The Knower Who Wants to Know - Integral Yoga Teachers ... · The Knower Who Wants to Know by Sri...

Volume XVIII, No. 1, February 2010

Continued on Page 6

InsideThe Knower Who Wants to Know by Sri Swami Satchidananda p. 1Letter from the Editor p. 2Your Real Nature by Sri Swami Sivananda p. 3 Teaching Yoga to Seniors by John Schlorholtz p. 4Ecumenism by Sri Swami Vivekanandaji p. 7Three Basics of Pranayama by Bhaktan Eberle p. 8Bhagavad Gita: Translation and Commentary by Swami Asokananda p. 9

Why and How Should a Yoga Teacher Explore New Asanas by Lakshmi Sutter p. 10Examples (for the previous article) p. 12Can Yoga Practice Help Cure Addictive Behaviors? By Lynn Somerstein, PhD, RYT p.14Physically Adjusting Asanas by Swami Asokananda p.15Academy & Yogaville news by Manu Hunt p.17Senior Speakers Schedule p. 18Calendar of Upcoming Programs at Yogaville p. 19

The Knower Who Wants to Know

by Sri Swami Satchidananda

There are people who are the analytical type. They might not use their heart or even their body very much, but they want to sit and practice intellectual questioning. If you are the type who likes to question, try asking, “Who am I? Where am I? Why am I?”

Perhaps you want to know everything outside, on the physical plane. “I want to know what a particle is, what an atom is. I want to know what’s happening on Mars.” Fine, you are free to know everything; but do you know who it is who wants to know all these things? First find out who is the knower who wants to know. Question yourself. Turn within. Find out who you are.

Even when you have all kinds of different feelings—happiness or unhappiness, joy, sorrow or fear—ask yourself, “Who is having the fear? Since when? Who is happy? Who is unhappy?” Sit and question yourself that way. Ultimately, you will find that you are somebody who is not really involved in all these things but who seems to be constantly witnessing them all. You are not the person who is disturbed, but you know that something or somebody is disturbed in you. Understanding that Knower is what we call self-realization.

This is a very direct approach. You don’t need to do anything else. You don’t need to pray or practice japa yoga or mantra yoga if you can just sit and question yourself well. Then you will become a wonderful instrument, and you will be more useful to people.

IYTA Newsletter • February 2010 •

The Goal of Integral YogaThe goal of Integral Yoga, and the birthright of every individual is to realize the spiritual unity behind all the diversities in the entire creation and to live harmoniously as members of one universal family.

This goal is achieved by maintaining our natural condition of a body of optimum health and strength, senses under total control, a mind well-disciplined, clear and calm, an intellect as sharp as a razor, a will as strong and pliable as steel, a heart full of unconditional love and compassion, an ego as pure as a crystal, and a life filled with Supreme Peace and Joy.

Attain this through asanas, pranayama, chanting of Holy Names, self discipline, selfless action, mantra japa, meditation, study and reflection.

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti. Ever yours in Yoga,

Integral Yoga®

Teachers AssociationFounder: Sri Swami Satchidananda

The Integral Yoga Teachers Association is a membership association open to all Integral Yoga teachers. Its mission is to provide mutual support and spiritual fellowship, to share information, to provide inspiration, and to conduct ongoing training and guidance.

Director: Gopal WatkinsSupervising Editor: Rev. Prakasha ShaktiNewsletter Editor: Arjuna GuttadauroPhotos: Richard DiMaria, Sraddha Van DykeCopy Editors: Swami Hamsananda, Bhagerati GuttadauroMembership Coordinator: Manu HuntIYTA Assistant: Purnima Trifonova

Integral Yoga Teachers AssociationSatchidananda Ashram–Yogaville108 Yogaville Way, Buckingham, VA 23921 USATel: 434.969.3121, ext. 177 Fax: 434.969.1303E-mail (Newsletter): [email protected] (Membership): [email protected] (Director): [email protected] Website: www.iyta.org

Letter From The EditorGreetings of Peace and Joy,

I am filled with love and gratitude this morning as I write to our beloved fellow Yoga teachers. Thank You all so much for subscribing to our Integral Yoga Teachers Association. The sangha created by this action is extremely powerful and together we make a huge difference in the world that we live in.

I am also very grateful to Gurudev for the opportunity to be the editor of this fine Newsletter. I am in my second year of publishing. It is a very rewarding job that has enriched my life and deepened my practice. It is an honor to work with the highly conscious people that write our articles.

Starting this issue, we are blessed with a new series of articles provided to us by Swami Asokananda. The subject of the articles is the Bhagavad Gita. This is indeed something that I appreciate and look forward to learning from. Thank You Swami Asokananda.

Lakshmi Sutter is also someone that is extremely appreciated. She left her position as Director of the IYTA to continue her education, but is still writing our Center Fold on the subject of asana, plus doing other services for the Ashram. I found out, during her Thanksgiving Program here at Yogaville, the amount of work that she does serving us at Yogaville while completing her education. I am completely overwhelmed with the amount of time she puts in to be of service to us.

Thank You Lakshmi, I am completely humbled by you.

We are in the midst of several important dates here at Yogaville. The all Faiths religious ceremonies performed on these dates are so awe inspiring that they touch me to my very Soul. Some of the dates are Thanksgiving, Jayanthi, Christmas, and New Years. Please consider visiting this year to get the Darshan of the many upcoming events. There is much growth happening here.

Aiming at keeping you as one of the best trained Hatha Yoga Teachers in the world the IYTA is offering its members free tuition to selected programs presented by the Academy. Please be on the lookout for emails with information on these programs. They will continue to be offered in the future, please take advantage of them.

We are happy to welcome Manu (Nathaniel) Hunt who has recently moved here from Maryland. He has replaced our beloved Andrew as the IYTA Membership Coordinator. Manu completed TT and a LYT program here in Yogaville before accepting this position. I am very impressed with both his work and his presence. Please note his Academy and Yogaville news article inside.

In His Light, Arjuna Guttadauro

Sri Swami Sivananda (sitting) with Sri Swami Satchidananda


Your real nature is SAT-CHID-ANANDA. You are Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, and Bliss Absolute. You are identical with Brahman.* You are one with Brahman. “Tat Twam Asi – Thou art That.” Never, never forget this. You are the creator of this universe. You are the Lord of Nature. The whole world is your handicraft. Sun, moon, and stars all speak of your glory. There is not the least doubt about this. Desire, weakness, pain, anger, inability are all wrong samskaras (impressions) due to ignorance. You are infinite, eternal, unchanging, all-pervading existence.

Moksha (liberation) is not something to be achieved. You are already free. You are ever free. It is already achieved. Every being is one with the Absolute, and is in fact the Absolute. What is to be achieved is the destruction of the sense of separateness. When this is accomplished, moksha is easily realized. As milk pours into milk, oil into oil, or water into water, so you become one with Brahman after realization. Bondage and liberation, which are conjured up by maya, do not really exist in Brahman. There is neither birth nor death, neither bondage nor striving for freedom, neither seeker after liberation nor liberated. This is the ultimate Truth. Remove the veil of ignorance which is hiding your real true nature. Destroy egoism, the sense of duality and the sense of separateness. You will shine in you own Glory. You will rest in Sat Chid Ananda state.

“Thou art That”, Oh, dear readers! “

*Brahman – Absolute Reality.

Your Real Natureby Sri Swami Sivananda

Sri Swami Sivananda Maharaj (1877-1963) was the Guru of Sri Swami Satchidananda. He was the author of some 300 books on Yoga and founder of the worldwide Yoga organi-zation, the Divine Life Society. The article above is from his book The Practice of Yoga.

I dreamt of Oneness with you, an ecstasy of life anew within your all-encompassing embrace, at last I see your face, a perfect Universe revealed to my previously fragmented vision.

Do I have the courage to let go? Can I stand the painful tearing up of the roots of the life I thought was real?

As the veil draws aside, I get a rare glimpse of your true form, still, I cling to the web in which I am caught, the horrible fascination for the unreal.

