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  • Home
  • Class Videos
  • Online Immersions
  • Blogs
  • Store
  • Mentorship
  • About
    • What is Ghosh Yoga?
    • About Scott & Ida
    • Women of Yoga
    • Postures of Ghosh Yoga
    • Bose Conference Call
  • Books
    • NEW - Therapeutic Exercises
    • 26+2 Modifications
    • Beginning
    • Intermediate
    • Advanced 1
    • Yoga Cure
    • Muscle Control
    • Dr. GSM
    • Buddha Bose
    • Calcutta Yoga
  • Contact

Modern Bow Posture

6/19/2020

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Bow Posture, Dhanurasana, in Yoga Mimamsa 1925
Read about the premodern version of Bow Posture, dhanurasana​, here.

For the past 100 years or so, Bow Posture is done lying on the belly, holding the feet or ankles, and bending the body backward, as pictured above in 1925. Prior to that, the posture seems to have been done sitting and pulling the feet toward the ears. The question remains: Where and when did the posture transition into its modern iteration?
Postures done lying on the belly and grabbing the ankles from behind have existed for at least a couple hundred years. The 18th century Gheranda Samhita has a position called Ushtrasana, Camel Posture, that we wrote about here. 

In South India, the Sritattvanidhi contains a posture called Nyubjasana. It is instructed: "Lie face down. Cross the heels and take hold of the toes with the hands and roll. This is nyubjasana, the face-down asana" (Sjoman 1999: 84). This text is likely from the 19th century and seems to have been influential at the Mysore palace where Krishnamacharya innovated many elements of modern postural yoga. Interestingly, the instruction is to "roll" the body back and forth rather than hold in stillness.
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Camel Posture as instructed in the Gheranda Samhita
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Nyubjasana as instructed in the Sritattvanidhi
These premodern prone backbends are not called Bow Posture. By 1925 when Yoga Mimamsa publishes instruction, the modern die for dhanurasana​ seems to be set.
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Yoga Mimamsa 1925
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Popular Yoga Asanas 1931
The earliest modern representation of Bow Posture known to us is from 1925 in Yoga Mimamsa. It is pictured at the top of this article and to the left.  "It will readily be seen that this posture is a combination of the two exercises Bhujangasana [Cobra Posture] and Salabhasana [Locust Posture]". This posture is said to accomplish the benefits of those others but to a lesser degree. 

In its early days, Yoga Mimamsa was a proponent of more traditional yogic practices and unsupportive of the increasingly exercise-focused iterations of yoga that were developing. This leads us to believe that Bow Posture was accepted as part of the yogic canon, even though we discussed its older history last time. Contrarily, the insistence that Bow Posture is not a useful as bhujangasana or shalabhasana may suggest that it was not as established as these other, older postures.
Kuvalayananda's book Popular Yoga Asanas from 1931 also includes Bow Posture, which is no surprise since it is drawn largely from issues of Yoga Mimamsa. 

​Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda in 1934 is curiously devoid of the posture. It makes one wonder about the influence of the 
Sritattvanidhi above.
From 1930 onward Bow Posture seems quite set in the canon of yogis everywhere. Shivananda's 1931 Yoga Asanas​ contains it. In many ways this work draws from Kuvalayananda and Yoga Mimamsa, though some new research shows that Shivananda was also influenced by Jain asana practices.

Buddha Bose's Yoga Asanas in 1938 contains the posture. This is not surprising because of Bose's clear influence by Shivananda and Kuvalayananda. Bose's Bow Posture is pictured to the right. Interestingly, Bose also includes Ushtrasana, the Camel Posture, as a prone backbend similar to the Gheranda Samhita​. 
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Buddha Bose 1938
Nearly every modern text that we examined contains the posture, from North India's Shivananda lineage, East India's Ghosh lineage, South India's Krishnamacharya lineages, to Europe.
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Selvarajan Yesudian ~1950
One of the most interesting variants actually comes from a European publication in the 1940-50s by Selvarajan Yesudian and Elisabeth Haich. Yesudian was raised in India and moved to Hungary in the 1930s, taking yoga instruction with him. 

