Welcome to the Living Practice – August
2002
Letter from the Editor
August
by Federico Garcia Lorca
How to Lead a Spiritual Life or How to be Spiritual –
Rajayoga by Neel Kulkarni
Find It In Your Heart, a Meditation by Lorane Gordon
Healthy Habits by Megan McCarver
Ayurveda - The System of Balancing by Vijay Kumar
Website Review by Dr. KEV
Summer Vegetable and Yogurt Salad by Christine Machiraju
August Feature: Krishnamacharya’s Legacy contributed by Yoga
Journal
A Note From YogaEverywhere
Yoga Classifieds
Past Issues of the Living Practice
Dear
lovely viewers,
Wow,
what an eventful month! July, for me was full of satisfying surprises! I was
honored to teach yoga at Opera Works, a summer intensive for Opera Singers. How
quickly the singers rooted in, melting the walls around their hearts by truly
listening and expressing their inner voices. Between the loving support of
their coaches, yoga and Alexander Technique daily, the singers emerged into
their gifts of grace. Every day was such an eye opener for me. Once again I was
privileged to observe human vulnerability and witness that healing power of
tenderness touch so many hearts.
Thank
you once again for sharing your writings with us. It is nice to join together
and create the Living Practice.
Do you
like the changes to YogaEverywhere.com … tell me what you think of the new yoga
sequence. Gary and I have been working very hard to accommodate the growth of
the site. Please support our Yoga Stores and Vacation Links.
with
love,
Megan
McCarver
August by Federico Garcia Lorca
August
The
opposing
Of peach
and sugar,
And the
sun inside the afternoon
Like the
stone in the fruit.
The ear
of corn keeps
its
laughter intact, yellow and firm.
August.
The
little boys eat
Brown
bread and delicious moon.
Spirituality Article 3 - How to Lead a
Spiritual Life or How to be Spiritual – Rajayoga by Neel Kulkarni
Salutations to Lord Ganesha. In the
'Spirituality - Article 1' (posted in January’s Living Practice we saw what is meant by Spiritual Life or Spirituality. Then, in the
‘Spirituality – Article 2’ (posted in April’s Living Practice
we started with ways of actually leading a spiritual life and stated certain
salient features of them. Let us, now,
go into one specific way of Spirituality, called as ‘Rajayoga’.
Once a person truly realizes existence of the
Spirit and develops an intense desire to realize it, he or she takes up one of
the paths as a main path depending on the person’s nature. A person of
introvert or meditative nature takes up Rajayoga or the path of meditation.
Rajayoga means as follows: Raja means royal and
yoga means the practice of yoga. It is
royal because of extraordinary achievements in the mental abilities due to its
practice. Rajayoga is basically a path of meditation. Meditation, called as ‘Dhyaana’ in the Sanskrit language includes
three entities. Meditator that is ‘Dhyaataa’, is a person who performs the
action of meditation. Object of Meditation
that is ‘Dhyeya’, is a means object adopted by the meditator to facilitate the
action of meditation. And, thirdly,
meditation that is ‘Dhyaana’ is the action of focusing on the object of
meditation to become one with it.
The meditator is initially in the form of senses
(sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste). Then this form changes to mind (the
cognitive faculty). And, ultimately becomes soul or Individual Spirit, called
as ‘Drashtu’ in Sanskrit. Similarly,
the object of meditation in initially in the form perceptible to senses or gross,
called as ‘Saguna’ in Sanskrit, that is with qualities. Then, this form changes
to one perceptible to mind alone or mental, called as ‘Antarika Saguna’ that is
with mental qualities. Finally, this form becomes Spiritual that is beyond
senses and mind, called as ‘Nirguna’ or without qualities. Again, in the
similar manner, the form of meditation is initially concentration, called as
‘Dhaaranaa’ (Sage Patanjali’s 6th limb). Then, this form changes to
meditation, called as ‘Dhyaana’ (7th limb). And, finally becomes, Superconscious, called
as ‘Samaadhi’.
Dhaarana is a concentration done voluntarily
using an object of meditation. Dhyaana is an involuntary concentration.