Can I have the strength to bear this painful tearing up of my very roots, the disintegration of the false idols with which I am enamored? Do I even want that?

The story seems to fascinate me as each new page unfolds. There it is again, that gnawing from within, the call to home,.but the dream feels real.

The Dreamby Vimala Storey

Teaching Yoga to Seniors by John Schlorholtz


In one sense, teaching yoga to seniors is no different than teaching any other population. Just like all of us, each senior has a unique set of physical and psychological circumstances. And, since each person’s aging process is unique, it is even difficult to define at what age any one person becomes a senior. Over fifty-five? Over sixty-five? Over eighty? Ninety? As I write these numbers on the page, distinct sets of beliefs as to what each age represents pop into my mind along with distinct, visual images that I associate with each age. I laugh at myself, because after twenty years of teaching seniors I know that all of these notions that I still carry around are only partly right at best and in truth are limiting misconceptions that act as a set of blinders on me in my teaching and in my interactions with “older adults.” I have known people in their eighties who fit my image of people in their sixties, and I have known people in their sixties who appear to me to be in their eighties. I have also known people aged sixty to one hundred who have a mindset that I associate with people in their thirties.

Although I am grateful that the experience of the last twenty years has placed a large, healthy crack in my preconceptions as to what aging means and although I believe that, in the future, the process of aging may change radically through breakthroughs in human understanding, at present we all have to admit that there is clearly a process that we call “aging” occurring everywhere we look. Shockingly, it is happening even to those of us who grew up in the 1960’s and 1970’s. In designing yoga classes for seniors, the central question we teachers must ask ourselves is this: how can we incorporate the undeniable realities of growing old into teaching our elders without being blinded and limited by stereotypical beliefs about this powerful, transformative process that we all go through?

Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine related to yoga, provides useful insight that can help free us from our subconscious, limiting assumptions and beliefs while at the same time offering conceptual tools that allow us to work with seniors in a dynamic and beneficial manner. The ayurvedic paradigm for aging holds that, while everyone’s personality and process of aging is unique, there are certain shared qualities and tendencies that are much more in the foreground of our lives during our later years than during our youth. These heightened qualities and tendencies offer both positive possibilities and challenges; some need to be developed and encouraged, some need to be countered or balanced, and some need to be accepted and worked with harmoniously. As we consider the insights that ayurveda provides, we may find that the styles, methods, and techniques that are wonderful for practicing yoga in our early and middle years need to shift in small or large ways as we offer yoga to an older population. Ayurveda can thus teach us to creatively adapt and even transform yoga in order to share with our elders the physical, psychological, and spiritual benefits that yoga provides.

Instead of looking at aging as a process of enfeeblement, failing faculties, crumbling health, and growing helplessness, as our society tends to view it, ayurveda views the process of becoming old as one of increasingly manifesting vata in the psychophysical constitution. That is to say that it is a time of the growing ascendance of, among other qualities, refinement, clarity, and subtlety in awareness. This is the reason that in India elders are often respected as a source of wisdom and counsel and are also often considered to be the holders of a family’s or region’s spiritual and/or cultural heritage. From this perspective elders become a group to be valued instead of a group that is merely a burden that is to be sidelined and disregarded. Ayurveda allows us to get past a vision of aging as merely a time of decline and loss and instead allows us to see aging as a change of state that provides opportunities as well as challenges.

Some of the other qualities associated with entering the later phases of our lives, according to ayurveda, include dryness, roughness, movement/motion, and reduced resilience and brittleness. Associated with these qualities there is a tendency to become absent-minded or “spacey” as well as anxious. These qualities and tendencies, along with the refinement, clarity, and subtlety mentioned above, provide a useful set of concepts to think about and gain insights from in order to create guidelines for teaching yoga to our elders.

We can start by considering the tendency towards movement or motion. What at first may seem like a very odd if not irrelevant concept, takes on a profound resonance if we think of it in relation to attention span. As we grow old, there is an increasing tendency for the attention to move more quickly from one object, thought process, or activity to another. In creating a yoga class we can either fight this tendency or else work harmoniously with it by creating a flow throughout the class without lingering for very long on any single activity. One specific, useful technique to utilize in creating a flow of activities during the course of a class is the periodic repetition of particular activities. Just as in reading a poem many times, repetition of an exercise or pose during a class allows people to benefit in a number of ways: they receive whatever benefits the activity offers more deeply; the activity becomes more ingrained in their memories; they usually have a different, more nuanced experience of the activity each time they do it; and the teacher can add new information or explore subtle variations with successive repetitions.

I have seen in my classes that working in harmony with a fluid attention span rather than fighting it can be tremendously beneficial, both psychologically and physically. People tend to feel encouraged and interested and to receive the benefits of engaging in a wide variety of physical activities. The caveat that I would add here: while students are being encouraged by the teacher to keep moving into different poses and different series they should not become unduly tired. It is wise to remember the qualities of subtlety and

John Schlorholtz


refinement in designing classes. Seniors generally respond well to maintaining a light touch in the work, a quality that is increasingly more appropriate and healthy than injury-inducing pushiness and heavy exertion as we grow old.

The tendency towards movement can apply to the way individual exercises or activities are carried out as well as to the overall structure or design of a class. In my experience seniors respond better to rhythmic movement in postures** and to “posture flows” than to statically held poses. Static poses tend to exacerbate brittleness and reduced resilience and can result in an increased incidence of injuries; flowing movement within a single posture and/or from one posture to another tends to foster resilient strength.

Dryness and roughness in aging are concepts that are perhaps more obvious to us than movement. We certainly easily perceive both dryness and roughness in the skin as we get older. These two qualities clearly show up in the joints, as well. I believe that the two main reasons we shrink as we get older are poor posture and drying out of the joints. The drying of the disks in the spine is said to particularly affect height. Many people mention osteoporosis as a reason for growing shorter with age, but I find it hard to believe that the bones shrink in length as they get less dense.*** Roughness exists in the joints, as well. We call it osteoarthritis. Roughness and dryness in the joints point us towards creating a style of yoga for seniors that focuses on joint health. That is to say we want to emphasize moving every joint in the body through its full range of motion in order to stimulate the flow of lubricating synovial fluid and also emphasize exercises that keep the joints spacious, strong, and aligned in order to minimize the ill-effects of osteoarthritis.

Brittleness, reduced resilience, anxiety, and spaciness and absent-mindedness can be addressed in a yoga class, as well. These qualities speak to creating classes that, instead of focusing strongly on stretching, gently foster supple strength that supports increased resilience in muscle, joint, bone, and, yes, even nerve. Our nervous systems can become tightly wound and brittle, which causes us to experience increased reactivity, anxiety, and lack of resilience in facing life’s inevitable challenges. Along with fostering supple strength, it is beneficial for seniors to do exercises to enhance body awareness and improve their ability to live in their bodies instead of being dissociated and disconnected from their physical sensations and feelings. I believe body awareness exercises, which include feeling the ground under our feet or the chair under our sit bones, not only help increase personal resilience, but also help reduce spaciness and absent mindedness. They also increase our ability to be grounded and to be engaged with the circumstances around us.

I trust that this very brief overview of the ayurvedic paradigm for aging and its applications to teaching yoga is helpful and provides food for creative thinking. We have not looked at

specific techniques that might be useful or dealt with specific, germane topics like balance, meditation, breath, appropriate poses and their adaptations, practical anatomy, and common conditions that affect seniors. These and other topics will be looked at in depth at the upcoming June workshop at Yogaville. I wrote this essay with the hope that it sparks your own unique style, creativity, imagination, and insights in your approach to aging as well as in teaching yoga to seniors. If I have done my job well the word “senior” should now possess new meaning and significance.

When we broaden our understanding and change our mindset towards aging and the aged, aside from becoming better teachers, some evidence suggests that, in fact, we may change ourselves for the better, not just psychologically and morally, but physically. Our attitudes affect not only the manner in which we relate to our elders and teach them yoga, but may also, remarkably, influence our own aging process. Consider the following excerpt from a Wall Street Journal article about a recent study conducted by Yale University and the National Institute on Aging.

