Yoga with Zuzana

The effect of an asana can change greatly depending on how you move. If you round your back and bend forward at the hip, you’re relaxing and stretching your spi...ne extensors. If you lean forward with a neutral spine, hinging from your hip, you’re strengthening your spine extensors. Either way, you will eventually reach the same end position, the forward bend. But the effect is very different because of just one simple change in the way you move. There are many variables you can alter for different effects in asana. Select the why of moving first, the purpose. Then selecting the how becomes easyif you have the skills in your movement toolkit! Dr. Ganesh Mohan Study yoga with the Mohans at online.svastha.net.

The I that we experience is in flux at every moment. We cannot stop it from changing with every experience we have. Something that is constantly changing is t...he very definition of impermanent, but we invest our happiness in that self being permanent. This is an example of what the Yoga Sutra calls klesha: an experiential pattern that is guaranteed to create suffering. Losing yourself in experiences is a lack of choice. Quieting your construct of self is the ultimate exercise of choice. If your self is the calm witness to the happenings in your mind, you can abide in peace without the chase. Calm the flux of self within you and everything else naturally grows clear. Of course, to do this, you need to quiet your mind first. If your mind is disturbed, your self will be carried away in that disturbance. All the practices of yoga are therefore aimed at fostering a calm mind. Dr. Ganesh Mohan Learn pranayama with the Mohans online at on.svastha.net/36lIU7Y.

Happy New Year, dear friends. Wish you health, peace of mind and strength to go through these difficult times. I have not been teaching yoga for over a year. I am not sure when and where the class resumes. But when it does, I make sure to let you know. Either here or in my newsletter. Hit the button at the top of the page to subscribe. May you be well and safe.

Learn pranayama with the Mohans online at on.svastha.net/36lIU7Y. In my notes from a long-ago class with Krishnamacharya on 27 November 1976, he says that asan...a should not be bhga-sdhana. He was fond of repeating variants of this quote. Bhga-sdhana means a practice for only some parts of the body. Asana should be sarva-anga-sdhanait should work on all parts of the body. He would also note that asana should not be anga-bhanga-sdhana or a practice that disrupts the health of body parts. It is possible to make the appearance of asana without it being yoga. The point of asana as yoga is not just to assume the shape of a pose. Asana is about good health and a peaceful mind. That means we must use all the parts of the body by doing a variety of movements, not just a limited set of asanas, every day. We must also include slow and deeper breath, with the quality of sttvic mindfulness (calm, clear, pleasant, steady). A. G. Mohan

A seeker must have a liking for spiritual pursuit if they are to succeed. Being your inner self of peaceful consciousness should be more important to you than c...hasing after other experiences. In my notes of studies with Krishnamacharya, in a class on 19 February 1977, he makes that point to me. He says that to do upsana or sustained meditation toward knowing oneself, you must develop a liking for it. Partly because he was a staunch follower of the devotional traditional of Vaishnavism, he went on to emphasize that this is easier done using the Divine as your focus rather than yourself. Yoga is more neutral toward the concept of the Divine than Vaishnavism. But, it is generally true that it is easier to develop beneficial love and connection to something greater than yourself like the Divine. You can then change your connection toward yourself with the same love and positive feeling. A. G. Mohan Learn pranayama with the Mohans online at on.svastha.net/36lIU7Y.