Their text encourages rocking in the posture, recalling the Sritattvanidhi's instruction to "roll" the body back and forth: "The effect of the exercise can be heightened if we rock gently to and fro during the posture." (Yesudian 1953: 133)
All the students of Bishnu Charan Ghosh include Bow Posture in their instructions. This includes Buddha Bose (above), Labanya Palit in 1955, Ghosh himself in 1961 (demonstrated by his daughter Karuna), Dr Gouri Mukerji in 1963, Monotosh Roy in the 60-70s, and Bikram Choudhury in the late 60s.
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Labanya Palit, 1955
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Karuna Ghosh, 1961
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Dr. Gouri Shankar Mukerji, 1963
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Monotosh Roy
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Bikram Choudhury, ~1968
A couple further interesting instructions: A student of Shivananda wrote an encyclopedic book in the late 60s called Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha. Its instruction of Bow Posture is quite specific about which muscles to use: "In the final position the head is tilted back and the abdomen supports the entire body of the floor. The only muscular contraction is in the legs; the back and arms remain relaxed." (APMB: 209)
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Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha
Iyengar, in his hugely influential ​Light On Yoga, is specific about where to carry the body's weight and also to keep the knees slightly apart: ​"Do not rest either the ribs or the pelvic bones on the floor. Only the abdomen bears the weight of the body on the floor. While raising the legs do not join them at the knees, for then the legs will not be lifted high enough." (Iyengar 1966: 101-2)
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Iyengar 1966
Iyengar's instruction to keep the knees apart is in direct opposition to that in Yoga Mimamsa in 1925, which says, "As the muscles become more and more elastic, the knees should be drawn closer, till at last they are made to stand together, carrying the intra-abdominal pressure to its highest limit." You can see the knees together in the picture above from Yoga Mimamsa.
The instruction and performance of Bow Posture has been mostly consistent from about the 1920s. It is still unclear when it transitioned from the premodern, seated version into the prone backbend. Its hyper-modern shift to greater depth that resembles contortion more than dhanurasana is also interesting, but a topic for another time.
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Premodern Bow Posture

6/15/2020

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Bow Posture, dhanurasana, is one of the few postures of premodern Hathayoga that is not a seated, cross-legged, meditative position. Its first known instruction is from the 15th century in the Hathapradipika, and it is also included in the 17th century Hatharatnavali and the 18th century Gheranda Samhita. Interestingly, these premodern versions of Bow Posture may be different from the modern understanding.

The modern version of Bow Posture, which has been prominent for the past 100 years or so, is done lying on the belly, holding the feet or ankles, and bending the body backward.  Prior to that, the posture seems to have been done sitting and pulling the feet toward the ears. ​

Bow Posture's earliest known instruction is in the 15th century Hathapradipika: "Bring the toes as far as the ears with both hands as if drawing a bow. This is Dhanurasana" (HP 1.25). (1)

The Hatharatnavali from the 17th century repeats the Sanskrit instructions word for word. Here is a different English translation: "The big toes are held with the hands and are pulled up to the ears (alternately). Thus, one assumes the shape of a stretched bow. This is dhanurasana" (HR 3.51). (2)
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Bow Posture crossing the body.
This posture is done sitting and pulling one foot to the ear as the other leg stays straight, making the body look like a drawn bow. There are two ways that the instruction has been interpreted, depending on whether the hand grabs the foot on the same side of the body or opposite. So this posture has been interpreted as pictured at the top, with the hand pulling the same side foot toward the ear; or with the leg crossing the body as pictured directly above. The instruction is not specific, making it likely that crossing the body is not intended.

Nowadays, these positions are still taught sometimes. They are often called akarna dhanurasana, which means Bow to the Ear Posture; or akarshana dhanurasana, which means Bow Pulling Posture.
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​Some modern translations of the Hathapradipika interpret these instructions --- to pull the toes to the ears --- in light of the more modern Bow Posture done on the belly. They offer a posture that involves a deep backward bend, touching the toes to the ears from behind, what might be called Full Bow Posture today, pictured to the left.
Bow Posture is also in another well-known premodern text, the Gheranda Samhita, from the 18th century. The instruction has changed a little from the Hathapradipika and Hatharatnavali: "Stretch the legs out on the ground like a stick, extend the arms, hold both feet from behind with the hands, and make the body curved like a bow. That is called Dhanurasana" (GS 2.18). (3) 

The interesting new instruction here is that the feet are held "from behind". Some interpret this as bending the legs backward and holding the feet, as one does in the modern backbend. But it is entirely possible that this is the same posture as instructed earlier, and the cue to hold the feet from behind is not particularly ground-breaking.

The first words in this instruction, to "stretch the legs out on the ground like a stick", are identical to the instructions for Stretching Posture, paschimottanasana. This is perhaps a clue that the Bow Posture in the Gheranda Samhita is intended to be done sitting down with the legs stretched forward.
Furthermore, there are three postures in the Gheranda Samhita which are done on the belly with clear instruction: Locust Posture (2.39), Crocodile Posture (2.40), and Camel Posture (2.41) pictured to the right. They include directions to "lie prone" or "lie down with the chest placed on the ground", clearly meaning to lie on the belly.  This type of instruction is entirely absent from Bow Posture, again suggesting that it was intended to be a seated position.
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Camel Posture as instructed in the Gheranda Samhita
It seems most likely that the premodern Bow Posture was intended to be seated, pulling the toes toward the ears. The questions arise: When and why did it shift to the modern understanding of a prone backbend? As we will explore next, it seems to be established as the 'modern' Bow Posture by the 1920s. 


