Well, yes and no. Yes, because Yoga is-and always has been-first and foremost a spiritual discipline. And it's much more than physical postures; it's a comprehensive system for allying self-effort with divine grace in order to experience the eternal oneness of soul and Spirit.
And no, because not everyone comes to Yoga for spiritual reasons. Many people come instead for physical therapy, or stress reduction, or most commonly, a fitness regime. Increasingly, those needs are being met by specialized approaches that, although they offer many benefits, often omit the spiritual dimension of Yoga.
Now, with spiritual hunger growing worldwide, more and more people are asking, "How can Yoga help meet my spiritual needs?" They suspect that spiritual experience can be cultivated through Yoga practices and they're right. That's why I've written this book: to show others how to quicken their spiritual growth by skillfully integrating the postures, breathing exercises, and meditation.
In fact, any approach to Yoga can uplift your state of mind to some degree. It will uplift you even more if you practice with right attitude, the most powerful spiritual tool of all. And still more is possible if you also cooperate actively with the inner workings of subtle energy and consciousness. Such is the approach in this book. (Right attitude, which we'll explore, is not about moral judgments; it's about what raises consciousness.)
In more than thirty years of teaching, I've seen that anyone can practice this way and receive marvelous benefits on all levels: physical, mental, and spiritual. There's no need to be young, or thin, or flexible. Each person can find an expression of this practice that suits his or her condition, abilities, and goals.
More than sixty years ago, my Guru, Paramhansa Yogananda, asked a small group of us to perform yoga postures for a visiting dignitary. Up to then, I was merely an average per former of the yoga postures, or asanas as they are called. That day, in my Guru's presence, I found that I could perform all of them perfectly-so much so that from then on he always called on me to perform them, especially when he had guests. After performing them, I served him and the guests lunch. After they left, he and I would sit at the table and converse. Always, he had sage words to share with me, many of which have found their way
into my books of his sayings. From him not verbally, but by a sort of osmosis-I learned what I know of the postures.
Many years later I lived in San Francisco, working to earn the money needed to create the first of the communities that he called "World-Brotherhood Colonies." I was teaching yoga meditation classes, and soon began teaching classes also in Hatha Yoga. I wasn't satisfied with the way the asanas were being taught in America-a sort of "this will slim your hips, girls!" approach that left out of reckoning their real spiritual purpose. Therefore 1 developed a new approach, which later came to be called, "Ananda Yoga.
Hatha Yoga is based on the teachings of Patanjali's "eight-limbed" explanation of yoga: not a system, but rather an outline of the universal attitudes and states of consciousness through which every spiritual seeker must pass, regardless of his religion, if he would find God.
Imagine that you've hired Michelangelo. You've heard that he's a good painter, and you want him to repaint your kitchen cabinets. Plain white. No doubt he would do a great job, but might you be missing out on something much better?
It's the same with Hatha Yoga, the physical branch of the greater science of Raja Yoga. If you practice only for its physical and psychological benefits-increased flexibility, strength, and vitality, reduced pain or stress, and so on-you'll receive some of those benefits, but you're likely to miss out on something much better! For Hatha Yoga is above all a tool for spiritual growth. Its highest purpose is to help you raise your consciousness and achieve ever greater, ever more unshakeable happiness.
Can mere bodily positions and breathing exercises do that for you? A little bit, yes, but much more is possible if you know how to amplify the effects of these practices through the hidden powers of your mind and heart. This book shows you how. If you're new to Hatha Yoga, you'll find here instructions to begin a safe, enjoyable practice that will raise your consciousness. If you're experienced, you'll find many ways to deepen your practice by working more directly with energy and consciousness and I hope that you'll be patient with any explanations intended for those who are newer.
Our springboard will be Ananda Yoga, one of the many spiritual expressions of Hatha Yoga. Ananda Yoga comes from the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the spiritual classic, Autobiography of a Yogi. He was the first great master of Yoga to make his home in the West, where he dedicated his life to sharing India's ancient spiritual wisdom and techniques. His direct disciple, Swami Kriyananda, developed the Ananda Yoga system, based on Yogananda's approach to spiritual practices (see Appendix A: Origins of Ananda Yoga).
Asana (94)
Bhakti Yoga (20)
Biography (49)
Hatha Yoga (81)
Kaivalyadhama (58)
Karma Yoga (31)
Kriya Yoga (69)
Kundalini Yoga (58)
Massage (2)
Meditation (323)
Patanjali (136)
Pranayama (67)
Women (32)
Yoga for Children (12)
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