VINYASA KRAMA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 Vinyasa Krama Yoga Newsletters 2011 from

Disclaimer: This document was compiled from Srivatsa Ramaswami’s Vinyasa Krama Yoga Newsletters and contains volume 1-12 from 2011 - http://www.vinyasakrama.com

Index January 2011 Newsletter — Iswarapranidhana 2 February 2011 — Thus Spake Sri T Krishnamacharya 5 March 2011 Newsletter — Breath of Yoga 9 April 2011 Newsletter — Mantra Cover 12 May 2011 Newsletter — Advaita 19 June 2011 Newsletter — Statics and Dynamics of 24 July 2011 Newsletter — Trivikrama 29 August 2011 Newsletter — Yoga TT Program, What I Learnt 32 September 2011 Newsletter - Spinal Exercise, the bottom of It 38 October 2011 Newsletter — AVVAIYAR 42 November 2011 Newsletter — Yoga Joint 46 December 2011 Newsletter — Chants 49

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January 2011 Newsletter — Iswarapranidhana Wish you a very happy and prosperous New year, a New Decade. December was month. LMU had arranged a ten day retreat in New Delhi the modern capital of India and Rishikesh the holy city along the Ganga, About ten participants from the USA and six from India attended the program. We had almost six hours instruction everyday, three hours of and and about three hours of Yoga Sutras and Yoga for Health. I thought the programs went well. What was remarkable was that despite some real difficulties and challenges, everyone stayed to the end. I am beholden to all participants for their interest, support and patience. Thank you Dr Chris Chapple and Alana Bray of LMU for affording the opportunity. I spent a couple of days in Hyderabad thanks to the invitation of Saraswati Vasudevan of Yoga Vahini and Salil Ganeriwal of Shwaas, both of whom have long experience in the Krishnamaharya tradition. Saraswathy Vasudevan who has more than 17 years teaching experience in the Krishnamacharya tradition was the director of a 500 hr Yoga Therapy certification program. 14 very enthusiastic and knowledgeable yoga teachers completed the program and I had the pleasant opportunity to distribute the certificates and speak briefly. The teachers included Amala Akkaneni, one of my first students. She studied yoga with me for a few years as a student of Kalakshetra in the mid 1970s. It was nice to meet her too. Salil gave me an opportunity to speak about Yoga for Healing (Health) at his beautiful studio Shwaas. ISWARAPRANIDHANA Maybe I have written on this topic earlier. Normally in Sutras, the same term/idea should not be repeated. But in the yogasutras of Patanjali the term Iswarapranidhana is used three times. It is acceptable if the term is used with different connotations in different places/contexts. According to my Guru, the yogasutra even as it deals with subject of (Raja)Yoga, caters to the needs of three different groups or levels of yoga aspirants. The first one the highest or the uttama adhikaris are the intended group of aspirants in the first chapter called the pada. Here Patanjali used the term Iswarapranidhana as an independent means of achieving the goal of Kaivalya or spiritual freedom the set goal of yoga. It is the complete quietening of the mind or chitta vritii nirodha. According to Patanjali it is possible to achieve this yogic goal by intense devotion to Iswara (pranidhana= bhakti visesha) as indicated by the term Iswarapranidhana in this context. By the proper Japa of pranava which would indicate the mystic syllable or mantra “OM” the highest aspirant (adhikari) who already has the ability to go into a stage of samadhi (hence dealt with in Samadhi Pada) will be able to achieve this extraordinary result. An intense faith and devotion to the eternal unfettered spirit, Iswara,whose essence is pure consciousness and still endowed with omniscience would do the trick and nothing else is needed. If however this devotional fervor is lacking even if the samadhi capacity is there, the more step by step process of going through stages of mastering Prakriti (24 aspects ) may be resorted to following the path of Niriswara Samkhyas who have difficulty in subscribing to a nimitta karana or an efficient cause for creation.. In the second chapter, Sadhana Pada, Patanjali takes the case of those who without the yogic skill of Samadhi, but still wish to start to go along the path of Yoga, the first step in a 1000 mile long yoga journey. To them, the absolute beginners, he would include Iswarapranidhana as one of the steps in Kriya yoga . Here Iswarapranidhana has a different application. It is not the use of Pranava Japa as the Samadhi Yogi would do but Iswarapujana or worship of

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Iswara as per many yogis. Simple to complicated rituals are available for the interested to remain focused on Iswara for a period of time every day. This in practical terms is much easier to resort to following the well established procedures of puja (worship rituals) of the Lord. This is possible for anyone with faith in God, but lack the samadhi capability. One may not be able to achieve Samadhi with this but it will slowly prepare the mind to go along the path of yogic samadhi. Concurrently it will also reduce the mental pain caused by several kleshas like avidya etc. One may ask if Iswarapranidhana or Iswarapujana as it is said in Kriya yoga can by itself lead to samadhi bhavana or is it part of a whole practice called Kriya yoga. Another corollary question would be what if one has difficulty believing in God, could one still take advantage of kriyayoga? There are references to practices of kriya yoga used without the Iswarapranidhana component. The great epic Ramayana describes a sage as one established in austerity and scriptural studies. The Ramayana opens with the two traits of Kriaya yoga viz., tapas and swadhyaya. (tapas swadhyaya nirataam). So we may see that there are occasions where the first two traits are mentioned independent of Iswarapranidhana. Of course it would be best to use all the three parts of kriya yoga. When a start up yogi belonging to the iswarapranidhana stream practices iswara pujana assiduously, the mental klesas come down and she/he will be well on the path of conditioning the mind for samadhi. Then we have the next yoga stage called ashtanga yoga a more elaborate and complete yoga sadhana or yoga practice. Herein also is Iswarapranidhana mentioned and the result of this practice as part of would be Samadhi itself, which also is the goal of the entire ashtanga yoga as samadhi is the last anga. Commentators give a different interpretation of Iswarapranidhana here in ashtanga yoga than what is found in first chapter and in kriya yoga.. They would say that it would refer to doing one's prescribed duties diligently as God's work and surrendering oneself to the Lord and also the fruits of all actions. This intermediate stage yogi or madhyama adhikari the one not having the skill of going into samadhi but is totally committed to yoga as a life long pursuit. For her/him Patanjali suggests the classical ashtanga yoga. Here as per my Guru and several commentators it would mean total surrender to the Lord or Saranagati or prapatti. One may say that the prescribed duties would also imply practicing the stipulated duties in ashtanga yoga and doing them as God's work with a complete sense of surrender to the Lord. This “karma Yoga” in which the results of the practices do not cloud the yogi's mind is “karma phala tyaga”. This devotional path will lead to Samadhi the necessary skill to take the last lap in the yoga journey. My teacher being a devout Bhakti Yogi stressed the importance of the Iswarapranidhana stream in the Yoga Sutras. The Yogis who have an intense devotional fervor could do well to follow the devotional path. For most yogis a judicious combination of samkhya yoga and bhakti yoga would be helpful as is the direction of the sutras. But it is also necessary to point out that Iswarapranidhana even though it is mentioned just three times in the whole text forms an independent and complete system of Yoga in the Yoga sutras. For the start up Yogi it prepares the mind for samadhi and also simultaneously reduces the mental klesas. At the intermediate level it leads to dawn of Samadhi a necessary tool for both Siddhis and Kaivalya and a reduction in impurities of the mind, the Rajas and Tamas.. At the highest level Isawarapranidhana leads to understanding the true nature of oneself (pratyak cetana)and also the removal of all spiritual obstacles (antaraya). Many other acharyas also have taken the efforts to stress the importance of both the streams. Adi Sankara the advocate of Advaita or nondualism, wrote great works not only on the intellectually challenging subjects as advaita like the Brahma Sutra Bhashya, Vivekachudaani

PAGE 3 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 etc., but also wrote such wonderful devotional works as Bhaja Govindam, Soundarya Lahari and several others. Sri Sankara apart from being the most revered exponent of Advaita also came to be known as one who established the six methods of orthodox worship of the divine in India (shan-mata-sthapana-acahrya), The six methods are worship of Ganesa (Ganapatya), Kumara (Kaumara), of Mother Sakti (Saakta), of Siva (Saiva), of Vishnu (Vaishnava) and of the Sun (Saura). He wrote numerous works of poetry on all these deities. Patanjali, Adi Sankara, my own Guru Sri Krishnamacharya and several orthodox teachers of yesteryear were at considerable ease with both the paths of wisdom and of devotion. Again, I wish you a very Happy and Prosperous New Year. It is two years since I started sending these Newsletters and thank you all for the kind support. The earlier newsletters and articles may be accessed by going to my website www.vinyasakrama.com and then clicking on the Newsletter tab. For reply or comments please send to [email protected] With best wishes Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami

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February 2011 — Thus Spake Sri T Krishnamacharya For most people January is a very busy month. They work hard to put in place a schedule to implement their New Year Resolutions. Admissions to Yogic schools, Music schools, gymns show increased activity before stabilizing at more realistic levels in later months. For me this January was very sedate. I was forced to cool my heels, awaiting an elusive appearance in a local court in Chennai, India. But I used this enforced idleness to rummage through my old small book almirah here in Chennai, which contains a few notebooks of the notes I had taken during my studies with Sri Krishnamacharya. Some of them were as old as the 1960 and as late as 1980s. I also was able to lay my hands on old copies of the Tamizh version of , the Kannada book titled Yogasanagalu and two tiny albums of my Guru doing asanas, I think in his 80s which he had given to me. It was refreshing visiting those notes again. Some of them were in the form of dictated articles by him. Some are not very linear but still informative. I thought I could translate one of them—it deals with tow topics. It is as follows, which was dictated to me during December 1967. THUS SPAKE SRI T KRISHNAMACHARYA Several acharyas from the South of India have written about Ashtanga Yoga under difficult circumstances. However, many of the highly practical works of these acharyas were destroyed by people not belonging to the orthodox vedic disposition. Adi Sankara wrote three texts on Yoga. He wrote a text called “Yoga Bashya Vivarana” as a commentary to the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali. When he was busy writing these outstanding works and teaching/preaching, he faced many obstacles, like being set fire to his hands, by his detractors. But just 30 years old, he created a divine work called, “karavalamba stotra”, a prayer to Lord Lakshmi Narasimha and got his hands restored and thereafter wrote some works on sushumna nadi. Then when he was barely 32, he decided that he need not live in this world any longer and became a complete recluse (vairagya). He also taught the right path (sanmarga) to 500 of his students.Then due to his enormous yogic powers, he effortlessly left his mortal body and attained his true swarupa or form/status. Before that he called five of his important students and taught his work, called “dasa avatara stotra (work on ten avataras of the Lord) , on Paravasudeva. Then he told them that only the worship of the Lord will help them get released from samsara (bondage of repeated births). It is found that many successive great heads of Sankara Mutts established by Sankara have not shown much earnestness in the matter of Ashtanga yoga. But, due to the grace of God, the Advaita Ashram that was dear to Adisankara and also quite wellknown viz., the Sringeri Mutt had Sri Narasimha Bharati as the head. His leadership at the Mutt was helpful in the propagation of Yoga. His disciple and successor, the well known Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati was my dear friend. We practiced Yoga together in Bangalore Sankara Mutt for some time. Now let me explain the works and observances of (Vaishnava) Yogis like Parankucha Muni, Nathamuni and Vyamana Muni. Parankusamuni, Satakopa, Nammalwar are the different names of the same Yogi. The work that he did on Yoga was “Yoga Tatwa”. His propagation of Yoga under the patronage of the Chola king was important. “By this Yoga, the cool grace of Lord Sriman Narayana will become a protective shield to your dynasty” said the sage. “ However if you violate the dharma (apachara), the same power of yoga will prove to be a killer sword for your dynasty” warned the sage. It is known that subsequently the Chola dynasty lost a lot of its luster due to certain adharmic activities of the ruling class.

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There are twelve topics covered in “YogaTatwa”. Why did the compassionate Lord create the world that tends towards sin (papa).Having created it, why did the Lord create groups that force people to follow the path of adharma? He is the Lord of everyone, but why does He create opportunities for some to follow the path of adhrma? Is it proper? As the text discusses these immensely weighty issues and also solutions to them, it is called “Yoga Tatwa”. It is our duty to explain and propagate these great secrets for the benefit of the world. Sri Satakopa Muni for the benefit of the great souls along the Tamraparani river wrote the first chapter himself. The famous three munis wrote nine works. Once, Sri Nathamuni while resting in a state of Samadhi had the vision of Parankusa Muni in his dream. In that state he learnt many secrets of Yoga from Parankusa. The essence of that teaching was the famous Nathamuni'sYoga Rahasya. In this text, not only the routine Yoga principles are discussed but also methods treatment of diseases or Yoga chikitsakramas. The third of the trio was Yamunacharya. He wrote several works, but four were famous. viz., Agamapramanam, Iswarasiddhi, Sampathsiddhi and Yoga chulakam. They give instructions for easy practice of Yoga. The source books for the works of these great sages were the Bhagavat Gita, the eleventh skanda (section) of the Srimad Bhagavata. Uddava-Sri Krishna Dialogues, several Upanishads, Yoga Yagnyavalkya Samhita, Sri Rahasya, Yogasana Mahodadhi and many others. For Sri Nathamuni his parents and grandparents the most important and dear Yoga text appears to be Yoga Yagnyavalkya Samhita and also the Gita and the 11th section of the Bhagavata. Discussing about the wonders of God's will, he talks about issues like should lay people be taught to practice yoga and similar issues in considerable detail. Many yogis of the present time, with high ahanta(ego), I should say without any fear, have not had the good fortune of reading Sri Nathamuni's yoga works and other supporting texts. Now let me give a comprehensive treatment of practice krama of yoga There are several essential factors that should be kept in view by both the yogabhyasi and the teacher. The student, as instructed by the teacher should check the quality of recaka and puraka (exhalation and inhalation). Are there any obstructions in the airways? It is mainly because asanas unaided or synchronized with breathing is of no use. For instance, the teacher and the student should check the number of matras (measure of time) the breath takes while inhaling, exhaling. If there is considerable difference in these durations, the teacher should first ask the abhyasi to practice controlled rechaka-puraka even prior to the practice of asanas. Then one should start practicing asanas as per instructions. There are many asanas--sitting, standing, supine, prone, lying on the sides— there are thus many starting positions. Further there are upside down positions, like . If the students has good well proportioned body the teacher can teach the inversions, Sarvangasana and Sirsasana even in the beginning of study. And such a person should also possess very long and smooth inhalations and exhalations. Further he should learn to maintain the inhalations and exhalations of even duration. If one does 8 to 10 recaka-purakas in sirsasana, then one should practice sarvangasana for the same number of recaka-puraka and of the same duration. Sarvangasana and sirsasana are like the two eyes of yogabhyasa. These help to maintain “bodily freedom” (sariraswatantriyam)The various vinyasas of these poses also have similar effects. Only by these two poses the acuity of the senses and capacity of the lungs increase. Even as Sarvangasana is an essential pose for persons with heart ailment, it should be done with the help and involvement of the teacher/trainer. While teaching Sarvangasana to such persons, the teacher should stand behind the trainee and at the end of each exhalation should

PAGE 6 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 gently nudge the trainee's back a little forward and hold for a second. After about a month's such practice, the trainer should check the strength of recaka, the general health or growth of the body the duration of recaka-puraka and then if they are good should help the trainee stay for about a minute or so. Thereafter the abhyasi should be given rest. If one has some ailment the posture should be repeated two or three times. For instance to an asthmatic doing even half a dozen breaths in Sarvangasana will be difficult. So the trainee should make the abhyasi practice atleast 12 breaths over a number of tries. Trying to do many breaths in one go could create some chest pain and discomfort. So, with a relaxed approach in four or six tries one should do the required number of breaths. One should return to the lying down position slowly. The same will apply to obese people while learning sarvangasana, they should be taught the asanas with a lot of care. In this manner the teacher and taught should learn to remain in an asana for several minutes without any doubts about the pose. With sarvangasana and sirsasana other asanas like paschimatanasana, purvatanasana, chatushpada peetam; Parvatasana, , etc can also br practiced. When one starts to learn Yoga, in the beginning the duration of practice can be as little as 15 to 20 minutes. One can gradually increase the duration. The teacher should check the breath every day and then increase the duration of practice. Whatever be the posture, if one could stay for a long time without the limbs going to sleep (or numb) or any pain or discomfort then such a practitioner is known as jitasana (the conqueror/master of an asana.) While staying in an asana one should not unnecessarily shake the body, bend or contort or move and if one can stay for hours then such a yogi is a jitasana. We learn from the works and sayings of yogis that in the olden days the rishis, every day would remain in any one asana for three hours and do pranayama and . Then if the yogi is able to remain doing long inhalation, exhalation and kumbhaka without feeling any kind of fatigue and for a long period of time such a person would be called “Jitaprana” or Jitaswasa, or one who has conquered the breath. Remaining in a posture and gazing at one's favorite (ishta) icon and experiencing a feeling of bliss is called “trataka”. It is of two types, anta and bahi. To gaze at an outside object like an icon is external trataka. Closing one's eyes and 'imaging' the object internally and continually focusing attention in between the eyebrows is the antah(r)trataka or internal gazing. One can practice this between one to ten minutes. In the yogasana practice it is good to include a as well everyday. Mahamudra and Shanmukhi mudra may be done. Further one should do a kriya called plavana (jumping/ stretching). For instance, remaining in the same place after a particular asana practice, one may place the palms on the floor, lift the body and then stretch the legs one by one . Then in recaka one should bend the leg and in puraka return to the floor If one stays in an asana for a long time, the muscles could slightly cramp and the plavana would help restore the muscles attain normal tone. The yogabhyasi should practice asana, pranayama, mudra and kriya together even from the beginning. Only then all the benefits mentioned for the varied asanas will accrue. Likewise if one by Pranayama becomes known as Jitaswasa, and then by meditation is able to conquer the mind such a yogi is known as jitamanaska. All the three are necessary. One should practice the same duration for both asana and pranayama and then twice the duration for dhyana or meditation. In the olden days the sages did yoga on three occasions everyday, at dawn, noon and dusk. The time and regulation in Kumbhaka are essential. With regulated time,one should practice all aspects of yoga, like asana, kriyas, pranayama and mudra. One should do a few asanas that one enjoys doing for about 15 mts and then do the pratikriyas or counter poses. For instancee one may do 15 mts of sirsasana followed by 15 mts of sarvangasana,. Or perhaps 15 mts of viparita followed by 15 mts of uttana .