“…social psychologist Becca R. Levy and colleagues looked at surveys taken by 386 men and women in 1968, when they were under age 50, and then studied their subsequent health records. Nearly four decades later, the subjects who had held the most negative stereotypes about older people (answering “true” to statements such as “older people are…feeble…helpless…absent-minded…make too many mistakes”) were significantly more likely to have had heart attacks or strokes than those who held more positive views. In the negative group, 25% had cardiovascular events, versus 13% of the positive group.” —Starting to Feel Older? New Studies Show Attitude can be Critical (WSJ 10/17/09)


The Knower Who Wants to Know

(Continued from Page 1)

Qualify for Service

I know some of you might wonder right away, “What is the use of sitting and questioning without doing anything? Then in what way can I be useful to people?”

Before you can be useful to people, you must be qualified. By this practice of questioning, you are qualifying yourself to become useful. Once you know who you are, you become the best instrument to bring peace and serenity to one and all.

It’s something like a razor. If it wants to give a clean shave, it should take time to sharpen itself. If a blunt razor starts playing on the cheek, certainly you will end up in a doctor’s hands. A razor must be sharp enough. Likewise, when you want to go and serve people, you must be sharp enough; you must be clean. Those who want to go out and serve should first see whether they are free from any kind of poison such as egoism, greed, lust, or hatred. The way to get rid of these poisons is to question yourself. Find out the real you, and then all those things simply drop off. That is what is called Liberation. You liberate yourself from all these clutches. You cannot be bound by anyone else. Your own wrong identification is all that binds you. So this analytical approach is what is called Jnana Yoga.

One Appears as Many

We can also understand Jnana Yoga through modern science. The scientist says that all you see and do not see is nothing but a mass of atoms. You can break everything into atoms. You, me, the magazine you are reading, the machines it was printed on, and the space in between. It’s all nothing but a big mass of atoms. If the scientists say so, it must be correct; but we don’t actually see it that way.

If I see a man sitting right in front of me, can I say that he is nothing but a bundle of atoms? You will think that I’m a little “loose”. So on one level he’s a human being sitting right in front of me. Even though the scientific truth is that he and I are nothing but bundles of atoms.

In that respect, know that we are all nothing but one cosmic essence. There’s only one. But the one appears as many just as the sea appears as waves. The seeing, the appearance is what is called maya. You see it, but it’s not permanent. Someone I saw two minutes ago is not the same now. A part of himself has gone out of him, and a few more parts came in. A few cells died, and a few cells were rebuilt. That means constantly things are changing. A portion is dying, a portion is being born. Nobody can stop that change.

Evidently, if in our early years we broaden our perceptions and alter our vision of aging to be positive instead of negative, we have a significantly better chance of staying healthy in our later years. We would be wise, therefore, not just from an elevated, selfless yogic perspective but from the level of simple self-interest alone, to examine our attitudes and consider adopting a more tolerant and thoughtful outlook on aging. The manner in which one perceives and treats one’s elders may be a predictor of one’s future…

We would all do well to cultivate the ayurvedic understanding that growing old is not as much a process of decline as it is a phase of changing gears into a different mode of life that offers new possibilities and challenges. The insights offered by ayurveda can help us accomplish the transition to becoming valuable, healthy elders relatively easily and harmoniously. We do not want ayurveda, or any other system, to become yet another prison for our perceptions. However, I think we would be wise to utilize the wonderful, creative framework ayurveda provides in order to become friendly with the process of growing old and to help us assist others to age well in our yoga classes.

*Vata is one of three doshas, which are ayurvedic psychophysical types that manifest unique qualities and tendencies. Kapha and pitta are the doshas associated respectively with youth and middle age.

**While holding most yoga postures it is possible to perform subtle or large movements that prevent the body from becoming rigid and tightening up while in the pose.

***If anyone has definitive data on this one way or another, please let me know.

John Schlorholtz: a principal yoga instructor at the Harvard University Center for Wellness and Health Communication for almost 20 years; co-created the Yoga for Older Adults program at First Parish Church in Cambridge. Also teaches at the BodyMind Integration Center and elsewhere in the greater Boston area. Offers private sessions and leads yoga journeys to the Caribbean and to India and Nepal. Previously has taught at the Carroll Center for the Blind, the Arlington Seniors Center, the Newton Arts Center, and the Yoga Therapy Center of Brookline. Has very long experience both in adapting yoga for seniors, including creative chair yoga, and in adapting yoga for disabilities, injuries, and illnesses, including arthritis. Creator of the Ageless Yoga DVD series. Special interest: Making yoga accessible to a wide range of people by respecting each person’s physical and spiritual uniqueness.

John Schlorholtz will present “Ageless Yoga: Teaching Yoga to Our Elders” at Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville from Friday May 20 – Sunday May 23, 2010.


Everything that changes is what we call illusion. It’s not that we should negate it; we should understand it. On the other hand, Sat Chid Ananda (Existence, Knowledge, Bliss) is common in everything seen and unseen. It is never changing. What changes is the name and form.

A log of wood is made into a small stool. It’s nothing but wood, but because of the change of form you call it a stool. If you just break it, the stool is gone. Then you say it’s a piece of firewood. You have not created the firewood. You only changed the name and form of the stool.

We don’t have to deny everything and say, “Oh it’s all maya!” Even if it is all maya, just be quiet about it. Why do you run to the dining room when the dinner bell rings? After all, it’s all maya. The bell is maya. The food is maya. Your hunger is maya. We cannot live with that kind of philosophy! As long as we are in the dualistic world, we should deal with it accordingly, but we should always retain that knowledge of the essential Truth. Know that this food, the bell, the hunger are all just nothing but illusion on one level. But since you are operating on that level also, satisfy the hunger.

Dealing with Duality

Very often people ask the question, “How am I to keep the knowledge of oneness in mind and then again deal with the duality?”

For this, I’ll give you an example of a chess game. The chess pieces are made out of the same block of wood. The carpenter chips the wood into small pieces. He carves it into a king, queen, bishop, castle, knight, pawn. Then from the same block of wood, he makes a plank and draws lines. That

becomes the board. The minute the pieces are put on the board, they seem to come to life. The queen says, “Well I can travel wherever I want.” The king has certain limitations. The bishop has his own limitations. So they all move around. Until when? Until the game is played. As long as the game continues, they have their different movements. Certain rules are there, and they should follow them. Once the game is over, what happens? You simply collect all the pieces and put them the box. The queen might even be rubbing against the bishop there. Nobody worries. On the chess board, the queen has her priorities and superiorities. Once in the box, however, they’re all the same piece of wood.

Play the Game

The same way, we are all chips of the same block. We’re chipped out, made into different pawns. We have been placed on the board, and everything moves because of the Hand. The chess pieces can’t move themselves. Likewise there is also an unseen hand moving us here and there. When we forget the unseen hand, we think, “Oh, I am the queen. See, I can move around wherever I want.” Forgetting the Truth. So, remember that we are all pawns in the hand of the Unseen Force, just simply playing our part, moving according to our position, moved by the same hand.

Let us just play our game, following the rules of the game. Then the whole world will be a beautiful play, and everything will go smoothly. The minute we forget our situation and the Absolute Truth, then there is constant fighting, competition, rivalry, superiority, inferiority.

Let us know the great secret behind the maya and enjoy the world very well.

It is clear that all the religions of the world have been built upon that one universal and adamantine foundation of all our knowledge—direct experience. The teachers all saw God; they all saw their own souls, they saw their souls’ future and their eternity; and what they saw they preached…

No man can be religious until he has had the same experiences himself. It is not much use to talk about religion until one has felt it. Why is there so much disturbance, so much fighting and quarreling, in the name of God? There has been more bloodshed in the name of God than for any other cause, because people never went to the fountainhead…

Man wants truth, wants to experience truth for himself. When he has grasped it, realized it, felt it within his heart

of hearts, then alone, declares the Vedas, will all doubts vanish, all darkness be scattered, and all crookedness be made straight.

