Meditation and contemplation

Very few are those practitioners that actually enjoy meditation techniques. Almost everyone thinks that they are boring, that nothing is happening and that they are wasting their time. However to have a good experience practising samyama (concentration, meditation or another deeper state of consciousness) you must be persistent and overcome the anxiety of the mind. We could spend pages and pages talking about dhyana or meditation, but instead today I will give you a simple tip that will make your practice much easier.
Let’s agree that it’s pointless to try to stop thinking. There is a misunderstanding about this subject. You will not stop your mind. Rather, you will focus your entire consciousness on one object, which can be either an image or a sound, and then another type of consciousness will flourish; linear intuition; superconsciousness.
To practise this essential technique sit with your legs crossed, your back straight and your eyes closed. Choose a very simple image at the beginning, a sunset for example, and then, give your best to concentrate on this image, but don’t only see it, contemplate it; because when we contemplate something we don’t think about it, we just settle the mind on it.  No more then 20 minutes per day is needed, but even 5 minutes is a good start. Consistency is the most important thing.

Have a look in this video, it encourages very well your daily practice.

 

Prána, the bio-energy!

Pránáyáma

Expansion of bio-energy through breathing

Prána means bio-energy; ayáma, expansion, breadth, intensity, elevation.  Pránáyáma designates techniques that are always of a respiratory nature, and lead to the intensification, or expansion, of prána in the body. Prána is the general name that Yôga assigns to any type of energy that is manifested biologically.  In theory, prána is energy of a solar origin, but also possibly manifested after metabolization, that is, indirectly, when absorbed by air, water or food.
Prána, of a generic kind, can be divided into five more specific types:  prána, apána, udána, samána and vyána.  These can each be further divided into various subpránas. Prána is visible.  On any sunny day, execute pránáyáma and fix your eyes on the blue of the sky.  Wait.  When your vision adjusts itself, you will begin to see myriads of incredibly dynamic and brilliant minute points that glimmer, making their rapid circular and sinuous movements evident.  When executing your respiratory exercises, mentalize that image, that you are absorbing that energy.

(Prof. DeRose; Treatise of Yôga)

Ásana, the physical part of Yôga

Physical Yôga, positions, ásanas…

This a subject that captivates almost everyone. Me too, I love ásanas! I do, I love them! They make your body strong, supple and definitely healthier. But when I started studying Yôga, eleven years ago, I was always intrigued why most of the Masters and scholars of this practical philosophy that I admire slightly reject this anga (part) of Yôga and don’t even consider methods that teach only pránáyáma and ásana to be Yôga. For example, Sri Aurobindo didn’t consider Hatha Yôga (pránáyáma and ásana)  “necessary” and Pátañjali, the great Master, in his renowned work, spoke mainly about meditation and samadhi, dedicating only three sutras to ásana, and only then as a means to achieving these objectives.
II – 46 The physical position must be steady and comfortable. (So, systems that use ásana with repetition probably lost the connection with the origin)
II – 47 It’s dominated through elimination of tension and meditation on the infinite.
II – 48 As a consequence, the duality is ceased.

So is practising only ásana practising Yôga? Ásana itself doesn’t fit the technical definition of Yôga. Do you remember the definition that Proffessor DeRose gave us? “Yôga is any methodology strictly practical that conduces to samádhi.” I cannot see a practitioner that only practises asana achieving samadhi, so, it’s not Yôga only in itself.
The point that I want to make is, why Yôga practitioners in general don’t start to give more value and pay more attention to more important angas, such as mudrá, pújá, mantra, pránáyáma, yôganidrá and samyama.

Despite all this..as we are all passionate about yôga physical techniques, I will let you admire this beautiful choreography of ásanas.

*Remember that Sanskrit is not English and accents must be respected.

A perfect place

A society where the values are equality, harmony and evolution. Where the science of war is not developed, where there is no waiting to be attacked or to attack other people. Where women are the leaders and the men respect them over all, because they know they have the natural sensoriality that men weren’t born with!

A place where sensoriality is revered, as well as love and respect for both others and for nature, which is the source of our survival and something which we are not separated from, but a part of. A place where there is no religion, or even concept of god, above us just the beauty of the sun.

I am not dreaming or replaying a John Lennon song… such a society once existed, the cradle of the most ancient philosophies, Yoga, Samkhya and Tantra. Although I believe that at that time there weren’t names for, or codifications of, these philosophies, they were a habitual part of the life of the Dravidians, those extinct people.

How much we have to learn from the traditions that they left to us as a cultural inheritance!

Shall we confront the reality or close the eyes for it?

Please see the link below:

http://www.midwayfilm.com/

Mudrá

by Mircea Eliade,

“…mudrá is susceptible of several interpretations, the most frequent being the realization of certain states of consciousness by hieratic gestures and postures, more precisely by the echo aroused in the deepest strata of the human being upon his rediscovering the “message” hidden in every archetypal gesture.’ 

Yoga Immortality and Freedom, pg.: 211

 

 

The oldest definition about Yoga.

Patanjali, a wise man, wrote the Yoga Sutra, more then 2000 years ago. And he gave us a very simple and complete definition about Yoga:

Yoga is the suppression of instability of consciousness

Yoga Sutra – I-1

The question is: Does everyone who say that teach or practise Yoga follows this principle?

Tatiana Kovylina – DeRose Method practitioner

My student, Tatiana Kovylina, made this photo session practising ásana (ancient physical technique). I found it so beautiful that I am sharing it with you!

I nice quote about physical positions.

My friend, DeRose Method teacher, Gustavo Cardoso shared with me this very nice comment about ancient physical techniques. Enjoy it!

Effective development of body awareness, motor coordination, elasticity of the tissues, articular flexibility and muscle tone. These are some of the results of the physical positions in the sequence of the DeRose Method techniques. 

In fact, the physical performance is merely the entrance into the technique.  

As you stay in the position, it acts deeply over the muscle fuses, the receptors inside the muscle cell that are connected with muscle tone and with the protection against the risk of strain. The position, combined with focused attention and coordinated breathing, affects the muscle fuses, stimulating them to lower their defensive control over the muscle. The fibers of the muscles decrease their level of contraction and effectively stretch.

As the fibers of the muscles stretch, the accumulated energy that kept the retraction of the muscle is progressively released and is transformed into live energy. The more assiduous the practice the quicker and greater the amount of released energy. The result is a quota of strength and of energy well above the average, in addition to a much suppler physical performance, with increased flexibility and motor coordination.

 

 

DeRose Method all over the world