(1) Akers, Brian Dana, trans., 2002 Hatha Yoga Pradipika NY: YogaVidya.com
(2) Gharote, M.L., Devnath and Jha, editors, 2014 Hatharatnavali Lonavla Yoga Institute: Pune [2002]
(3) Mallinson, James, trans., 2004 Gheranda Samhita NY: YogaVidya.com
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Mula Bandha: The History of the Root Lock

4/3/2020

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Mula bandha is a somewhat common technique in modern yoga. It is generally accepted that this technique, which means 'root lock', is a contraction of the muscles of the pelvic floor. Some interpret this to be the perineum, the anus, or a combination of the muscles in the pelvis. The anatomical specifics of how and when to do mula bandha are not the goal of this article. Today we are looking at where the practice comes from, and perhaps why it was developed.

The instruction of mula bandha dates back to the early days of Hathayoga, around the 12-13th centuries CE. At this time, Hathayoga was gradually forming out of the tantric beliefs  of Buddhism and Shaivism. Alchemy, the attempt to forge new substances, was widely accepted, and the spiritual seekers began practicing an 'inner alchemy' where the magic happens inside the body of the yogi.

According to this alchemical belief, the inner elements of a person could be forged to  create immortality, divinity or great power. As Shaivism (the worship of Shiva) became more prominent in Hathayogic teaching, the concept was related specifically to the awakening of kundalini​, a latent power of pure consciousness. The way that kundalini is awakened is by manipulating the 'winds' of the body, some of which naturally go up while others go down. 

In Hathayoga, mula bandha is
specifically intended to take the downward-moving 'wind', called apana, and push it upward. Once the apana wind is turned upward, it is fanned with the abdomen to heat it. Then it combines with the upward wind, called prana. The combination creates an inferno that awakens and raises kundalini. Below is an excerpt from the Hathapradipika, perhaps the best known text on Hathayoga:
One makes the apana, which goes downward, go upward by contracting forcefully. Yogis call that Mulabandha. (HP 3.62)
Then the gastric fire and the apana join the prana, which is naturally hot, and the body’s fire is stoked. (HP 3.67)
Due to this heat the sleeping kundalini is awakened, hissing and straightening like a snake struck by a stick. (HP 3.68)
As you can see, mula bandha is specifically intended to turn apana upward, where a whole series of events follows. This description of mula bandha is present in almost all the texts of Hathayoga. Here is one other, from the Goraksasataka, translated by James Mallinson. I include it because it is pretty elaborate and well-explained:
[The yogi] forces the downward-moving apāna breath to move upwards by means of contraction. Yogis call this mūla bandha, ‘the root lock.’ When apāna has turned upwards and reached the orb of fire, then the flame, fanned by the wind, rises high. As a result, fire and apāna reach prāṇa, which is hot by nature. The overheated prāṇa creates a blaze in the body, which heats the sleeping Kuṇḍalini and wakes her up. Like a snake struck by a stick, she hisses and straightens herself. As if entering a snake-hole, she enters the Brahmā nāḍī. (Gorakṣaśataka in Yoga In Practice 2012: 269)
This explanation continues to the modern day, though it is rarely incorporated in common yoga posture classes that remove esoteric or spiritual overtones. For obvious reasons, a simple muscular contraction is far easier to teach and understand than a detailed metaphysical system of bodily winds and latent spiritual energy. Nonetheless, Swami Sivananda and his students like Vishnudevananda explain mula bandha similar to the older Hathayogic way.

Iyengar, in Light On Yoga, foregoes the apana-kundalini approach and explains mula bandha a little differently. He initially explains the bandhas as closing off "safety valves", which is reminiscent of the old way. But he goes on to interpret the term mula bandha as follows: mula means 'source', and bandha is 'restraint'. So mula bandha is the restraint of the mind, intellect and ego. This recalls Patanjali's famous definition of yoga at the beginning of the Yoga Sutras. Here is what Iyengar writes in Light On Yoga:
The bandhas are like safety valves which should be kept shut during the practice of breath retention. (p.435)

​
While practising Mula Bandha, the yogi attempts to reach the true source or mula of all creation. His goal is the complete restraint or bandha of the chitta which includes the mind (manas), the intellect (buddhi) and the ego (ahamkara). (p. 438)
We don't think it's a stretch to say that this is a reinterpretation of the meaning of mula bandha​. Separately, in modern practice and teaching mula bandha is sometimes taught as a physically stabilizing technique, again quite different from its original iteration.