This is what Raja-Yoga proposes to teach. The goal of all its teaching is to show how to concentrate the mind; then how to discover the innermost recesses of our own minds; then how to generalize their contents and form our own conclusions from them. It never asks what our belief is—whether we are deists, or atheists, whether Christians, Jews, or Buddhists. We are human beings, and that is sufficient. Every human being has the right and power to seek religion; every human being has the right to ask the reason why and to have his question answered by himself—if he only takes the trouble.

EcumenismBy Sri Swami Vivekanandaji Maharaj

Three Basics of Pranayamaby Bhaktan Eberle

By observing both myself and others I’ve noticed that a lack of mastery of the basics is the main thing that holds people back.

The number one most basic thing about pranayama is that we are directing prana, energy.

Exhale; then draw a deep breath. Notice that a mysterious energy comes in and through the body at the exact same time as you draw the breath. This is prana. Prana comes in at the exact same time as the breath. It cannot be coming from the oxygen in the air because it follows your awareness, not the paths of the bloodstream.

Prana is what we are attempting to direct; the breath is just a handy way of getting a hold on it, since the flow of prana is divinely synchronized with the breath.

Since we are directing prana we should know, preferably before we start, that when we increase our energy level through pranayama the extra prana is going to be going wherever the prana is going now.

Prana follows the mind, so when you begin your practice make sure your mind is at least generally headed in the right direction (Yoga Sutra Book II: 30-45). It’s a little like planning to win the lottery. If sex and drugs are your thing, then it’s good to know ahead of time that winning the lottery will kill you. If I enjoy the feelings of anger or greed and somehow manage to take up pranayama, I will be directing more energy toward anger or greed and thus cause more damage to myself and others and suffer harsher consequences. (The implications of this dynamic would require volumes to explore.)

The second thing is posture. (Yoga Sutra Book II:46-49)

In the beginning we are directing very little prana, so it doesn’t seem to make much difference how we sit. Later on, good posture is absolutely necessary to avoid getting strange, perhaps severe pains.

Good posture starts at the base. When the back feels straight there is actually a slight inward curve at the lower back. Feel the lower back; if the back curves out, use a pillow or pillows. Now feel the legs. If they are pressing down, the trunk is leaning forward. If they are lifting up, the trunk is leaning back. The ultimate balance point is very precise, less than a millimeter. Perfect balance is a place of uncertainty. In perfect balance you feel like the body is floating, or you don’t feel the body at all.

Now check the solar plexus (the hollow at the center of the chest). If the shoulders are rolled forward (try it) you feel pressure at the front of the solar plexus. If they are rolled back, you feel pressure from behind. With the shoulders on either side of the chest the solar plexus is open. (If you practice advanced pranayama with the shoulders forward you will get chest pains.)

Now the head. When you pull the chin inward,you stretch the spine but squash the sides of the neck. When you lift the chin you pinch the joint between the top of the spine and the skull. Find the neutral position, where the chin and the base of the skull are both lifted very slightly and the neck is as open as possible (If you practice advanced pranayama with the head in a wrong position you get pains in the neck and shoulders.)

As you begin practicing—or begin to correct a practice that has gone wrong—put most of the emphasis on posture until you get a feel for it.

The third basic thing is perhaps too obvious: pay attention to the breathing, especially the exhalation. Practically every beginner approaches pranayama like those contests in the schoolyard where you bet your friend that you can hold your breath longer. You suck in as much air as possible, hold it till your eyeballs bulge and start to sweat, and finally let it all gush out.

Real pranayama is the direct opposite. The exhalation is the main thing. Squeeze all the air out of the lungs.

To do this, exhale slowly, devoting a disproportionate amount of time to smoothly emptying the last bit of air out of the lungs. This makes it easier to shift the awareness into filling the bottom of the lungs at the beginning of the inhalation. It also makes it easier to maintain awareness as you fill to the top. Note: Emptying the lungs completely is very easy to do and very hard to remember -- probably because it’s the opposite of our conditioning.

At the beginning of the inhalation, open up below and feel the pressure displacement from the lungs even in the hips, then up through the soft abdomen area. As the breath begins to fill the chest area, notice how the feeling changes. Don’t gloss over the transition; instead, spread the ribs, using the muscles to make the chest big even as the lungs fill from within.

At the top, keep the pose steady. Don’t raise the shoulders; keep the shoulders square and the solar plexus open as you fill to the top. Feel it under the collarbones. You may even be able to feel the pressure in the upper lungs spreading the shoulders apart. (Avoid lifting the shoulders at the end of the inhalation. Yes, you can draw in more air at the top that way; the problem is that raising the shoulders creates progressively more tension in the neck, so it’s counterproductive.)

Then exercise the feeling of mastery as you make a smooth, even, complete exhalation. You know the rewards: To begin with, unassailable health, powerful digestion, nerves of steel —leading to the veil over the inner light being destroyed.

Mastering these three simple basics makes a good foundation for any level of practice. Do yourself a favor and forget about


Bhagavad Gita: Translation and Commentaryby Swami Asokananda

visualizations, chakras, psychic powers, etc. until you have a good practical working knowledge of the basics.

Yours in His presence,Bhaktan

Bhaktan Eberle will be offering a Pranayama Workshop at the Ashram on the weekend of May 14-16, 2010

Bhaktan is a mystic Christian who lives in the presence of God; pranayama is his main yoga practice. A disciple of Swami Satchidananda since 1972 and yoga teacher for 35 years, he has a thorough knowledge of the Bible, the Tao Te Ching, the I Ching, principal Upanishads and Yoga Sutra. Bhaktan is also the husband of Prema for 30 years, father of five, extreme skier, blues harp player, and master builder. .


I used to study and teach the Yoga Sutra’s of Patanjali at the New York IYI. Then, about 30 years ago, a new President came to the IYI. She let me know that the Sutras were her most beloved yogic text and that she wished to lead our weekly study group. The gentleman that I am (plus not really having any choice), I gallantly backed away, and looked for another scripture to focus on. That’s when I turned to the other essential sacred text that is central to Sri Swami Satchidanandaji’s Integral Yoga teachings—the Bhagavad Gita. For the past three decades it has been my wonderful companion, guide, and support on the spiritual path.

I recently started working on a translation and commentary of the Bhagavad Gita. This has been a great blessing in my life. Even if my work is never published as a book, this project has truly boosted my spirits and inspired my soul.

The editor of the Integral Yoga Newsletter, Arjuna, has asked me to include one sloka from my work in each issue. Here is verse 22 from the second chapter—the Yoga of Wisdom.

Just as you throw out worn out clothes and eagerly put on new ones, so the Self discards worn out bodies and puts on others that are new.

A few years back, someone gave me a Christmas gift of a really high quality towel. I was looking forward to using a towel that was better than any I ever had before. However, I didn’t feel quite right throwing out my old towel; the frugal voice in me said that I should keep using it until it was worn down enough that my conscience approved dumping it in the garbage. It took a while, but finally that great day arrived when I got rid of that really threadbare towel and luxuriated in my new, thick, and wonderful one! When it’s time to throw out my worn out, dilapidated, karmically outdated body, I hope I remember the feeling of finally being free of my old towel.

Sri Krishna is clear about what our priority should be: before it is time to leave the body, we should realize that we are not the body. That is the core of our sadhana. But we are not milk cartons with an expiration date stamped on us. None us know when we will be “outdated.” Children die every day; many people are cut down in the prime of their lives. When Krishna uses the term “worn out” (jirnani), He is not referring to a person’s age or biological condition. A particular body is

worn out when it is no longer a suitable form for the next set of experiences that the soul requires.

The conventional understanding is that consciousness is produced in the brain. Since the brain is dependent on the body, when the body goes, the brain and consciousness follow. To anyone committed to this biological model of consciousness (as many scientists are), any statement about existence after death makes no sense. If we’re biological thinking machines, then when the body dies, it’s over—death is the ultimate disaster awaiting us all. Therefore, most of us would rather not think about it; we repress the fear of death so that we can keep functioning without getting overwhelmed by an existential anxiety.