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Asanas like sirasasana done while the body trembles or unsteady will not be beneficial. Done correctly, it helps to maintain prana in sushuna. Without proper practice one will not get faith in Yoga, nor will one get the benefits mentioned in the sastras. One should know the kriyas (like plavana) and there is a relationship bertween asanas and plavana(jumping/stretching) kriya. As mentioned earlier, one should bring under control the body by asana, with recaka kumbhaka the prana and by meditation or dhyana the mind. For dhyana it may be useful to choose a charming icon ******* Anthony Hall has been writing periodically about Vinyasa Krama in depth in his popular blogs http://grimmly2007.blogspot.com/ . He has several video clips of asana practice including picture posters of all the Vinyasa Krama sequences. Thank you very much Tony for your kind efforts and contribution—labour of love or love of labour (karma Yoga). I am also thankful to Wyatt Denny, Barry Wadsworth and Christopher Rahlwes, among others for their contributions in writing/pictures/videos about Vinyasakrama. Salil Ganeriwal from Hyderabad sent me a video of the talk on Yoga for Health I gave at his nice studio. I also have a couple of videos taken at Esalen—a talk on yoga and a lecture on Yogasutras. I do not know if it is possible to load an hour long video (for free of course) in any accessible site. There are now about 1000 members in this group and most have attended some program or the other conducted by me—a lecture, a weekend workshop, a weeklong training program, a 200 hour five week long teacher training program or private lessons.. I would like to renew my request to all to do a short video of some subroutine they like, say, , Vrukshasana dingnamaskara,, (done slowly and with the correct smooth long breathing) or any other, load it on a friendly website and let me know and I can share the information in the next newsletter. Think about it please, or better still do it ****** I hope you may find this teaching of Sri Krishnamacharya useful. Please send your comments and suggestions to [email protected]. You may refer to the earlier newsletters and articles by visiting my website www.vinyasakrama.com and opening the newsletter tab. With best wishes Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami

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March 2011 Newsletter — Breath of Yoga Greetings, I am back in USA after a three month visit to India. Before leaving for USA I spoke at Srimathy and Ravi's (studio) and also at Dr Kannan Pugazhendhi's well known Sport Medicine Center (SPARRC) both in Chennai. It was a nice experience to participate in yoga Programs in Chennai after a couple of decades. For the year 2011 I am doing a limited number of programs due to some chronic constraints (prarabda). I will be doing a six week registered Teacher Training Program(200hrs) in Vinyasa Krama Yoga at LMU during June/July. The registrations will open early March and you may please write to Alana Bray at [email protected]. Other programs include a six day retreat at in May, a five day(20hrs) program in Yoga Sutras at Long Island University, NY (I have not been able to work out the logistics of reaching that place daily from Fort Lee NJ where I live), a ten day program on Core Vinyasa Krama at Chicago yoga Center in September (total 45 hrs). I will also do short programs at Ananda Ashram, in New York State For more details please visit my website www.vinyasakrama.com and click on the Events tab. ***** My friend David Hurwitz sent the following e letter Dear Ramaswami, I have two questions on the February Newsletter. When Krishnamacharya gives his comprehensive treatment of practice krama of Yoga he first recommends the student check the time the breath takes while inhaling and exhaling. Then he says if there is considerable difference in these durations, the teacher should first ask the abhyasi to practice controlled rechaka-puraka prior to the practice of asanas. My first question is: what is the significance of rechaka and puraka being of unequal duration? Does this indicate obstructions in the airways? Is it simply because the student would be unable to do asana with synchronized breathing? And, secondly, what is meant by practicing controlled rechaka- puraka? Does this mean reducing the length of rechaka to equal that of puraka (or vice versa) and to practice breathing this way for some time? I look forward to your response and thank you in advance. --- yogidave Basically Krishnamacharya's yogasana practice involves coordinated breathing, there is a tremendous control over the breath. So he would like his students to have some control over and uniform flow of breath while practicing Yoga. Many starters do not have a good control over breath due to may I say bad breathing habits. Some who have bronchial problem like asthma, tend to have a shallower exhalation. Some others including some singers have a good exhalation but have less control over inhalation. The inhalation- exhalation should be smooth, uniform, even and preferably the practitioner should be able to inhale and exhale for approximately equal duration while doing yogasana the breathing should be samavritti in most of vinyasakraa asana pracitce. This question of Yogi Dave prompted me to base the article for the month on the importance of breath control in Yoga. The following is based on an article I wrote in Indian Review way back in 1970s. ***** BREATH OF YOGA One innocuous looking but important feature of the Vinyasa krama way of asana practice is the deliberate use of breathing while practicing asanas. Unlike other forms of yogasana practice and other popular aerobic exercises, Vinyasakrama requires the practice to be breath

PAGE 9 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 oriented and breath controlled. If one practices vinyasakrama asana practice for about an hour followed by 15 to 30 minutes of Pranayama practice, it would mean having a complete voluntary control over one's breathing for about 1 ½ hrs which otherwise is usually involuntary. My Guru, Sri Krishnamacahrya, is credited with the ability to alter the heart rate and even stop it. He has mentioned that it was primarily due to deep Pranayama practice. A German doctor who conducted studies on this feat of my Guru attributed it to deep uddiyana Bandha which helps squeeze and arrest the heart so that it stops beating during the period the bandha is done. And deep bandha requires an exceptionally deep Rechaka or exhalation which again is part of pranayama. My Guru used to say, as I have written earlier too, that a lot of Siddhis in Hata Yoga are due to Pranayama especially rechaka, exhalation. According to Brahmananda, the commentator of Hathayogapradeepika, Hata Yoga means union of Prana (ha) and and apana (ta) or Pranayama. As we all know, the respiratory function is under both voluntary and involuntary control. Breathing goes on involuntarily changing with the physiological requirements without conscious effort. However it can also be brought under voluntary control. There are several other bodily functions that are somewhat of a similar nature— urination, defecation, sex functions, etc. Normally our breathing is shallow and involuntary. In Pranayama and Vinyasa krama asana practice, a deliberate attempt is made to bring it under voluntary control. The Yogis try to bring the breathing function under absolute control by introducing several parameters like the place of control of the breath, varying duration of inhalation exhalation, and breath holding in and out, using the bandhas at the appropriate stages of breathing. Then Pranayama is done with mantras and imaging or bhavana. All these make up a formidable number of pranayama methods by which the Yogi brings about a tremendous voluntary control over the breathing function. We may add in passing that in cardio- function,speech or vocal training one learns to discipline one's breathing consciously in the initial stages but later subconsciously for purposes other than the objective of life support. Human speech also is dependent on continuous breath control. This method of bringing the breathing under greater control of the central nervous system or the cortex it is believed helps the Yogi to bring several other physiological functions under the Yogi's will. It leads to some extraordinary Siddhis like stopping the heart for a considerable period of time, control of hunger and thirst (kshudpipapasa) etc. According to a well known neuro surgeon of yesteryears in India (himself a fan of Sri Krishnamacharya), neurophysiologically speaking, it appears that the basic factor of Yoga is the control of respiration. Respiratory function can be more easily controlled than any other vital function and the Yogi uses it as the first step in her/ his control of the nervous system. When cortical higher brain control is achieved over one basic function, it is possible to bring about control over other basic functions such as vasomotor, etc. It is therefore possible to dilate bronchial tubes in an asthmatic, reduce blood pressure or increase it, reduce the rate of heart beat, all with the help of Pranayama. Neurological brain disorders like epilepsy, skin allergies like eczema also respond to pranic control. A number of functions classified as autonomic are not so for an adept Yogi. She/He is able to control by will many functions that are controlled in ordinary human beings by subcortical areas—which is beyond one's voluntary control. The mechanism involved could be neurological or chemical. Once a steady regular control of respiration is achieved, there is perhaps a reciprocal biochemical stability which helps in the maintenance of such control. When a yogi wishes to establish full control over this lower vital and emotional function by the exercise of the cortex (will) he/she has to do it by the reciprocal connections among the

PAGE 10 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 cortex, the reticular system and the various concerned centers of the brain. Autonomic functions such as gastrointestinal peristalsis, glandular secretion, sex, and urinary bladder are controlled by the reticular formation of the medulla, pons, and mid-brain. The respiratory system, the cardiovascular system, swallowing, mastication, and vomiting reflexes are all equally controlled by the reticular formation at the level of the medulla oblongata. It is said that more than a couple of dozen of such functions are controlled by reticular formation. The reticular formation consists of more than 100 small neural networks with varied functions. It produces rhythmic signals to the muscles of breathing. The reticular system also filters incoming stimuli to discriminate irrelevant background stimuli/noise. Constant Yogic practice of both pranayama and subsequent meditation quite likely leads to an enlargement of the scope of the function of the reticular system and the cortex. It is quite possible that in a real yogi the reticular system and the cortex are both functionally altered and structurally proliferated. Patanjali also emphasizes that such a transformation of the brain cells is possible The chitta Parinama or the scope of altered arrangement of the brain cells is inherent in every individual and only the appropriate practice is the cause of such a transformation. Like a farmer (kshetrika) who merely diverts the flow of water in a field, the yogi has only to channelize his neurological energies along certain paths and systems. There is no external cause to bring about such neurological and cortical changes. It is an activity of the brain by the brain on the brain for the brain. And the key appears to be Pranayama or breath control. Sri Krishnamacharya's classes never allowed student's puffing and breathing heavily, like aerobic exercise or aerobic like yoga workouts. Whether doing asanas as per vinyasakrama, or Pranayama, the student would exercise voluntary control over breathing during the entire duration of yoga practice. If one breathes heavily, a considerate Krishnamacharya would urge the student to lie down in Savasana for a short period of time to get the breath back before resuming the practice. The breath of yoga is conscious, controlled breathing practice; an unhurried conscious controlled breathing is a sine qua non for Krishnamacharya's yogasana practice. Here is a translation of a verse from Tirumular's Tirumandiram on Pranayama The breath within moves And wanders randomly CONTROL it and purify it from within; Your limbs will glow with red luster,then Your hair will turn dark And God (Siva) within will never leave you. If you are interested in accessing the earlier newsletters and articles (one of them, Oct 2009, contains the story of Tirumular), please visit my website www.vinyasakrama.com and click on the Newsletter tab. If you wish you may send your comments or suggestions to [email protected] Thank you and with best wishes Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami

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April 2011 Newsletter — Mantra Cover Hello Friends: Warm April 1st Greetings! Barbara Templeton sent the following e mail in response to the article “Breath of Yoga” contained in the previous Newsletter. See also the response Dear Ramaswami, With regards to the recent discussion concerning the length of the inhale and exhale I am particularly interested in any methods that you would recommend for lengthening the inhale. Are there certain asanas or pranayama practices one could practice with this goal in mind? I thank you in advance for your time and attention to this question. Barbara Hello Barbara Templeton: Thank u for your e mail. It will be a good practice to work with Kapalabhati first. Then work with your exhalation, make it as long and as complete as possible and try to wait for a second or two before starting the next inhalation. Once your exhalation is good and you do not feel rushed for breath, then you can slowly start your inhalation. Usually the inhalation will improve if you do not rush with your inhalation. Start with about 5 seconds of inhalation then hold breath for a second and then exhale deeply. After a few breaths you can increase the length of your inhalation. You may choose nadi sodhana, ujjayi or sitali for your inhalation depending on what you are comfortable with. The more relaxed and attentive one is the more comfortable and longer will the inhalation be. Once you are happy with your inhalation you may start holding the breath after your inhalation for a few seconds say 5 seconds for a start. Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami ****** In Ma,y I will be doing the following programs 1. At Esalen Institute at Big Sur, California I wil be doing a 26 hr program on Hata Yoga and Practicum, between May 8th and 13th. You may register and here is the link http:// webapp.esalen.org/workshops/9360 2. Between May 23 to May 27, I will be doing a 20 hr week-long program on “The Yoga Sutras-An Intensive Study” at Long Island University's C.W. Post Campus. It is a 20 hr program. Contact 516-299-2580 3. My 200 Hr, six-week Teacher Training Program in Vinyasakrama Yoga is scheduled to start on June 6th at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA. The registration should start any time if not started already. If interested please send your inquiry to [email protected] ******* MANTRA COVER Breathes there the man (or woman) with soul so dead that his/her heart does not bleed at the intense pain of the stoic Japanese people suffering from the triple tragedy inflicted by nature recently? Hope and pray that the suffering is quickly contained and rehabilitation of the victims who survived the ordeal comes about early. Our need for energy that we tend to waste indiscriminately has led us to exploit resources beyond what has been conventional. The abundance of natural radiation from the sun and the other secondary sources of energy from nature like wind and vegetation should be sufficient for our needs if we can be a bit more frugal and careful with the use of energy. We have gone on to tap the huge energy that nature

PAGE 12 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 has tightly held within atoms. Science has found ways to control the radiation from the nuclear resource,but they do not seen to be foolproof. An earthquake, a war between peoples,sabotage could all trigger an uncontrolled fallout of radiation. Though reactors have been designed and operated safely, they appear to be potential disasters due to external factors. The thought that in next coupe of decades the earth may be dotted with hundreds of nuclear power plants is a bit worrying. Ok, let us leave it to the collective wisdom of the experts in these fields. Pray, tell us, do prayers or mantra chants work? Do they prevent the fury of nature and/or the sufferings one undergoes during these times? Perhaps not, but probably yes. As the word 'mantra' indicates, it is supposed to protect the one who meditates/chants the prayer mantra. Mantanam trayata iti mantra, that which protects the one that chants it is mantra...probably. This following episode happened more than 40 years back but, I remember it very vividly. One late summer afternoon, I went for my class with my Guru. Unusually there was nobody else at home. When I just entered his room, I saw him pacing up and down in the room, chanting a portion from the Pravargya chapter of the Yajurveda. It contains the famous Ghosha santi mantras. As soon as he completed the chant, he looked at me and asked how I came, I said in my car. Sometimes I used to walk from my home and sometimes by my bicycle. He immediately asked me to take him to a particular hospital in the city. As we were going in the car, he did not say a word to me but kept chanting these mantras. On reaching the hospital he asked me to come with him. One of his close relatives was admitted in the hospital. She was having labor pains and the childbirth appeared to have become suddenly complicated. I could see that my Guru was worried, concerned. He spent some time with her talked breifly to a few relatives and then aswe returned home he continued to chant the same mantras, never saying a word to me. On reaching his home he asked me to leave and I left. I went to my next class a couple of days later, wondering about the health of his close relative in the hospital. I was shocked to learn that it resulted in a stillbirth. While I was very sorry for the mishap, I could not stop wondering about the efficacy of the mantras chanted by my Guru. Do these mantras work, especially when used by such a stalwart like my guru? I thought for a moment that my guru's faith in all these mantras also would have taken a beating. But no. When I started expressing my condolences, he immediately and sternely cut me short and started the class with the usual mantra prayer. At the end of the class he chanted the end peace chant and I left the class. In spite of his prayer not being answered his faith in these mantras remained unshaken. I spent almost 1500 hrs studying and chanting with him during my classes with him. His faith and commitment could be discerned every time he would chant. It was a remarkable experience listening to his chants, unhurried, involved and full of commitment and absolutely charming. The Ghosha santi mantra he chanted is a beautiful and profound piece. It is part of the portion which starts like this “ May the wind blow gently May the sun shine warming us Like a (cuddling)mother warms the infant …. The ghosha santi mantras are meant to be chanted aloud (ghosha) in a chorus praying to the various gods of nature to be kind to us, and not harm us. According to vedic belief, God created the universe and appointed intelligent/conscious entities/gods to control the natural forces. In fact it is said that there are 330 million gods controlling several million aspects of the universe. There is a god of fire, of wind, of time, of life, of wealth, of knowledge, of earth, of love, of speech etc. And the vedas contain mantras to propitiate these intelligent gods. So when we say a prayer using the vedic mantras addressed to these gods and propitiate them with offerings, they tend to be helpful to human beings and individuals. However if we act

