The dynamic yoga with understanding and heart.

Yoga is not a matter of acquiring something you do not have.

You are complete as you are. 

All practices of Yoga create space which allow you to connect with your inner potential.  This inner potential, Self or Centre Point is by nature love, strength, peace and harmony.

Each style or system of yoga specifically amplifies one quality or faculty of one's self - heart, mind, intellect, body.  However for balance, wholeness and groundedness in life (stability) all facets need to be optimum and in harmony.

Svarupa Yoga's uniqueness is the incorporation of

.... the essences of all yogas in each class,

therefore balancing and integrating all aspects of one's self.

Then automatically one's Centre Point becomes one's predominant experience and expression.

The stronger practices develop independence, 

strength of character and allow one's

 individuality to express itself

 - essential for daily life and the

 foundation  for the deeper aspects of yoga.

The softer practices develop sensitivity,      

receptivity and the ability to be 'available' to change and expand as life requires.  Then through correct understanding the uniqueness of the moment allows itself to be expressed relative to time, space and situation through one's intuition.

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A CLOSER LOOK AT THE PRACTICES OF SVARUPA YOGA

SVARUPA YOGA incorporates the essence of the four main yogas in each class.

The central thread of these yogas is Knowledge of one's Self.

JNANA YOGA (Yoga of knowledge) is accessible by continually resting in the position of the witness, and allowing the transitory thoughts that enter one's mind to come and go.  This perfection of awareness remains constant.

BHAKTI YOGA (Yoga of the heart) The chattering mind melts and the heart purrs as one chants soothing sounds, evoking silence.

RAJ YOGA (Yoga of the mind - a process of eight steps) By understanding the mind's mischievous nature one's worst enemy becomes one's best friend.

KARMA YOGA (Yoga of appropriate action) Balancing one's individual will with the divine will or bigger picture is essential.  Otherwise one superimposes their individual will onto "what is" therefore creating disparity and frustration.

All of these above subtler forms of yoga are inherent in a class format.  Utilising body shapes or postures as the medium of expression or practise.  This is known as Hatha yoga (the third step of Raj yoga).

The different forms of Hatha yoga incorporated in each class are:

IYENGAR YOGA The use of alignment to balance the body, and hence the subtler energy systems.  The use of props or supports to gain deeper releases of energy and perceptions, incorporated with the above four main systems of yoga as an adjunct as required.

ASHTANGA VINYASA YOGA The set sequences of postures, locks and gazes as taught by P. Jois to develop stamina, length of breath, softness of body, stillness of mind.  Entrances, exits and excerpts from the different series of Ashtanga are included in most other classes.  Ashtanga intensives are held throughout the year.  Classes at 6am.

BIKRAM YOGA Emphasis on a diversity of one-legged postures to strengthen and encourage the inner line to become more predominant.  Thus facilitating the bandas (locks), equilibrium of the body and therefore symmetry and length of breath.

SIVANANDA YOGA A more traditional form of hatha yoga and yoga.   Incorporating all facets of yoga on a daily base.  The emphasis not merely being on asanas or postures, however, an easily accessible and diverse range of postures and alternatives.

 'The cornerstones of yoga are Abyasa and Para Varagya.'

                                                                        Yoga Sutras 1.  14-15

ABYASA: A constant unbroken practise over a long period of time with love.

All practises are really techniques to create space in the mind.  Then the awareness softens, sits back and doesn't over identify with whatever actions or perceptions one is expressing or experiencing.  The intellect becomes very sharp, and further fine-tunes the process.  This allows the mind to become quiet and return to its source or essential expanded nature as consciousness.  The qualities of which are peace, love and freedom.

PARA VARAGYA: The quality of an open pure heart, a sharp intellect  (the higher aspect of the thinking mind), and really, the outcome of Abyasa.

VICHARA: The foundation of the above two - Abyasa and Para Varagya - is Vichara.  Which is the ability to enquire into the True Nature of situations and one's Self.  Vichara aerates, enlivens and elevates one's thoughts; sharpens the intellect; and releases tensions in the body.

SATSANG:  The framework which shapes, motivates and guides all of the above - Abyasa, Para Varagya and Vichara - is Satsang.  Which literally means, "In the company of the Truth."  The Truth or essence of all situations and yoga practices is that at the foundation level "All is Consciousness".

With this in mind in a class format, the direction will be upliftment, expansion, integration and transformation progressively.

All processes and practices are techniques and used as a scaffold or prop from which to work.  However as the building or individual grows and expands, the identification with the process or scaffold no longer becomes the pre-dominant view.  One's own presence becomes the obvious vista.