In this verse, Krishna presents a different perspective on death, one that feels a lot less threatening than the biological model. Since the body is only a garment, and one that is bound to deteriorate, why worry about throwing it out, especially since we are going to get to put on “the latest fashion.” Our new clothes will be better suited for the next phase of our evolutionary pilgrimage. Just as I wouldn’t feel comfortable wearing a suit and tie to bed or my pajamas to work, I want to wear the right “clothes” for my next assignment. I can do my best to keep them clean and in good shape, but I should keep in mind that I am the one wearing the clothes, I am not the clothes themselves.

This doctrine of reincarnation that Krishna is so clearly and simply expressing here is not a minor revision of the conventional “scientific” notions of reality. It is a radical, fundamental shift. It is hard to prove, though, since most of us don’t remember the countless times we have been “born” and have “died.”

Swami Venkatesananda: “Reincarnation is a fact only in relation to the physical body. The Self is unborn and undying! The soul is really not reborn (in fact it was never born at all), but when it assumes a new body, we say it is born. The souls incarnating on other planets might assume or obtain physical bodies adapted to the conditions there.”

Swami Asokananda is one of Integral Yoga’s foremost teachers, known for his warmth, intelligence and good humor. Asokanandaji is one of our primary instructors for Intermediate and Advanced Hatha Yoga Teacher Training.


Why and How Should a Yoga Teacher Explore New Asanas by Lakshmi Sutter, eRYT500

Before we jump into this quarter’s article, I wanted to take a moment to thank those of you who responded to our IYTA Forum post for topics that would be of most service to you. Of the handful of folks who responded, Arjuna and I feel like we have a good storehouse of ideas for upcoming issues (but please email us at any time if new ideas come to mind!). Some of you requested subjects that have been covered – perhaps during a lapsed membership or even before becoming a teacher – so do check out previous issues of the IYTA Newsletter that are posted on the IYTA web site. To reach those archived issues, log in to the membership area of the web page (www.iyta.org / user name is your email address / password is iyta) and click on newsletters. The Basic Manual also has a wealth of information in it, which covers some of the other topics that were suggested.

The message we received from you all seemed to suggest that you want less information on individual or groups of asanas, and more emphasis on approaches or themes. So, this issue we take a departure from what has typically been our “centerfold” focus and address a question asked: Why and how should a Yoga teacher or practitioner explore new asanas?

There are probably as many answers to that question as there are practitioners. It’s no secret that Swami Satchidananda encouraged many folks to stick to the basics and to go deep into the core of IY asanas. That’s a wonderful approach and suitable for many practitioners. Others, however, choose to explore new asanas, and the reasons for doing so are vast. Here, we’ll explore a few reasons where adding asanas might serve the practitioner well:

Learning to face new or challenging situations

We call our techniques “practice”, so it follows that we are practicing for something. One might interpret that “something” to be practicing for life off the mat. It’s not difficult to find an asana class in the modern world where you are offered new or challenging poses to try.

As you approach the difficult asana, or the challenging life situation, how do you do? Do you jump right in without any consideration? Do you move in honesty with full awareness? Do you avoid the situation entirely?

Similarly, our time on the mat can be used to explore changes in our lives and how we handle new experiences. Discover if you ease into them with awareness and compassion or if you find yourself forcing or competing, observing or judging. Do you welcome these opportunities or run away from them?

Opening new tissue or energy pathways

It’s possible – and even likely – that each of us has an area of the body that might benefit from additional opening – either

in our tissues or energy paths. Practicing new movement or breathing techniques can bring awareness and expansion in these areas. If our physical or pranic bodies require attention, new asanas might help us to open them or even to find them for the first time!

Discovering holding patterns—physical,mental or emotional

When we do the same movements repeatedly, it is not unusual for us to build patterns in the way we move and/or breathe. New techniques can help us to identify and even break habits that don’t serve us. Introducing new asanas might be an opportunity to move in ways that illuminate these patterns.

Addressing a physical issue—buildingstrength or balancing with flexibility

Flexibility is often cited as the reason for practicing; many practitioners have achieved extensive flexibility without similar strength to support it. Yoga is an ancient art of bringing balance to our lives. New asanas (or pranayama techniques) can target areas of the body that need additional strengthening or flexibility. The safely flexible joint has a matching level of strength.

Providing activity to the restless mind to keep it interested in asana

…let’s face it, some of us need a little variety to remain engaged. Variety is, after all, the spice of life! While it’s true that an advanced yogin can go very deep with the simplest poses (including the Basic Hatha I class), sometimes it’s just plain fun to try new things. It keeps the mind engaged, and it can feel really good to move the body in new ways.

Whatever the reason a practitioner chooses to try new asanas, the approach in which we progress most successfully is similar – with complete awareness, honesty and compassion. From a practical perspective, we should approach new asanas regularly and actually experience them for a while with full interest. Consider yourself the student with any new asana. Experience the shape every day, and “look” at the asana with beginner eyes. What do you really feel when you are in the pose? What happens to the breath as you relax into an experience? What emotions arise? Which thoughts? Notice the sensations you experience and mentally track how they might change over time.

For most new asanas, I encourage people to move slowly without making assumptions about what they can do. Check out each millimeter of movement so you get to know the asana in your experience inside-and-out. If the asana is particularly complicated, try breaking it into progressive steps. If you lack strength in a particular area, try adapting the


pose in a way that another part of the body can help support the full body weight. For example, if Kakasana requires too much body weight on the wrists, progressively add weight to the wrists in stages to strengthen them over time (see the example on page 12). If an asana requires flexibility in several areas, break it into parts and work each individually before putting it all together (see the example on page 12 using Uttita Dhanurasana).

Since we all teach, it’s especially important to note that we should actually practice the asanas before sharing them with our students. Practice your newest asana regularly for at least a month before you even think about teaching it. If you are the least bit uncomfortable teaching it, ask a friend or family member if you can “practice” on them. Typically, we recommend that a new pose is taught from the foundation and then up and out. And remember, no two of us experience any asana just like the other. So watch closely with discernment and offer feedback to your students that will serve them.

Of course, at the essence of Integral Yoga are the Yoga Sutras of Sri Patanjali, so our goal is ultimately to integrate the Sutras onto the mat. The definition of asana, after all, can be interpreted as a steady and comfortable pose. If we dishonor elements as simple as yama - niyama, are we actually practicing Yoga? New asanas are a great opportunity to really explore internally how we integrate the core tenets of our philosophy into the practice. Begin gently and with small steps and note how your practice evolves. Following are some questions to consider the implications of yama – niyama in our asana practice.

Ahimsa, or non-harming: are you bringing harm to the body in your approach to asana? Is an extreme pose (new or old!) causing harm to some part of you – even a muscle? Alternatively, would NOT experiencing that asana cause even more harm?

Satya, or truthfulness: Be honest with yourself – is this a pose you really need to experience? Are you ready for it? Are you being too rajasic in your approach? Too tamasic? Are you moving into the experience with the awareness that keeps you true to the teachings?

Asteya, or non-stealing: Is your mind and some level of desire stealing from your body? Are you taking more than it can easefully offer? If your movement causes your breath to become labored, are you stealing your own breath? Some might suggest that if you are sore after a Hatha Yoga class, then you have stolen from your body.

Brahmacharya, or energy conservation/management:Are you losing your ability to breathe easefully throughout your pose? Phrases such as “effortless effort” and “the art of doing less” are often used to describe Yoga. If you are exhausted after your practice, are you practicing Yoga? How has managing energy changed for you over time? Can you accept where you are at a given moment? Can you adapt your practice appropriately so that you are energized by it?

Aparigraha, or non-grasping: Do you find that you are striving to reach some model of the pose? Can you ease into the shape you seek with acceptance for where you are as you approach the pose? Are you greedy with yourself when on your mat?

Saucha, or purity: How can you bring a sense or pureness to your practice? Can you approach your asana with the bewilderment of child-like innocence and investigation? Can you let go of the impurities of mind that limit your practice, such as not being good enough, having to do more, not doing enough, etc?

