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Yoga is not an ancient myth buried in oblivion.
It is the most valuable inheritance o the present.
It is the essential need o today.
~ Swami Satyananda Saraswati
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Introduction 5
Chapter 1
Clearing the Yoga Air 7
A Brief History of the Future of Yoga 7
Breaking Up is Hard to Do 8
Yoga and Stretching: Whats the Difference? 9
Stretching International Borders 10
Stretching the Margins of Yoga 11Is Yoga the New Aerobics? 12
Does Yoga Have a Shelf Life? 13
Rocking the Yoga Boat 13
Why Are There So Many New Yoga Styles Today? 14
A Look Behind the
Yoga Teacher Training Curtain 17
Chapter 2What Is Yoga? 26
A Yoga Reality Check 26
What is Yoga, Really? 27
The Yoga-Fit Phenomenon 28
Mystical Science 29
The Science of Life 30
Perfect Health 31Perfect Evolution 31
The Yoga re-Union 32
Get Out of Your Own Way 33
Contents
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Ashtanga YogaEight Steps to Freedom 34
Hatha Yogausing the body to transcend the body 35
The Key to Hatha Yoga 36
Awareness: without it, yoga is just another stretch 36
1 Awareness of Body 37
2 Awareness of Emotions 39
3 Awareness of Mind 40
4 Awareness of Awareness 41
Mystical Magical Energy! 41
The Yoga of Re-Polarization 42
Are You Getting it Right? 43
Chapter 3
A Brighter Yoga Future 45The Body is the Beginning 45
The Body is Not the End 46
Breaking Some New Old Yoga Ground 47
Carving a Better Yoga Path 48
Why You Need to Practice Yoga at Home 49
Taking Yoga to the Next Level 50
Yogashramthe ultimate yoga experience 51Studying the Yoga Home Study Concept 52
Dont Give Up on Yoga Classes 54
A Bright Yoga Future 54
Appendices 57
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IntroductionWee all head the expession, Nee jude a book
b its coe. A coe that appeals to ou senses o atitle that pookes us is sometimes hat makes us act
thouh. But ho oen does the content inside ail lie
up to the coes aade? A lot, I nd.
We could pobabl sa that this metapho is also an
appopiate one o people sometimes too. What e
see on the outside is not alas an accurate eection
o hat is inside. Im not talkin onl about someones
characte esus thei phsical appearance. Im sain
that the imae e hae o ouseles een, and hat e
eall ae miht be olds apart. Te poblem is that
e just dont ealize it et. I I could start this book ina rathe cryptic a, then I ould sa that oga is hat
helps us to come to this ealization.
You ant to kno the tuth about oga. Tats h
ou picked up this book. Te title made ou do it, so
ee cossed the st hudle alead. Te next ques-
tions that ou ant anseed ae:
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1 Is thee eall a tuth about oga; some deep
dak secet that has been kept hidden om ou
all alon?
2 I thee is, ill this book eall eeal it to me?Te anse to both those questions is a denite
MAYBE. Tee ae man thins about oga that most
people ho practice it toda dont kno. I can tell ou
that ith 100% certaint. What I ill eeal in this
book ill hopeull shed a lot o liht on oga o somepeople. I o one ish I ould hae had some o this
inomation beoe I started leanin oga. It certainl
ould hae saed me a lot o okand mone too.
But I suppose sain time and eort isnt alas the
point, is it? I mean, I I didnt hae to put orth so much
time, enegy and eort oe the eas to lean eery-
thin that Ie leaned about oga, I ouldnt be able
to shae hat Im about to shae ith ou no. I hope
m time hasnt been asted and that this short book
ill be o some alue to those ho ae cuious about
ogathose ho ae ondein ho to et started, andthose ho ae crain moe o an undestandin o this
ancient science in ode to dele deepe into it.
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Chapter 1
Clearing the Yoga Air
A Brief History of the Future of Yoga
Te last century has seen oga o om bein a ke part
o the abic o an Easten cultue, to a lobal phenom-
enon, and that escalation hasnt come ithout its shae
o oin pains.
Te ast majoit o people ho utte the od oga
toda hae nee been to India; the hae little to no
knolede o the cultural heitae om hich oga
has spun, and likel ery little inteest in becomin
too acquainted ith it eithe. Tat makes some ogaenthusiasts ery concened.
I the Indian (Vedic) cultue om hich the science
o oga deeloped is, in act, important to the practice
o ogahich it is to some peoplethen thee is ttin
cause o concen because the ideas about oga andits moden methods o practice hae moed pett a
om its oiins alead. A ston aument can de-
nitel be made b these olks that hat most people ae
doin unde the name o oga no cant accuratel be
called oga anmoe.
Just as man, and pobabl een a hole lot moe
othes, thouh, aent concened about this at all.
Tee not lookin o an existential cisis. Tee not
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lookin o an philosophical input on lie in eneral
eithe. Tei motiations o tryin oga ae moe prac-
tical than all that. Te simpl ant to impoe thei
health and eel betteand thouh moden oga, thecan usuall et those thins pett easil.
Breaking Up is Hard to Do
I ill poide some ood, practical and useul stu about
oga hee o ou, I pomise. But as Ie just pointed
out aboe, the idea o hat oga means aies idel
om one peson to the next, so I need to quickl un
oe this ound so that ou can see hee ou ideas
about oga t in elation to the ideas o othes. What
I hae to shae in this book is not intended to conert
anones a o thinkin about oga. I hope, hoee,that it ill poide some aluable insiht o eeryone,
no matte hat thei take on oga miht be.
Without simpliin too much iht om the start,
lets just sa that thee ae to ail distinct oga camps
noadas: one that takes a decidedl Westen scien-
tic ie o oga and anothe that embraces the ra-
ditional spiitual oundations as its coe. Neithe is so
one-dimensional as to be summed up in one sentence
like that, o couse, but the main diision stems lael
alon the lines o hich pespectie the teachins o
oga ae ieed om: the Easten o the Westen.In tuth, both ae too mopic to do oga justice. I ou
adhee too iidl to traditional texts and metaphoi-
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cal eeences, then ou miss the eat opportunities
that moden lanuae and scientic discoeies oes
to deepen ou pespecties on these ancient teach-
ins. Conesel, i ou onl ie the teachin o ogathouh Westen scientic and philosophical pespec-
ties, then ou ill not ull undestand it o achiee
een a raction o hat oga is capable o helpin ou
to achiee.
Yoga and Stretching: Whats theDifference?
When I st tied ogao at least hat I thouh as
ogaee so man eas ao, I could not een touch m
toes (thats a act!). In act, I couldnt een come close! I
spent eas deelopin moe exibilit, hen it nalldaned upon me one da that I could hae saed m-
sel a hole lot o touble. All I had to do, iht om the
start, as bend m knees and oila!
Tat asnt the point thouhto meel bin m
nes into contact ith m toes, as it? Te point asthat thee as a hole lot o tension in m phsical bod
that needed to be oked out. But no that the tension
is one and I can easil bend orwad to touch m toes,
hae I accomplished the oal o oga? O is inceasin
the exibilit o m limbs onl part o the oga pictue?
Let me put it this a. A ballet dances bends o-
ad to touch he toes. He alinment is alesshe
steadiness esolute. In oga e bend orwad to touch
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ou toes in a phsicall identical postue called pada-
hastasana. I the oi and the ballet dance ee side
b side, it ould look exactl the same to me.
So, hats the dieence? What makes one oga andthe othe just a ood stetch?
Ie posed this sort o question to some oga teach-
es in the past, and the esponses I oen eceied ee
aueusuall ettin lost in some tenuous line o pseu-
do-scientic, peculia oga jaon that eall doesnt
hold much ate. What that tells me is that once e et
past the phsical perection o the pose, oga tends to
et a bit hazeen o a lot o oga teaches toda.
Stretching International Borders
Fortunatel, I had the opportunit to trael to India ea-l on in m exploration o oga and spent a lot o time
leanin ith teaches and alon side o othes ho
ee not indoctinated in the Westen oal-oiented,
phsical-tness obsessed cultue that I as.
Tose eal expeiences emoed a lot o the haze
o me and helped me to undestand oga beond the
stetch. I leaned that uin out ho to et m chin
don close to m shin, as the pime motiation o the
practice, as a colossal aste o timenot because thee
as no phsical benet in it (thee denitel as), but
because alone it had ery little to do ith oga. I leanedthat the alue o all o these oga execises, hen done
ith pope undestandin, extends ell beond ou
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phsical healthand that teachin oga meant eentu-
all teachin this to m students as ell.