What does it all mean? 

Like so many things in yoga, the purpose of the practices can change so that they become unrecognizable. Does that make them less effective, useful or valuable? Perhaps. We think it is worth asking ourselves why we do what we do. What are the underlying reasons?

Personally speaking, we do not hold the belief that our bodies are populated by 'winds', as was apparently the belief for some time during the development of Hathayoga. We attribute our 'digestive fire' not to actual fire but to hydrochloric acid in the stomach. And we attribute urination and excretion not to downward-moving apana wind but to peristaltic movement of the intestines and contraction of the sphincters. Do these beliefs make something like mula bandha anachronistic? We think that they do.
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The Many Names of Tree Posture

3/23/2020

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Ardha Chandrasana, Half Moon Posture, 1896
Standing postures are rare in Hatha yoga. Most asanas are seated, lying down or upside down. (Of course, by Hatha yoga I am referring to pre-modern practices and texts. This was before practices of health and exercise made their way into yoga in the 19-20th centuries.) One of the few exceptions is Vrikshasana, the Tree Posture, which appeared relatively late, probably the 18th century in the Gheranda Samhita. Earlier texts including the Hathapradipika don't contain any standing postures.
​Let's start with the earliest known version of this posture in a yoga text, in the 18th century Gheranda Samhita. Here the posture is named Vrikshasana, the Tree Posture, for obvious reasons. One stands tall like a tree. It is very different from all the other postures of Hatha yoga at the time. It is possible that the posture is related to practices of asceticism and penance, where the practitioner stands on one leg for a period of years, forsaking the body and building good merit.

Very little detail is given about how or why to do it. Its instruction is in chapter 2, verse 36: "Place the right foot at the top of the left thigh and stand on the ground like a tree. This is called Vrikshasana."
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Ardha Chandrasana, Half Moon Posture, 1896
In 1896, the same posture is in the Sritattvanidhi, a text from South India that probably had a significant influence on Krishnamacharya. Here, pictured to the left, it is called Ardha Chandrasana, or Half Moon Posture. This name is sometimes used to refer to the god Shiva, though it is unclear if that meaning is intended here.

Three of the most formative early modern yoga asana texts do not include this standing posture: Yogendra's 1928 Yoga Asanas Simplified; Swami Kuvalayananda's 1931 Popular Yoga Asanas; Swami Sivananda's 1931 Yoga Asanas. It is also absent from Swami Vishnudevananda's substantial 1960 The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga, leading one to wonder if this posture was entirely absent from Sivananda's teaching (as Vishnu. was a student of Siv.).
Krishnamacharya's 1934 Yoga Makaranda does not include this simple standing posture. It does have a position called Ardhabaddha Padmottanasana, Bound Half Lotus Stretching, which begins similarly but is merely a preparation for a forward bending position, pictured to the right. We will see this transfer into Krish.'s students Iyengar and Jois, who both have the forward bending posture but not the simple standing one.
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Krishnamacharya, 1934
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Buddha Bose, Ardha Padasana, Half Leg Posture, 1938
In 1938, Buddha Bose instructs this posture, pictured to the left. He calls the posture Ardha Padasana, Half Leg Posture. The name of the position clearly comes from the bent position of the leg, which makes it look half as long.

​It is possible that the use of Ardha in the name is influenced by the Sritattvanidhi above, though it is questionable whether the text was known in Kolkata at the time.
​Also, Bose uses the name Ardha Chandrasana for a different position: a backward bend done standing.

In many other aspects Bose shows influence from the Gheranda Samhita and Swami Sivananda. Given the absence of the posture from both Sivananda's and Krishnamacharya's lineages, it seems most likely that Bose learned the posture from the Gheranda Samhita or a lineage extending from it. It is unclear then why the name is not Vrikshasana​.
In 1963, Dr Gouri Shankar Mukerji instructs the posture and calls it Tadasana, Mountain Posture, pictured to the right. Because he comes from the same lineage as Bose, it is unclear why he has a different name for this position. His teacher's instruction book from around this time (​Yoga Cure by Bishnu Ghosh) does not include the posture at all.