PAGE 13 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 against the rules/laws of nature they get angry (prakopa) and show their displeasure which we call acts of god. Human beings are unable to predict or control these acts. Prayers to natural forces may appear to be irrational but become meaningful if one subscribes to the view that gods of nature are intelligent entities. This belief led to a plethora of vedic and non vedic mantras that are chanted by millions to appease the gods of nature not only for their bounties but also as a cover or protection against the vagaries and adverse effects of nature. The word mantra means that sound which protects the one who thinks (chants) it. My teacher would say that vedic mantras were designed in such a way that they purify the various of the body. Mantras are used to ward off unhappiness of adhyatmika or of the body from the common cold to cancer, and of the mind such as depression (soka), obsession/ worry(chinta) or anger(manyu). These are individual and specific in nature. Mantras are also used to counter the problems created by adhi bhoutika or the other beings like my neighbor, stray dogs, war etc. Then there are mantras that help appease the devatas manning the different aspects of nature and prevent disasters like water (flooding and tsunami) of air (tornadoes), of mother earth (earthquakes) of fire (forest fires and radiation). In fact there are mantras used by the orthodox people for all the daily activities (nitya karma). A mantra to the female aspects of the trinity of creation, sustenance and destruction (Lakshmi, Saraswati and Gauri) is recited the moment you open your eyes in the morning. Then as ones steps out of bed a mantra prayer to mother earth asking for pardon to step on her. One prays with mantras to several aspects of nature to make the day happy and ward off evils that may come in the way all through the day. Then there are mantras as one brushes the teeth with a neem twig, while taking a bath, then to the food and the five pranas before taking food. Mantras are chanted as you step out of the house so that the journey may be uneventful. Then there are mantras so that one would have a good night's sleep without those excruciating nightmares. Prayer to Sun for health and removal of heart disease and eyesight problems are well known. In fact apart from these daily mantras there are mantra rituals done at different stages of life. Mantras are used all through life, from the time of conception to the event of consigning the mortal remains to the sacred fire, the last rites. Mantras when a baby is started on solid food, mantras for starting study, wedding vows, childbirth, etc. In addition to doing proper karmas (punya) consistent with nature (will of gods), people used to propitiate the gods with these beautiful, innocent but powerful mantras. There was an attempt to live one's life trying to harmonize it with nature and these mantras helped develop an empathy with nature. One endeavors to go through life shrouded in peace with the support of the mantras. Then there are mantras and prayers used for specific situations. Mantras to propitiate the sun and the god of rain in case of drought(anavrishti). Mantras for getting married at the proper time are still used with varying degrees of success. Some mantras are considered to be efficacious in getting justice in court. Mantras are used to climb out of a hole, out of desperate situations. Last year I was talking to a friend in India about a common friend who was in a dire situation. She was a surgeon. She had ended her first marriage in a divorce, which is rather uncommon in India. She married again and got a son, a brilliant charming boy. But things took a turn for the worse. Her second husband died suddenly. Her demanding mother became sick and it was a task taking care of a difficult sick mother and it drained her energy and enthusiasm completely. She had to work in a distant hospital to make both ends meet. It took a toll on her and led to a nervous breakdown. She lost her job and this started affecting the boy as well. Her behavior started getting bizarre. She would wake her son up a few times during the night to see if he was ok and alive. She complained of being stalked by strangers. My friend

PAGE 14 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 said that she was concerned about her and thought she would need immediate psychiatric care and it was impossible to convince her to go and consult a doctor. I felt unhappy about her lot. Impulsively I took the book of Sundarakanda from the Ramayana of Valmiki. This section contains more than 2800 verses. It deals with the condition of Sri Sita who was abducted by Ravana and incarcerated in Lanka. Her husband Sri Rama had no clue about her whereabouts and sent emissaries in different directions. The great devotee of Rama, Hanuman the monkey god leapt over the Indian Ocean( a la or ) and reached Lanka and ultimately found Sri Sita confined in a remote forest. He managed to convince her that he was an emissary of Sri Rama, exchanged a ring given by Rama for identification, received a crest jewellery of Sita as proof of his meeting with Sita. He finally returned to the mainland and reported to Sri Rama about the successful completion of 'finding Sita Mission'. This portion of the Ramayana is said to be very powerful and is used as a mantra portion. Sita was desperate, had lost all hopes of returning to her beloved husband and was about to commit suicide-- she saw no light at the end of the tunnel (2800+ verses for this?). So this is chanted when people feel 'hope-less'. To chant this whole section takes about ten hours. Many times people who can not do it by themselves because they can not read Sanskrit or are not in a mental condition to read ask a priest or someone else to recite/chant and sometimes they sit down and listen to it. It is believed that chanting or listening to it will help the subject to get out of the hole like Sri Sita who was able to get out of Lanka and return to her husband after a successful mission of her husband. So I just chanted the whole section during the next three days at the rate of about 3 hours per day. I felt a little peaceful afterwords. After about 15 days I was talking to my friend in India again and she had something interesting to say about our common friend. I was told that she became worse, even became violent and suddenly one late evening she impulsively rang up her first husband who was living in a city about 400 miles away and poured her heart out about her desperate situation. He listened to her carefully and calmly and he (himself a medical doctor) asked her to come over to his city as he thought she needed a change of place first. She quickly wound up her establishment. Her first husband helped her find an apartment to stay in, found admission for her son in a good school. He also used his contacts and found her a job in a new teaching hospital in the outskirts of the city, He also took personal interest in the adorable and brilliant boy,-- as a godfather . When I met her during my recent visit to India I found her absolutely fine. She even got a promotion in the teaching hospital as an associate professor in Surgery. A dramatic turnaround in a very short period of time. Whenever I have problems the solutions for which are beyond my control, I resort to chanting. Most often they do not seem to have any effect, but they help me to calm down a bit and to view the situation more realistically. Mantras seem to work if one chants for others, most times. Mantras seem to work wonders sometimes. Mantras act as a protective cover or a shield .Of course skeptics would say these are coincidences. There is a work called Tarka Sangraha. It is a treatise on ancient vedic logic. It starts with a prayer to the Almighty for the successful completion of the work, like we pray to Ganesha at the beginning of Yoga class. In a commentary on this work, the commentator poses the question (it being a work on logic and inference) whether it is necessary to pray before starting any work like writing a book. He quotes an instance of a book successfully completed without a prayer in the beginning. He also quotes another literary work which remained abandoned even with a beautiful prayer to start with. Then he goes on to answer. Just because there is no written prayer at the beginning of the book it does not mean that the author had not recited a prayer. He might have done it silently without writing it. Or he could

PAGE 15 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 have prayed sufficiently in his previous births. Regarding the unsuccessful book, he says that mantras and prayers alone may not be sufficient if the obstacles are insurmountable. I can not write a book on let us say, “ Nuances of British Criminal Law” by just writing a prayer to Lord Ganesha, nor a couch potato win a marathon after chanting a mantra on Vishnu. If one's Karma is very negative, prayers may help to mitigate the ill effects rather than in completely nullifying it. In a desperate situation most people instinctively look up to the superior force/being even if they do not pray routinely. Most days I try to chant a portion of the vedas, different portions on different days. One day in the morning I chanted the pravargya chapter containing the ghosha santi mantra referred to in the beginning of this write up. Soon thereafter I learnt about the earth quake in Japan, then later on the horrendous tsunami and then the nerve racking news about the nuclear plants. The pain one feels in such situations is compounded by one's impotence. I could only think of chanting the 45 minute pravargya chapter almost daily thereafter which contains the beautiful ghosha santi mantras May the Earth function peacefully May there be peace in outer Space May there be peace in the Heavens. Peace, may there be, in all Directions In all the intermediate directions, may there be Peace May the Fire function peacefully May the Air function peacefully, May the Sun warm us gently May the moon shine peacefully, So the stars function peacefully, May the waters function in peace, May there be peace in herbs May the trees (and forests) be peaceful May the milch cows be peaceful So the goats be peaceful And the horses be peaceful, May human beings be peaceful., May the Lord be kind and peaceful, May the scholars (brahmanas) be peaceful, Let there be peace alone (no strife) Let there be Peace alone in me. May I be peaceful as the Universe becomes peaceful May peace be instilled in me, in bipeds and quadrupeds May there be Peace

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By this universal peace may I remain peaceful And I pledge to remain peaceful And pledge to create peace in bipeds and quadrupeds May there be Peace in me, Peace alone in me!! This is also known as Maha Shanti or the great peace invocation. I had included this chant on the cd that accompanied the first few prints of my book “The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga”. I had also recorded the Sundara Kanda I referred to in this article a few years back and it is still available in India as a two cd pack running for close to 10 hours. Many people chant “Hanuman Chalisa” an excellent prayer mantra on Hanumanji and is considered to be equal to the lengthy Sundara Kanda in its efficacy. You may also consider reading the chapter on Mantra Yoga in my book “Yoga for the Three Stages of Life”. ******* ***Kapalabhati is voluntary sneezing. Ujjayi is voluntary wheezing. Bhastrika is voluntary coughing. Pranayama is voluntary/ mindful breathing. These simple yogic procedures help overcome the underlying chronic respiratory problems ***According to my Guru the inversion twins Sirasasana and Sarvangasana are like two eyes of yogasana regimen. They are also compared to the head and the heart..they benefit respectively the brain and the heart. Some call them as the King and Queen of asanas. ***Pranayama is one procedure that has a direct correlation to longevity. *** A sage (yogi) should use food as a medicine to treat a disease called hunger. Minimal clothing-the loin cloth-- should be used like a bandage to cover a wound.-- My Guru quoting an old Sanskrit saying. (A recluse yogi ate three handfuls of food a day and perhaps just wore a loincloth—no yoga wardrobe or yoga recipes / kitchen, I guess ) *** The tongue (jihwa) has two tendencies/weaknesses (chapalya). One is to taste (and eat) excess stimulating food. The other is to talk in excess and without purpose. Tapas, a yogic niyama is to keep the twin functions of the tongue under a leash by moderation is speech(mita bhashana) and moderation in diet (mitaa ahaara)--From my class notes on YS of my Guru *** The initial goal of a Yoga is to transform one's mind (chitta) into a predominantly Satwic state. The ultimate goal of a Yoga would be to make the mind (chitta) transcend all the gunas, called nirodha avasta (state of peaceful stillness) or saamya avasta ( state of absolute equilibrium of the three gunas). How to achieve these? Ask Patanjali Maharshi, he has all the answers. *** I know what is right action(dharma), but am disinclined to do what is right I know what is wrong action (adharma) but am unable to refrain from doing it So, let me act the way, as directed By whosoever divine being resides in my heart -A Sanskrit morning prayer

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Thank You and with best wishes Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami P S You may access my earlier newsletters containing articles of interest to Yoga practitioners, from my website www.vinyasakrama.com and clicking on the Newsletter tab You may also consider sending your views, questions to [email protected]

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May 2011 Newsletter — Advaita Warm May Day Greetings! 200 TT PROGRAM IN VINYAKRAMA YOGA My annual 200-Hour Vinyasa Krama organized by Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California (LMU Campus) is scheduled to start on June 6th 2011 and run for 6 weeks. You may look at the course description in the following link http://www.lmu.edu/pagefactory.aspx?PageID=34949&PageMode=View Registration is open and here is the link to be used to register for 200-Hour Vinyasa Krama Yoga Teacher Training http://registration.xenegrade.com/lmuextension/ For more details please write to Johanna.Fontanilla Yoga Coordinator at [email protected] 310-338-2358 This program is registered with Yoga Alliance as a 200 Hr Teacher Training Program. ******** YOGA MAKARANDA OF SRI T KRISHNAMACHARYA Sometime in 2006, I met Lakshmi Ranganathan (one of the first students of T. K. V. Desikachar) and her daughter Nandini Ranganathan who showed me a copy of their English translation of my Guru Sri Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda ( I have the Tamil translation of the book for over 45 years and refer to it even today whenever I want to just shut up and listen to my Guru, Sri Krishnamacharya).. I thought the translation was excellent. They gave me a hard copy to read and said I could share it with anyone who may be interested in Sri Krishnamacharya's works. In my TT course I have a subject “Sri Krishnamacharya's works” in which I have included Yoga Makaranda and this translation was used by the participants of the program who all loved the book. It was a ten hour program and we went through the entire text with discussions and demonstrations by the participants. I understand that this is available as free downloadable file in a few sites. If you are interested you can find it in the following link. http://yogashalapdx.com/teachertraining/ yogamakg.pdf ********* ADVAITA My teacher Sri Krishnamacharya took considerable pains to teach the Yoga Sutras to his students. He also wanted his students to study and be familiar with other orthodox philosophies like Samkhya, and . The several Upanishads, the Gita and Brahma sutra he taught to explain the rather tricky, involved vedanta philosophy, usually following the visishta-advaita approach, though he also was adept in advaita philosophy. He once said in the Brahma Sutra class to the effect that while Advaita could be intellectually stimulating it is visishta advaita that will be emotionally satisfying. Perhaps the most widely read orthodox is Vedanta and especially the Advaita school. There are tons of material available on this philosophy and many people interested in vedic thought study this and gradually become lifelong students of Vedanta. Many long time Hata Yoga practitioners have taken up the study of Yoga as a philosophical system and considerable material is available from both old and contemporary writers in different languages especially English. And some among the the yoga practitioners have taken

PAGE 19 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 an interest in studying the vedanta philosophy also especially the advaitic interpretation. In this however, the published material on Advaita Vedanta available is so technical and involved that the difficult subject is made more inaccessible by several portions which are very technical. Profound and daring, albeit very ancient, this philosophy stands out among all the vedic philosophies. I thought I could write very briefly on the basic tenets of this thought process. There are at least two things we need to have an experience, a subject and an object. When you and I sit at a table over a cup of coffee or a can of beer or a more yogic glass of goat's or cow’s milk, I am the subject and you are the object and it is the other way from your point of view. We are two different entities and what does advaita say about our relationship? Advaita says that there is only one principle , the observer which is pure consciousness. It implies that there is only one principle or entity that is pure consciousness that can be termed as one having “Existance” (satya). Nothing else qualifies to be termed “It exists“. So the term advaita refers to that one principle that alone exists. Of course it appears to contradict our experience as we converse as you and I. Many Indian philosophies both vedic and non Vedic, endeavor to explain the absolute beginning (aarambha) of the creation of the universe. The several puranas have the narration of creation as an essential aspect of purana. They explain how God created the Universe. There are other views like those of the Samkhyas and Yogis who say the evolution of the Universe began with the disequilibrium of the gunas in the dimensionless mulaprakriti. They do not see the need for a God to create the Universe. The vaiseshika philosophy says that the universe came about by the combination of various atoms of earth, of water, etc. and the atoms or paramanus are the basic building blocks of the Universe. Further all these vedic darsanas are careful to point out that there is also the individual self that is distinct and different from the material universe created. Because they suggest two different principles-- the consciousness and matter-- these philosophies came to be called dwaita or dualistic. They also differ from the modern scientific view which says that the universe started by the evolution from a tiny but hugely dense entity called singularity, but seems to imply that individual consciousness is a product of matter and not an independent entity—contrary to the vedic philosophies. Advaita as the name implies indicates that there is only one principle and none else . That principle is pure non changing(sat) consciousness(chit) which they call Brahman. How do they explain the existence of the evolved Universe? Since there is only one principle which itself does not undergo any change with time (avakasa) or place (akasa) the evolved universe is not real but only an illusion and not independent. When we attempt to find out the beginning of the evolution we go back from the present. The classic examples of the chicken and the egg or the seed and the tree are mentioned to indicate the impossibility of finding out the beginning of the evolution. One school of advaitins says that since the chicken-egg phenomenon involves an unending chain of changes the beginning of which can not be determined , so the very exercise of finding out how the universe started (Aaramba vaada) is futile and all views about how the universe began are wrong. In fact, accordingly, the several theories about the beginning of the Universe cancel one another. The impossibility of finding the absolute beginning also could open the possibility that there is no real beginning and that the evolution of the universe itself is not real- the world is not rock solid as we see- and at best it is virtual. They assert that there was no real creation. Gaudapada in his commentary of Mandukya Upanishad states “nobody is ever born” In this context I remember a movie I saw when I was young (I was hardly sixty at that time). In the mystery movie, the young detective was trying to find out who murdered “Victim X”.