Stretching the Margins of Yoga
Te attention paid toda to the phsical stetches and
execises in oga is nothin short o obsessie. Reall
thouh, should e be supised at that? Yoga has no
enteed the mainsteam o a cultue alead obsessed
ith crain the perect bod. Tis exotic ne om o
execise ith its easil maketable spiitual mstique
as a no-braine and a lon-oedue eplacement o
aeobics and ash in the pan tness crazes like Jazze-
cise o Taibo.
Fo seeral eas no, oga has topped the list o
hottest ne tness tends. Aeobics as a pop-tnessactiit ma hae aded into the backound moe than
a decade ao, but the aeobics spaces haent complete-
l disappeaed. Man hae just been conerted into
oga studios. Te Leo stacks o plastic aeobics steps
at the back o the oom hae been eplaced b olled
oga mats and Stooam blocks. Te eleated staes
hae been emoed, the biht coloued alls painted
a moe neutral, calmin tone, and the oescent lihts
eplaced ith less obtusie enegy-sain haloens.
Te olumes on the mega-att sound sstems rael
et pushed passed leel to no, and the once ibrantand eneized spaces hae been transomed into oa-
ses o peace and tranquilit.
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You teache is dieent no too. She no lone
eas hot-pink tihts, an Adidas headband, and com
le-ames. She uses natural skincae poducts and
he perectl sculpted size six phsique is adonedith skin-tiht oga ea that leaes nothin at all to
the imaination.
She is eery bit as likel to be a he no too. While
callin into question the masculinit o the rae male
aeobics instucto almost seemed an obligation, toda
man men teach oga too, and those ho do ae likel
to tun the heads o omen ho miht nee hae oth-
erwise ien them a second lance on the bus.
Sue, aeobics as tend; but oga is denitel sex.
Is Yoga the New Aerobics?Aeobics as a short-lied obsession. It came and ent
scacel ithin the span o a decade. Yoga, on the othe
hand, seems to be in its heda iht no, idin a ae
o populait that has alead eatl supassed that o
its tness pedecesso.
Yoga has certainl pemeated into neal eery ce-
ice o moden cultue, om ashion to beaut poducts,
om healthcae to spiitual transcendenceso much
so that its had to emembe that this lobal phenom-
enon is bael a couple decades oun too. Not oga, o
couse, hich is thousands o eas old, but the mod-en oga class, a elatiel ne innoation, hich can
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no be ound in almost eery tness cente and health
club in ton, and in neal eery neihbouhood too.
Does Yoga Have a Shelf Life?
Tis explosion happened so ast that one cant help but
onde, ho did so man people suddenl et into
oga? Fom obscuit to mania practicall oeniht,
is somethin one miht bette associate ith cabbae
patch dolls, pet ocks, and bell-bottom jeans. Tus bes
the question, Is oga o eal, o is this megatend
headed o an eentual crash landin?
I oga is pimail put orth as just anothe exotic
om o stain in shape, hich sadl is oen the case
toda, it is doomed to the annals o hat once as,
that much is certain. Te bie question then is: Domoden oga teaches hae the knolede, skill, and
heeithal to keep inteest in this ancient science
alie, o is oga just anothe tness tend, the ne ae-
obics, destined o the same, unortunate ate?
Rocking the Yoga Boat
Tis is the part hee I ea Im oin to anno a lot o
people. When I sa the thins Im about to sa, it usu-
all does. It annos some oga teaches, and it annos
some oga students ho ae ery attached to thei oga
teaches. It is not m attention to oend anone, butno matte ho I attempt to ephrase this, it inaiabl
ields the same esults.
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I also et just as man ods o praise and thanks,
thouh, om those ho hole-heartedl aee ith
hat I am about to sa. But o some othes, it pesents
an uncomortable look in the mioone that, no mat-te ho sol put o suga coated, illuminates a eal-
it that the ould much rathe pee le in the dak.
Nee the less, it is a subject that I must also speak
rankl o hee. I oe it to ouespeciall since I pom-
ised to tell ou the tuth about oga.
It starts ith the question
Why Are There So Many New Yoga Styles
Today?
I hae to bet that this is close to the numbe one ques-
tion about oga on most peoples minds toda. Testraiht-orwad anse is pett simplea lack o un-
destandin o oga.
Wait a minute!, ou sa. M inerted-hip-hop-
oga-o-naked-oles teache is a eal oga maste!
Ok, sacasm aside, thee ae denitel some ex-temel knoledeable, hihl expeienced, excep-
tional oga teaches out thee. Tees also some pool
trained teaches ith ery little expeience out thee
and thees a hole lot o teaches out thee ho t
somehee in beteen.
Te eat teaches hae a ood undestandin o
oga because the hae taken the time to popel stud
it and expeience eerythin about it st hand. Tats
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no small task, and it has little to do ith hethe o not
someone is certied eisteed o boasts academic
cedentials o an othe sort. It has to do ith thei suc-
cess in alkin the oic path to eate health and un-destandin. You ont achiee that just om a com-
pletin a couse o stud. Youll et it om completin
a difcult pesonal joune.
Te teaches ho onl hae ery basic trainin, o
the most part, kno that the hae a lot to lean and ae
pobabl not likel to petend to be somethin that the
ae not. In the couse o m lie as a oga teache I hae
met man o these olks, and most I ould sa ae in-
spiinl humble in thei appoacheae to shae the
little bit that the kno ith iends and colleaues,
and ery eae to continue to lean moe about oga.Its the hole bunch o olks out thee teachin oga,
the ones that all somehee in beteen, ho ae the
enines behind this moden ne oga mania.
Yoga is a science o pesonal transomation. Ill
paint this landscape moe colourull a bit late in this
book, because undestandin hat oga is all about is
cucial to bein able to et the most out o the practice
o it. Sufce to sa o no that oga is a sstem that
has been tested and honed and perected oe centu-
ies b the eat scientists o ancient India knon as
the Rishis, o oga mastes.Touh thei tieless expeiments on themseles,
the discoeed just hat this Uniese o ous is all
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about, and pehaps moe importantl, ho e ae as
human beins and hat ou place ithin it eall is.
Te discoeed hat it is that e need to do in ode
to nd eal lastin health, peace and happiness. Tatpocess is the sstem that e kno toda as oga; the
most compehensie and complete sstem o po-
ound pesonal chane.
Yet ho man peopleho man oga teaches
eenhae eall taken the time and put orth the nec-
essary eort in ode to eall undestand hat oga is
all about? B the looks o thins, not too man.
Granted, chanin ouseles is not alas eas. In
act, its an enomous challene een at the best o
times. Lets ace it, e like ou moden liestles, e
saou hat e eat, ee extemel attached to ouiends and amilies, and ou social and leisue ac-
tiities om the oundation o ou ery identit. Deep
don inside, e dont eall ant to hae to chane an
these thinseen thouh, unde close scutin, a lot
o them ae the pinciple causes o all ou toubles.
Rathe than usin oga, as it as intendedas a po-
erul a to chane ouseles o the bettee pe-
e to chane oga. Hodes o mainall trained oga
teaches that hae catapulted onto the oga scene in no
time at all hae done exactl that. Te one thin that
the hae in common is a lack o a eal deep unde-standin o oga. Tat lack has lead to the continual
e-ampin, e-okin, teakin and einentin o a
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science that as and still is alead perectsomethin
that the ould kno i the had taken the pope time
to eall undestand it st, beoe comin up ith
thei on unique a to impoe it.
A Look Behind the
Yoga Teacher Training Curtain
I eceied an email om a oman ecentl ho echoed
somethin I oen hea. She said I thouht that a oga
teache trainin couse could be a means to bein to
deepen a pesonal practice. She didnt ant to teach
oga just lean it, and she ondeed i that ould be
the best a.
Most oga teaches that un a oga teache trainin
poram ill tell ou that thei couse is o eeryone,not just those ho ant to be a oga teache. Yet the
dont eall maket thei oga teache trainin po-
rams that a, and the certainl dont pice them to
t the budet o Aerae Joe ho just ants to lean
moe about oga eithe.Im not undamentall opposed to month-lon oga
trainin couses. I think the can be a hue step up
om the dop-in oga class cultue that dominates the
oga scene toda. But I hae difcult acceptin most o
these porams as qualied trainin ounds o ne
oga teaches. I think, deep don inside, man o those
ho un these porams also kno that the ae not
doin justice to the subject o oga in thei 200 o een
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500-hou couses. Pesonall I ould pee, as Im sue
man o these teache-traines ould as too, to see
these porams eeed to as Yoga Leanin Couses,
and not Yoga eache rainin Couses.But thats not oin to happen.