It is difficult to ignore Iyengar's 1966 Light On Yoga, which was profoundly influential on all that followed it. Notably, Iyengar does not instruct this posture. There is a Vrikshasana that is similar, done balancing with the foot on the inner thigh. The closest he comes to our 'traditional' posture is a preparation for a forward bend, pictured below. In this way, he follows his teacher Krishnamacharya, as discussed above. The full posture (not pictured) is called Ardha Baddha Padmottanasana, Bound Half Lotus Stretching Posture. This same stretching posture is found in K. Pattabhi Jois's 1962 Yoga Mala.
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Dr. Gouri Shankar Mukerji, Tadasana, Mountain Posture, 1963
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BKS Iyengar, 1966
This posture, then, has an odd and varied history. It is one of the earliest standing postures to make its way into Hatha yoga, but it is clearly not universally practiced or accepted. 
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It seems that the Krishnamacharya and Sivananda lineages are not strong proponents of the posture. Only the Ghosh lineage includes it in nearly every iteration, including the most recent: Bikram Choudhury.

Why the posture keeps changing names is unclear.
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Tradition, Science & Experience

12/2/2019

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It can be difficult to know what is real in this world. The methods of yoga, spirituality and science have developed to explore this question. Sometimes they come to the same answers, but sometimes they contradict.

As yoga teachers, we are often confronted with the problems of: 'Why do we do these things?' and 'What is right?' We usually look in three places to find answers: tradition, science and personal experience.

TRADITION
We at Ghosh Yoga are fascinated with tradition, and we have researched it, studied it, lectured on it and challenged it. We have written about the relationship of oldness and tradition, the Spirit of Tradition, and the sometimes misleading value of tradition.

With regards to these questions---what is real? and what is worth learning?---tradition plays an important role in yoga. Many of us are drawn to yoga because of its ancientness, sacredness and gravity. And the idea of lineage, teaching in the same way as you were taught, is a time-worn Indian method that has come to the West with yoga. At its best, a lineage links modern students with ancient teachers and sages.

We must take these things seriously. What did our teachers think and what did they teach?If we look in older texts, what was being taught hundreds or thousands of years ago? Most importantly, how do these apply to modernity? Can we extrapolate our own situations, thoughts and perspectives from ancient teachings?

SCIENCE
In the past few centuries, scientific methods have developed that are centered around the reliability and repeatability outcomes. The sciences have improved our understanding of anatomy, physiology, biomechanics and neurology among other things. We can apply this knowledge to the body and mind in yoga practice. But it can sometimes come into conflict with traditional understanding. 

For example, humans did not know the intricacies of bodily anatomy until the 15th century CE. This is clearly depicted in art from earlier, where the body is only really understood by looking from the outside. Take this one step further inward, to the functioning of breathing, energy or the nervous system. These things have come into focus even more recently in human history. 

Therefore, when we look to 'tradition' for physical, anatomical or physiological methods, we must take great care. How does the ancient understanding line up with modern understanding? If there is a discrepancy, is it clear where, why or when that may have occurred? And which do we trust? 

(For the past few decades, increasing numbers of scientific studies are being done on the practices of yoga. Check out Pure Action.)

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
​It may seem obvious to say, but all of these practices and traditions of yoga are intended to be put to use by actual living humans, like us. They only come to life when they are studied and executed. Those experiences we have and the inner knowledge we gain are hugely valuable, and one might argue that they are the central purpose of it all.

On the other hand, the root of all the spiritual traditions is that our ordinary knowledge and perception are lacking and misleading. We must look deeper and strive to understand what is difficult and hidden. So, partly, our experience is the most important element, but it can also be the most misleading if we are not careful.

TAKING THE THREE TOGETHER
When assessing the methods and goals of yoga, we constantly weigh the contributions of these three elements: tradition, science and personal experience. There are some instances when all three align. This is the case with Alternate Nostril breathing, a practice described in the ancient texts, explained clearly with the modern scientific understanding of the nervous system, and reinforced by our own experience. We are quite confident in the function of this practice.

Other practices are more difficult to justify. Inversions like Headstand and Shoulderstand were originally designed to prevent the falling of bindu from the head into the abdomen. Since that belief has fallen by the wayside, more modern practitioners try to ground the practices in physiological things like blood pressure or thyroid stimulation, which are questionable and unproven to the best of our knowledge. 

Yogic practices may be anywhere on this scale, swinging from 'traditional' to 'modern', and scientifically proven to completely debunked. Not to mention the experiences we have when we try these things for ourselves. We only suggest that you are considered and thoughtful when practicing yoga.
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The 5 Types of Yoga Postures

8/15/2019

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When we practice yoga postures, we might be doing them for different reasons. We may be trying to reduce the pain in our backs, improve our balance, burn a few calories or experience a deeper spirit within. These are drastically different goals, and we can't use the same techniques to achieve them all. Hundreds of "yoga" postures and practices exist these days, and they don't all attain the same things. As you practice, think carefully about what you are trying to accomplish, and use those postures that will help. Here are the 5 different types of yoga postures:

1. Seated, meditation postures. These are the oldest, most traditional yoga postures. When the Yoga Sutras (or any text that is more than 1,000 years old) refer to asanas, this is what they mean: a seated, upright, stable and relaxed position. These positions are not used for their own benefit or to create health, but to facilitate the more internal practices of breath control and meditation. These are the quintessential "yoga postures," Lotus and Siddhasana.