Samaadhi is a state where the meditator and object of meditation merge.
Samaadhi state has two steps. The first one is called as ‘Sabeeja Samaadhi’,
that is with trace of ego. The final one is called ‘Nirbeeja Samaadhi’ that is
without any trace of ego.
The main tool in the process of meditation is
mind. And, the main purpose of
meditation is to make the mind perfectly peaceful and stable. Sage Patanjali
describes it as ‘yogaschittavrittinirodaH’, meaning ‘Yoga is restraint of
modifications of mind stuff’. When the mind is perfectly peaceful and stable,
it reflects only the spirit and the person realizes the spirit. As the spirit is everlasting, the person
gets everlasting peace of happiness, called as ‘Samaadhi’.
To perform the steps of Dhaarana and Dhyaana,
the mind has to be strong. To achieve this, one goes through Yama, Niyama,
Asana, Praanaayaama, and Pratyaahara’ which are external and internal
disciplines, described by first five limbs of Sage Patanjjali’s System. These
five limbs and Dhaarana, Dhyaana, Samaadhi form eight limbs, called as Eight
Limbed Path, or Ashtaanga Yoga. Additionally, Hatha Yoga, which shall be covered
in future articles, is extremely useful in this process.
Hathayoga and Rajayoga provide high quality of
physical and mental health. This health should be used for spiritual progress.
Due to knowledge of and control on mind achieved through the Rajayoga, the
student gets extra sensory Mental Powers, called as ‘Vibhuuti’. But, using
these powers for non-spiritual purpose creates an obstruction in the spiritual
progress.
Writing on Rajayoga is very difficult, therefore
it is found in the form of Aphorisms, called as ‘Sutra’, such as Patanjali Yoga
Sutra. Rajayoga has to be studied with an expert teacher, or can be understood
by the grace of a compassionate saint.
Neel Kulkarni, born in India, has studied Yoga in Classical Style for over 31 years and taught for over 24 years in many countries and to variety of audience. He completed his Health and Yoga studies in 1999, and opened his Yoga School, which gives many types of Yoga Classes including Hatha, Meditation, Chanting, Philosophy, and Sports. Neel holds B.S. and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from an International Ivy League and has worked as Computer Consultant for 21 years in many countries. You can reach him at
Find
It In Your Heart, a meditation by Lorane Gordon
Close your eyes and with your attention on your heart take a nice deep
"belly" breath. Continue breathing and make the intention to notice
the beating of your heart. Simply notice the beating of your heart. You may
feel it, hear it or imagine it. It doesn¹t matter. You can¹t do this wrong.
Notice any words that go through your mind and bring your
attention back to the beating of your heart, and to your breath. Now, have the
intention to feel the beating of your heart in the palms of your
hands. Simply breathe and notice your heart beat in the palms of your
hands.
Be patient with yourself, and feel free to use your
imagination. Say to yourself, "With every beat of my heart I am sending
love and light to my entire body. With every beat of my heart I feel my body
becoming enlivened with divine energy. I am ablaze with the energy of love. At
any time I desire I can choose to feel this energy pulsating through my body
bringing my attention fully and completely into the present moment with all
it¹s glory. I am here, I am the light, I am the creation and the creator. All
is as it should be and I am grateful."
Continue to breathe and gently rouse yourself feeling a
renewed connection with yourself and all that is.
Lorane Gordon is a wife, a mother, a teacher, and a seeker. After many years of spiritual practice, Lorane found herself with a following of her own. Her natural abilities as a teacher became obvious, not only to her students, but to her own teachers. In fact, of her teaching ability, Deepak Chopra was moved to write: "Lorane is a teacher of infinite possibilities." Please visit her site to learn more.
Healthy Habits by Megan McCarver
Hi YogaEverywhere viewers ... if you
have not already incorporated these in to you life style, try these three tips
for thirty days and they may become healthy "habits" you’ll want to
keep!
No more obnoxious alarm clocks or
telephone alarms. The transition between sleeping and awakening is precious.
Internally create your own biological clock. When you lay your beautiful self
down each night to rest, silently tell your self what time you will awaken the
next morning.