Te aconm C (eache rainin Couse) is one o
the most econizable tems in the moden oga lino,
and it caies ith it a lot o maketin and commecial
eiht. Tose ho un these porams kno as ell as
I do that i the emoe the oga teache certicate
om the equation, then thell be had-pessed to et
een a handul o students sinin up.
People ho hae a enuine inteest in exploin
oga o thei on pesonal deelopment pale in com-
paison to the numbe o people ho ant to et that200-hou Yoga eache Certicate ith thei name on
ithich leaes people like the oman ho sent me
that email hain a had time uin out hat to do.
Hees an article that I published in the Apil 2009
issue o Te Yoga Nes, hich puts some moe inte-
estin pespecties on the moden oga teachin in-
dustry.
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Yoga Cred. Have You Got Some?
(The Yoga News, April 2009)
There are now over a dozen well-recognized na-
tional and international yoga magazines, along with
literally thousands o yoga-related newsletters pub-
lished online every month. A Google search or yoga
blogs returns 2.39 million websites, and yoga ar-
ticles, 4.98 million. Amazon.com lists hundreds o
books with the word yoga in the title.
Do you have something to say about yoga? Get
in line.Despite its ancient roots and the act that yoga
remained virtually unknown in the West until just a
ew decades ago, all o a sudden it seems that ev-
eryone has two cents to throw in on the subject. But
who are all these olks teaching, talking and writing
about yoga all o a sudden, and is what they are
saying worth listening to?
There are some important questions that we
need to ask, such as who is really qualied to speak
with authority about yoga and has the experience
to write with genuine understanding about it? Who
knows enough about yoga to be called an expert?
And who, even, is really qualied to teach it?Those are more dicult questions to answer
than you might think. With yoga moving switly into
mainstream culture and thousands o budding new
yogis rushing in to make a name (and oten a dollar)
or themselves, credibility is becoming a big issue in
the yoga world.For the majority in the global yoga community,
the dilemma o how to properly assess the creden-
tials o todays yogis has yet to be solved. The cen-
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tral question remains how to sanction practitioners
o an ancient science that does not t too easily
into our conventional Western structure o academ-
ic education.
Though yoga has been around or millennia,many traditional lineages have evolved to protect
and pass down its teachings, each developing their
own approach to the teaching and practice o yoga.
This makes standardization o yoga education a
near impossibility, creating quite a quandary when
it comes to establishing a yoga certication model.But this concern might pale in comparison to the
problem o a growing mess o modern yogis prac-
tising all manner o who knows what with the word
yoga attached to itthe connection o their phi-
losophies and practices to the roots o yoga oten
extremely vague.
These are issues that the newly ormed IndianYoga Association (IYA) is currently grappling with.
At the same time they are trying to work out just
how to ensure adequate knowledge and experience
or yoga teachers, without too narrowly mandating
what and how they are to be taught.
Years ago there was anticipation o this predic-ament in many places outside o India too, which
saw several sel-proclaimed yoga associations
spring orth. The apparent yoga visionaries who
spearheaded these initiatives quickly laid down
guidelines or yoga certication and the recognition
o yoga qualications, in an attempt to give street
cred to the growing number o wannabe yogis and
teachers in their countries.
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But there was one big faw in their well-inten-
tioned eorts. Their guidelines, which were sup-
posed to elevate the standing o those who ol-
lowed them, were or the most part arbitrary. They
were not based upon any sound suggestion o justwhat it takes to be well schooled in the science o
yoga because many who ormulated them were
themselves, not well studied or experienced in the
yoga tradition. They were, perhaps, too quick to ap-
ply a Westernized model o education and certi-
cation to a science that demanded more than thattype o academic ramework to ully master.
This has resulted, in most places today, in re-
quirements to be a registered yoga teacher that are
well below what is really necessary to uphold the
integrity o yoga. These modern standards have re-
ally done more damage than good to the image o
yoga worldwide. They have given the overwhelmingimpression that yoga is not very deep at allthat it
is merely another eld o study that primarily re-
volves around physical exercises and techniques,
and requires little more than a ew hundred hours
to gain competency in.
The results certainly refect this oversight. Nowwe see tens o thousands o yoga teachers who
know very little about yoga spreading their ideas
about it to millions more yoga enthusiasts around
the globe, every day.
Drop into any bookstore and youll see the most
apparent extreme o this unortunate state that yoga
nds itsel in now. Shelves are literally overfowing
with books on yoga, making it perhaps one o the
most saturated o any non-ction genre o writing
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today. O course there are a ew thoughtul books
about yoga on the market, but not many.
The vast majority o modern yoga books, in my
opinion, had no good reason at all to be written.
Rarely have I come across any volume that serves toimprove the publics understanding o yoga. Most,
in act, achieve just the opposite, putting yoga into
a piteously supercial light.
For the rare one who has a proound under-
standing o yoga, the immense amount o time and
eort that it takes to be adequately educated in it iswell appreciated. They know that one cannot hope
to scratch through even the surace o yoga in the
ew short months o training that the average yoga
teacher receives today. Learning yoga is no small
matter. It is a major pursuit that demands great sac-
rices, uncommon dedication, and extremely hard
work, along with years o study and practice.Given the accepted standards or assigning
credibility in yoga today, however, what is the incen-
tive or the aspiring yoga teacher to make such e-
orts? On the surace it seems like there really arent
many. One who goes to such heroic lengths in the
search or genuine understanding likely wont getmuch credit or it in the real worlda place that
cannot seem to see past paper certicates and o-
cial documents.
In act, when businesses are aced with the
choice between hiring a yoga teacher who is reg-
istered with the regional yoga association and has
only the requisite couple hundred hours o training,
or hiring someone who has dedicated their sel to
years o disciplined study and practice o yoga, the
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one with the certication will almost certainly be
given a higher value.
The irony in this current state o yogic aairs
and there is a lot o itis that the one who has
dedicated him/hersel to the genuine explorationo yoga is probably the one who is regarded with
the most suspicion. Many Indian masters who have
dedicated their lives to this great science would not
even qualiy to be licensed yoga teachers in Ameri-
ca now. In a rather blind pursuit o yoga credibility,
it seems, we have orgotten about what it actuallymeans to learn yoga.
Where is Yoga Heading? As usual, those who
speak the loudest and those who gain the most rec-
ognition are usually those who know the least. Even
the Bhagavad-Gita cautions us that in Kali Yuga, our
present age, great orators are oten mistaken or
the wise.Yoga is not immune to this phenomenon and
a tragedy continues to unold as the mouthpieces
o yoga today, those who have made great names
or themselves, those who are playing the credibility
game to a T continue to sell yoga shortby a long
shot.Evermore voices are being raised, however, over
the concern that yoga has been trivialized and re-
duced rom its loty perch as the most comprehen-
sive science or personal growth and evolution to a
supercial system o practices that continues to be
reshaped and restyled into new and oten ridiculous
things by enterprising, but sadly uneducated yoga
enthusiasts.
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New-age yoga may play well or a short time
in the marketplace, but it cant last orever. I yoga
continues to lack any real substance in the way it
is being taught or presented, then eventually the
masses will tire o it and move on to somethingnew and more enticing. That is something that we
humans have always done.
Yet yoga can and should have a bright uture.
The potential that it possesses to guide society or-
ward in increasingly stressul and uncertain times is
immense. All the good intentions o so many yogaadvocates can nd rmer roots i we all start look-
ing deeper into this wondrous science with greater
awareness and respect or what it is really all about.
No other credible proession would sanction
teachers who do not have advanced knowledge and
experience in their eld. Why should yoga? I we
want society to hold yoga in high esteem and viewit as the respectable science that it deserves to be
seen as, then we must promote teachers, our edu-
cators and ambassadors, who refect that image.
The infuence o those would-be yoga regula-
tors upon the yoga industry is enormous, and their
recognition o the current short-comings o theirestablished regulatory models is paramount to this
transormation happening. As yoga teachers, we
cannot let ourselves be guided by market-driven
orces into building the oundation o our proes-
sion upon shiting sandinto ollowing a model o
regulation and accreditation that doesnt yield a
proessional body with adequate knowledge and
experience to do yoga justice.