​2. Positions to prepare the body for seated meditation or help the body recover from it. As anyone who has tried to sit still for a long period of time knows, it is difficult for the body. A certain amount of flexibility is required in the hips and knees, and some strength and control is required in the spine. How does one build these? Several positions, usually seated, were propagated in early hathayoga to help the body prepare for sitting or recover from the imbalances that arise during sitting. These postures include Cowface, Butterfly, Cobra, Bow and Locust. These are some of the first non-Lotus postures. 

3. Anti-gravity postures. Influenced by tantra, hathayoga had many practices that were designed to prevent the precious bindu from dripping out of the head and into the abdominal fire. This was thought to improve vitality, spiritual potency and life. This is where we get the practices that turn the body upside down or "draw upward" the energy, winds or fluids of the body. Headstand, Shoulderstand, Mula Bandha, Uddiyana Bandha, and the upward-focused intention of many postures are intended for this purpose.

​4. For physical health. These postures and exercises are much more recent, often coming from calisthenics, gymnastics and wrestling. They build strength, flexibility and health in the body. There are lots of different positions that affect varied parts of the body, so they are vast and diverse. Kuvalayananda called these "cultural" postures. These have become central to the practice of modern yoga.

5. For demonstration and impressive accomplishment. From ancient times, yogis have been associated with the ability to do remarkable feats. In the last couple hundred years, that has increasingly meant physical demonstrations of balance, endurance, strength and flexibility. Influenced by the developments of gymnastics, acrobatics and contortion, these practices include Splits, Handstand and most arm balances. This tendency toward outwardly impressive beauty has been compounded with the rise of photography, the internet and visual communication media like Instagram. Who doesn't love to see a beautiful, impressive picture of a body?

​One type of posture is not better than the others. There is no hierarchy here, though as yogis some danger lies in focusing on the body and in cultivating techniques for display. Worth noting is that postures can have drastically different purposes, goals and intentions. When we practice them, we should know what we are practicing so we can move in the right direction.
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5 Postures To Move Your Energy

1/24/2019

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Sometimes yogis talk about "stuck energy" or "moving the energy" of the body. According to some yogic texts, especially in hathayoga, there are subtle channels in the body along which energy moves. It is difficult to determine whether these channels are intended to be purely mental visualizations, descriptions of what we call the nervous system today, or a separate entity altogether. The details of this vast topic are best saved for another time, but here are 5 postures and exercises that are great and moving and affecting the energy:

1. TWISTING TRIANGLE
​Pictured above, this posture goes right to the areas where most of us feel "stuck," the chest, the hips and the breath. By bending forward and then twisting the body, the posture feels like it makes everything tight. The trick is to release tension with short, calm breaths and a relaxed face. This posture also challenges the balance, which focuses the mind and enables a deeper experience.

2. SWAN OR PEACOCK
This is one of the oldest positions in hathayoga, powerful in its requirements for the muscles, internal viscera, breath and mind. Swan (pictured to the right, top) keeps the feet on the ground, so it is a little easier than Peacock (pictured to the right, below).

Just by placing the elbows on the abdomen and the body's weight on the elbows, the body tenses up and makes it difficult to think, move or breathe. At first, keep the feet on the ground in Swan and try to relax all the tension that comes up. Take small breaths, but make them smooth and not choppy.

Over time, you will notice that you can hold the body very strongly while keeping the mind calm and the breath calm. The physical pressure and muscular engagement don't need to bring tension.
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Swan, Hamsasana
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Peacock, Mayurasana
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Bow, Dhanurasana
3. BOW
​This is a common and popular posture in modern yoga, but we mostly use it for its physical benefits, especially back strength. Anyone who has held this posture for a minute or more knows that a whole other world of experience is possible.

Bow pulls the abdomen, chest and neck tight, heightening the heart rate while making it tough to breathe. Hold the posture as long as you can, progressively releasing the areas of tension and breathing calmly.
4. SHAVASANA
​One of the great yogic practices for relaxation and dissolution of tension and thought. Lie on your back and close your eyes. Slowly and meticulously scan every inch of your body for tension. Wherever you find it, try to release it. By the end, you are completely relaxed; a truly transcendent experience.
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Corpse, Shavasana
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Alternate Nostril Breathing
5. ALTERNATE NOSTRIL BREATHING
The primary focus of this practice is to balance the "energy" of the body in the form of the autonomic nervous system. Each nostril is linked to part of the nervous system, and the alternation of the nostrils balances those parts.