This is encapsulated in the second and third sutras of Patanjali which summarise the essence of yoga:

"yogah chitta vrtti nirodhah"

yoga is experienced in that mind which has ceased to identify itself with it's vacillating waves of perception.

"tada drastuh svarupe avasthanam"

when this happens then the Seer is revealed resting in its essential Nature, and one realises the True Self.

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My Guru, Swami Muktananda, conveyed this very aptly...

'Once a disciple approached a saint and requested spiritual instruction.  The saint said, "What am I to tell you?  Everything is the Self.  Just as water solidifies and becomes ice, the Self takes form and becomes this universe.  There is nothing but that Self.  You are that Self.  Recognise this and you will know everything."

The seeker was not satisfied.  "Is that all you have to say?" he asked.  "I can read that in a book."  He was puzzled because the Guru had not asked him to do hatha yoga or pranayama, to shave his head or grow a beard, or to meditate on a specific object.  "Can't you say something else?"  he asked.

"That is all I have to teach," the saint said.  "If you want more instruction you will have to go elsewhere."

So the seeker approached a second Guru and asked him for instruction.  This Guru was very clever, and he knew what kind of person this seeker was.  "I will instruct you," he said, "but first you will have to serve me for twelve years."  In India, since ancient times, service to the Guru has been considered a great spiritual practice.  It is a very mysterious process, in which knowledge of the Truth arises spontaneously in a seeker as he works for the Guru.  So the seeker willingly accepted this condition and asked the Guru what kind of service he should perform.  The Guru called the manager of his ashram and asked, "What kind of job do you have for this seeker?"

"There is only one job open, and that is picking up buffalo dung," answered the manager.

"Will you do that?" the Guru asked.

"Yes," said the seeker.

The seeker was very sincere and true, so he did not question the nature of the work.  He was willing to spend twelve years picking up buffalo dung, because he considered the experience of the Self to be worth any kind of effort.  Day in and day out for twelve years he picked up buffalo dung.  Then one day he looked at the calendar and discovered that he had worked for twelve years and two days, so he went to the Guru and said, "I have finished my twelve years of service.  Please give me instruction."

The Guru said, "This is my teaching: Everything is Consciousness.  The Self alone appears as all things in the universe.  You, too, are the very same Self."

Because of his years of service, the seeker had become very ripe, and as soon as he heard the Guru's words he went into a deep meditation, during which he experienced the Truth.  But when he came out he said, "O Guruji, one thing puzzles me.  I already received this teaching.  It is the same teaching the other Guru gave me"

"Yes," said the Guru.  "The Truth doesn't change in twelve years."

"Then why did I pick up buffalo dung for such a long time in order to understand it?"

"Because you were stupid," the Guru replied.

This is the truth.  If you had a keen intellect and the power of understanding and discrimination, what spiritual practices would you need to perform in order to recognize your own Self?  How much time would it take you to experience that Consciousness which is manifest everywhere?  It is just a matter of recognition, and it is so simple that it takes only a fraction of a second.

It is because you do not have this power of understanding that you have to meditate and perform yogic practices and processes.  For so many years you have been living in the awareness "I am an individual," and for this reason it is very difficult for you to immediately accept the awareness "I am Consciousness."  You have been filling your mind with negative thoughts and feelings about other people and about yourself, thinking that you are small, that you are weak, that you are sinful.  You have spent your life trapped in limited identification.  If your body is beautiful, you think that you are beautiful, whereas if your body is ugly, you think that you are ugly.  If you study, you consider yourself learned, whereas if you do not study, you consider yourself illiterate.  When anger, greed, and attachment arise in you, you identify yourself with them.  This is ego, the sense of limited individuality, which has trapped you for innumerable lifetimes.

To rid yourself of this limited "I"-sense, to purify your mind and heart so that you can accept the awareness "I am Consciousness," you have to meditate, repeat the mantra, and perform good actions.  But if you really want these things to bear fruit, you should do them with the awareness of your identity with Consciousness.  You should keep your mind immersed in the idea "I am That".  You should have this understanding: "It is Consciousness who is meditating.  All the objects of my meditation are Consciousness.  My meditation itself is Consciousness."   When you have this awareness, then you can practice your meditation anywhere at any time.  You will not have to close your eyes or still your mind, because when you have this awareness, even the ordinary activities of your daily life will become meditation, and you will begin to experience the Truth spontaneously, whatever you are doing.'

Enjoy your practice.  Don't be harsh or intense with yourself.  Your understanding of yourself and yoga will then expand and become subtler and lighter.

Regards

Rob