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After two years of painstaking investigations (and two hours of my painful viewing) the detective is unable to find the killer, only because “Victim X” did not die in the first place. Our detective started with a wrong premise. I have been trying like crazy for 72 years to understand how the world was created, poring over orthodox and contemporary dissertations on the origin of te Universe and now some Advaitin says that I can not find it because the world was never really created. Advaita also asserts that a non-changing pure consciousness can not produce a 'real' material world nor can a non-conscious prakriti, paramanus or singularity produce non-changing consciousness which is the nature of our true self. So in our dualistic world the advaitin's view is that only the consciousness is real while the persistent world is unreal. In this context one may consider the statement of Einstein, “Reality is merely an illusion albeit is a persistent one”. Reality here refers to the universe which we experience as real. And advaita rubbishes the general perception that the Universe was really created (sat karya), a universal, taken- for- granted view The advaitins give several examples to explain the 'virtuality' of the observed universe. They compare it to the space that we see in a mirror; though the space that we see in the mirror may be considered to be within the two dimensional mirror surface, it appears to be outside (beyond and behind) of it. The other example is that of the dream experience. In the dream, the space, the objects and the other beings and even our own dream self can be considered to be taking place within the dreamer's head but they all appear to be real and outside, during the dream state . The third example they give is that of the work of a magician who is able to create an illusion of space and objects. At a higher level is the world created by Siddha yogis. There is a story of sage Viswamitra creating an illusory heaven to accommodate one of his disciples, King Trisanku. And the Lord who created this virtual ‘universe of illusion’ is the most consummate magician of all. The Brahman, the only one existing-- the advaita--, is pictured as even smaller than an atom (anoraneeyan) but is immensely dense consciousness (prajnana ghana). Within it, due to the inexplicable Maya the beginning less universe appears, only appears, to evolve and exist and persist. Further even though the universe is within the Brahman, it appears to be outside it. And that is the grand illusion. There is an interesting episode about Lord Krishna as a toddler. Krishan was a purna ‘avatar’ or complete incarnation of Para Brahman or the supreme being. He was raised by his foster parents Yasodha and Nandan in Gokulam. One day he was playing and his mother saw him taking some dirt from the floor and putting it in his mouth. Concerned the mother lifted him and asked him if he put dirt into his mouth. Without opening his mouth the child shook his head. The mother now more concerned asked him to open his mouth. The child opened the mouth wide and lo and behold! Yasodha saw the entire Universe in his mouth. She had a bird’s eye view, rather an eagle’s eye view (or a google view) of the Universe including her holding the open mouthed divine child in her arms. She realized that the child was para brahman (the supreme being). The entire universe was within Him even as He appeared as a child, within the vast universe, like all of us. The Lord says in the Bhagavadgita “Everything is in Me but I am not in everything” I, as I know myself, wrapped in this maya (maya=that which really is not: the trickster), even though I am within the supreme consciousness, the individual I, as part of the Universe appear to be outside of it, engulfing It, the Brahman. And consequently the supreme consciousness, Brahman, appears to be within this physical me as the or the individual Self ,in my heart cave (dahara). Now, though I am in It , It (Brahman) appears to be within

PAGE 21 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 me as my Self or Atman. The Upanishads tell us the means of finding It, within each one of us. The pancha maya model is one such vidya or practice by which each one can find the self within oneself, within the five kosas. It is an exercise by which one knows the only real principle that exists, the Brahman, the pure consciousness as one‘s self or Atman. The Self that resides in my heart lotus (dahara) and the Self that you, sitting across the coffee table , find in your heart lotus are one and the same, the same Brahman. That is advaita. Advaita does not mean all the varied objects like you and I are one and the same, but the Self within us are one and the same, even as they appear to be distinct and different, shrouded by illusion. There is a considerable amount of source material available on this advaita pilosophy. The ten major Upanishads are the main source followed by the Brahma Sutra and the Bhagavat Gita. In the Upanishads the Vedanta philosophy is presented succinctly through anecdotes, dissertations and dialogues between parent and offspring, teacher and pupil, spouse and spouse, God and devotee, saint and sinner and friend and friend. The advaitic interpretation is chiefly presented by Sri Sankara through detailed commentaries on these major Upanishads, Bhagavat Gita and also the Brahma Sutras. Sankara and some of his pupils have also written several easily accessible texts on advaita called prakrana granthas, like Atma bodha, Vivekachudamani and others. Many of his works with some translations are available online. The Upanishads themselves explain the philosophy in detail from several viewpoints answering multitude of questions that may arise in the followers’ mind. Several vidyas or dissertations help to have a clear understanding of this old, unusual philosophy. They also contain some very pithy statements which are used as mantras or memory aids and are tellingly direct. Aham Brahmasmi (I am Brahman), Pragnyanam Brahma ( Absolute consciousness in Brahman), tat tvam asi (You are That, the Brahman) ayam atma brahma (this individual Self is Brahman) are the most famous. Further there are other equally powerful statements like Brahma satyam, Jagan mitya (Brahman is real/ existence, the Universe is myth --mythya--illusion). Jiva brahmaiva na aparah (The individual Self is definitely Brahman and none other). What is the benefit of this kind of inquiry, especially to the majority of us who muddle through life rising with the tide and rolling with the punches? The advaitins say that knowing the truth about ourselves and the Universe is essential and they aver that this is the truth. Truth should be known whether it is sweet, bitter or insipid. Once we know the truth about ourselves and the universe around us our interaction with the outside world could drastically change. The Yogis say that the external world ,predominantly, is a constant source of threefold sorrow (duhkha). So say the Samkhyas. But the advaitin goes a step further and says that to a discerning mind the external world is not only a source of duhkha (barring individual variations, look at the enormity of the threefold collective duhkha in the world–self created, caused by other beings and by nature's fury) but is itself an illusion. How much importance do I give to the dream experience during dream time and then when I wake up? One tends to shrug off the dream experience as 'just a dream' on waking up. Likewise when my mind after study, contemplation and determination finds that the world after all is virtual like a dream, I may not take my transient worldly life with so much anxiety, expectation and remorse as I seem to be doing all my life. An enormous amount of psychological burden that I unnecessarily carry may be taken off my mind then, and make me peaceful, hopefully. Furthermore, the thought or realization that I am the non-changing majestic reality, the one and only eternal Brahman, is just cool!! **** Advaita Pranayama

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While slowly inhaling meditate that the virtual external world is being withdrawn into the source, the Brahman in one’s heart. Next during the breath holding (antah Kambhatka) meditate on the fact that the Universe is within the Brahman and has no independent real existence. Then while doing the exhalation meditate that the illusionary universe is being renounced. And in Bahya Kambhaka the meditation is on the pure Brahman that alone exists as advaita.-- based on Sankara’s work and Tejobindu Upanishad ***** A Sanskrit prayer Death without distress Life without dependence Grant me, Oh! compassionate Lord Sambhu (Siva) In Thee are established all. *** If you have any comments or suggestion please send to [email protected] You may share this letter with your friends y e mail or post in your blogs, twitter or share in facebook . If you wish you may refer to the earlier letters by visiting my website www.vinyasakrama.com and clicking on the Newsletter tab Thank you very much and with best wishes Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami

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June 2011 Newsletter — Statics and Dynamics of Asana In May 2011, I taught a 20 hour five day program at Long Island University in New York on the subject of Patanjali's Yoga sutra. We had a small compact group. It was a pleasure to teach the Sutras especially to an interested group. Jyoti Chittur had arranged the program. She followed it up with the University from beginning to end. She ferried me everyday from my home in New Jersey to the University and back. The high gas prices, multiple toll booths en route, traffic and the long distance must have cost her a small fortune. The time, effort and strain she bore with a smile and I am beholden to her for her great help. With her long experience as a yoga teacher she also contributed to the discussions. Thank you very much Jyoti. Here is letter from Claudia Azula Altucher, one of the star participants in the program Dear Ramaswamiji, thank you for the Workshop on the Yoga Sutras, I am in eternal gratitude (so is James) for you showing us the way of the 8 limbs. I have a question, which you may answer directly to me or include in the newsletter or whatever you may feel,... it is this: when we sit for dhyana, do you think that it is easier if we focus on an object instead of the breath? I ask this because I find that the breath moves and therefore it is more fickle. I have never tried it with an object and I wondered if you had insight on this. Thank you. Hello Claudia: Thank you for the message. In Vinyasakrama, we use the breath concomitantly with movements in asana practice. Then in pranayama practice, the physical movements are stopped but during breath holding, in conventional pranayama, usually a mantra is silently chanted. You could see that here the element of meditation is used even in pranayama, so that when the yogabhyasis gets into mantra meditation the mind is already attuned to meditation. So we may say that even though breath can be used as a focus, a mantra or an object may be used for better results. Breath is constantly moving even as it has the advantage of being constantly available for meditiation, you do not have to bring it back to focus like a mantra or an external object. The sutras tell us the various objects of prakriti to focus on, but for a start to get the discipline, one may start with a mantra, an icon, a in the body or whatever satvic object that suits. Sorry, long reply. Brevity is not my virtue. Srivatsa Ramaswami The 200 hr hour TT program in Vinyasakrama Yoga starts at LMU on June 6th. 2011.Again this year it will have a small compact group for the program scheduled to run for six weeks. ******* STATICS AND DYNAMICS OF ASANA When I was a student I had to study a course in Mathematics (or was it Physics or Engineering?) titled, “Statics and Dynamics.” That was the time Mathematics left me but I liked the name of the course which I am using as the title of the article. When I was young I used to be called “Soni Ramaswami” by many relatives, friends and many who were not very friendly. Soni means puny. I used to be very thin, even so I used to be very interested in outdoor sports activities. I managed to get onto the college/ school teams in Tennis and Cricket. In fact, I was coached for several years by the father of the National Tennis Champion in India at the time and the father had coached the champion. I thought I did well in spite of a lack of the required physique and stamina. I was the college champion in Tennis for three years and also won the district championship for college students. My best moment was the match I played against the All India number 3 ranked player at that time. Barely 18, I came close to beating him. In the close match, in the final set I could not cope

PAGE 24 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 with the physical demands. My coach told me later that I had a good ball sense and talent (please bear with me on this, old men like me need some bragging for sustenance) but with my kind of physique and lack of stamina I had little chance of making the grade. Much earlier I had started learning Yoga from my guru, Sri Krishnamacharya. Prior to that I had learned some Yoga asanas from my father, several people in my school and a few other teachers. In my school the physical education teacher usually doubled as a yoga master as well and several students were familiar with yogasanas and many were able to do several poses like sarvangsana, padmasana, etc. I used to do asanas randomly, no coordinated breathing, no pranayama, more interested in the form alone. But when I started the studies with my guru the whole picture was different. Slow synchronous breathing, the counter-poses, the sequencing, the adaptations, pranayama, chanting, text studies were all new and it was astounding studying with him. Initially I was continuing to engage in outdoor sports which he was aware of, but did not ask me to choose between the two. One day he said that the philosophy of Yoga and outdoor sports were very different. He would say that while Yoga is considered as a sarvanga sadhana or practice for all parts of the body (and mind) modern sporting activities were anga bhanga sadhana as they affect different parts of the body differently producing disequilibrium and asymmetry. I remembered at that time I came across a story in a sports magazine about the left wrist of Rod Laver an outstanding Australian Tennis player. It was said that the wrist size of his playing left hand was twice as large as the right one. Sri Krishnamacharya also used to say very interesting things during the rest pauses between different asanas and sequences. Once he said that the Yogi should be thin or krisa. One should not be overweight Overweight is bad Lean (muscle) or fat. Carelessly deveoped fat bellies and cultivated oversized biceps one should guard against. It suited me as I refused to put on weight when I was a young adult. After I became a senior citizen, of course I started putting on weight growing sidewards. He also emphasized individual home practice. Merely studying with the teacher may not be sufficient. Regular comprehensive practice was emphasized. He would quote the following sloka anabhyase visa ham vidya ajirne bhojanam visham Visham sabha daridrasya Vridhddhasys taruni visham Knowledge without practice (application) is toxic. Food during indigestion is poison. Partying is poison(ruinous) to the poor, while to the old a young spouse is disaster indeed. By then I had a copy of his Yoga Makaranda, the Tamil version. Fortunately this book, a treasure of information and instructions for everyone who wants to know the Krishnamacharya system is now at everybody’s fingertips, literally. Yes you can click the following link Download Kriahnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda with your fingertips and the whole text faithfully translated into English will pop up. Modern day yoga asana practice follows two different streams. There are old schools which teach different asanas and require the participants to stay in the pose for a long time, no appreciable movements or breathing but just stay in the pose for a long time. They emphasis

PAGE 25 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 the steadiness definition of yoga even though many find long stay in the poses painful and boring. There is no 'sukha' in it. Then there is another stream, more modern, in which the asana practice is a continuous flow of movements like a train going at breakneck speed not stopping and looking at at any of the beautiful stations and places called asanas in between. A set of regimented routines on a graded scale of difficulty is done at a hurried pace without coordination with slow breathing day in and day out. In the Yoga Makaranda of Krishnamacharya and the way I learnt Yoga from my Guru, the asanas are described in two perspectives. The book contains pictures of a number of asanas. Krishnamacharya also in most cases mentions that one should stay in these poses for a long time: (10mts), Adhomukhasvanasana (15mts), Urdhwamukhaswanasana(15 mts) Mahamudra/ (15 mts), sarvangasana (niralamba)10mts, etc. It is clear that many of the static poses require time to confer the intended benefits to the abhyasi. He also details the benefits that accrue from the long stay in these classic poses. One also finds that Krishnamacharya has described in the Makranda a number of Vinyasas leading to an asana and then the return sequence. These are not illustrated though. It it is gratifying to know that Yoga Makaranda’s English version published by Krishnamacharya yoga Mandiram has sketches to illustrate most of the Vinyasas which along with the beautiful asana pictures of Krishnamacharya makes it a very useful companion to understand the Krishnamacharya system of asana practice. Further the required breathing also is described in the Makaranda, whether a particular movement is to be done on inhalation or exhalation or occasionally holding the breath. However the book does not contain the several vinyasas done in the asanas or ‘in situ’ vinyasas mainly because the book is a small one. He has though mentioned that several of the asanas like sarvangasana, sirsasana, padmasana, etc. have a number of vinyasas emanating from the basic poses. These vinyasas, as many and as varied as possible, should be done. These vinyasas make the system of yoga a sarvanga sadhana as my Guru mentions in the Makaranda. In my book ' Complete book of vinyasa yoga', I have attempted to include almost the complete range of vinyasas in all the major asanas as I had learnt frm my guru. When one exercises the body with deep vinyasas one is able to squeeze as much of the venous blood as possible from the various tissues and thus enhance the muscle pump effect. Then the deep associated breathing used in Krishnamacharya’s system helps to enhance the respiratory suction pump effect on the heart thereby increasing the rakta sanchara or blood circulation especially the venous blood return to the heart. More and more vinyasas help to stretch the blood vessels as well keeping them more elastic. The practice of vinyasas itself is made very interesting by my Guru. Each expansive vinyasa would be done on slow ujjayi inhalation and every contraction movement would be done on slow smooth exhalation. What should be the length of the inhalation and exhalation as compared to our normal breathing of about 2 seconds of inhalation and 2 seconds of exhalation? He would ask us to take a slow inhalation, say about 5 seconds and another 5 seconds for exhalation. It is the minimum. One could slowly increase the time for inhalation from 5 to 6 and even up to 10 or twelve seconds. The vinyasas were never done at the breakneck speed with which they are done these days. The slower the movements the better and more beneficial it is. A rate of five to six breaths per minute in vinyasakrama is in order. At this rate the suryanamaskara routine of 12 Vinyasas would take about 2 to 3 minutes. By studying Yoga with him one could realize how different Yoga is from workouts, aerobics, outdoor sport activities and even fast paced Yoga where the slow, mindful breathing is compromised.

