Asana
Meditation
Study Of Scriptures & Mantras

Do you know that even when you look at a tree and say, “That is an oak,” or “that is a banyan tree,” the naming of the tree, which is botanical knowledge, has so conditioned your mind that the word comes between you and actually seeing the tree? To enter into contact with the tree you have to put your hand on it and the word will not help you touch it.

~ Krishnamurti

Overview

The regular practice of yoga, guided by a knowledgeable and skillful teacher, will bring the sadhaka, or student, a veritable cornucopia of benefits. I have separated the practice into three distinctive categories: asana, meditation, and study of scriptures & mantras. Within each of these three categories I will specify three types of benefits; physiological (body), intellectual (mind), and emotional (heart). I am in no way presenting an exhaustive list. I am instead giving a general overview based on my own experiences, and that of the students I have been privileged to teach. If you have any questions, or would like further clarification of any of the information I have given, please feel free to contact me.

Asana

Asana is the practice of the poses of hatha yoga. The best practice is a well-rounded practice. This is one that includes standing, seated, inverted and supine poses, as well as both one-legged balances and hand balances. Within all of those categories should be a variety of twists, forward bends, hip-openers, and backbends. The types and difficulty of these poses depends on the student`s capacity. A well versed teacher can offer variations and alternatives for both the beginner and the seasoned practitioner.

The physiological benefits include increased stamina, strength, and flexibility throughout the musculoskeletal system. Hatha yoga practice, coupled with proper breathing, can release physical stress, and bring relief from physical discomfort. Properly applied therapeutics can rehabilitate injuries, and a regular asana practice can prevent injuries from occurring in the first place. The practice of asana can also bring more harmony to the various delicate systems of the body, including the cardiovascular, digestive, endocrine, immune and central nervous systems. Asana practice also enables you to sit with more ease for meditation.

The intellectual benefits arise from the focus needed to perform challenging poses, as well as what you learn about how you move and where you feel your body is in space. If you practice regularly, with a focus on coordinating your movements and breath, you will develop more mental awareness of yourself and your surroundings. This attuned awareness increases your capacity to harmonize with your immediate environment.

The emotional benefits are tied into the reduction of physical stress. When the body feels better, we experience an increased joy in being in our body. We are then better able to remain calm and focused in the face of our life challenges.

Meditation

There are as many, if not more, varieties of meditation practices as there are asanas. It is good to try a few types, to determine what you like and need. However, it is essential that, ultimately, you stick with one practice for a while to get any benefit from it.

The physiological benefits are more internal than external, and directly related to the mind and heart. Meditation is a practice that, at its most basic, engenders feelings of calm and releases stress, which directly affects all of the various bodily systems that regulate our stress levels. Through regular practice over a period of years, one begins to release the toxins built up in the most subtle energetics of the body. The release of this “psychic toxicity” is cleansing to the physiology of the body as well. Over time, one`s body can appear to be suffused with a subtle glow of youthful vigor and divine grace.

The intellectual benefits are an even deeper refinement of the awareness asana creates. When practiced properly, meditation will guide your awareness into spaces of consciousness where you will experience the most subtle energies of your body-mind. In that space of the most subtle awareness, we receive the most profound insights into our life path.

The emotional benefits are numerous. A greater awareness of our natural tendencies, and habitual patterns of the heart, become clearer. We can then begin to work with those places inside our emotional body where we are stuck. By freeing up the bound energy of the heart, we open ourselves to the fullness of life more and more. When our experience of our life is that it is full, there is a radiant joy that pours forth from within the very center of the heart. As we submerge our consciousness in the very depths of our most subtle consciousness, we receive a grounded, yet expansive, peaceful contentment that can pervade all aspects of our life.

Study Of Scriptures & Mantras

There is a vast amount of yogic literature. Some of the more well-known texts include Patanjali`s Yoga Sutra, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, and the Bhagavad Gita. For a serious student of yoga, there is no better way to explore the rich history that supports the practice than digesting these thought-provoking, eloquent and, often times, challenging books. To study any of these texts under a knowledgeable teacher will only accelerate your understanding of them.

Mantras should only be learned from a teacher who is familiar with and has practiced them regularly. This is because a mantra given without any understanding of it will not benefit the student.

The physiological benefits of scriptural study are tied into the intellect. We begin to understand how we can affect and are affected by the patterns and sequences of life. This understanding is similar to fitting another piece of a puzzle into place. It engenders a satisfaction that translates into a more easeful outlook on the various life challenges that come our way. This brings a more relaxed feeling in the body and mind, which has some small affect upon the central nervous system.

Mantras are very powerful tools. When study of them is taken up with a knowledgeable teacher, mantric vibrations can both cleanse and fortify the subtle energetic body, which then supports the physical body as well.

The intellectual benefits are many. As we study scripture, it is to inquire into the higher and more esoteric concepts of life, and our place as an individual in the grand design of the universe. This strengthens our cognitive abilities, as we ponder concepts that don`t necessarily give a clear finite answer. As we attempt to put the teachings that speak to us into practice, this expands our knowledge of ourselves, and the world we live in.

The memorization of mantras increases our capacity to retain the knowledge we are given. The use of these mantras is deeply embedded in a practice of focus with expansive awareness. This is like leaning in to see the details of one tree, while simultaneously being able to step back until the entire forest has come into our view. To be able to hold different angles of perspective at once greatly refines the capacity of the mind to hold two or more different concepts at once.

The emotional benefits of scriptural study are quite profound. While the wide variety of yogic schools differ on many, many points, they all tend to agree on one central teaching; that death is a necessary part of our existence. To come to the end of our life with the ability to relinquish it with equanimity and graceful ease is a very high attainment. Many of us spend our life actively clinging to it, and to the lives of those whose company we enjoy. When we have the experiential realization that death is just another stage, for us neither to fear nor seek to circumvent, there is a tiny release of the contracted emotions we hold in our heart that dissolves. In its place arises an expansive, contented feeling, as if one has let the deepest, heaviest sigh free from the confines of the heart.

Mantra assists in this endeavor by facilitating a more intimate communion with that part of ourselves that sits in direct relationship to all life. An experience of this connectivity, no matter how brief, brings the understanding that who we are at our core essence is eternal, unaffected by time, space, birth, or death.