Santosha, or contentment: Are you content with where you are on a given moment with a new asana? If it’s particularly challenging, can you rest into some level of softness? Can you do so even if your neighbor is more “successful” in the pose?

Tapas, or accepting without causing pain: Can you accept the challenge of a new asana without imposing harm on your body or mind? How do you respond to a strong asana practice that fatigues the mind? If your body allows a strong practice, can you use challenging asanas to purge and cleanse? If your body does not allow such a strong practice, can you accept that without passing further pain (to yourself or others)?

Svadyaya, or self-study: Can you observe the internal process that follows your physical movement? What do you learn about yourself? What spiritual lessons can you learn from your time on the mat?

Ishwaripranadana, or surrender: Can you let go in a pose (new or old)? Can you surrender to some force that is bigger than you are? For some of us, that force could be gravity; for others, it is a higher power. Can you let go of the need to fight and just be in a challenging pose, or must you always do whilst on the mat?

Whether you love the basic poses and wish to go deeper into them or if you enjoy trying new shapes, the practice is to “do the practice”! As you approach your poses – new or old – integrate the essence of the teachings into every movement and each breath that occurs. If this is already your practice, perhaps there is an additional insight provided here. If these concepts are all new to you, start with one simple aspect and build slowly into it. Remember, it’s the journey on the mat that’s really important; there is no destination to reach. Understand why you take the approach that resonates with you, and then learn as much as you can from the process!

Lakshmi Sutter writes regularly for the IYTA Newsletter. An eRYT500, she served for years at Yogaville’s Integral Yoga Academy in many capacities and continues to do so in the field of Yoga Therapy. She is a trainer of Integral Yoga Hatha Yoga and enthusiastically shares her fascination with the human body during basic anatomy workshops. Lakshmi’s supportive instruction is suitable for a wide range of physical levels, with class approaches ranging from gentle and restorative to energetic and challenging. Lakshmi has returned to her career in ecology, but will always call Yogaville home.For request or comments: [email protected].


Then, she creates balance with the arm and leg outstretched alternately

In this demonstration, Jaya would like to complete Uttita Dhanurasana as she believes it will increase her backbending flexibility. In this image, like so many students, she was unable to make a connection between the “reaching” arm and the raised foot. Considering the asana, it requires flexibility in backward bending, strength enough to hold the backward bend, a moderate twist and strength to raise the outstretched thigh toward the head.

To work on increasing her backward bending capacity, Jaya continued her backward bends—including those that build strength (such as cobra and locust) as well as those which have a stronger impact on flexibility (such as bow, which she may have started on one side only—or half bow).

Taking this particular asana into a progression over time, Jaya eventually puts the puzzle pieces together to create her asana. She begins by getting comfortable in a tabletop position.

Examples of

Why and How Should a Yoga Teacher Explore New Asanas By Lakshmi Sutter

Following is a lighthearted exploration of the principles discussed in this issue’s asana centerfold segment.

With the leg outstretched, Jaya builds strength by slowly raising and lowering the leg dynamically with the breath.

Over time, Jaya adds the element of balance into her asana.

With continued emphasis on the backward bend and slowly staging steps such as these in her regular practice, Jaya achieved the full expression of the pose.

Just Me and My Mat

It doesn’t care about the rush of traffic on my way to teach,or those thoughts to myself, “do I practice what I preach?”

It overlooks my unwashed face and the graying hair that’s out of place.It’s only happy I have chosen the timeas I begin my practice with an intent and a chime.

What once was just a rubber matis a hallowed place that I look at.As I step upon its cushioned feelbeneath my feet it seems surreal.

Like a long lost love or friend to mereconnects me to my heart you see!It soothes my troubles, fears and woes.I wonder how? Do you suppose?It’s made of magic, even though some see a mat and nothing more.For some it’s merely just a chore.

But as for me, it’s comfortingunloading my problems that I bring to sit or stand within my spacetakes me to another placewhere I can self examine mein stillness pausing mindfully.

—By Lynda Sandora Hoffarth January 2009


Lift one foot off the floor and experience the balance necessary to move further into the pose.

Jaya serves in the Yogaville kitchen, and carrying those big bins of food to the steam rack requires great strength. Crow pose, kakasana, could be one way to build upper body strength to support her in her hard work. If your attempts at crow look like this.

Then consider progressing toward the asana in the following stages. Begin just placing weight on the wrists until the wrists feel comfortable assuming weight from the body.

When steady, with the knees placed on the upper arms (as far toward the armpits as the body supports), left the second foot off the floor as well. Look forward and draw the great toes together (not shown).

Place the knees on the upper arms as described in the teacher training manual, and lean forward gently over time until the wrists are content with the added weight.

If the wrists are comfortable, this is a fun pose to build strength. And, if you are looking to add a sense of playfulness to your practice, you can even caw like a crow!

Note: no yogins were injured in the demonstrations provided. The author has taken poetic license in creating stories to support the progressions. OM


The sweet practice and protection of yoga promotes healing; the teacher models the yogic way of life, while members of the yoga community are dedicated to exploring the spiritual dimensions of yoga and asana as well. Yoga brings body, breath and mind harmoniously together, helping people learn to soothe themselves and discover enough inner time and space to develop the patience needed to be present from one moment to the next.

Can practicing yoga also help cure addictive behaviors? The Fall 2008 issue of Integral Yoga magazine had over 13 articles describing some aspect of the curative power of yoga; Amy Weintraub, Boris Pisman and I wrote about yoga and emotional health; Mala Cunningham wrote about heart health, Sevika Laura Douglas about eating disorders.

How should teachers respond when they realize that a yoga student is a substance abuser or has an eating disorder? I asked these questions to a group of Integral yoga teachers who are also therapists.

Although every teacher had a slightly different perspective, each showed a tremendous respect for the yoga student and for the yogic process. I wondered if this group would respond differently than teachers who are not also therapists, but found that these teacher/therapists drew careful boundaries between their two callings; since they were giving yoga classes for the general population, not classes designed to help people with addiction problems, their focus was on teaching yoga, not doing therapy so their answers are useful for people who aren’t trained therapists.

First to reply was Karuna Jo, who likes to begin her classes with a carefully selected reading. She might look for the right words to send a message to someone in need if she notices a student with a special problem.

Amsumati believes that the yoga class needs to be a safe and neutral place, so problems should only be discussed if the student asks; then the teacher should gently point in the right direction so as not to discourage the student from continuing yoga practice.

Nischala welcomes and accepts all who choose to take a class. She remembers Swami Satchidananda’s great example-- he received all people with kindness and patience, and set the tone for those who used drugs, or had eating disorders, by teaching them to just keep learning and doing yoga. Eventually self-destructive behaviors diminish and disappear. Of course, a student who seems unsteady or sick should be invited to rest in savaasana or guided to get help outside the class.

Other teachers gently broach difficult subjects with their students privately, but only if they know them very well. The small group of students I consulted agreed with this policy.

Contemporary research indicates that yoga practice is a good step towards recovery, but sometimes other interventions may also be necessary-- some people may need individual psychological treatment, medical intervention, participation in therapy groups.. or even residential treatment.

A number of yoga teachers combine therapy with yoga. Deborah Patz Clarke, MA, investigated binge eating with “”Finding Om: Pilot study of a yoga and discussion based treatment for Binge Eating Disorder,” which measured changes in psychopathology, body awareness, body responsiveness and mindfulness. The sample size was small, and the study needs to be replicated, but results showed statistically significant decreases in binging. “The Benefits of Yoga for Adolescents with Eating Disorder,” a study conducted by Mary Fury, MA, RYT, had similar findings. Group discussion and yoga asana together develop strong community support for individual members, as anyone knows who regularly practices yoga with a sangha.

Phyllis Moses, BA, RYT, C.Ht. works with inpatients recovering from alcohol and chemical dependency in an addiction recovery center. She finds that yoga asana enhances self esteem and promotes self soothing behaviors by deepening mind-body connections, cultivating compassion, and developing physical and emotional flexibility and resilience. As Richard Miller says in his CD, Yoga Nidra: the Meditative Heart of Yoga, when we stop resisting feelings of fear, insecurity and joy, we stop feeling afraid.