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So Sri Krishnamacharya’s system of asana practice, as evident from the Makaranda and also from how I have studied with him, is a judicious combination of dynamic Vinyasas and classic asanas. Vinyasas also help to achieve perfection in poses. A few years ago when I was conducting the teacher training program, we went through the entire gamut of vinyasas centered around Padmasana. We continued the practice for several days gradually adding more and more vinyasas. Then we did a number of movements staying in Padmasana. At the end of it all, a participant came to me and said that it was the first time he could do padmasana even though he was a yoga practitioner for more than ten years. The quality of his padmasana improved day by day as he started practicing more and more vinyasas in padmasana which all helped to make the final posture more secure. And he could stay in the posture for a longer period of time, say 10 or 15 mts, as Sri Krishnamacharya would want the abhyasis to be able to do. How can one stay in postures like paschimatanasana, sarvangasana, sirsasana, etc. for 10 to 15 mts or even 30 mts as some yogabhyasis do? Will it not be painful, won’t the limbs go to sleep and what about the mind, does it not get bored? It will be interesting to know the way Sri Krishnamacharya taught Sarvangasana to me. First do the preliminary poses like desk pose, apanasana and urdwa prasarita pada hastasana, slowly with the appropriate breathing. Then get into the more relaxed viparitakarani position. Keep the legs relaxed -even limp- for a while watching the unhurried breathing. Then come down. Do it for a few days and then after getting into the viparitakarani position straighten the body, support the back behind the ribcage with the palms placed close to each other. Stay for a few minutes, come down, do an appropriate counterpose and do the routine a few more times for a total of about 10 minutes. From then on try to increase the duration of stay in the pose until you are able to stay for 10 mts in one try. After a few days of comfortable steady stay in sarvangasana, increase the stay to about 15 minutes the ideal duration in sarvangasana. Now start concentrating on the breath. Your inhalation can be short say 3 seconds or so in this pose as the inhalation is a bit more difficult because of the cramped nature of the chest. But one can have a very long exhalation. After a few days practice try to introduce the bandhas as you start your slow exhalation. Start drawing in the rectum and the abdomen in tandem as you exhale finishing the exhalation with mulabandha and uddiyana bandha in place. Hold the breath out and maintain the bandhas for about 5 seconds. Then release the bandhas and start the next slow inhalation After a few days practice count the number of breaths that you take for the entire duration of your stay in the posture. Then try to reduce the number of breaths you take for the same 15 minutes stay. The aim is to reduce this number until you reach a steady state that you can maintain consistently. There are people who are able to maintain a breath rate of about 4, 3, 2, or even one breath per minute staying in a static yoga posture as sarvangasana. It is better to learn these procedures from a teacher. Many years back I used to teach in Houston for several weeks at a time. It was a time when asanas like sarvangasana and pranayama were taboo and padmasana was a dreaded asana. I tried to encourage the class to practice sarvangasana, learning it an orderly fashion through preparatory Vinyasas and finally the posture. It took a while and then the participants were encouraged to try to stay in the asana for a while doing slow smooth breathing. They were able to stay for longer and longer duration and towards the end of the program more than half of the class could stay for the full fifteen minutes maintaining at best a breath rate of 3 or 4 per minute. In my teacher training programs the participants are encouraged to develop endurance to stay in some of the important poses like the inversions, paschimatanasana, mahamudra, etc. even as they learn several hundred Vinyasas in the course.

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Further while asanas are a necessary routine for a yogabhyasi it is not sufficient. A well rounded yoga practice should contain other angas of yoga like pranayama because they between them help to reduce the systemic excess of rajas and tamas. Day’s yoga practice should consist of a proper combination of dynamic vinyasas and static asanas. Add a stint of pranayama practice and some meditation or chanting, and you have a wholesome daily yoga practice. Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami The earlier Newsletters containing articles can be accessed from my website www.vinyasakrama.com and clicking the Newsletter tab. Comments and suggestions may please be sent to [email protected]

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July 2011 Newsletter — Trivikrama Greetings from Los Angeles. I will be teaching a two day workshop on Vinyasakrama Asanas and Pranayama at Anada Ashram in New York State on 26th and 27th of July 2011 We are almost four weeks through the 6 week 200 Hr Teacher training Program at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. We have completed the 60 hour Vinyasakrama Asana Program a 20 hr Pranayama Program, a further 20 hr Yoga Sutra course and a 20 hour program on study of Sri Krishnamacharya's works—The Yoga Makaranda and Yoga Rahasya and also a 20 hour program on Mantras and Meditation based on my studies with Sri Krishnamachaarya. It is a very nice group of dedicated participants, some are experienced teachers themselves.. Like last year and the years before it is a wonderful group blossoming into a nice cohesive one. Whether it is doing 80 at a stretch or staying and doing vinyasas for 10 minutes in Sarvangasana or meditating for 15 minutes and chanting the Atma Suddhi and Pranayama /Gayatri mantras they show equal facility and interest. I am enjoying being part of the group. I hope the remaining two weeks will be equally satisfying and peaceful. We have three from Brazil, three from Mexico and a couple from Singapore/ Thailand. There is one each from Portland, New Jersey and Texas. And of course a few are from Los Angeles/California as well. There are 18 participants for the whole program and a few have signed for individual courses making it a compact group of 20+ participants for all the courses. TRIVIKRAMA—THE LORD WHO STOOPED TO CONQUER Last year around this time I wrote narrating some stories from the Puranas. With the program at LMU going on I thought of the easier option of story time for this Newsletter. In one of the earlier articles I wrote about the story of Prahlada as an outstanding instance of selfless bhakti. Even though he was a danava (demon) he developed a great devotion for the Lord even as a child and the beautiful story of him is narrated as a source of great inspiration for Bhakti yogis. When I was young there used to be popular plays enacted on Prahlada as “Bhakta Prahlada” sometimes the plays running all through the night on special occasions for worshiping Vishna. As his name would indicate he was absolutely blissful (pra+hlada). And he proved to be an absolutely adorable king. His grandson was also an exceptionally great King called Mahabali. He would be referred to as Bali chakravarti (emperor). Bali as a demon king (danava) performed an elaborate vedic ritual called 'Viswajit', meaning conquering (jit) the Universe (viswa). Out of the sacrificial fire, it would appear there emerged a golden chariot, armor and a coat of arms. With the guidance and goading of his preceptor Sukracharya he went on a Digvijaya or conquest of all directions. Soon the Universe came under his control. He banished even Indra the chief of the devas (angels) to the netherworld. He became a benevolent king though his usurping the territories of devas was considered adharmic or unlawful. He took over Mayapuri the heavenly capital city of Indra. He became well known for his charity all over the universe. But his adharmic karma of usurping someone else's possession was waiting in the wings to fructify. In the meantime Indra complained to his preceptor Brahaspati about his pitiable condition. Brahaspati counseled him to wait and said any misdeed like willful disobedience of his preceptor would cause the downfall of the mighty emperor. Aditi was considered to be the mother of Devas. In fact one name for the sun is Aaditya, meaning the offspring of Aditi. When the mass banishment of the devas to the netherworld took place due to the actions of Bali, sage Kashyapa, Aditi's husband had gone out for deep

PAGE 29 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 meditation and was unaware of the happenings in the outside universe. So when he returned home, Aditi narrated to Kashyapa all that happened during his absence. Kashyapa contemplated deeply and decided to approach Lord Vishnu to rectify the situation. He and Aditi decided then to take a great vrata (penance) called Payovrata ot subsisting on milk alone for the entire duration of twelve day period of the penance to propitiate Lord Vishnu, the Lord who is credited with 10 avataras or incarnations to restore dharma in the universe periodically. At the end of the vrata, Vishnu appeared before the couple and inquired about their wish and Aditi and Kashyapa narrated the unfortunate happenings in the Universe. The Lord who is omniscient listened to them carefully and indicated that He earlier took the avatar of Narasimha (man-lion) to protect Prahlada the child born to a demon but yet a great pious soul, would have to take another avatara to punish Prahlada's own grandson due to his misdeeds. The Lord promised that he would be born to them as their last child and would do the needful. In due course Aditi gave birth to a beautiful child but in due course he grew up to be a dwarf, a dwarf Brahmin. He also chose to remain a Brahmachari, a celibate. He was revered for his scholarship and the knowledge of Dharma-- of what is right and what is wrong. By then Mahabali at the prompting of his clever preceptor Sukracharya decided to do the ultimate vedic ritual called Aswamedha or the horse sacrifice, so that he could establish legitimacy over his usurpation of the kingdom of gods the devaloka apart from the rest of the Universe. The pygmy Lord, called Vamana then decided that it was time to make the move. He slowly wended his way to the palace of Mahabali. It was the time for the asura king to take his food and the small statured, harmless looking Brahmin boy stood there begging for a boon from the mighty King. One of the greatest virtues of Mahabali was the charities he gave which endeared him to many of his subjects in the Universe. Seeing the hungry looking but illustrious boy the Emperor Mahabali was highly impressed and told him to ask for a boon. The boy hesitated but the King made an irrevocable offer and said “Ask anything you want and it shall be given—cows, ornaments, horses anything at all” “None of it whatever” said Vamana. I just want land measuring three paces of my feet. Some say he wanted land equal to the three measures of his feet . Though Bali was disappointed by this inconsequential request, nevertheless agreed and asked his wife to bring the pitcher containing water. In those days the donor pours a small quantity of water into the cupped right palm of the donee as an affirmation of giving an irrevocable gift. Sukracharya, Bali's preceptor immediately smelt a rat. He at once turned to Bali and advised him not to give into the request of the innocuous looking boy. He said that the brahmin boy was none other than the Lord Vishnu Himself and that acceding to his request will spell disaster to the King. The King in an expansive mood brushed aside the warning. He was overpowered by the arrogance of the power, the power of giving charity even to the Lord. He contemptuously ignored the warning of his preceptor and proceeded to consecrate the gift. He forgot the vedic exhortation of developing humility even while giving. As a last ditch effort Sukracharya quickly took the form of a roach, got into the pitcher and blocked the beak of the pitcher so that the formal completion of the gift would be prevented. Vamana sensing trouble from Sukracharya, took a strand of a twig and inserted it into the beak of the pitcher. Promptly the strand pierced one eye of the roach Sukracharya and blinding one eye. Stung by both the physical injury and the arrogance of his own ward, Mahabali, Sukracharya cursed Mahabali that he would fall from the high pedestal he was at that time. As the physically and emotionally injured Sukracharya instinctively withdraw inside the pitcher beak, water flowed from Bali's pitcher into the begging hand of the Lord thus completing deed of the gift.

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Lord Vishnu decided it was time to strike. The pygmy Vamana suddenly grew in size to become a colossal giant. With one foot he covered the entire earth. The second leg he raised and the entire heaven was under his other foot. Still the gift was not complete. Bali had no further place to offer for the third leg of the gift. Now Bali who arrogantly looked down upon Vamana earlier stood before the Lord a completely vanquished soul. Then he begged the Lord to place the third step on his head, a complete reversal of fortune in no time. The Lord placed His foot on Bali's head and banished him to a netherworld called sutala. The Lord due to this feat came to be known as Trivikrama or the one who conquered three worlds, the earth, heaven and the ego. Yogis who were impressed by this form of the Lord with one foot on the ground and the other on heaven have created a most exquisite asana called Trivikramasana. The Lord took the avatara of Vamana, the dwarf and stooped before the asura King and then turned the tables on him and conquered him squarely. You can view the majestic pose in the Yoga Makaranda of Sri Krishnamacharya—page 139. https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B7... Pandits debate whether it was dharma on the part of the Lord to be manipulative to conquer Bali. Some aver that for the overall good, in a situation of dharmasankata (conflict of dharmas) one has to choose the lesser of the two evils. In this situation who knew what was right? God knows, God only knows I guess! With best Wishes Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami

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August 2011 Newsletter — Yoga TT Program, What I Learnt The 200 hr Vinyasakrama Yoga Program at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California went off well. Like the earlier years, I had the good fortune of having a very nice group of earnest, talented yogis. I was reminded of the famous vedic prayer of a teacher: “May earnest students from all directions come to me! May earnest students with varied capabilities come to me! May earnest students with exceptional capabilities come to me! May earnest students with self-restraint come to me! May earnest students with peace in heart come to me!” After I got my permanent residency in USA about 5 years back, I started to work on programs that would give a comprehensive treatment of my yoga related studies with my Guru. I always thought that as the wider perspective that he gave appealed to me, it would appeal to a few others who may have a similar temperament. While I liked asanas when I was young (that was what attracted me to him) I also liked vedic chanting (I started learning chanting when I was about 10 years old). Soon thereafter I started wondering about other things that we wonder when we are young like God, creation, relationships within extended family and with friends, etc. I found some of the texts like the Gita, Ramayana and others, all of which looked at life from a higher and different perspective, very useful and refreshing. So the natural desire was there and I was fortunate to find one teacher, Sri Krishnamacharya, who could cover all these in one (w)holistic approach. I found when I started teaching here in the USA that there were two main streams of practice-- one the asana stream the other the meditative system. But they appeared to be completely separated. Asana practitioners were practicing asanas alone passionately while the meditators by and large appeared to take little interest in physical exercises-- I mean in general, there are glorious exceptions though. My initial opportunities in USA were limited to an evening talk here and a weekend workshop somewhere else. I confined myself to introducing the rather sedate paced vinyasakrama with the slow synchronous breathing. While it appealed to a few, the majority especially at conferences found it to be rather at odds with the fast paced workout yoga, the in-thing. Light-hearted comments like “ this vinyasakrama, it is not sexy or it is boring” were not exceptions. I felt a bit puzzled. Krishnamacharya was so famous but what asana practices I learnt from him for decades did not seem to cut any ice. So when the opportunity arose to offer a Teacher Training Program, I decided to include in the syllabus as many aspects of Krishnamachara's Yoga as possible, not just confine it to asanas. I thought somehow the asana part would be ok, mainly because Vinyasas were getting to be popular and also a few people gradually started finding the slow paced breath oriented asana practice helped them to look at their bodies more intently, feeling different parts of the body including the thoracic, abdominal and pelvic organs. But what about other aspects, like the paradoxically “lifeless” pranayama, meditation, chanting and the weird Patanjali's yoga philosophy? How would the asana oriented yogis react to the other aspects of Yoga. I was not very sure. Then, during the last four years of offering this program at LMU, I have tried to learn how people would take to these aspects. And since every group is new there is no way of knowing how they would react to the varied contents of the program. In the 60 hour vinyasakrama

PAGE 32 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 segment the ten major sequences were gone through starting from . The participants were slowly introduced to the deliberate mindful synchronous breathing with the vinyasas, taking anywhere from 5 to 10 seconds for each inhalation and for exhalation. This itself was a new experience for many people, but they quickly settled down to the practice. The vinyasakrama asana practice looks very slow to those who observe it from outside and feels too slow for their racing minds. But the practitioner finds that the mind quietly settles down to the slow pace. Since the mind of the practitioner keeps observing/following and is with the breath it does not get agitated but calms down and does not share the anxiety and boredom of the onlooker. The only way to understand this is to practice vinyasa krama for a few days and find how the mind feels. In these programs the participants learnt hundreds of vinyasas and several scores of asanas. There was a 20 hr program on Visesha or specific sequences like the breath- oriented- mantra- interspersed Surya Namskara routine, again ding-namaskara (dik in a sandhi/conjunction becomes ding)-some are tickled when saying ding namaskara or salutations to all the directions with vedic mantras dedicated to each direction; then anjaneyasan, vasishtasana, khagasana, -paschima-uttanamayura routine etc. The course also included learning long stay in static poses like inversions, paschimatana and others. Guidelines for designing individualized programs for varied requirements were also discussed. Perhaps the more challenging subject was the 20 hour pranayama routine. Though my Guru considered it to be a very important aspect of Yoga, there is considerable reluctance to practice and much less teach the subject in the west. Either it is touted as a potentially dangerous practice even by some Yoga teachers or teaching of it is postponed to a very distant future or sine die. In the program the participants started the practice with simple steps like long smooth exhalation using sounds like “OM”. Then slow inhalations. Once these two were in place then breath holding after inhalation and finally they had the option to hold the breath out for a short period of time say about 5 seconds. Thereafter many participants were encouraged to introduce the bandhas during bahya kumbhaka. Of course some found it difficult to hold the breath out but over a period of time they also found it possible to hold the breath out for five seconds. Then we put all of them together to develop a simple pranayama routine of about 5 seconds inhalation, 5 seconds holding, 8 to 10 seconds exhalation and finally a 5 second bahya kumbhaka. They also learnt kapalabhati. Starting with about 12 rounds almost every one was able to do about 108 times kapalabhati. They also learnt different vinyasas of kapalabhati. Then they all practiced different types of pranayama,-- nadishodhana,ujjayi, anuloma, viloma and others. In about four days of practice (there were 10 classes of 2 hrs each) they were ready for a longer stint of pranayama. They started doing 40 pranayamas at a stretch and during the last week they could do 80 pranayamas at a stretch almost every day. I know some were not able to stay or maintain the ratio or sit for the 40 minute period, but many were able to do it. Their asana practice with long inhalations and exhalations in vinyasas and postures helped to develop a healthy kinship between the mind and breath. During one session, I opened my eyes to see if everyone was still on board and except 2 or 3 almost everyone was doing the viloma ujjayi pranayama and appeared to be at peace with the practice. Of course there may have been some discomforts like sleeping legs but they quickly learnt to change the positions of their legs. It was overall a very sincere, disciplined and, equally important, serene practice. Many appeared to be at ease with the simple and enjoyable pranayama practice. Then we had a 20 hour course of mantras and meditation. Following the steps of meditation as detailed by Patanjali in Yoga sutras the participants learnt a mantra as an object and used it to focus the mind. The practice invariably followed a stint of pranayama and some asanas and