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The bar or acceptable yoga education and ex-
perience needs to be raised and a new model or
recognition o yoga qualications established; one
that honours the tradition o yoga and recognizes
the vastness o this eld o study; and one thatrefects what it really takes to gain proper under-
standing o and competence in yoga.
A yoga teacher, at the very least, must have
knowledge o yoga that extends well beyond the
physical practices and techniques. They must have
the ability to speak o every aspect o lie rom ayogic perspective, and the ability to stretch their
mind beyond the conditionings o amily, society
and culture. They must be models o integrity and
honourable living, and demonstrate in each and ev-
ery moment o each and every day what it means
to live a yogic lie.
I this does not happen, then the fame o mod-ern yoga will soon be extinguished. Our duty as
practitioners is to insist on the establishment and
maintenance o a proper level o yoga credibility,
one with standards that are worthy o this most
proound science o lie, and one that will withstand
the test o time and the whims and ancies o anever-changing marketplace.
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Chapter 2
What Is Yoga?
A Yoga Reality Check
Pehaps its time to step back and take a ood look in
the mio. Yeah, I kno, ou look antastic in ouLu-
lulemon oga pants, but hos lie? I mean, ae ou eel-
in moe content ith ou cicumstances in lie? Ae
ou less stessed? Moe optimistic? Able to sta cool as
a cucumbe in ustratin situations? What about ou
elationships? Ae the sailin smoothl no? Do ou
smile hen eeryone is onin? Ae ou ndin moe
time to spend ith ou kids? Do ou open the doo ostranes?
I oue hain a had time sain es to most o
those thins, then mabe its time to ask ousel i ou
ae eall ettin hat ou should be out o ogao i
oue just thee to look at ousel in the mio.Ho all these thins elate to oga miht seem ms-
teious to ou. Ae all, ho does the cat pose hae an-
thin to do ith holdin the doo open o stranes?
Ill tell ou exactl ho. But st, to make sue ee
all on the same pae, Id bette tell ou hat oga is.
I kno it seems like somethin e all should alead
kno, but Im supised at ho man people dontat
least the hole pictue anho.
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What is Yoga, Really?
I as ecentl told o a oga teache ho had been teach-
in oga in China. When he asked his students hat
the kne about the oiins o oga, he as shocked tond that man o them thouht oga as an Ameican
keep-t execise! I chuckled as I told this to a oup
o North Ameican oga students, but some o them sat
ith peplexed looks on thei aces. Ten one peson
said, I thouht it as an Indian sstem o execise?Well, at least she as iht about the country.
o man, oga is a om o execise, thats tue. It has
also been accused b othes o bein a eliion. Die-
hads o oga thouh, poess it to be the supeme phi-
losoph, a denitie pschology, and the oadmap to
the meanin o lie itsel. Without doubt, thee ae lots
o people out thee ho see it as little moe than just
anothe ad too. Tee is no shortae o opinions about
oga toda, thats o sue.
One thin is also certainthee is a lot o diision
aound a science that is supposed to epesent union,hich is actuall the literal translation o the Sanskit
od oga. A hole lot o debate raes on beteen
those ho pomote oga o its utilitaian, health-en-
hancin appeal, and those ho demand a emoal o
the tem oga altoethe om pop tness cultue, ad-
ocatin a etun to the moe holistic oots o this an-
cient science.
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Should one in out oe the othe, o is thee a union
o these ideals that could bette serve us all? Te tuth
is that neithe ie is ood enouh toda and that both
o them hae a lot to contibute to a moe aluable ap-poach to oga.
The Yoga-Fit Phenomenon
Its had to den the act that oga is bein portraed
toda, moe than anthin else, as a om o execise.
Tat it is a rathe exotic om o execise is pehaps
hat lends so much to its appeal. Exotic o not thouh,
the ie o oga b the eneral public eall doesnt o
too much beond the idea o oga bein a kind o exe-
cise class. Most peopleeen man o those ho prac-
tice oga eulalould pobabl be at a loss to samuch moe about it than that.
Een the expeienced practitione can be oien
o hain onl a aue and uncertain hold upon this
thin called oga thouh. Lets ace it, it seems like
eerybod and thei do is doin somethin ith the
od oga attached to it these das (and een some
people ith thei dos!). Yes, some o those thins ae
pett eid. Asked a tpical oga practitione toda
hat oga is and thei anse ill almost certainl be-
in and end ith desciptions o some om o anothe
o phsical techniques and practices. Tats a eal tra-ed because these execises, as onderul as the ae,
still onl epesent a ery small part o hat oga is all
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about. I e limit ou ie o oga to these practices,
then e miss so much. Its like hikin to the top o a
mountain, but stoppin at a nice spot onl a raction o
the a up. I ant to help ou aoid allin pe to thislimited ie o oga.
Tose who have studied yoga will attest that this
Science o sciences is too comprehensive in its na-
ture and too proound in its scope o teachings to be
tted into the ramework o any particular philoso-phy, religion or belie, ancient or modern.
~ I.K. aimni, Te Science of Yoga
Mystical Science
Just about eeryone that is into oga ill aee thatthee is moe to it than just stetchin. What that moe
is, hoee, is a question hose anse doesnt alas
o condentl o thei tonue. In act, hat exactl is
oin on at a deepe leel in oga isnt ery clea to most
olks at all. As a esult e hea lots o aue eeences
to thins like enegy and plent o eneic statementsabout balancin mind and bod and thins like that.
Yoga teaches oen inject an ai o mstical cham into
thei classes too, ithout ettin too specicspiitual
musins, I like to call them. I suppose in a a that
adds to the exotic appeal o oga ithout eall com-mittin too much on the ideoloical ont. But does it
eall help us to et moe out o the practice?
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Tees a poblem. On one hand, e miht kno
that thee is somethin deepe about all these oga
practices ee doin; but on the othe hand, e miht
not eall kno hat that deepe thin is. So hat domost people do then? Te adopt the attitude that i
the just practice the execises ith the coect pos-
tue and alinment, the deepe stu ill just happen to
them. Well, Im sory to tell ou, but it ont.
Dieentiatin oga execises om just plain exe-
cises equies an undestandin o oga on both a phil-
osophical leel, as ell as a phsical one. Lets start b
takin a nice boad look at hat oga is eall all about
(Yes, Im nall oin to anse that question!)
The Science of LifeIn simple ods, oga is a sstem o phsical, men-
tal, emotional and spiitual health. Its practice inoles
man dieent execises that each has puposes be-
ond just ou phsical healthsomethin Ill et moe
into shortl. Tee ae also man diet and liestle con-
sideration too, hich also serve multiple puposes be-
ond just ou phsical ellbein.
In the boadest sense, oga is a science that po-
ides a loical, step-b-step a o us to bette unde-
stand o ou seles and the uniese aound us. Reall,
oga is a Wa o Lie, one that is lied ith eateaaeness and undestandin.
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Perfect Health
I ou hae engaed in some oic execises beoe,
then ou dont need me to tell ou ho ood the ae
o ou. Tee ery eectie o educin stess, e-chain ou enegy and helpin ou to eel ou ood
old sel again. Tees a eason h a lot o people ho
do oga look eat too, because the oic execises po-
ide eat phsical conditionin as ell. Te sa that
oga helps ou to lie a lone and healthie lie, andthee hae certainl been enouh examples to ie that
claim a lot o eiht. But the hole point o lie isnt
just to polon it. It is to impoe ou expeience o it.
Tats h all these phsical benets o oga ae eall
onl a steppin stone to the ultimate potential o oga,
hich is
Perfect Evolution
Te eal oal o oga is to help us to consciousl eole
into ise beins. Tat ma seem a tad pesumptuous
o oga, but ou ancient Rishis (oga mastes) set theba pett hih o themseles and ee detemined to
settle o nothin less than ealizin the ull potential
o ou human species. Te esult o thei ok is the
science o ogathe science o deliberatel attemptin
to accelerate ou natural eolution.
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The Yoga re-Union
Te tem oga itsel comes om the ancient Sanskit
oot Yuj hich means to join, to oke toethe, to
uni o unite as one. Te Easten old ie is basedupon the undestandin that e ae all meel a unique
eection o the same unied souce. In act, at es-
sence, eerythin eal and uneal, maniest and none-
maniest in this ast uniese is ultimatel inseparable.
So that Union o Yoga is a natural consequence, andthe practice o oga then, meel a a to help us to
moe tanibl ealize ou tue, unied natue.