This exercise is useful at almost any time of day, powerful in calming energy that is overly stimulated, and igniting energy that is lethargic.
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The 2 Hatha Yogas

11/8/2018

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The Dattatreyayogashastra, Dattatreya's Discourse on Yoga, is the first known text to explain a system of hathayoga. There are other descriptions of many of its practices in previous texts, but this is the first time when they are given the title hathayoga. Hathayoga is described alongside three other forms of yoga: ​mantrayoga, layayoga and rajayoga.
Dattātreya said: “Yoga has many forms, o brahmin. I shall explain all that to you: the Yoga of Mantras (mantrayoga), the Yoga of Dissolution (layayoga) and the Yoga of Force (hathayoga). The fourth is the Royal Yoga (rājayoga); it is the best of yogas." - verses 8-11
The sections on the other three forms are brief, but Dattatreya writes in depth about the practices of hathayoga, the yoga of force. Not only that, but ​the text describes two separate forms of hathayoga: "the yoga of eight auxiliaries known by Yājñavalkya and others" (29), and "the doctrine of adepts such as Kapila" (131).

THE YOGA OF EIGHT AUXILIARIES
Yajnavalkya's yoga of eight auxiliaries is closely related to the well-known eight part system of Patanjali. It begins with Rules (yama) and Restraints (niyama) and proceeds to Posture (asana), Breath-control (pranayama), Fixation (dharana), Meditation (dhyana) and Absorption (samadhi). It is interesting the Dattatreya references Yajnavalkya but not Patanjali.

Of the rules (yamas), "
a moderate diet is the single most important, not any of the others. Of the restraints, non-violence is the single most important, not any of the others" (33). Posture (asana) is afforded a healthy couple of paragraphs, mentioning the sacred "84 lakh postures" (34) but describing only one: the Lotus Posture.

Breath-control gets the most attention with more than 30 verses. The section describes alternate nostril breathing, advising 20 breath retentions in the morning, 20 at midday, 20 in the evening and 20 at midnight. The final three auxiliaries get relatively brief treatment before the text moves on to the second form of hathayoga.

THE WAY OF KAPILA
Separate from the above methods are the methods of Kapila, also called hathayoga. "Adepts such as Kapila, on the other hand, practised Force [hatha] in a different manner" (29). "The difference is a difference in practice, but the reward is one and the same" (131).

Kapila's methods entail several mudras and bandhas, which involve the combination of physical position---"He should stretch out his right foot and hold it firmly with both hands" (133)---with breath-control---"he should hold [his breath] for as long as he can before exhaling" (134). The purpose of these practices is to move the winds and sacred fluids around the body.

PRACTICE

It is not stated explicitly if the two forms of hathayoga can be practiced together or whether they should be kept separate. Over the ensuing centuries hathayoga became consolidated, combining the practices of the eight auxiliaries with the mudra practices of Kapila. In modern decades, hathayoga has evolved into a non-specific term meaning "the physical practices of yoga".

We will leave you with a final thought from Dattatreya:

"[If] diligent, everyone, even the young or the old or the diseased, gradually obtains success in yoga through practice...the wise man endowed with faith who is constantly devoted to his practice obtains complete success. Success happens for he who performs the practices - how could it happen for one who does not?" (40-42).
- All quotations are from: James Mallinson, Dattatreya's Discourse on Yoga, 2013.
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Your Questions: The Importance of Stillness

7/30/2018

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Last week we asked you, our readers, for questions that you'd like addressed. We received many great inquiries, and today we will address one:

"Can you talk about the importance of stillness in yoga practice?"


As we consider the importance or lack thereof of stillness, it is vital to consider the root question of any undertaking: what is the purpose? Before reading on, it is worth taking a moment to consider the purpose of your yoga practice. The form of your practice should serve its function, meaning that it should accomplish whatever it is that you are trying to achieve. This can be complicated when talking about yoga, because it has changed a lot over hundreds of years.

TWO STYLES
Stillness can be confusing and even controversial in today's Western yoga world. The majority of what is practiced as yoga today includes abundant movement, often referred to as "flow." Various bodily positions are fluidly linked together and transitioned between, with lots of Sun Salutes, a calisthenic exercise that incorporates regular breathing with stretching, a push-up-like movement and some spinal bending. The Sun Salute (Surya Namaskara) became popular in India in the 1920s.

