘denuded of all false pretence, of false values, and of unreasonable fears and inhibitions. If I have alarmed you in any technique or made you feel that Yoga is going to prove far too snarled up a thing in your orderly life, let me hasten to assure you that the affect of Yoga cannot be otherwise than beneficial. While Yoga is not, as I stressed at the beginning, a religion, nevertheless those men who devote their whole lives to it become saintly and intensely spiritual. This applies to devotees of Hatha as well as the other Yogas which proves conclusively that though Hatha’s province is the physical body and its perfection, in the last analysis Hatha Yoga is a spiritual discipline. You may consider Hatha Yoga either as a special subject in itself or as an adjunct to other forms of Yoga. Whatever your reason (and there can never be a bad reason for doing something good) Yoga can aid you with your every day problems on all levels. As you grow healthier and more relaxed you become more gentle, less inclined to fits of irritation and temper. Yoga provides the counter-weight so urgently required to the ever increasing nervous, mental and physical tensions of our modern life. All the exercises or asanas of Hatha Yoga are based on the formula of stretching, relaxing, deep breathing and increasing the circulation of the blood and the powers of concentration. Yogic culture is divided into eight sections. Yama—ethics. Niyama—religious observances. Asana—postures. Pranayama—breathing exercises and control of the breath. Pratyahara—withdrawing of the senses from external objects. 6. Dhyarana—concentration. 7. Dhyana—meditation. 8. Samadhi—super-consciousness. It is with 3 and 4 that this book is primarily concerned for these sections are the start of all Yoga without which you cannot hope to gain mastery over yourself and learn the secrets of the Universe. According to the Yoga Shastras the Yoga asanas total the staggering number of 840,000, but the necessary ones number only 84. Of these I have described all but the the bulk difficult. This is a book primarily for the Westerner and the beginner in Yoga and as such it does not contain postures convenient only to advanced students who are able to practice a lot hours a day. The asanas incorporated in this book will suffice to bring the health of the general person to a far higher level than hitherto experienced and, combined with the other practices described in this book, will open out a new horizon beyond the banalities of every day existence. Let me warn you that Yoga is another word for difficult work, indeed some say it's all work and no play. That may be so, but all the same if you have read thus far your mind must be searching for something and if that something is Yoga then you will not be deterred by the mere cosidered of difficult work. Rather you will glory in it for there is a sense of amazing achievement in self-discipline. Yes, Hatha Yoga is self control all the way. I can express you the path up the mountain but it's up to you to climb. With the best will in the world I cannot do the difficult work for you. But if you select this path all you need to follow it's determination. If you have it you cannot fail. If you lack it you cannot begin. “”There is an innermost center in us all Where Truth abides in fullness; and to know Rather comprises in opening out a technique Whence the imprisoned splendor may escape . . .’ (BROWNING) |
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