But as Westenes, it can take some time to eall un-
destand hat this union o oga is all about. I mean,
sue, intellectuall e can et the idea pett easil, but
deep don inside, ou Westen ie o ho e ae and
ou elationship to eerythin aound us is quite di-
eent. Ou entie existence is built upon the sense o a
separate, indiidual sel.
Te union eeed to in oga is moe o a eunion
a eunion o the loe, oldl sel ith the Uniesal,hihe consciousnesshich the ancient Indian saes
call moksha (osamadhi, kaivalya, and jivana mukta
too). Tis is the tue oal o oga.
But these lo oals ae a lon joune aa o
most o us. Gettin thee, especiall i ou come om a
cultue that has quite a dieent a o seein thins,
takes some illinness to exploe lie om a pett di-
eent pespectie. Tat is hat oga can help us to do.
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Get Out of Your Own Way
It miht supise ou to ealize that all o ou opinions
ou political ies, ou eliions belies, and ou
moral and philosophical attitudesdo not oiinateom ou. You hae meel been conditioned to beliee
them b ou paents, ou teaches, and the cultue
o the place that ou come om. Easten philosophical
thouht holds that it is these habits and conditionins
that ae the tue oots o dishamon, unhappiness, illhealth and ustrations in ou lie. As Epictetus said in
60 A.D,
Men are not disturbed by things , but by the views
they take o them.
Similal, m Yoga Guu, Sami Gitananda Gii, used
to tell his students,
You dont have a problem. You are the problem!
Touh the pope stud and practice o oga, e be-
in to see this quite cleal. Notice I said stud as ellas practice. Tat should point us to one ery cucial
secet about ogathat it is not just a phsical practice.
It is a mental one. I ou ae peromin a oga pose
ith the intent o perectin the phsical position onl,
then ou ae not doin ogaou ae just stetchin.But moe on that shortl.
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Ashtanga YogaEight Steps to Freedom
Pehaps about 2500 eas ao, nobod knos exactl
hen, a eat oic sae named Patanjali penned 196
short aphoisms outlinin the oga pocess. Tat an-cient text, called Te Yoga Sutras, classies eiht dis-
tinct staes o oga. Te ae:
1 Yama (morals)
2 Niyama (ethics)
3 Asana (postues)4 Pranayama (beathin)
5 Pratyahara (sensory ithdraal)
6 Dharana (concentration)
7 Dhyana (meditation)
8 Samadhi (absoption)Numbe thee and numbe ou, oue pobabl head
o. Te poses and the beathin execises om, o the
most part, the bulk o the oga expeience o most
people toda. oethe ith yama and niyama, these
st ou staes compise the traditional branch ooga knon as Hatha, o the loe staes o oga. Te
last ou staes combined ae eeed to as Raja Yoga,
o the hihe staes o oga. Hatha and Raja ae to
ends o the same oga pole, so to speak.
Hatha is a ladder or ascending to Raja, and Rajais the goal o Hatha.
- Hatha Yoga Pradipika
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Hatha Yogausing the body to transcend
the body
Someone once pointed out to me that a bab doesnt
cral because it cant alk. It crals so that it eentu-all can! In a a, thats hat the st ou limbs o oga
dothe pepae us to be able to successull alk the
hihe staes, the next ou limbs, hich is hee oga
eall ets oin. Yes, the moden oga class ma be
close to oga peschool than most o us ant to admit,but its still a necessary step in the oga pocess none
the less.
You oga teache miht not put it quite that a.
Most tend to keep pett quiet about the hihe sta-
es o oga, and pobabl o ood eason. Fistl, ery
e students ae ead to o thee. Secondl, the act
is that a lot o oga teaches haent eall one too a
in that diection et themseles. In all ainess, those
ou hihe staes o oga aent childs pla. It takes a
temendous amount o dedications and a lot o uid-
ance to naigate them successull. Te ealit is that tobecome a certied oga teache toda doesnt equie
anhee nea mastery o them.
I e ant to use oga o moe than just sheddin
a e pounds o killin a bit o stess, then e need
to set ou sites on this hihe ealm. Te step-b-steppocess o sae Patanjalis Ashtanga oga sstem is de-
sined to take us thee.
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The Key to Hatha Yoga
One o the biest oga delusions people hae is think-
in that, because the can contort thei bod into all
sorts o exteme positions, the ae adanced in oga.Ho a ou can stetch has NOHING to do ith ou
leel o oic abilit. Some so-called ois aound to-
da, in act, ae bi time jeks! Te hae deeloped the
abilit to do amazin thins ith thei bodies, but the
haent taken een the most basic steps up the laddeo eolution et.
Tee I said it! Lets moe on. I m not hee to dell
on o speculate about ho is and ho is not a oi.
Dieent oga teaches ill hae dieent ideas
about hat ee tryin to accomplish ith ou oga
poses and execises. Some o these ideas ae ery tue.
Some, hoee, ae a little too ne ae o m likin
and thei connection to the pinciples o oga do seem
rathe tenuous.
One o the pimary puposes o the practices oHa-
tha Yoga is cultiatin eate aaeness.
Awareness: without it, yoga is just
another stretch
As I pointed out a bit ealie, the science o oga is a
means o conscious eolutiono speedin up thenatural pocess o the jiva, the indiidual soul, cclin
thouh its innumerable incanations on its joune
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back to the Diine state o oneness ith the Supeme
Uniesal (o God, o hatee ou need to call it).
You cant perom an task successull i oue not
aae o hat oue doin, so the ke to bein able tomount a conscious eort toad eolution is aae-
ness. One o the main puposes o the oga execises
is the cultiation o moe and moe subtle leels o
aaeness. Yoga teaches us ou staes, o ou leels
o aaeness.
1. Awareness of Body
o be health e hae to be aae o hat leads to
health and hat destos it. Tats sounds obious, I
kno, but its shockin ho little some people actuall
seem to kno about ho the bod oks and ho totake cae o ito i the do kno, then the sue seem
to do a ood job not actin ery intellientl on that
knolede!
You ma hae head a couple eas ao about a man
ho, ae hain eaten endless meals oe his lietime
at McDonalds ast ood estaurant, sued the compan
claimin that he didnt kno that eatin Bi Macs and
Fench Fies ould make him at. Wee also seen class
action la-suits against cigaette companies because
people couldnt sumise that inhalin smoke om 2
packs o cigaettes a da o 10 eas as not oin to beood o them. So man people toda continue to oe
themseles on junk oods, dink alcohol, and inest all
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manne o stimulants, chemical dus and medications
on a eula basis, seeminl ithout a clue o cae in
the least o the eects on thei health.
Knolede o iht diet, iht habits, iht execise,iht est, iht enionment, and all o the iht ac-
tions o the support o phsical healthhats hamul
as ell as hats ood o usis part o this st stae o
aaeness.
Aaeness o the bod also inoles aaeness o
hat the bod is doin. I sa a man alk iht thouh
a section o esh cement on the sidealk the othe da
and just keep on alkin, ithout a clue hat he had
done! What is ou postue like? Do ou slump in ont
o the compute o hous? O do ou slouch in a chai
hile ou ead the nespape? O stand o-kilte ithou hips to one side and ou shouldes hunched?
Most o us ae supised to discoe all the soe
points on ou bod hen someone starts to massae
themtension and stiness otherwise unnoticed du-
in dail actiities.
Without this conscious aaeness o ou moment
to moment moements and the eects o ou actions
and habit on the phsical state o ou bod, ho can
e hope to gain aaeness o hat e ae doin on
deepe, moe subtle leels o ou bein? Yoga bins us
man tools o ceatin a much eate aaeness onthat ossest leel, hich helps us to be able to culti-
ate the next leel o Aaeness.
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2. Awareness of Emotions
Pope diet and phsical execise alone cannot bin
health to someone hose mind and emotions ae out o
contol. Ie seen people stule to oecome ill healthhile doin all the iht thinsmeanin that the eli-
iousl do the execises that thei therapist gae them,
eat the pope oods and eceie all the ecommended
healthcae teatments, et the dont seem to et much
bette. Tis suests that thee must be othe, mabeeen moe important actos o health. Tee is, and it
lies in ou abilit to contol ou emotions.
We all kno that exteme emotions like ane, anxi-
et and hih stess eak haoc on ou bod, caus-
in muscle tension, headaches, ulces and hen po-
loned, ultimatel a lot ose thins than those. Een
moden medicine is startin to embrace the ealit
that phsical smptoms cannot be teated b phsical
means alone; that the mind-bod-emotional complex
is inseparable hen it comes to health. Tis is hat the
tem pschosomatic means: emotions (pscho) aect-in the bod (soma). In oga, e call thisadhi-vyadhi.
