Classical Hatha Yoga Presentation

7/27/2019 Classical Hatha Yoga Presentation

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Classical Hatha Yoga The sublime philosophy ~ theory underpinning the sophisticated

Sadhana ~ methodology of Classical Hatha Yoga



Kundalini

Chakras

Nadis

Bandha

Mudra

Pranayama

Asana

Shatkarmas



Overview

• In today’s society the word Hatha Yoga has come to mean to theuninitiated many things.

• Often Yoga teachers try to promote Asanas as Hatha Yoga, thusnot only deluding their students but also they are perpetuating afalse understanding in themselves.

• Everyone suffers as spiritual realization becomes only a pipedream. Yoga has always been about awakening, enlightment of the spirit, this has never been an outcome of just Asana practice.

• By systematically following the system of “Classical Hatha Yoga”you will eventually “experience” Yoga.



Shatkarmas• Originally Classical Hatha Yoga, which is a complete system of Yoga

in itself, only consisted of six techniques known as the Shatkarmas.

• Shatkarmas: The main shatkarmas are Neti, Dhauti, Basti, Nauli,Kapalbhati and Trataka. Classical Hatha Yoga later evolved over many centuries to encompass Asana, Pranayama, Mudra, Bandha.

• Classical Hatha Yoga is a tried and proven path to self-realization that

has been finely honed and developed by Indian, Nepalese and Tibetan Yoga Masters for millennia.

• It not only confers a healthy mind and body but also leads the sincereand dedicated aspirant to psychic and spiritual awakening and to thediscovery of their inherent creative potential.

• This is the path of Yoga most suited to the Yoga aspirant of today’s world as it works systematically from the grosser physical body that weare already familiar with through to the most subtle aspects of our totalpersonality. Thus making Classical Hatha Yoga the ideal foundationfor the most advanced Yoga’s.



Asana

• Asana: Asana is the next limb of Classical Hatha Yoga. In Raja Yoga, asana refers to the sitting meditative posture used for the

higher stages of Raja Yoga i.e.) Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana,Dhyana, Samadhi, but in Hatha Yoga1 it means something more.

• Asana is a specific body position, which helps to open the energy channels (nadis) and the psychic energy centers (Chakras) .Hatha

Yoga is a process through which purification and control of the

body takes place by restructuring the pranic flow.• Foremost important Asanas are: Siddhasana or Siddha Yoni

Asana (Adepts pose) and Padmasana (Lotus pose) which allclassical Hatha yoga texts recommend as the most important tomaster. Additional asanas up to 82 are also recommended until

one is ready for higher Yoga’s such as Raja Yoga or Kriya Yoga, which is an advanced form of Kundalini Yoga. The Classical Ancient Hatha Yoga Texts are:

Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Gherand Samhita,

Hathratnavali, Shiva Satarka



Pranayama

• Pranayama: Is the next limb of classical Hatha Yoga following Shatkarmas and Asana. Classically Pranayama is commencedafter ones body has been prepared through Asana and one has

commenced to moderate and purify the diet and is practicing some shatkarmas according to the instructions of the teacher.

• The word “Prana” is a combination of two syllables, pra and na.Prana denotes constancy, a force in constant motion. Prana isthe vital life force and pranayama is the process by which the

internal pranic store is increased or expanded. Pranayama iscomprised by the words prana and ayama, which means” praniccapacity or length”.

• Pranayama is a technique through which the quantity of prana inthe body is activated to a higher frequency.



Bandha• Bandha: Is the next limb of classical Hatha Yoga following the Shatkarmas,

Asana and Pranayama.

• A Bandha is a Psychomuscular energy lock, which redirects the flow of psychic energy “Prana”in the body. Individually there is three Bandhas, butthe combination of all three Bandhas is sometimes used to make a fourth very important lock or Bandha. The Bandhas are:1) Moola Bandha6 triggered by the contraction of the Perineum in the male and the Cervix in the femalebody. 2) Uddiyana Bandha : Abdominal retraction lock 3) Jalandhara Bandha : Throat lock.

• Maha Bandha: the Great lock is the coordinated combination of the previousthree Bandhas.

• Universal Prana or life force in the physical body is subdivided into five prana vayus. These Prana Vayus are operating in different locations, they flow indifferent directions and perform different functions. The Prana Yayus are Apana, Samama,Prana,Vyana,Udana. The three most important are Prana, Apana and Samana. The natural movement of Prana is upwards, Apanadownwards and Samana is sideways.

• Through the practice of Maha Bandha the direction of Apana and Prana isreversed and made to flow towards Samana. The force of Samana isstrengthened and redirected backwards to help awaken the transcendentalNadi of Sushumna.



Mudra

• Mudra: In classical Hatha Yoga after practicing Shatkarma,

Asana, Pranayama, Bandha the student of Hatha Yoga begins thepractice of Mudra.

• Mudra literally means “gesture” a physical, mental and psychicattitude which expresses and channels the cosmic energy of Prana.

• The most famous Mudras are: 2Khechari Mudra, Maha Mudra,Maha Bheda Mudra, Vipareeta Karani Mudra,Vajroli and SahajoliMudra, Naumukhi Mudra and Yoni Mudra, Shambhavi Mudra,Manduki Mudra, Shakti Chalini Mudra.

• Mudra’s channel the refined and subtle pranic energy that is

produced through the preceding Asana, Pranayama, Bandha, andarouses or induces a particular state of mind.