A contrasting style focuses on positions held in stillness, anywhere from 10 seconds to several minutes. In the past decade or so, it has become fashionable to refer to any stillness-based method as hatha yoga, presumably to separate it from the movement-based vinyasa methods described above.

DIFFERENT YOGAS
For the past hundred years or so, calisthenics, gymnastics, acrobatics and contortion have  taken the name of yoga. This is why so much "yoga" in the West includes movement, strength, jumping, deep stretching, rhythmic breathing, getting the heart rate up, sweating, etc. Calisthenics and exercise have been known to improve physical and mental health, and it is no surprise that yoga practices have veered in this direction as our culture puts more and more value on fitness. But these tendencies--movement, health and fitness--are new to the yoga world.

CLASSICAL YOGA
The earliest extant texts on yoga, including the Upanishads, the Mahabharata and the Yoga Sutras, describe a practice of mental concentration, turning the senses, mind and intellect toward the inner self. This practice doesn't include moving the body in any particular position, other than holding it “steady like a pillar and motionless like a mountain. Then it can be said that they are practicing yoga.” (Mahabharata 12.294.15) According to these texts, stillness of the body is a prerequisite for yoga practice.

If the body is moving, the senses are stimulated, including the sense of touch and sight to enable coordination and balance. The senses draw the mind outward, preventing it from turning inward in anything that could be called yoga practice. According to the earliest texts, yoga is not a physical practice but a mental one. So focusing on what we are doing with the body can be misleading, lest we think that holding the body in stillness equals practicing yoga. But the body must be held "as motionless as a rock” (
Mahabharata 12.294.14) for the true practices of yoga--the mental elements--to be done.

WHAT ARE YOU PRACTICING?
Over the past 100 years or so, increasingly physical activities have been labeled "yoga," bringing us to the present day, when yoga has the connotation of gentle exercise, stretching and perhaps some spiritual elements. The physical focus has become more central, and the mental/spiritual focus has diminished greatly.

If you want to improve your flexibility and reduce your stress, the low-impact exercises that are now known as yoga will be helpful. If you want to increase your cardiovascular endurance, you should do longer, more repetitive exercise like running or swimming. Even the most vigorous yoga practices only give a fraction of the cardiovascular benefit of running. If you want to lose weight, check what and when you are eating, your stress and sleep. If you want to understand the nature of your mind, being and who you are, the meditative practices of yoga are for you.

In the end, it doesn't much matter what you call the practices, it just matters what the practices accomplish. So whether you call it yoga or something else, try to choose the right practices for your goals.
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The Eight Postures of the Yoga Yajnavalkya

4/23/2018

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The Yoga Yajnavalkya is an early text of hathayoga, circa 1300CE. It is one of the few early texts with more than one or two asanas (postures) described. It has 8. It is worth noting that 7 of the 8 postures are seated, none are standing. Only Mayurasana (Peacock Posture) is not seated. It is also worth noting that Padmasana (Lotus Posture) is instructed with the arms bound behind the back.
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1. Svastikasana (Swastika Posture)
Having correctly placed the soles of both the feet between the thighs and knees, one should sit (comfortably) balanced and straight-bodied. 

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2. Gomukhasana (Cow Face Posture)
Place the right ankle beside the buttock, on the left, and the left [ankle] at the right. This is gomukhasana, resembling the face of a cow.
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3. Padmasana (Lotus Posture)
The big toes must be held from behind and the feet should be placed on the (opposite) thighs. This is padmasana which is revered by all.

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4. Virasana (Hero Posture)
Place one foot firmly on the one thigh and the [other] thigh on the other foot. This is called virasana.
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5. Simhasana (Lion Posture)
Place the ankles below the scrotum, on the sides of the perineum, the left ankle on the right and the right ankle on the other side. Place the palms upon the knees and spread out the fingers. With the opened mouth, look at the tip of the nose with a concentrated mind. This is simhasana, always held in high esteem by yogis.

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6. Bhadrasana (Beneficial Posture)
Hold firmly with the hands the feet which are on their sides and remain motionless. This is bhadrasana, which destroys all diseases and toxins.
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7. Muktasana
Press the perineum by the left ankle, and the left ankle by the right ankle---this is known as muktasana.

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8. Mayurasana (Peacock Posture)
Placing the palms of the hands firmly on the ground and keeping the elbows at the side of the navel with the head and legs raised, staying in space [off the ground]---this is mayurasana which destroys all impurities.

Excerpts from Yoga Yajnavalkya, translated by A.G. Mohan with Ganesh Mohan
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    Scott & Ida are Yoga Acharyas (Masters of Yoga). They are the head teachers of Ghosh Yoga. This blog is about their experience with yoga practice, study and teaching.

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