Tis second stae o aaeness inoles deelopin
a eate undestandin o ho ou emotions aect us
on all leel. It also inoles cultiatin an aaeness o
ou emotions as soon as the aise, so that e can act
on them in a moe eoled a. Yoga helps us to ceate
eate consciousness on this ont, and also to deelop
a moe consistentl positie emotional rame o mind,
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hich in tun ill bin eate health and hamon to
ou lies.
Inner lie revelations and spiritual insights are
ound only when the emotions are controlled and
the mind is still and undisturbed.
~ Swami Gitananda
3. Awareness of Mind
Ou emotions aect ou bod, and ou bod aects ouemotions. Te mind can contol both o them. Leanin
ho the mind oks is the st step toads cultiatin
its immense poe. Tis is the thid state o aaeness
in oga.
Te mind possesses to undamental parts: the con-scious (manas) and the sub (un)conscious (chitta). Te
subconscious aspect o the mind lacks aaeness. It
meel eacts at the behest o the emotions. Te con-
scious mind, thouh, has the abilit to econize hat
is eall oin on at the subconscious leel. It can dis-
coe h certain stimuli cause us to act o think oeact in certain asa pocess o inne inquiry knon
assvadhyaya in oga. Tis leel o aaeness is cucial
o pesonal transomationo conscious eolution,
as ee alead called it.
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4. Awareness of Awareness
Tis hihest state o aaeness is called samadhi in
oga. It is, in a sense, aaeness o aaeness itsel
the diect expeience o the tuth o ones on essence.Most o us hae a lon a to o beoe achiein this
leel o aaeness!
Smt. Meenakshi Dei Bhaanani, m teache also
added one urthe stae to this ou-old oga aae-
ness. She aptl pointed out that the ast majoit opeople aent een emotel aae o just ho unaae
the eall aehich is eall hat keeps them om
bein motiated to do anthin about it. So aaeness
o ho unaae e eall ae is pobabl the most im-
portant thin to start ith, isnt it?
Tis is hee the practices o oga serve one o thei
eatest the unctions. Seeminl simple beathin ex-
ecises can be a poerul trainin ound o aae-
ness. Asanas, kriyas and man otheHatha Yoga prac-
tices, hen popel peromed, also serve that same
ambition.
Mystical Magical Energy!
Much o moden technology is built upon the pinciple
o polaitthe idea that the to poles at opposite ends
o a bod each hae an opposite o contrastin natue,
eithe positie o negatie. Te action o a manet o in-
isibl in the pinciples o electomanetic liht-aes,
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electicit, o the chane in potential o a cell due to the
accumulation o liberated gases all demonstrate ho
the negatie oce is able to o toads and unite
ith its positie countepart, leadin to a union o theto. Tis Uniesal Enegy Pinciple has been knon
in Easten traditions since ancient times. Te aoists
eeed to it as in-an. It is theshiva-shakti, o male-
emale pinciple o the ealie teachins o oga.
Te practices oHatha Yoga, as anothe one o thei
pimary unctions, hamonize these positie (ha) and
negatie (tha) oces, the union o hich is the enera-
tie oce behind health, as ell as the ultimate state o
union o oga.
The Yoga of Re-PolarizationPolait, o balance, is the ke to health and happiness.
Tis is tue on all leelsthe phsical as ell as the
mental and emotional. We become depolaized so to
speak, as a esult o thins like negatie thouhts, dis-
tubed emotions, impope beathin and stess.
Illness (phsical, mental, emotional) alas esults
om a pola imbalance. Health, on the othe hand,
comes om balance. In ode to etun the bod to the
state o health and hamon, polait must be e-estab-
lished, and the practices oHatha Yoga, hen popel
peromed, aid eatl in achiein that.
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Are You Getting it Right?
Bein successul in oga equies moe than just ood
intentions. Tee is no shortae o enthusiastic oga
practitiones and teaches out thee toda. What islackin, hoee, is a eal deep undestandin o the
pinciples and practices o oga. Een some o the ery
basics, like pope aaeness and enegy balancin
ae bein oall botched in some moden oga stles
and practices, sometimes achiein een the exact op-posite eects.
A combination o a couple thins has contibuted to
this. Fist, the rapid spead o oga aound the old in
the last century, hich has ceated an entie ne indus-
try aound oga. Rapid desies o innoation and ac-
celerated trainin o teaches has caused a eat deal
o the oga undamentals to et lost, ateed don,
o missed altoetheto be eplaced b a sstem that
sometimes moe closel esembles the Westen phsi-
cal therap model than the Easten oic one.
Secondl, the moden appoach to oga instuc-tionthe oga classhas made popel leanin oga
ery difcult. Yoga teaches ae tasked ith conein
a ast and holistic science that equies a sstematic
appoach and a eat deal o dedication to popel
lean. Yet thei students come and o as the please
some once a eek; some tice a eek; some tice a
monthand the knolede and expeience o oga a-
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ies idel beteen each o them too. What is a poo
oga teache to do, eall?
One thin that has been appaent to me o quite
some time no, and continues to become moe andmoe obious, is that most people ho do oga toda
eall kno ery little about the oga execises the ae
doinhich means the ae missin almost all the po-
tential benets. Tee is a bette a.
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Chapter 3
A Brighter Yoga Future
The Body is the Beginning
I kno that Ie pobabl alead oe-stessed the
point that oga is a lot moe than just a ood stetch.
All oga teaches kno this too.
So h, 98% o the time, does oga seem to be tauht
like an execise class hee students ae simpl lead
thouh a seies o phsical postues (and sometimes
beathin practices)? Te short anse is that e hae
to start on the leel o consciousness hich is easiest o
most people to elate to. Since most people noadasae so thoouhl enthralled ith the phsical old,
includin thei phsical bodies, that is the best place
o oga teaches to bein to help students to cultiate
eate aaeness and impoe health.
Your physical body must be in balance with
nature, your mind must be in harmony with the
group-mind o the society that you live in, and your
soul must be in a satisying relationship with the
Universal Soul i you are to be truly healthy.
It is easiest to harmonise the body-mind-spirit
complex by starting with the body, which is
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relatively stable. Balance o the mind and spirit,
which are ethereal and thereore inherently difcult
to stabilise, comes more easily once the body has
been made rm and healthy.~ D. R. Svoboda, Prakuti
The Body is Not the End
I thee is one oeidin misleadin idea ciculatin
in the moden oga old, its the idea about hat ad-
anced oga practice is. Tis, I ault the moden oga
teache o. Im sory i I oend anone hee, but ee
carved oga classes up into leels no, based solel
upon the phsical difcult o the execises tauht (i.e.,
beinne, adanced, etc.). I undestand hat teaches
ae ae. Fo one, thee tryin to take some o the in-timidation out o oga o necomes. But bein ad-
anced in oga has nothin (es NOHING) to do ith
ho skilled oue become at the peromance o some
phsical execises.
What makes someone adanced in oga? Is it ho
exible thei bod is? Is it ho raceul the moe
thouh a sequence oasanas and ho perectl alined
and ml stable the can hold difcult bod positions?
Well, i thats tue then thee ae hundeds o old-
class gymnasts, ballet dances, and cicus perom-
es ho must be bodeline oga mastes too, een ithee nee head the odyogasana beoe.
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No, perection in the phsical aspects o oga alone
doesnt mean much at all. I continuall meet olks ho
can do amazin thins ith thei bodies, et cant seem
to contol the simplest o crains and desies. I atchpeople demonstratin thei phsical expertise and
then in the next rame see them muckin up thei pe-
sonal elationships like homone rain adolescents.
Ie seen contestants in a oga competition aue ith
each othe and neal come to blos!
Im sory to sa it, but I rael meet anone ho is
not a oga beinne, and that oes o most teaches
and hih-in oga pesonalities on the oga scene
toda too. o emed this unortunate state o oic a-
ais and to start seein some moe enlihtened ues
eolin om the moden oga scene, oga instuctionitsel needs to eole st. o start ith, it needs to in-
ole moe than just instuction in the phsical oga
practices.