PAGE 33 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 a few minutes of shanmukhimudra (). They also learnt a few chants like atma sudhi mantras, pranayama mantra and others. I found that most of them liked to chant. One day all participated in a mantra chant cum suryanamskara practice. There is a one hour vedic chant called, Aruna Parayana or Suryanamaskara mantras. I used to chant this with my guru on Sundays for several years. In this exercise I chanted the entire chapter interspersed with the group doing one sun salutation (approximately 1 ½ mt for one namaskara, following the vinyasakram routine with slow breathing) at the end of each of the 32 sections (anuvaka). In all it took about 2 hours and though next day almost everyone was nursing some sore muscles and joints none complained about this unique procedure of combined mantra and breath oriented asana practice—samantraka suryanamaskara. There was a 20 hour study of the Yoga Sutras. Even though the thought process in the YS is very logical, the recognition of an eternal Self and the need to and the desirability of identifying with it are new ideas that can take a while to sink in even if one is open minded. But then many students were willing to listen, absorb and contemplate. They also had an opportunity to chant the Yoga Sutras. As I have mentioned, even though Sri Krishnamacharya is well known, I am afraid his teachings are not that well known. So I thought it worthwhile to include the study of two works of his viz., Yoga Rahasya and Yoga Makaranda. In a matter of 20 hrs the participants had the opportunity for a reading of the texts with discussions. They also had a first hand view of Krishnamacharya's Yoga. Apart from “Yoga Business” and “Anatomy &Physiology” there was a course on subtle anatomy and Yoga for Internal organs. The Internal organs program was based on Sri Krishnamacharya's approach to health by maintaining the health and positional integrity of the internal organs, like the heart (hrdaya kosa) and the circulatory system, the lungs (svasa kosa) and the respiratory system, the stomach (anna kosa) and the digestive system, the uterus (garbha kosa) and the reproductive system, the brain, the nadi chakras, nervous system and others. How did the participants find the varied programs? I thought that there was considerable interest in these yoga related subjects. I feel that those who have spent years of their time studying yogasanas and would be making it a life long practice should be given the opportunity to look at yoga in a wider perspective, in all its glory and splendor. What I have learnt in these few years of conducting a comprehensive Teacher Training Program is that there is inherent interest in many people who have come to Yoga for studying, practicing and experiencing the different limbs of yoga and not asana alone. After all Yoga is a perfect adhyatma vidya or the study of oneself in its entirety-body, mind and the Self. I also mentioned to some of the students the need of expanding their interest and study of yoga and yoga related subjects. There is scope to develop in three different areas in Yoga. One is the classical yoga practice, made up of asana, pranayama and meditation, the traditional Ashtanga Yoga. The vinyasakrama method of asana practice affords tremendous scope to expand and adapt yoga to different health conditions and stages of life. Consistent practice of pranayama and meditiation has a transforming effect on the physiology and on the mind. The second area of emphasis could be the study of the fundamental texts that Sri Krishnamacharya thought we should study. Those who are intellectually inclined can think of studying several texts like the Yoga Sutras with the commentary of Vyasa and other traditional commentators, the Bhagavat Gita, some important and exquisite Upanishad vidyas, Samkhya philosophy and others apart from hatayoga works like hatayogapradipika, yogayayavalkya, gherunda samhita suta samhita, parts of Tirumandiram and others. Then

PAGE 34 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 the third area of interest would be health related yoga. My Guru made many original contributions to health. He was a master healer too. The present day therapeutic yoga studies/experiments are tilted more towards the musculo-skeletal system. While these are essential there is a lot Yoga can offer to the integrity and health of the internal organs. Several of the esoteric yoga procedures like the inversions, bandhas and , long stay in unique poses like paschimatanasana , pranayama and meditation have a very powerful role to play with respect to health. Hence there is a lot that can be got by using Yoga appropriately. Since many people seem to spend their entire life practicing and teaching yoga they should try to learn, practice and teach a broader range of yoga so that we can go beyond the fringe benefits to substantive and enduring benefits of yoga. I learnt a lot in these programs. The reason why yoga is presently skewed towards ekanga (or ardhanga without the breathing component) and not ashtanga is because by and large teachers do not teach the other angas. When I was in school I heard a quotation which runs something like this “If a pupil has not learnt, the teacher has not taught”. Yoga is a rich subject. Considering its popularity there is no reason why practitioners should not endeavor to go beyond asana practice while still having a very firm asana base. I am beholden to all the participants who have completed the 200 hour program for their support and enthusiastic participation. I learnt a lot by observing their practice and the comfort with which they learnt many other angas of yoga. Almost all appeared to like the other angas of yoga as much as they liked asanas. **** STOP PRESS! Here is the writeup (received at the eleventh hour) by Fábio Sayão, from São Paulo, Brazil, who participated in the recent TT program and whom anyone would like to meet and watch his beautiful asana execution I am happy to reproduce it in toto. Course Feedback A PERSONAL JOURNEY INTO KRISNAMACHARYA'S YOGA--Fábio Sayão About a year ago I got my hands at a translation into Portuguese of Krishnamacharya’s book Yoga Makaranda, first published in Kannada in Mysore 1934. That translation into Portuguese was possible only by the efforts of a dear friend of mine that found a Tamil edition of the Makaranda (1938) some years ago and luckily got the help of a Tamil speaking Indian here in São Paulo that made most of the job translating it to Portuguese. Since last year my friend and I started to revise the Portuguese translation to make it someday available to the general Portuguese speaking public, a task we unfortunately haven’t completed yet… Well, that only to say that reading the Yoga Makaranda completely changed my life and the way I understood and practiced yoga, something I’ve been studying and practicing daily for about 16 years. Though I had a copy of that Tamil edition of the Makaranda for about 5 years, it was something that I looked at from time to time, saw the pictures and got some curious about it’s content, but looking at the pictures alone made me think it wasn’t something very different I’ve been doing for some time, despite some intriguing forms of asana that I haven’t seen in other places, but somehow I took them for granted. I was practicing a form of yoga that was allegedly taught by Krishnamacharya himself, but little did I know that the parameters for the asana practice laid down at the Yoga Makaranda weren’t being followed at all at the form of yoga I was familiar for so many years of consistent practice. Among those parameters one could note for instance, deliberate long- slow ujjayi breathing throughout the whole asana/ vinyasa practice; the practice of kumbhakas, or breath restraint, together with the engagement of bandhas (some muscle locks), again throughout the whole asana/vinyasa practice… Those two parameters alone were something very different I was used to, which

PAGE 35 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 really caught my attention and made me try to experiment with them in the practice I was familiar with to see what they were about. The first day I experimented with those parameters I knew I couldn’t go back anymore, the whole practice I’ve been doing for many years scattered down to pieces on the ground and I couldn’t put them back together. This only happened because I felt the powerful immediate effects of such a practice following those principles, effects that are unique on their own and in the same time aligned to the one’s described in the various ancient texts of the tradition, that were somehow a mystery to me, something not tangible or something only to aim to… I felt that such a practice really prepared oneself to the pranayama and prepared one’s mind to meditation, these last two became so easy after an asana practice following those two parameters alone! What to do then? I had to explore more in depth the Yoga Makaranda, which I did, but soon realized that work itself wasn’t intended to be exhaustive. I was trying to figure out a routine coherent to the Yoga Makaranda and went back to study the work of some of Krishnamacharya’s students. I was among those that believe Krishnamacharya modified drastically the way he taught asana throughout his life, which might explain the so many discrepancies in the way different students of his taught or still teach. But after reading the Yoga Makaranda one may question if what we think we know to be his earlier teachings are truly his or merely deviations or misinterpretations of his teachings. I had already read some articles of Srivatsa Ramaswami but never paid too much attention before reading the Makaranda, it was only then I decided to read his books and realized he was being very coherent to his guru’s earlier teachings, even though he was a student of his at the “Madras period”. In my view he was the most generous student of Krishnamacharya in the sense of putting down to words a great amount of valuable information on his guru’s teachings, I had the sense his books were the best available companion to the one book I was trying to decipher. It was that feeling that made me come to his course at LMU, and it surpassed all my expectations. I could also say it was only after reading the Yoga Makaranda and learning with Ramaswami that I understood what Krishnamacharya meant with vinyasa in yoga. It is true there are many styles of yoga that borrow the term vinyasa out there, but sadly almost none of them follow the principles given long ago by its developer. Fortunately Ramaswami is a living link to Krishnamacharya’s teachings and I feel privileged to have studied with him. Among many things he taught us, he showed us the importance of slow breathing and slow movements; he gave us a huge array of asanas and vinyasas to be practiced in a gentle way and how to incorporate kumbhakas and bandhas during the asana practice; he gave us the necessary tools to design our own practice and stressed the importance of keep changing the asana routine to make our bodies healthy and fit for pranayama and meditation throughout our life. It was always an inspiration to me looking at Krishnamacharya’s asana pictures at old age and made me wonder in what manner he was practicing so that I could emulate and reach that age with some of that grace, I can say that now at least I have some clues about it. We learned how to have a well-rounded pranayama routine and how it’s important even for the beginner in yoga to practice pranayama. We also learned some meditation techniques and practiced and listened to some of the chants of the beautiful Vedic tradition. We went in detail through each yoga sutra of Patanjali, and some other texts, including the Yoga Makaranda, which made us relate what we were doing at the practice room to traditional yoga. I have to thank with all my gratitude for Ramaswami being in the countercurrent of today’s yoga scene, for his courage to keep teaching a traditional form of yoga without making it more attractive or appealing to the western public, for being faithful to what he learned from Krishnamacharya and to pass it on to the interested. Thank you Ramaswamiji! I look forward to the opportunity of studying with you again! Sincerely, Fábio Sayão

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**** I spent a couple of days at the beautiful Ananda Ashram in Monroe, New York State, teaching an introductory workshop (12 hrs) on Pranayama and Vinyasa Krama to a group of very talented and enthusiastic Yoga practitioners. Thank you Jyoti Chittur and David Hollander for all your kind efforts in arranging the program and affording me another nice opportunity. **** I also would request once again my friends who have studied with me to make a short video of one of the asanas like Marichyasana, uttita parsvskonasana or just the hastavinyasas, running for less than 5 minutes, and post it on Youtube. The breath may be made audible and at the normal speed of performance. There are more than a hundred asana subroutines to choose from in my book “The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga”. Call it Vinyasakrama Yoga — and include the asana name and your name with it. Anthony Hall is very well known for his great blogs on Ashtanga Yoga at Home. He was at LMU last year in the 200 hr TT program and has been a tremendous support to Vinyasa Krama Yoga Practice and has posted several blogs and tons of videos on Vinyasakrama practice.. He has started a new Blog “Practicing Vinyasa Krama Yoga At Home” . Here is the link http://vinyasayogaathome.blogspot.com/ Please visit the site and I guess you may also post your comments. Thank you ****** Asana- to keep the body still (sthira) for a while Pranayama- to keep the breath still (sthambha) for a while Praryahara- to keep the senses still (vasya) for a while Samyama (Meditation)- to keep the mind still( ekagrata) with an object for a while Yoga- to keep the chitta still/quiet (nirodha/Kaivalya) for ever And the Self is still (aparinami) eternally

Thank you Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami P S My earlier newsletters can be accessed by visiting my website www.vinyasakrama.com and opening the newsletter tab. I request you to send your comments or suggestions to [email protected]

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September 2011 Newsletter - Spinal Exercise, the bottom of It Hello, warm greetings! Between Sep 9th to 18th I will be at Suddha Weixler's Chicago Yoga Center. There is a two hour program on Mantras on the 9th. There is a ten hour program on the last two chapters of the Yoga Sutras on 10th and 11th. Then during the weekdays a 25 hour certificate program on Core Vinyasakrama asanas. On 17th and 18th a ten hour program on Asana, pranayama and meditation. http://www.yogamind.com/index.shtml#schedu Contact: Suddha Weixler Email: [email protected] Phone: +1-773-327-3650 I have a few programs arranged for 2012. It is tentatively arranged that the 200 hour Vinyasakrama TT program could start after July 4 holidays and run for 5 weeks at LMU. I will also be teaching a week long program at Esalen Institute in May. http:// webapp.esalen.org/workshops/11111 I may also probably do a few programs outside USA. Krisztian Krutzler has prepared two downloadable files of my newsletters of 2009 and 2010 and Anthony Hall has parked them in his website. You may access them in his blogsite Practicing Vinyasa Krama Yoga at Home: Ramaswami's Newsletter collections. vinyasayogaathome.blogspot.com http://vinyasayogaathome.blogspot.com/2011/08/ ramaswamis-newsletter-c... Thank you Krisztian and Anthony ******* SPINAL EXERCISE, THE BOTTOM OF IT I have not been writing about Asanas for quite sometime. I have covered a lot of ground in my Vinyasakrama book and also in the earlier book, Yoga for Three Stages of Life. I thought though I could write about asana again- of course, nothing entirely new but a different angle. It is said that one of the main aims of asana and pranayama practice (Hata Yoga) is to maintain the health of the backbone. It is a common refrain that one is as old as the condition of the backbone. And some of the most charming postures of yoga involve the many positions of the spine. Parsva Bhangi, , Akunchanasana, . Paschimatanasana and a host of other poses bring out the majesty and the versatility of one of God's marvelous engineering creations called the spine. The spine has been the center of attention of several systems, like the chiropractics. Among Yogis, Kundalini Yoga and Hata Yoga can be considered to be spine centric. The one bone assembly, the backbone is not straight but one that is curved back(kyphosis) and forward (lordosis) and the yogis try to make it straight at least during the time they sit and meditate so that the Kundalini is aroused and moved through the sushumna in the spinal column as per the Kundalini Yoga or the integrated prana moves through the sushumna as the Hatayogis explain hatayoga. The spine can be divided into different sections for study and practice. The bottom is the tailbone or coccyx which is curved and has three to five tiny vertebrae. It stays beneath the pelvis. There is some mobility in it but we do not pay much attention to it until one falls on the butts. A few years back, already an old man, I tried to carry a teapoy down the stairs in my house. I was wearing hard slippers and as I overstepped a step I slipped (I had the slippers on, you see) and fell heavily on my butts. The teapoy (tea table) broke and we had to discard

PAGE 38 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 it. I was in great pain. My wife took me to a hospital immediately for a precautionary X ray which did not reveal any damage (not broken like the furniture). But the orthopedist warned me that I may have some recurring pain in the coccyx region when I sit for a long time. For a period of time whenever I did long travel, like from NJ to Los Angeles, I used to feel a lot of pain sitting. So I know where the tailbone is. The backbone although it is one assembly has different sections each having its own idiosyncrasy, so when exercising the backbone one has to pay attention to each section. The tailbone/coccyx, sacrum, lumbar, thoracic and cervical sections have their distinct characteristics. The muladhara chakra is associated with coccyx, the svadhishtana chakra is linked to the sacral region, the manipuraka with the lumbar region, then we have anahata with the thoracic spine and the vishuddhi chakra is in the cervical region. The spinal column descends from the occipital region and we have the aajna chakra in that region and the sahasrara is in the cranial region. The tailbone is the baby of the assembly at the bottom and tucked nicely but is surrounded by heavy muscles and tissues and protected well. It has some mobility. Since it is the root of the spine it is also known among Yogis as the Mula. Since both Hata Yoga and Kundalini Yoga are predominantly connected with the spine the mula becomes an important aspect of yoga. When one wants to work with the spine, it, the coccyx, should be firmly anchored. Let us consider the example of the fishing rod (old times). It has a flexible pole, a string and the bait. (sorry I could not think of an ahimsa example). One holds the pole at the far end and when the bait is taken, the pole bends. The fisherman will have to hold the pole firmly so that the pole can bend to the extent required, even though there will be some play or movement in the hand of the holder. Further he has to hold at the farthest point, holding a bit inside the pole reduces the leverage and the pole will not bend sufficiently. The coccyx and sacrum (sacro-coccygeal section) are at the bottom of the backbone. The coccyx is at the very end of the spine. It represents a vestigial tail (hence the common term tailbone) and consists of three to five very small bones fused together. There is limited movement between these bones permitted by fibrous joints and ligaments. The sacrum is a large triangular bone at the base of the spine and at the upper and back part of the pelvic cavity and where it is 'inserted' like a bone wedged between the two hip bones. Its upper part is connected to the last lumbar vertebra and the bottom part to the coccyx. In children it consists normally of five unfused vertebrae which begin fusing around 16 years and become completely fused around 26. It is kyphotic (curved, concavity facing forward). Even so, it is now an established fact that the sacrum moves between the ilia by both ambulatory and respiratory motions . It would therefore point to the logic of the use of fuller breathing in vinyasa movements as in Vinyasa Krama. So the mula or the tail bone will have to be held firmly during the spinal exercises. And the yogis used the well known technique called mulabandha which is contracting a few groups of muscles surrounding the tailbone: the perineum, rectum and the gluteal muscles. All spinal movements, the forward bend,the rounded back, the turn, the back bend, the side bend, all will be better if the mula is gripped firmly and engaged. Now let us consider the different types of spinal movements. The turning or twisting movement has to emanate from the mula and my Guru had a couple of asana vinyasas to provide for this movement. The Jataraparivrittis efficiently engage the tailbone and the next immediate section sacrum. Please refer to my book The Complete book of Vinyasa Yoga http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1569244022/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_1/103-1755... (pages 105,106,119,121,122). Tatakamudra (page 105) by anchoring the sacro-coccygial portion of the spine helps to stretch it. These are some of the very early exercises my Guru used to teach to almost all the students.