• When this state arises Deep Meditation can becomespontaneous. Cultivation of this state of high energy opens thedoors of perception through which a Yogi explores their

consciousness



Nadis• Nadis: Nadis are Psychic channels through which flows the distribution of prana in

the Astral body or Pranamaya Kosha.

• “When we heat ice, we speed up the energy within it, and the ice becomes water. The characteristic expression of water is flow. So to in the pranamaya kosha, the prana flows in rivers of energy”. Quote: Swami Satyananda Sasaswati.

• According to Ancient Yogic Texts there are 72,000 or more nadis through whichprana and consciousness are distributed throughout the body. There are Ten main

nadis out of which, three are the most important. These Nadis are Ida, Pingala andSushumna. Ida is the channel of mental energy, Pingala the channel for vital energy and Sushumna Nadi is the channel for spiritual energy. When the left nostril is flowing Ida is active, and when the right nostril is flowing Pingala is active.

• But when both are made to flow perfectly equal for an extended period of timethrough Sadhana (“Spiritual Practice ie: Yoga”) or other means, this is said to heraldthe auspicious moment when the transcendental Nadi of Sushumna begins to openand flow.

• The Physiological correlate for Sushumna is the Canal Centralis of the spinal cord.Perfection of Nadi Shodhan Pranayama and many other techniques begins theawakening of Pranas in the Pranamaya Kosha3 “Pranothana” and eventually through

much effort Sushumna. Through Sushumna you can experience deep transcendentalexperiences related to the mystical Chakras and Kundalini.



Chakras

• Chakras: A Chakra is a Psychophysical reality or entity 4, a vortex of light or psychic energy existing multidimensional at theinterface between body and mind.

• At the grosser level the Chakras have associated links in thephysical body through various Endocrine Glands, Nerve

Plexuses, Organs and the (CNS) Brain and Spinal Cord.• On a more subtle level Chakras operate like transducers stepping

down the cosmic energy like a top down hierarchy of energy andconsciousness filtering down through the depths of theUnconscious Mind to permeate the physical Body.

• Chakras can be understood as part of the here and now mortalbody and part of the complex and immortal collective superconscious state of the divine, which is inherent in all beings.



Kundalini• Kundalini: The Goal of Yoga is to awaken your dormant potential, which is the

evolutionary spiritual force known in Tantra as Kundalini. Stabilizing the awakenedstate of Kundalini in Samadhi is the Goal of all Yogas.eg Hatha, Raja, Kriya,

Kundalini.

• Few ever achieve the highest goal which is said to be a transcendental state of supremebliss at one with all of creation. It is only reached through diligent Sadhana for many years under the tuition of a capable Master of this Science.

• This is our evolutionary destiny to have a firm grip of the experience of Kundalini and

have permanent access to the wisdom that it reveals.

Quotes

• K undalini does not belong to the physical body, though it has to be searched for there,nor in the mental body or even in the astral body. It is in the unconscious causal body,in that particular state of awareness where the concept of time, space and object iscompletely lost. The seat of the unconscious in man is in the perineum, known in

yogic terminology as Mooladhara. It is a gland, a muscle, it is a body in which all theunconscious powers and initiatives of man are hidden. “Quote by Swami SatyanandaSaraswati”

• 5By Pranayama and other yogic processes the static Shakti is affected and becomesdynamic. When completely dynamic, when Kundalini unites with Siva “DivineConsciousness” in the Sahasrara, the polarization of the body gives way. The two polesare united in one and there is the state of consciousness called Samadhi. “Quote by Swami Sivananda Saraswati”



Some Verses of Wisdom

From the

Hatha Yoga PradipikaCirca 6th Century AD

• C1Ver43: There is no asana like Siddhasana, no Kumbhakalike Kevala, no Mudra like Kechari and no Laya or dissolutionof the mind like Nada, the inner sound

• C2Ver75: There is no doubt; the state of Raja Yoga is also

attained through Kevala Kumbhaka. By retention Kundalini isaroused, Sushumna becomes unobstructed and perfection of Hatha Yoga takes place

• C2Ver76: There can be no perfection if Hatha Yoga is withoutRaja Yoga or Raja Yoga without Hatha Yoga. Therefore, throughpractice of both, perfection is obtained

• C4Ver114: While the prana does not flow in the middle passage(Sushumna), while the Bindu is not steadied by restraining thePrana, while the mind does not reflect spontaneous Meditation,then those who speak of Spiritual knowledge are only indulging in boastful and false tales

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References• Saraswati, Swami Muktibodhananda & Swami Satyananda: Commentary by

Hatha Yoga Pradipika1 by Yogi Swatmarama, Bihar School of Yoga Munger, Bihar, India, 1985

• Saraswati, Swami Satyananda,Kundalini Tantra2 Bihar School of Yoga,Munger, Bihar, India, 1984

• Saraswati, Swami Niranjanananda Prana Pranayama Pranavidya3Bihar School of Yoga

Munger, Bihar, India, 1994

• Saraswati, Swami Anandakapila (Dr.Jonn Mumford) A Chakra & Kundalini Workbook4Llewellyn PublicationsSt. Paul, MN, USA, 1993

• Saraswati, Swami Sivananda

Kundalini Yoga -Yoga Kundalini Upanishad, Tenth Ed5, Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, UP, India

• Saraswati, Swami Buddhananda, Moola Bandha the Master Key6 Bihar School of Yoga, Munger, Bihar, India, 1978

Copyright © Swami Mounamurti Saraswati

Satyam Yoga Centre satyamyoga.com

http://www.http//satyamyoga.com

http://www.http//satyamyoga.com



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