Breaking Some New Old Yoga Ground
In ancient times, leanin oga as not eas. Fist o all,
ndin someone to teach ou usuall meant traellin
lon distances, oen to emote oest o mountain a-
eas. Once the maste as ound, conincin him to take
ou on as a student as the next bi hudle.
oda, oga has simpl taken its position in the ma-ketplace. Anone ho ants it just has to sho up and
pa the ee. But the ancient oga mastes ee not so
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pomiscuous ith thei teachins. Te kne the im-
mense poe that oga possessed, and the also kne
that it took an uncommon commitment to popel
undestand it. Aboe all else, the kne that, as AlbertEinstein amousl emaked, a little knolede can
be a daneous thin. Tis tuism is no moe appa-
ent anhee than it pehaps is in oga toda, hee a
lot o people ith a little knolede ae tistin and
adaptin and usin oga into a hole host o thins
that no hae ery little to do ith its oiins. Tese
moden practices ma hae some utilitaian aluelike
stess eduction, a bit o eiht loss and tness, etc.
but thei poe to achiee the immensities that the an-
cient science o oga can is all but lost.
Retunin to a sstem o stud that asks us to ieup eas o ou lies in oic immesion in some a o
oic monastery (called ayoga ashram), e all kno, is
not ery practical o most o us.
But that doesnt mean e cant do a bette job as
moden oga teaches than the amilia dop-in oga
class stuctue that dominates the oga landscape to-
da. In act, edenitely can.
Carving a Better Yoga Path
Fo all the claims that oga, amon othe thins, aak-
ens ou deepest ceatie sel, I am eall supised atho unceatie most oga teaches ae hen it comes to
teachin oga. Te eithe, 1. Open a oga studio, make
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a schedule o classes and hie teaches o a handul o
the most popula moden oga stles, o 2. Make a id-
eo o thei sel leadin a oga execise class and try to
sell it. Tats the to oerwhelminl equent as it isdone toda, and neithe o them could be arthe aa
om the traditional a o teachin oga. In tuth, ou
ould pobabl be had-pessed to nd less eectie
as o teachin oga too!
Dont et me on. I dont mean to suest that
thee is no alue in those thins. Tee is. Te ae just
not a ood a to teach oga. You just hae to ask an-
bod that attends oga classes as thei sole means o
leanin oga hat the kno about oga, and most o
the time oull nd out ery little om them. In act, the
majoit o olks, een those ho hae one eulal toclasses o moe than a ea, still aent able to practice
oga at home, on thei on, hich is eall ho oga is
meant to be practiced.
As oga teaches, e can do a bette job b beak-
in out o this oga class mentalit and iin ou stu-
dents moe than just a ood phsical and mental ok-
out at the end o thei stessul da.
Why You Need to Practice Yoga at Home
Yoga is a pesonal pusuit. We can lean some o it alon
side o othes, o couse, but ultimatel practicin ogashould be a solitary, intenal pocessone that e do in
the piac o ou on saced space.
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Tis idea ihtens a lot o moden oga teaches
the idea o helpin thei students to deelop the abilit
to practice oga on thei on. But a docto does not
aoid cuin patients so that his appointment book e-mains ull, and a oga teache need not aoid teach-
in students to practice oga on thei on to keep thei
classes ull. Tats not h e teach oga. In act, m ex-
peience is that the opposite is actuall tue. Te moe
I am able to eall help students lean oga, the moe
enduin ou teache-student elationship is likel to
beand the less likel I am to hae students constantl
comin and oin, unable to eall touch thei lies too
deepl ith this poound science o oga.
Taking Yoga to the Next LevelOn one hand oga classes help a hole lot o people in
one a o anothe. On the othe hand, the ae ene-
all allin ell short o touchin people ery deepl.
Almost eery oga teache I kno aees ith that, and
man o them ae stiin to nd a bette appoach.
Tese das e see moe and moe oga okshops be-
in oeed, hee students ae equied to commit to a
seies o classes, hich allos the teache to oe moe
compehensie, step b step oga instuction. Tis is a
eat start. I hae oen ound that the onl eason most
students seem uninteested in oin deepe into ogais that the dont eall hae an idea hat deepe into
oga actuall means. Te pobabl think that it just
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means doin hade stetcheshich isnt the case. So
okshops o short couses ae a eat a o teach-
es to help ie thei students a boade expeience o
ogaand hen the do, a lot o those students becomemoe inteested in urthe leanin.
Anothe popula tend is the oga eteat. Simila
to the okshops and short couses, oga eteats ie
oga teaches an opportunit to ie students a eate
exposue to ogaand it is oen done in some rathe
exotic location too. Tat not onl adds to the appeal,
but it also adds to the expeience. When e ae able to
step aa om ou bus liestleset out o the house
and aa om ou jobs and othe dail obligations
then it denitel enhances ou leanin expeience.
Te main draback o oga eteats thouh, ae costand timeto thins that the aerae peson usuall
cant aod ery much o.
Yogashramthe ultimate yoga experience
In m opinion, its had to eall appeciate the ull cul-
tural and spiitual extent o oga unless oue been
to India. Some oga teaches balk hen I sa that, but
the ae alas the ones ho hae nee been thee.
Most o those that hae ill aee.
But oin to India is not like bookin a to-eek
cuise. Its not onl a holida, but an adentue thatoue denitel ot to be ead o. Eeryone Ie ee
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knon ho has made the tip to India aees that the
expeience is one heck o a ide!
Tee is denitel no shortae o places to lean oga
in India, but bues beae. Te majoit o these so-called oga schools ae eaed toad Westen oga
touists and those ho un them not necessail ell-
schooled in oga themseles. Te el mostl upon
thei exotic appeal o bein Indian hich, o man
Westenes ho do not kno an bette, is enouh.
Tee ae still, hoee, a e traditional yoga ash-
rams in Indiaplaces hee ou can o and spend se-
eral months (o moe) and immese ousel into the
teachins o oga unde the uidance o a eal oga
maste. A e, I sabut not man.
Needless to sa, decidin to take this plune equiesa bi commitmentone that onl a e olks ill ee ul-
timatel be illin to make. When/i ou ae ead and
illin to eall dele into the depth o oga, thouh,
theyogashram expeience is one not to be missed.
Studying the Yoga Home Study Concept
Id been studin and practicin oga o some time
beoe I came acoss Sami Gitanandas oga co-
espondence couse, Yoga Step b Step. Up until that
point I had been a m beliee that oga could onl be
leaned ace to ace, in a oga class.But Samijis couse intiued me o some eason,
so I decided to ie it a shotand as it tuned out, that
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couse chaned m lie! I had ead a hole lot o books
on oga beoe that, and thouh them I gained a bit
o insiht into dieent aspects o oga. But I ouldnt
sa that I as eall leanin oga thouh them. But inthat one quick little decision I made to take his couse,
I nall leaned just ho much I as missin!
Samijis oga coespondence couse as the point
hee I elt I ent om doin oga execises, to eall
practicin oga, and m on oic joune has been a
tul marvellous one ee since!
I cedit Sami Gitananda Gii 100% o that. Anbod
can ceate a coespondence o home stud couse, but
Samiji literall shoed me ho it as done! No, as
a oga teache, I eel like I hae a much ide pespec-
tie on ho oga can be eectiel tauht. I still teachoga classes om time to time, but I also kno ho
limitin the can be o poidin eal compehensie
oga education.
I also kno, om m on pesonal expeience, ho
strane the idea o leanin oga ia coespondence o
home stud can seem hen ou oga old ma ne-
e hae been stetched too a outside o the oga stu-
dio. So oud think Id et tied o ansein the same
question oe and oe again. Can I eall lean oga
thouh a home stud couse? But I dont et tied be-
cause Ie had a lot o success ith m students aleadand, as a esult, I kno that it can ok ery ell. Its
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just like an othe appoach to teachin ogato be e-
ectie, it has to be done popel.
Dont Give Up on Yoga Classes
One o the biest (and unaranted) eas that a lot
o oga teaches hae is that i the teach students to
practice oga at home, thei classes ill start to empt.
Well, thats absolutel, positiel NO tue. In act, as
I mentioned ealie, the opposite is tue. When oga
students start to gain a deepe undestandin o and
appeciation o oga, then the ae een moe enthu-
siastic about makin it a eula part o thei liesand
as oga teaches, e ill alas hae lots moe to teach
them.
I et equent emails om students o m oga homestud and coespondence couses thankin me o
makin thei local oga classes moe ulllinsain
that the no hae a much bette undestandin o
hat the ae doin ith oga, both in and out o the
oga studio, and that the ae ettin so much moe out
o thei oga classes no too!