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For the back bending exercises it is necessary to protect the lumbar spine. Towards that, the flexibility and the strength of the sacro- coccygeal region is to be necessarily cultivated. The pelvic push is efficiently facilitated by a simple but effective asana called dwipadapeetam (pages109-115) or desk pose. . This posture which is casually practiced with the feet apart and thighs spread out leaves out the the spine in the pelvic region. Hence it is necessary to keep the feet together, tighten the gluteal muscles, draw in the rectum and gently push the tailbone/sacrum up and feel a healthy stretch at the bottom of the spine. Any back bending done without fully involving the sacro coccygial region is a less efficient back bend and tends to put more strain on the lumbar spine. Again my Guru used this posture to teach to almost anyone. This upward pelvic push is to be done on inhalation generally but, it can be done while exhaling smoothly by the elderly, the obese, the pregnant, the highly strung etc. Because the feet and back of the head are well anchored it becomes easy to control the back bend very well and one can improve the stretch step by step. Other poses that are in this group would be catushpada peetam or Table pose ( page79 ) and Purvatanasana or the anterior stretch pose (pages78,79). The other back-bends in the prone poses such as Bhujangasana, and (pages 138-145) also may be done with the thighs and feet together to keep the sacrum and tailbone engaged and stretchered. To ensure this condition, the teacher may ask the student to keep the feet and thighs together by placing a piece of paper between the feet and not let the paper drop to the floor while raising the legs up in asana like Salabhasana. In these prone exercises keeping the legs together enables to exercise all parts of the spine, especially the oft neglected sacro-coccygeal area. The sacral/pelvic tilt also is an important movement in the context of forward bending. This is achieved best in or forward bend in Vajrasana (page 179,180) first and then in paschimatanasana (page 75-77) or the posterior stretch pose. Those who are able to engage the muscles surrounding the sacrum and coccyx are able to achieve a good forward bend facilitated by the tilting or tipping of the pelvis. One procedure that will be helpful is for the teacher or a friend to support the sacrum with both the hands and push forward and down on exhalation and allow the subject to return to dandasana on inhalation while still maintaining the healthy pressure. It may be good to maintain the pressure for a while in the posture pushing forward and down on each long exhalation and then holding it on inhalation. Over a period the practitioner would be able to use the group of muscles at the base of the spine and stretch the muscles of the sacral region. Then we have the important movement of lifting and holding the tailbone/sacrum up, by pulling up the waist and hips. Here the muscles of the hip joints are brought into play, This can be done in the beginning of tadansana sequence itself. When the subject raises the arms (page 4-5), he or she can get a partner to hold the pelvic girdle below the hip joints and push the pelvis up. This helps to stretch the pelvic and hip muscles up and along with that the sacrum and tail bone also move up a little bit and it will be easy to stretch the supporting musculature. One can do the movements a few times with the helper holding the pelvis up a little while the arms are brought down on exhalation and pulling the pelvis up when one raises the arms on inhalation. Over a period of time the practitioner, while raising the arms, will engage the hip muscles and gently pull the pelvis along with the sacro coccygeal portion of the spine. Sri Krishnamacahra would frequently exhort the student to pull up and hold the hips up in several seated postures like parvatanasana ( page 196) and dandasana (page 39). He would say in Tamil “iduppai thooki pidiyungo” or “Pull up the waist/hips and hold it up”. I think it is good to use these simple asana and vinyasa procedures to prepare the bottom of the spine. These simple procedures help to maintain a good flexibility and the tone of the supporting musculature at the bottom end of the spine. My Guru taught many of these

PAGE 40 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 simple and doable procedures almost to all levels of yoga abhyasis. He would appropriately alter the breathing to langhanakriya so that some of the overweight, older, tense and pregnant (except prone poses in pregnancy)) abhyasis could do these procedures. These are good preparatory exercises that will be helpful in getting a good control over the sacro-coccygeal spine that will help in doing some of the more difficult and charming spine-centric asanas like ushtrasana/ kapotasana, triyangmukha (backbends), paschimatanasana (forward bend), matsyendtasana (spinal twist), akunchanasana(rounding the spine), parsva bhangi(side bend) and other spine centric asanas and vinysasas. The term Cakra is well known to Yogis. Cakra means a wheel in normal usage. The Samkhyas refer to the potter's wheel as cakra while describing the post kaivalya time of the yogi. The seven cakras are usually represented as wheels. Brahmananda, the commentator of the Hatayogapradeepika, refers to cakras as Nadicakra in the context of nadis. He calls it a collection/group of nadis or nadi samooha. Several contemporary yogis relate this concept of nadi samooha to ganglia or plexus. A wheel also is an assembly of different parts, like the hub, spokes, rim and a tyre. Since Nadis can also refer to blood vessels, the heart itself is referred to as hrdaya cakra. The Chaedogya Upanishad of Sama Veda mentions that there are 101 nadis that emanate from the heart. It is possible then that cakra could mean an organ in this context. The anahata cakra refers to a cakra that produces a sound without being struck by another agent. The heart produces the sound by itself. So anahata cakra could mean the heart cakra or the heart. In the Suryanamaskara mantra of Yajurveda, there is a mantra which refers to the human body as “ashta cakra, nava dvaara” The nava or nine dvaaraas or openings are the two eyes, the two ears, the two nostrils and the mouth in the face plus the other two openings. While explaining the meaning of the eight cakras, Sayana, the well known commentator of the vedas, refers to the cakras as different arrangements of cells or different tissues (humors) in the body as tvak (skin), carma (dermis), rakta (blood), mamsa (muscle), medhas (fat), asti (bone), majja (marrow), sukla (seman)/ sonita (uterine secretions). Thus the term cakra could indicate a group, collection, village of some tissues or an assembly. It is also suggested by some scholars that the cakra w.r.t the spinal column could refer to different parts of the backbone itself, each section having its own unique arrangements of bones: the coccyx, sacrum, lumbar, thoracic, cervical and occipital. And the entire spine with the cranium looks like a kundalini or a cobra with the beautiful wavy body curvatures. Thank you With best wishes Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami P S comments or suggestions may be sent to [email protected] The earlier newsletters may be accessed from my website www.vnyasakrama.com and opening the newsletter tab. www.vinyasakrama.com

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October 2011 Newsletter — AVVAIYAR Warm Greetings! I taught a ten day program at Suddha Weixler's Chicago Yoga Center in September. There was a two hr talk on Mantras. Then I taught a ten hour program on the III and IV chapters of Yoga Sutras. There was 25 hour certificate program on “Core Vinyasa Krama Yoga” and then a ten hour workshop on Asanas, Pranayama, Mantras and Meditation for a comprehensive daily yoga practice at home. I thought the programs went well. Many thanks to Suddha and the many talented and dedicated yogis for their participation in the program. LMU has confirmed the next TT program(five weeks) in July 2012 after the July 4 weekend (July 9 to Aug 11). I will be doing a week long program, “Hata Yoga and Raja Yoga Practicum”, in May 2012 at Esalen Institute, Big Sur, California. I will also be going to Chicago for ten days in September 2012 to teach at Chicago Yoga Center. During the last two years some friends had suggested that I could do some programs at their stdios/cities/ countries but I could not go due to some constraints. I hope to be able to go to these places in 2012. Please write to me. [email protected] I will be going to Chennai, India mid- October and staying for about four months. I hope to be able to initiate meaningful validation studies regarding some hypothesis on Yoga for Health ( we have made considerable progress in our book “Yoga for Internal Organs”), and possibly an album of DVDs ( about 5 dvds)on vinyasakrama asanas some day in the near future. About 30 years back I did a series of 8 programs on Vinyasakrama over Madras TV, with my students in Kalakshetra. They came out very well and I hope to locate the video cassette and may upload a few sequences in You Tube. ******* AVVAIYAR Several months back I had written about Thirumular, a Tamil Yogi/saint said to be a contemporary of Patanjali. Another well known Tamil saint was Avvaiyar of 13th Century. I thought I could take the liberty to write about her and one of her outstanding works “aathi chudi” or “garland of aathi flowers”. Avvai means a venerable lady and she was one. In the caste ridden Indian society of yesteryears she was born to a high caste scholar and another woman and subsequently was abandoned by her parents. She was brought up by foster-parents. She slowly grew up to be a very beautiful lass and it was time for her foster-parents to make arrangements for her marriage. But the divine girl was not interested in getting married and leading the usual life. She was a great devotee of Lord Ganesa, the charming elephant headed God. She was also a very wise woman with an incisive mind and an outstanding poet in Tamil as well. When people all around her, including her well meaning parents, urged her to get married she turned to the Lord and prayed to him to make her look like an old woman so that no one would be interested in marrying her. Ganesa answered her prayer and soon she became an old woman holding a walking stick. Progeria? Because of her wisdom, debating abilities, and universal compassion her advice was sought by kings, people in high places and also by ordinary mortals. She wrote some outstanding works one of which was called aathi chudi and became a primer for study of the alphabets of Tamil language and is popular even today. She was credited with bringing about lasting peace between two neighboring countries by talking to and reasoning with those kings. She

PAGE 42 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 is credited with many such exploits using her wisdom. persuasive powers, divinity, universal compassion and poetry She did not stay in one place as renunciates (sanyasins) do routinely. However it is said that over a period of time the praise and adoration for her wisdom went a little bit to her head. She who despised her physical beauty got a bit attracted to the beauty of her brain. One day on a hot Indian summer she was walking along a deserted stretch of land. Hungry and thirsty she saw a naaval tree which had very sweet juicy fruits. Those delicious fruits she thought could satisfy her hunger and also quench her thirst. But the black berry like fruits were way up in the upper regions of the tree and she had no way of getting to them without climbing the tree which skill she did not possess. Then she saw a young rustic boy sitting on one of the top branches and eating the juicy naaga berries. She shouted at the boy and asked him if he would get her a few berries to eat. He said he would be happy to help her but said he would not want to climb down the tree so he would shake one of the branches and she would have to pick up the fallen berries from the dirt ground. She agreed but the boy then asked a strange question-- whether she wanted hot berries or cold berries. She was bemused by this-- what the wise lady thought as a foolish question. She wondered how could there be a hot berry straight from the tree. Thinking that the boy was nuts she condescendingly asked him to get her a few cold berries. The boy smiled and shook a nearby branch and a few rich lush berries dropped from the tree. Greedily the lady took a berry, held it close to her mouth and blew at the berry a few times to clear off the dirt. The boy looking down said with bewitching smile, “Grandma! Is the berry hot?” Perplexed Avvai said “No, not at all, it is just cold.” The boy asked then in jest, “Then why are you blowing on the berry if it is not hot?” She immediately realized that the boy was not an ordinary lad but the great Lord Subramanya or Muruga Himself who is credited with imparting the correct knowledge about OM to His father Lord Siva Himself. With that her creeping conceit left her without a trace. Ecstatic on seeing the great Shanmkha in front of her she composed a prayer at once in praise of Him. Avvai contributed to Tamil literature and is revered in Tamil Nadu. Simple and profound, her works are studied in elementary schools even today. In fact Aathi chudi is written as a primer to learn the Tamil alphabets. Just as we have A for apple, C for cat, etc., Avvai wrote Aathi chudi with one saying each for one alphabet. Tamil language has 12 vowels, 18 consonants and with other syllables her aathi chudi is made up of 108 such sayings. Here are a few, covering the 12 vowels as the beginning letter 1. 'a' as in that ---Aram seyya Virumbu = Love to be virtuous or Love to give (charity) 2. 'aa' as in pa or ma.--- Aaruvadu sinam = Simmer down anger 3. 'I' as in is. ---Iyalvadu karavel = Never hoard more than what you need 4. 'ii' as in we--- Iivadu vilakkel= Never stop giving 5. 'u' as in put--- 'udayadu vilambale = Keep your secrets (talk purposefully) 6. 'oo' as in too.--- Ookkamadu kaividel = Never lose enthusiasm/hope 7. 'e' as in men.--- Ennezhuthu ihazhel = Never belittle (learning) math and language 8. 'ye' as in may. ---Yerpadu ihahchi = Begging is despicable 9. 'ai' as in my--- aiyamittu unn = (But) Feed the hungry before you eat 10. 'o' short 'o' as in one- oppura ozhuhu = Follow the tradition 11. 'oo' like in more--- oduvadu ozhiyale = Never stop learning

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12. 'ou' as in mouth--- ouviyam pesale = Eschew speaking negative words of jealousy/anger Here is an oft quoted saying of the poetess “katradu kaimannalavu kalladadu ulahalavu” What one has learnt is just handful and what has not been learnt is as much as the world itself A similar idea is contained in one of the Upanishads. (Maybe I have written this story already, but no harm reading it again)There was a great sage called Bharadvaja. Does the name ring a bell Yes all yogis are familiar with Bhardvjasana. Bharadvaja was a great vedic scholar. In the previous three incarnations he had mastered three vedas and was with the fourth. It was almost the end of his life and was still working with the vedas. The Lord, Indra appeared before him and asked him what he would do in his next birth. Without hesitation Bharadwvaja said that he would study the scriptures, the vedas. Then the Lord pointed out three handful lumps of clay and said that what Bharadvaja learnt was just equivalent to the three handful of earth whereas what he had to learn was more than three mountainfuls in front of him. “The Vedas are infinite” The Lord said that Bharadvaja should concentrate on the ultimate Truth of this manifest creation which is Brahman the underlying undecaying consciousness. Bharadvaja is a very common last name (like Srivatsa) in India and those with that surname could be the descendents of the sage Bharadvaja. I hope some of the modern bharadvajas would try to practice the graceful . There are more works attributed to Avvaiar. I remember I learned this work aathi chudi, when I was very young and got most of the sayings by heart even before I had learnt to read and write the letters, which is common with many kids in the olden days. The grandparents were always there to teach these to the grandchildren as they sometimes put them to sleep. Avvaiyar, it is said towards the end of her life, wanted to have the vision of Lord Siva. Her beloved personal deity (ishta devata) Ganesa is said to have bodily lifted her and transported her to Siva's abode, the Kailas. Well that is the story. I am reminded of an incident that took place almost 60 years ago. I was at that time studying in II or III Form in Ramakrishna Mission School, Madras. During the lunch hour after lunch some of us used to play a game called 'pay ball' in the adjoining Panagal Public Park in which game each one would like to slam another with a tennis ball as hard as possible. Perhaps it helped to wring considerable Rajas out of the system. One day after half an hour of pay ball, in which I received a few hard blows and returned a few, I rushed back to the class room. The Sanskrit teacher had just taken his seat and as I entered the classroom he stopped me at the entrance and sternly told me to go and meet the headmaster right away. It is usually not a good message, and so I walked slowly to the headmaster's room where the HM was talking to a couple of gentlemen. I waited for a few moments and as soon as the HM saw me he cordially invited me to come in and most unusually asked me to take a seat. I sat down and, without wasting any time, the HM introduced me to the two gentlemen who were from a well known film producing company called the 'Gemini Studios'. The gentlemen told me that they were embarking on a new movie called “Avvaiyar” and they would be interested in casting me in the role of the rustic boy (see story above), Lord Muruga in the movie. They said it was a small but important role in the movie. I blurted out immediately that I will not do it as it is not good to act in movies. They were a bit taken aback but my HM told me not to worry as they would come and talk to my parents and this could go on only with their permission. He also said that since he as HM was satisfied that it was okay I need not have any objection. But I said no again. HM asked them if they would like to look at a couple of

PAGE 44 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 other boys. But they left soon thereafter. After I came home I mentioned it to my parents, my mother gave an approving smile and my dad as usual maintained a stony expression. I became a bit of a celebrity among the students and even among teachers for one day, the one day wonder. I was known as the boy who turned down an offer from the mighty Gemini Studios. Some of the teachers told me that it was the correct decision but a few pointed out how foolish I was. The movie was released three years later and it was a blockbuster and ran in crowded theaters for a couple of years I guess. The devotional music sung by the great musician K B Sundarambal who did the role of Avvaiyar in the film was exceptional. The song she sings when she sees the Lord Mruga appearing before her in the divine form was exceptional, soulful. In Indian movies in those days, one would sing the heart out when in agony or in ecstasy. I think some portions of the 60 year old movie are available on You Tube. The scene I did not act in, though short, was liked by almost everyone. Sometimes I would wonder: if I had acted in that role would I have become a big star? But then according to the Lord in Bhagawat Gita, everyone's life is predetermined and we act out or parts as per the script for each one written on our foreheads by the Lord consistent with one's own karma and things do not happen differently. I am glad it was my good karma that I met my Guru Sri Krishnamacharya who took charge of me rather than take the opportunity to act in a movie, even if it be a divine role. ***** Here are some of my recent posts in Facebook Every country is mine (Citizen of the world) and everyone is my kinsman. Hurt and happiness are not caused by others, we give ourselves grief and relief. Death is not new and one need not be concerned about life. And when in pain, suffer patiently. We need not be overawed by the greatness by others but more importantly not look down on those lesser than us---From Purananuru a Tamil classic said to have been created during Sangam period, between 200BC to 100 AD. Yoga is a unique subject. It has a unique , of asanas,vinyasas, pranayama. Has a unique way of organizing the mind. Yoga has a unique underlying philosophy, a spirituality. It is a unique way of life, spartan and yet fulfilling. My book "Yoga For the Three Stages of Life" (2000) contains a chapter on the Story of Patanjali (page 21 to 29) A contented mind is the chemical (alchemy) that makes gold— A Tamil saying A dominant parasympathetic nervous system tends to produce Tamaic subjects, whereas a strong overactive sympathetic system is associated with Rajas. The satwic Yogi has a strong central nervous system dominating over the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic); debatable?--Read many years back, can't remember when and where ***** Please send your comments or suggestions to [email protected] My older letters may be accessed by visiting my website www.vinyasakrama.com and opening the Newsletter tab Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami.