For further information about these studies and many others, please see the International Association for Yoga Therapy website, vvww.iayt.org/ which has a library of digital resources. You also might like Sprout yoga, http://padmaease.wordpress.com/, a website dedicated to yogic treatment of eating disorders. And I recommend a film, Addiction, Recovery and Yoga, by Lindsey Clennell, which features a series of interviews of people recovering from substance abuse who find sustenance in their yoga practice. The film is available on the Internet at http://vjww.adyo.orglhome.html.

I am very curious to hear readers’ answers to the questions that I asked the yoga teacher/therapist group and students, so I’ll ask them again.

1. Can practicing yoga help cure addictions?

2. How should teachers respond when they realize that a yoga student is a substance abuser or has an eating disorder? Please send your replies to [email protected] for a possible follow-up article.

Namaste!

Can Yoga Practice Help Cure Addictive Behaviors? By Lynn Somerstein, PhD, RYT

Physically Adjusting Asanasby Swami Asokananda

The system of Integral Yoga Hatha, encourages students to develop awareness of their own innate inner intelligence. The teacher can be instrumental in this by guiding the students to move beyond simply following instructions to feeling what they are experiencing. This will lead to the students becoming more observant of the ingrained patterns that obstruct their enjoyment of the present moment. It is the teacher’s job to foster an environment where it is safe to see and release these patterns through an indrawn, sensitive focus.

Most of our teaching is done through verbal instruction. If for some reason our words have not adequately conveyed what we want to get across, then we have to decide if physically adjusting the student is the best next step. Physically adjusting our students can either disturb or enhance their experience, depending on how it is done and how it is received. Just as our words need to be used properly to support this inner experience, our touch also needs to be used consciously and skillfully, if it is going to be useful to the students.

What are some problems that can arise from the teacher’s use of touch in a class?

1) The touch is initiated from a place of power, control, or the need of the teacher, rather than from a place of service. (“I’m the teacher. I will adjust you because I know better.”) It is tempting for teachers to physically manipulate student’s bodies into a form that we perceive as “better.” Even if the teacher is truly coming from their heart, the student may perceive it differently due to their own issues of past abuse. Some students may not want to be touched, but feel that they don’t really have a choice in the matter.

2) The student experiences the touch as an intrusion or an interruption of their inward experience. They experience our intervention as more invasive than helpful.

3) The student is caught off-guard and surprised.

4) The student gets hurt. Sometimes the teacher’s adjustment creates a momentary experience of exhilaration; the student loves being placed deeper into the asana than they’ve ever gone before. But then later discovers that she is in a whole lot of pain!

5) The student feels uncomfortable because she perceives some sexual intention on the part of the teacher.

6) The student misses the opportunity to discover for himself his own unique way to adjust the asana.

7) If the same students are adjusted again and again, it may appear that they are getting special attention by the teacher (or being picked on).

The skillful use of touch

With all of the above in mind, you have probably also experienced how a skillful adjustment of our students can really enhance their understanding of an asana and feel wonderful. The right touch can be worth a thousand words. You can convey certain things more clearly through your hands than through words. The sensation of touching, in contrast to verbal direction, can move directly into the body without any intellectualization from the mind. The full attention can then rest on the sensations, not on the thinking process.

With the right approach, most students are receptive to being touched. Some ways to build this right approach are:

1) Prepare yourself. Probably the factor that will have the most impact on making teachers good at adjustments is our own practice. An effective adjustment requires a quiet and observant mind not skewed by ego. As our own sensitivity and attunement deepens, as we feel more connected to the Whole, our touch will have more potency to help dispel the illusion of separateness.

In addition to our regular practice, it is usually helpful to take a moment before class to clear the mind and open the heart. This will connect us to the part of us that can sense when a hands-on touch will be more effective than verbal direction, or when we might put our hands on one student, but not the next student. This preparation will help us to get unstuck from our own samskaras and to understand the asana from the perspective of the student’s body and energy.

2) Do you have their permission? We can’t assume that the student will welcome our touch. There are different


Anjali, also known as Dr. Lynn Somerstein, is a psychotherapist in private practice on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and a Hatha I Yoga teacher and board member at Uptown IYI, on the West Side. She is also the Executive Director of the Institute for Expressive Analysis, book review editor for the Psychoanalytic Review, and has a private therapy practice honoring yogic wisdom and psychoanalytic theory. Her contact information is as follows:

e mail: [email protected]: www.lynnsomerstein.com

approaches to getting the student’s permission to adjust them. Some teachers briefly discuss their use of physical adjustments at the start of class, making it clear that the students can always decline. Some ask permission each time they touch a student; others drop this once they have developed a connection and rapport with the student. You would probably approach a new student differently than an old-timer. However, with any student you want to be respectful of their space, make eye contact, and approach mindfully, so that they are not startled.

3) A good touch conveys acceptance, respect, and awakens the spirit of self-discovery. When something doesn’t look quite right, we may not be sure of the source of the problem. Is the student adapting the asana through listening to her own inner intelligence? Is she avoiding certain areas of weakness? Whatever may be the case, the teacher should start off with respect for and honoring where the student is at that moment, rather than barging in to “save the day” by crunching the student into some ideal of the asana.

If we completely honor exactly where the students are at in their asanas, it will help them to learn to accept themselves as they are now. When we adjust the students, we are not making them or their asana “wrong,” or even so much “correcting” them. Every body is unique, and most of our students are not going to look like the pictures in the yoga calendars. The best touch gently guides the students how to create more spaciousness and to discover where their patterns of resistance are so that they can open up those places.

4) If there is a lack of extension, grounding may be what’s needed. The student may be collapsed and in need of a lift and extension. However, what may help them more is to see that they are well grounded (sthira), and then they may find ways of creating spaciousness (sukha) themselves. This solid foundation is especially important in standing poses. But even in an asana like Paschimottanasana, if the teacher applies a gentle pressure to ground the femurs, the student may naturally release further into the pose.

5) Get feedback. An adjustment is a two-way process. Find out how the student feels with it. Make sure that they feel comfortable to let you know if your intervention is not working for them. Do not be overly sensitive if a student wants you to back off. Their feedback is crucial, and it may not be verbal. See how their whole being is responding to your touch. It should foster a sense of ease in the pose. After the adjustment, the student should be able to maintain the position with sthira and sukha.

6) Use of breath. Let your breath flow in harmony with the natural rhythm of the student’s breath. This will help to bring the teacher and student pranically and mentally in synch and open to mutual learning.

7) Adjusting during class or after class? Adjusting someone’s asana is a sensitive interaction requiring focus and an unrushed mind–both of which may not be totally available to the teacher during the group experience. The teacher needs

good judgment to assess if the student will be served better by meeting after class.

8) When we sense some attraction for or from a student, it behooves us to be careful about physical contact. Even without any attraction, it is best to avoid erogenous zones. A trick that could be useful to keep your awareness focused in the right direction: Assume the students can read your mind!

Early in my teaching career, I had a “bad” experience that made me very cautious about adjustments. I was putting a gentle forward pressure to a student (who happened to be a friend of mine) in Paschimottanasana. It turned out that she was at her edge, and my little “gentle help” ended up injuring her. She said that the forward movement felt good, but afterwards the pain arrived. It took a number of years, but as I’ve gained more experience and sensitivity, I gradually regained confidence in my adjusting skills.

May these reflections help you to deepen your connection to yourself, your students, and the One that has become us all.

Swami Asokananda is one of Integral Yoga’s foremost teachers, known for his warmth, intelligence and good humor. Asokanandaji is one of our primary instructors for Intermediate and Advanced Hatha Yoga Teacher Training. He presently serves in the Integral Yoga Academy.

Swami Asokananda adjusting the posture of a student.


Academy & Yogaville newsby Manu Hunt

We are proud to announce that Ganesh MacIssac was chosen as the Ashram’s new Executive Director. He has been a devotee since 1973 and has been successful in the operation of IY Distribution. He has taken distribution from a small operation in 1986 to the multi-million dollar business it is today. Ganesh has already started working in his new role.