Cherish your journey of awakening.
Stretch your arms above your head and point your toes before you even roll out
of bed. Gently spinal twist and hug your kness in to your chest. Slowly rise from
your bed with greater awareness. Remember, any side of your bed is the"
right side".
Play Kirtan (or any music that opens your heart) as soon as you set foot
on the earth. Soothe your mind and body with harmonious melodies designed for
your soul. Like a baby, dog or cat, we tend to be very sweet or terribly grumpy
when we first rise. Balance your mood out with the sounds of healing music.
Ayurveda - A
System of Balancing by Vijay Kumar
Our planet is based on the concepts of hot and cold. Similarly, the human body
and its diseases are based on hot and cold. Likewise, herbs too are based on
the same concepts in nature. Our daily food, spices and herbs have two
opposing properties, either hot or cold. We have to take the foods and
herbs that balance each other.
Since the human body's problems are based on hot and cold, we have to
neutralize the problems accordingly. One example would be in treating women
struggling with menopause. Often, Ayurveda recommends the herbs and foods
that have a cooling effect. By the same token women during menopause are
recommended not to consume hot foods such as chocolates, garlic and seafood.
On the contrary, herbs that create heat in the body are recommended for people
who suffer with types of Arthritis. So Ayurvedic formulations give the
emphasis in their formulation in consideration of these facts. This system
of balancing with herbs is why Ayurvedic formulations are much more effective
and quite adjustable in the body. To make an Ayurvedic formulation, the
herbalist needs to have had experience in the field of approximately
25 to 30 years with a complete knowledge of all the basic facts.
To my knowledge, on May 6, 2002 the L.A. Times published an article regarding
guggul (commiphora mukul), which has been used in India for 2000 years. Recent
science has documented that guggul is good in controlling cholesterol
levels in the bloodstream. After a few days, I saw a formulation in the market
containing a small quantity of guggul and a high portion of garlic. But this
formulation was according to the people's choice. It did not contain the system
of balancing because garlic creates heat in the body and also garlic does not
suit everybody, particularly menopausal women. It has to be balanced with other
herbs to neutralize the effect of one herb with the other.
I still remember the time when our father, Vaid Viday Sagar, came across one
person who was having two health problems at the same time; syphilis and
arthritis, which are contrary to each other. If the herbs with hot properties
were given to him, his syphilis would worsen and if herbs with cold properties
were given to him, his arthritis would increase. And he cured this person with
very systematic formulations. Similarly, many human bodies pass through the
same kind of problems, in particular women with arthritic problems when they
are passing through the menopausal age.
In Ayurveda, the carrier plays an important role. The property of a single herb
changes just if it is taken with cold water or hot water. That's why the use of
single herbs is not recommended in Ayurveda. Combination of herbs is always
preferred in Ayurveda to enhance the effectiveness of one herb with others or
to neutralize any negative effect of one with the other.
A true formula, which considers all factors, is considered to be ideal. Right
now many people are making their own formulations, just by reading a little
literature, ignoring all the other factors, which may be harmful.
The above mentioned basic factors are applicable to all herbal formulations,
not just Ayurveda.
Summer Vegetable and Yogurt Salad by Christine Machiraju
Ingredients:
· 1 cucumber
· 2 carrots
· 1/2 lemon (juice)
· 1/4 cilantro
· 1litre of yogurt (a bit of water can be mixed in so that
the salad is juicier if desired.)
· 1 tablespoon salt
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl let stand for
half an hour. This salad has a wonderful cooling effect on the body and at the
same time helps to replenish electrolytes and keeps the metabolism active.
Yogurt with live bacterial culture is a great source of vitamin B 12, a
vitamin that is often missing in a vegetarian diet.
This recipe is taken from the soon to be published book, Perfect Health in Every Season - Tips and Recipes from Ayurveda. Contributed by Venkat and Christine using the science of life; yoga, Vedic astrology, palmistry, vastu (Indian Feng Shui) Yoga, Mantra and many other Vedic sciences to try and help people find balance and inner peace. It is their hope that as each individual finds peace the world to will become a place of peace.