A Bright Yoga Future
Its eas to eel pessimistic about the utue o oga, hat
ith all the eall idiculous thins that some people
seem to be attachin the od oga too toda. But adsill alas come and o. Te science o oga has pese-
eed o millennia thouh, and thees a ood eason
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o thatits teachins and practices ae timeless! One
o the benets, pehaps, o all the hpe and mass ma-
ket enthusiasm that has sept oga into a hole ne
leel o lobal consciousness, is that people no knoabout it. Most ho engae in some oga-elated acti-
it o anothe ma not necessail be too inteested
in delin too deepl into oga, but o those ho ae,
moe and moe opportunities ae emein.
Findin a eal oga maste and takin the plune
into total immesion in a enuine yoga ashram is and
has alas been the ideal a to lean oga. Couses,
okshops and eteats, thouh still ell short o this
ideal, ae nonetheless a step in the iht oga diection.
Yoga home stud, hen stuctued popel, can also
do a lot o urthein the undestandin and practiceo oga toda. Te challene o todas oga teaches
is to esist iin it to the demands o the maket place
ith classes that cente too much on a quick-x, utili-
taian oga, and continue to seek bette as to diect
people toads a moe a-sihted appoach to oga.
I e do that, then the utue o oga looks a hole
lot bihte indeed.
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Yoga is the cessation o
the whirlpools o the mind.
~ Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured
and to endure what cannot be cured.
~ B.K.S. Iyenga
Yoga is the science and art o accelerating our
progress towards liberation.
~ Yoga Kosa (Kaivalyadhama Institute)
Be even tempered in both success and ailure. Tis
mental evenness is what is meant by Yoga.Indeed, equanimity is Yoga!
~ Bhagavad-Gita (Ch. 2, V. 48)
(He) who looks upon opposites as equals, who has
risen above duality, and thus reed himsel rom
both vice and virtue, is a Yogi. Verily, work done to
perection is Yoga. Yoga is skill in action.
~ Bhagavad-Gita (Ch. 2, V. 50)
Yoga makes us truly Humane Beings.
~ Swami Gitananda Gii Guumaharaj
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Appendices
Furthe itins on oga b Yogacharya Michael:
Reinvent Yourself Through Yoga
What does it take to reinvent yoursel? Perhaps a
better question to start with is, Why would you even
want to? Sure, maybe you wouldnt mind shedding
a ew pounds. Perhaps a bit less stress would be
nice too and no doubt youd be happy to havea little more ree time in your lie. But these things
surely dont require a complete personal overhaul,
do they?
Nobody is perect. The main point o our lives
here on this earth is not even to attain perection. It
is to learn through our experiences and to use that
wisdom to grow, to evolve, and to make changes or
the better.
Now that is something that we can all denitely
do, cant we? So why do we oten have such a hard
time doing it?
Because we get stuck in a rut - stuck in a rou-
tine way o thinking and acting.For instance, youve probably driven the exact
same route to work everyday or the past ve years
and never given it a second thought.
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What happens, though, when there is road con-
struction one day and youre orced o o your usu-
al course? Frustration? Anxiety? Do you get down-
right upset?
Maybe it made you late or work, but thats notthe point here. The point is that there are probably
several dierent ways or you to arrive at your des-
tination on time, but youve gotten stuck on one
specic route, and you just dont like to veer rom it.
In eect, thats exactly how we live most o our
lives. Weve gotten used to typical ways o doingthings and usual ways o viewing things, and that
keeps us rom seeing all the innite possibilities we
have all around us in each and every moment.
How to Break the Habit? Reinvent yoursel,
thats how!
But wait, getting back to the act that you may
only be looking to shed a ew pounds or get rid osome stress, isnt all this reinventing yoursel talk a
bit o overkill?
No, in act its not, as the ollowing story might
help to illustrate:
When I was younger I came across a quote that
stirred something within me. The saying was:
I you do what youve always done, youll get
what youve always gotten.
I wrote it out in big letters on a piece o pa-
per and taped it to the back o my bedroom door.
Everyday, when I got up and headed out into the
world, it was the rst thing I saw. At the end o each
day, it reminded me once again. Over time I began
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to eel the truth o this simple little statementthe
truth that I really am the architect o everything I
have and o everything that happens to me.
I began to travel the world. Over a seven- year
period I passed through over 50 countries, all thewhile playing with this whole reinvent mysel idea.
At some point during my travels, it dawned on
me that I didnt have to be ME anymore. I didnt
have to keep my same old attitudes toward things
that happened around me. Things did not always
have to be exactly the way I wanted them to be. Idecided it was time to leave the old baggage at the
next airport.
Being a thousand miles rom home, in a place
where I was virtually anonymous, reinventing my-
sel seemed strangely easy. One day I could be the
most patient person on the planet - and see what
happens. The next I could be the riendliest personin town - and see what happens. The day ater that,
I could simply go with the fow, no matter what -
and just see what happens!
And what happened astounded me! Opportuni-
ties to see and do things that I would never even
have imagined beore sprung up constantly. I sawthat, although things did not always turn out like I
thought I wanted them to, they oten turned out in
a way that brought something new, unoreseen, and
exciting into my lie.
I realized that when I stopped doing what I al-
ways did, I got dierent results! The yogis knew this
principle well. They called it karma, the simple law
o cause and eect. It was my rst real proound
yogic lesson in lie!
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Reinvent Yourself, Through Yoga.
The complete 8-limbed system o classical ashtanga
yoga is one o the most proound tools to help us
reinvent ourselves. It teaches us, step by step, how
to make that changes we need to make in order to
live the live weve always been meant to live.
The Yoga Ashram
The ultimate place to reinvent yoursel is the yoga
ashram. Exploring yoursel under the watchul eye
o a guru is a transormative event that cannot beexperienced any other way
Taking some yoga classes to lose a ew pounds
or to calm your nerves is a great idea. But remem-
ber that the reasons why you have these issues to
deal with in the rst place wont magically vanish
just through the practice o a ew yoga asanas or
yoga breathing techniques.In yoga, we have a potent tool to reinvent our-
selves. Its called svadhyaya, or sel-study, and its
through this essential practice that we conquer our
problems once and or all. As my dear teacher Meen-
askshi Devi Bhavanani once reminded me, Without
svadhyaya, there is NO YOGA!This process o inner inquiry reveals to us that
everything in our lives, rom the state o our rela-
tionships, to our physical health, and everything in
between, exists because o what we think and how
we act and react. It makes us understand that i we
want to change our lives, then WE, ourselves, MUST
CHANGE!
So the next time youre orced to ollow a detour
on the way to work, try thinking This is my lucky
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day! Im being orcing to break out o my routine
and to see another way!
Sure, you might be late or work, but with a
healthy yogic attitude, youll be a better person or
it!(published in The Yoga News, Sept. 2009)
How to Live and Extraordinary Life
Theres an old Quaker saying, Sometimes me thinks
that the whole world is mad except Thou and I, andsometimes Im not so sure about Thee!
Isnt it ironic that the one thing most all o us
have in common is the eeling that we are dierent
rom the crowd? O course, when we look around
us sometimes and see so much stress and unease
in our riends lives, who wouldnt want to be di-
erent?
But believing that were dierent and actually
living in a way that is not in lock-step with the mass-
es isnt the same thing, as this little able related by
Robert Servine in the August 2006 issue o Yoga
Lie magazine so wonderul illustrates:
Once upon a time Khidr, the teacher o Moses,called upon mankind with a warning. At a certain
date, he said, all o the water in the world which
has not been specially hoarded would disappear. It
would then be renewed with dierent water, which
would drive men mad.
Only one man listened to this advice. He col-
lected water and stored it in a secret place. On the
appointed date, the streams stopped running and
the wells went dry. The man who had listened went
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to his retreat and happily drank o the water that
he had stored.
When he saw rom his security that the wateralls
had again begun to fow, he descended back down
to join the other sons o Man. However, he oundthat they were thinking and talking in an entirely
dierent way rom beore; yet they had no memory
o what had happened, or o having been warned.
When he tried to talk to them, he realized that they
thought he was mad, and they showed hostility, not
compassion toward him.At rst he drank none o the new water, but
went back to the saety o his hideaway and secret
supply. Finally, however, he made the decision to
drink the new water because he could not bear the
loneliness o living, behaving and thinking in a way
that was dierent rom everyone else.
He drank the new water and became like every-one else. His ellows then began to look upon him
as a madman who had miraculously been restored
to sanity.
Being dierent isnt always easy, but it has re-
wards which cannot be ound in the common ap-
proach to living. I we want uncommon results inour lie