A special thanks to Ram, who added serving as the interim leader for one year to his already busy schedule of Vice President and Director of the Academy. His services went above and beyond the call of duty.

The ashram has been blessed with an excellent and bountiful year of produce from the Y.O.G.I. (Yogaville Organic Garden Internship) program. We have been eating the bounty from the farm all summer. Successive plantings of lettuce have provided our salad bar with greens through all but the hottest months. The farm is looking forward to some expansion projects in the winter months and to next year’s planting as we incorporate the lessons learned from this year. Anyone who has had the pleasure of being at the Farm can tell that these very dedicated and happy people have had a great impact on all of us. The farm was a success this past year, hosting a number of interns (Y.O.G.I.’s) who all left their mark in different ways, leaving behind the bounty of the land and one happy head farmer; Corey Hunsdon.

We are finished with the approval of the layout and verbiage for the new signage that will be installed at LOTUS, Chidambaram, etc. The new circle fountain landscaping installation is a masterfully executed job done by our own Jai Ram. The LOTUS will be clear-coated this fall to protect it from the elements. Window tinting is being applied to the Display Hall and Gift Shop windows, with future hopes of the archway being repainted. It is our hope that all the major projects, including landscaping around the Shrine and pools, will be completed in time for the 25th anniversary in 2011. Jai LOTUS!

In closing, Jnanam, a senior LYT, as well as staff coordinator for the academy, left the ashram in late October. She was a steady and dedicated person in the Academy, as well as the ashram, for the past year. She plans to maintain her yogic sangha and community overseas, taking with her all that she learned and absorbed from living the ashram lifestyle.


Enjoy fresh air and a serene country setting.

Transforming LivesWinter / Spring Programs

Mastering Yoga Therapeutics:Fulfilling the Promise of Yoga Doug KellerMarch 4–7, 2010

Yoga Vacation in Guatemala Swami Asokananda and Ram WienerMarch 6–12, 2010

The Divine Name Jonathan and Andy GoldmanApril 9–11, 2010

Suffering Necessary?A Zen Inquiry Zen Master Dae GakApril 23–25, 2010

1-800-858-9642 www.integralyogaprograms.org

Exploring the Subtle Aspects of Hatha YogaDijon CarewFeb. 12–14, 2010

INTEGRAL YoGA SENIoR SPEAKERS’ SCHEDuLESPlease contact local representatives for times, costs, pre-enrollment requirements, schedule changes, etc.


Swami RamanandaFeb 9 Resolving Inner Conflict and Painful Emotions New York City IYI6:30-8:30 202-929-0586 / www.iyiny.orgMarch 3 Swami and the Rabbi -- Purim, the Trickster, and7:45-9:15 the Divine Masquerade

March-May Raja Yoga TT With Swami Ramananda and Swami Chidananda Contact NYIYI for exact dates and times

April 24 Swami and the Rabbi6:00-7:30 The Sound of the Divine Mother Calling Us Om

Swami KarunanandaWeekly Ongoing classes: Satchidananda Ashram - Yogaville Relax, Recharge and Reconnect 800-858-YOGA / [email protected]

February Meditation Workshops for Basic TT

March 12–14 Transformation: How to Get Unstuck

April 8–19 Raja Yoga TT New York City IYI 202-929-0586 / www.iyiny.org

April 11 Getting Unstuck: 3 - 5 pm Letting Go of Attachments and Making Changes

April 23 The Dynamic Duo: Fairlawn NJ IYIFriday Evening Pranayama and Meditation 201-796-7585 / www.iyinj.org

Swami AsokanandaMarch 6-12 Guatemala Vacation Satchidananda Ashram - Yogaville 800-858-YOGA / [email protected]

March 14-April 3 Portugal ITT Satchidananda Ashram - Yogaville 800-858-YOGA / [email protected] 18-May 16 Basic TT

April 30-May 2 Ohio Retreat Arjuna Biknevicius [email protected]

Satya & Sadasiva GreenstoneFeb 5 The Meaning of OM Harmony Healing Arts Center Shepherdstown WV Jahnavi Judy Jenner / www.ssyoga.org

Feb 26-27 Bhakti Yoga Lavender Yoga Studio Winston-Salem, NC Candi Lavender / [email protected]

March 14-28 Basic Teacher Training: 2nd Session Satchidananda Ashram - Yogaville 800-858-YOGA / [email protected]

uPComING PRoGRAmS AT YoGAvILLE


February5-7 The Yoga of Authenticity: Deepening Spiritual & Emotional Intelligence for Love & Work with Turiya Greg Liotta

12-14 Sweetheart Yoga with Nina Priya David

12-14 Exploring the Subtle Aspects of Hatha Yoga with Dijon Carew (Free to IYTA Members)

19-21 Self-Discovery Through Hatha Yoga with Vimala Pozzi

19-21 Deep Relaxation: Experiencing Supreme Peace with Swami Dayananda and Amrita McLanahan, M.D.

26-28 Infinite Abundance: Creating the Life You Want Through Tantric Yoga with Lalitha Devi

26-28 Balancing the Emotions with Mala Cunningham, Ph.D.

27 Free Introduction to Yoga Workshop with Rev. Lakshmi Barsel, Ph.D.

march4-7 Mastering Yoga Therapeutics: Fulfilling the Promise of Yoga (for Teachers) with Doug Keller

5-7 Marriage, Family and Enlightenment: Living and Loving with a Yogic Lifestyle with Rev. Bhagavan and Bhavani Metro

5-7 Introduction to Thai Yoga Massage with Jyothi Watanabe

6-12 Yoga Vacation in Guatemala with Swami Asokananda and Ram Wiener

12-14 Laugh-a-Yoga with Bharata Wingham

12-14 Transformation: How to Get Unstuck with Swami Karunananda

19-21 The Mind, Its Mystery and Its Mastery with Swami Vidyananda

19-21 The Secret of Yoga: Hidden Teachings on Samadhi Revealed with Graham Schweig, Ph.D.

26-28 Spiritual Anatomy of the Tao: Opening the Gates of the Lotus with Master Tao Huang (Purple Yang)

26-28 Self-Discovery Through Conscious Breath with Linda Tingle

April2-4 The Yoga of Forgiveness: A Course in Miracles with Bharata Wingham

9-11 Weekend Peaceful Weight Loss Workshop with Brandt Bhanu Passalacqua

9-11 The Divine Name with Jonathan & Andi Goldman

9-18 10-day Peaceful Weight Loss Retreat with Brandt Bhanu Passalacqua

16-18 Yoga and Avurveda for Personal Transformation with Sundari Finlayson

16-18 Creative Yoga Therapy with Nina Priya David

18-23 Thai Yoga Massage Level I with Jyothi Watanabe

21-25 Yoga Therapy for the Spine with Bill Gallagher and Richard Sabel

23-25 Is Suffering Necessary? A Zen Inquiry with Zen Master Dae Gak

23-25 The Pure Heart of Yoga: Deepening Your Experience of Yoga Poses with Bob Butera, Ph.D.

29-May 2 Spring Silent Retreat: Spring into Spring—Tapping Our Natural Vitality Through Yoga

may7-9 What You Practice is What You Have with Cheri Huber

8 Free Introduction to the Yoga of Sound with Senior Staff

13-15 Waiting on the Light Within Retreat with Rama Roosevelt & Swami Dayananda

14-16 Breath = Life: Pranayama Workshop with Bhaktan Eberle

20-23 Ageless Yoga: Teaching Yoga to Our Elders with John Schlorholtz (Teacher Program)

20-23 Days of Bliss: The Essential Teachings of Swami Satchidananda with Satya Greenstone and Sadasiva Greenstone

21-23 The Eternal Energy of Yoga: Learn from a Master with Tao Porchon-Lynch

28-31 Heart as Wide as the World Chanting Retreat with Krishna Das

Integral Yoga® Teachers Association108 Yogaville WayBuckingham, VA 23921

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