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November 2011 Newsletter — Yoga Joint Warm greetings from bright and sunny Chennai (Madras) in India. Hope this finds you well. My friends Bo and Mark from Thailand have uploaded a video clip on Vinyasakrama interviews from participants of the 2011 Vinyasakrama 200 hour Teacher Training program conducted at LMU in summer 2011. Here is the link, I hope it works http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8lhIKIfSk4 For 2012, I intend to teach — God willing-- quite a few programs at different places. The main program will be the 200 hour five week TT program on Vinyasakrama Yoga in July/ August at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, Californis. I will be doing a ten day program at Suddha Weixler's Chicago yoga Center in Sep2012, as well as a week long program in May at Esalen Institute, Big Sur. I am likely to go to Mexico at the invitation of our friend Roxana. I will also be going to Canada thanks to the sponsorship of Ryan Leier. I should be going to Houston Texas for about 4 days, again thanks to a longtime student and friend Pam Johnson. Then a couple of days program in Dallas Texas with the help of Ricky Tran. I should also be going to the UK in October with the help of a long time friend Steve Brandon. Also, I may spend a weekend at Yogashala, CT. Hope to see some of you somewhere sometime. ***** YOGA JOINT Several years back I taught a class at a medical university in Chennai for the medical students in which a few of the faculty members also participated. This university I understand had a professional arrangement with the Harvard Medical School. I thought the program went well and at the end of the program there was a valedictory function in which several of the participants demonstrated several asanas and other yoga procedures. The dean of the University participated in the entire program, running for about three hours. He himself was a reputed orthopaedic surgeon and after seeing the several asanas and vinyasas he suggested that I might consider a detailed study of yoga asanas especially vinyasas and how they affect the various joints, their health, their mobility. There are a few very well illustrated books showing the anatomy of muscles in various yoga postures. It may be good to have some work done in which one can see the joints and bones or purely skeletal illustrations of asanas. For me at that time Yoga was a hobby, a serious hobby though; but I had to work to maintain a family so could not pursue any serious work that would involve substantial time and effort. The hathayoga pradeepika mentions the twin benefits of asanas as arogya and anga laghava or general health and suppleness or dexterity. One of the problems, similar to the internal organs, is the loss of space within the joint if the intra-articular space gets reduced due to several reasons the joints become less efficient and could become dysfunctional as happens in arthritis. Yoga, especially vinyasakrama yoga, tends to work with almost all the articulation of all the joints especially the ankles, knees, hips, the spine and arms. Take the asymmetric sequence, in which one leg is kept in one position and the other leg kept in several positions, and in each subroutine several movements are done. Take for instance Marichyasana, the hip joint is kept in one position in which the inferior bone of the joint, the femur, is kept in the fixed position of Marichyasana and all the vinyasas are done by which the superior bone structure viz. the pelvis is moved around and manipulated. In other words, the ball in the socket is kept stationary and the socket is moved around. When you move on to the next subroutine, mahamudra/janusirsasana, the femur head within the socket takes a different stationary position and in the vinyasas the pelvis is moved around. In the third subroutine, the half lotus, the femur head position is again altered, but keeping it stationary a number of

PAGE 46 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 movements are done in the subroutines— akarnadhanurasana, kraunchasana, ekapadasirsasana, vajrasana, matsyendrasana, bharadvajasana and any others-- in which the pelvis is moved around. In fact in the series of vinyasas within those asanas, all the possible movements of the marvelously engineered hip joint are done in a short time giving a complete treatment for the hip joint. The tendons and connecting tissues are stretched, sufficient blood circulates (rakta sanchara) and exchange of oxygen also is facilitated (prana sanchara). The important joints are the ankles, the knees, the hips, the spine, and the shoulders, elbows and wrists. The spine and the lower extremities can be effectively taken care of by some of the inversions like sarvangasana and especially sirsasana. One of the problems of these joints is that, due to disuse and postural limitations, gravity, reduction of tone etc., the intra articular space in these joints gets reduced and this leads to congestion and pain. These are particularly severe with the knees and the spine, especially the lumbar and the cervical regions. By these inversions and doing considerable number of movements slowly and steadily and with good breathing one can stretch these joints effectively—the gravity helps now- maintaining the intra articular space. This will help to reduce the incidence of arthritis in the knees and hip joints. And with respect to the spine this will help to maintain the inter vertebral space and thus reduce the incidence of such debilitating conditions as low back pain. And cervical spondylosis can be helped by several of the arm movements (hasta vinyasas) and good deep inhalation stretching the upper thoracic spine. All these vinyasas help to exercise and maintain the strength, tone and stability of the supporting musculature. The knee joint has two main movements , flexion and extension. Poses like Dandasana and Paschimatanasana help to stretch the supporting tissues like the hamstrings and also the connecting tissues inside the joint. The effect can be enhanced by staying in inversions and allowing some time to for gravity to act. Thereafter one can stretch the joint gently and help to maintain circulation and also maintain the intra capsular space. The flexion also can be effectively and comfortably done in Akunchanasana in both headstand and shoulder stand. I feel that the inversions give maximum benefits to the major joints: ankles, knees, hips and the spine. They help to increase the intra capsular space, reduce congestion, tone the connecting tissues. All these will help one to stay in Vajrasana which requires a good flexion of the knee joint. The knee joint also has some lateral movements which can be done effectively in asanas like Vajrasana (outward movement of the joint), (inward) and also Padmasana. Thus it is possible to maintain the health of the joints by a judicious combination of asanas and vinyasas. My Guru Sri Krishnamacharya used to refer to Yoga as Sarvangasadhana as a practice for the whole system . He would, also include two other disciplines as sarvanga sadhanas, viz., archery and wrestling. Wrestlers have to be very fit and supple. They should be strong to pin down a burly opponent but also should be supple to be able to wriggle out of a stranglehold of the opponent. The archers have to be strong to shoot the arrow to go long distances, but also accurate and should be able to shoot from very awkward positions to aim at moving targets. The Mahabharata the great Sanskrit epic contains two characters Bhima and Arjuna. Bhima was a great wrestler and his kid brother Arjuna, the Bhagavatgita fame was an outstanding archer. There are stories about their exploits in Mahabharata. There is one incident that is interesting There is a story (my version) about Arjuna. Once there was a competition for archers. A totally transparent rotating yantra (device) was set up at a great height which contained some water and a small fish swimming in it. Below that was a pond full of water. The archer was supposed to look at the reflection of the yantra in the pond water and shoot at the small fish which itself would be moving randomly in a rotating device. One has to assume a suitable body position and shoot the arrow. Arjuna was the only one to

PAGE 47 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 succeed in this test. Archers have to assume difficult different positions in actual battlefield and have to be extremely supple to adapt to different situations and need to concentrate well. Hence these two martial arts were considered sarvanga sadhanas. But these two are used for combat and hence Rajasic whereas Yoga is for self discipline and hence is satwic. Vinyasakrama is a unique Asana 'Joint' With best wishes Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami www.vinyasakrama.com

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December 2011 Newsletter — Chants I have been requesting friends to come out with videos on Vinyasakrama. My friend Debbie Mills has uploaded a few subroutines on the YouTube. They are deliberate, breath oriented and nice Thank you Debbie. Here is the link. http://www.youtube.com/user/YOGAnDHARMA On the last Sunday in November, I gave an introductory talk on yoga sutra in Chennai, India. It was organized by the Vishnumohan Foundation. I will be speaking on Vishnusahasranama Mantras next Sunday at the same place. I managed to locate a video cassette of a series of programs I had done on Yoga with my students in Kalakshetra some thirty years back in Tamil. It contains some asana vinyasas of my students and interviews with me. I was still a student with my Guru at that time learning more asanas and vinyasas. The video however has deteriorated very much. But still I took it to Konica labs to see if they could salvage something out of it. They said that they would try to transfer as much as they can salvage into a DVD. Let me see how it comes. There were eight short duration programs I had done for the Madras Doordarshan the national TV station at that time. I also was able to locate another video cassette which I had made some 15 years back so that I could use it to introduce Vinyasakrama. The quality is again not good but still I am trying to make something out of it. If they come out ok, I may start thinking of adding English subtitles, if it is technically feasible. Most of my 2012 programs are now in my website. www.vinyasakrama.com/Events CHANTS Sani or Saturn, according to some Indian Almanacs, is said to transit to Libra from November 15th 2011. According to some other almanacs, it is said to transit late December. Sani according to Indian astrologers takes about 30 years to complete its orbit spending approximately about 2 ½ years in every house or Zodiac sign. Sani is considered to be slow moving (sanaischara) and is considered a malefic by the general populace. Considered from the moon sign if the Saturn is in the 12th, 1st and 2nd houses it is said to cause enormous difficulties. Additionally its transit through the 4th and the 8th signs are also considered highly unfavorable. Actually according to some Saturn is trouble in all the houses except when it transits through the 3rd and and the 6th houses or signs. That means that one can enjoy a certain amount of peace only during a sixth of one's lifetime. This squares with a brief episode in Yoga Vasishta. Two siddhas meet and one of them has the Siddhi of moving back and forth in space (akasa) and time (avakasa). During their conversation the elder Siddha yogi said that he had traveled in time and has gone deep into the past and well into the future of human lives and has found that on an average human beings are happy only 1/6 th of the lifetime. Of course the other planets like Jupiter and others benifics will mitigate Saturn's ill effects, but per se, Saturn is dreaded. But there are a few who look at Saturn's effects on individuals life as sobering and transformative. It is like a governor in a vehicle, so that people do not run amuck in their lives. It is considered to be a great teacher of life but a strict disciplinarian, one who does not spare the rod. Many in India tend to propitiate Sani by observing some tapas on Saturdays, worship sanaischara and so on, so that the difficulties become more bearable. One of the methods is to worship Hanuman or Anjaneya . Many yogabhyasis are familiar with anjaneyasana or the leaping anjaneya pose--the pride of some and most others' envy. How is Anjaneya

PAGE 49 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 worshiped? There is a portion of the Ramayana which depicts the heroic efforts of Anjaneya in finding the whereabouts of the abducted Sita, Sri Rama's wife, by leaping across the sea between the southern tip of India and Lanka. Reading this portion of the Ramayana one tends to love and respect Anjaneya, it is a beautiful portion of the Ramayana, as the title of this section “Sundara Kanda”, indicates. I have already written briefly about it. It usually takes about 10 hours to recite this portion of Valmiki Ramayana. It is recited usually at the rate of about 90 minutes everyday spread over one week. This is done once in a while. Some attempt to do it in three days. Occasionally one may try to do it in one day. Recently just about the time of Sani's transit into Libra I chanted it in one 24 hour period. Because it is long and arduous and many are not familiar with the text, many more propitiate Anjaneya by chanting the famous Hanuman Chalisa which takes about 20 minutes. I think this chant is popular among Yogis also. It is not in Sanskrit but it is said to be very powerful. There is also a Sahasranama or one thousand names of Anjaneya. Some 20 years ago a recording company got this recording of mine. A few days back in Chennai, I saw on the TV one of the channels broadcasting the Puja of Anjaneya Ritual. And the mantra used in the puja was this Sahasranama of my chanting. I understand that this channel telecasts this video once almost every month. The channel is called Sankara channel. How does worship of Anjaneya help? How does it help mitigate the ill effects of Sani's hold on one's life? It is said that Sani does not spare anyone, even Lord Siva had to undergo trouble and tribulations for a short period of time due to Sani/Saturn. Well how does Anjaneya worship help? Here is a short story. After Anjaneya finds out the whereabouts of the abducted Sita, he returns to the mainland and informs Rama of the discovery, and Rama decides to invade Lanka to liberate Site from the clutches of Ravana. He needs a large Army. Sugriva the monkey chieftain agrees to lend his army and they decide to build a road bridge over the ocean dividing India and Lanka. The sea quiets due to the request first and then an ultimatum from Rama and the building of the bridge (sethu) commences. (Rama also is known as Sethurama because he built the bridge or Sethu. Sethurama is a very popular first name in South India). Well a huge army of workers were engaged in the construction. They bring huge rocks from the surroundings. And Anjaneya was also busy in the task carrying large boulders to the bridge site. It was time for Sani to afflict Anjaneya. Slowly Sani comes near Anjaneya and says that it was time for Anjaneya to suffer the ill effects of Sani (sani pida). No, not now shouted Anjaneya at Sani. “I am now engaged in the sacred work of building the bridge to go to Lanka and liberate Sita”. But Sani said that Sani never waits but afflicts everyone at the allotted time. He has to submit to this. Then Sani offered a concession. ”I will get into your legs and afflict your legs alone say with arthritis. Anjaneya said that he needs strong legs to move around to do the arduous manual work of carrying the rocks. “No way,” Sani said. Sani then suggested that he could creep into his arms and Anjaneya promptly rejected it saying that he needed the arms for lifting and dropping off the rocks. Anjaneya realized that even before Sani got into his system his effects were beginning to show by this persistent pestering. He felt that sani was already under his skin.Finally Anjaneya agreed to let Sani get into his head, because he said he need not do any thinking while doing this repetitive work of carrying the rocks on his head. Sani crawled into Anjaneya's head. Some of you may have seen some paintings of Anjaneya carrying the Sanjivini mountain from the Himalayan range and leaping across the Indian subcontinent, during the war between Rama and Ravana; yes Anjaneya was very strong and could carry lot of weight.

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After Sani got into his head, Anjaneya is said to have lifted a huge boulder and kept it on his head and started walking towards the dam site. The pressure of the rock became unbearable for Sani who was inside Anjaneya's head. Anjaneya reminded Sani that that was how everyone felt when Sani would severely affect other beings, unable to bear the pain. Sani whispered to him that he would do anything for Anjaneya to get out of the predicament. He then promised Anjaneya that he would never afflict those who worship Anjaneya. The smiling Anjaneya threw the rock at the appropriate place in the dam site and Sani tumbled out of Anjaneya's head and ran away without turning back. So one of the reasons for many to worship the loveable Anjaneya is that it is generally believed that Sani's ill effects will be mitigated by worshiping Anjaneya. What better way to worship him than reading the Sundara Kanda of Ramayana which is a beautiful narration of Anjaneya's greatness in all aspects, valor, scholarship, intelligence, ambassadorship, dharma, humility, loyalty, sense of humor,sagacity and what not. Sri Krishnamacharya gave considerable importance to chanting-both vedic and other (laukika) chants. It is said that originally there were only vedic chants and they were practiced only by those who were initiated into vedic studies, but they were only a few. It is said that Valmiki, an illiterate hunter, due to the grace of Lord became a poet and wrote the Ramayana in Anushtup meter, the meter found commonly in the vedas. Thereafter Sanskrit works on divinity proliferated and Mahabharata and several other puranas were written. These could be studied by anyone and several of them contained virtually everything that was found in the vedas, like works on divinity, philosophy, rituals and others. They became accessible to everyone. The concepts were made user friendly like for instance the Bhagavat Gita which explains the terse concepts of the Upanishadic philosophies to ordinary people represented by Arjuna. One should learn Hatayoga from Krishnamacharya. One should study Yoga Sutras and sibling philosophies from Krishnamacharya. One should learn devotional works from Krishnamacharya. One should learn chanting from Krishnamacharya. Yes, it is a great blessing to have studied with Sri Krishnamacharya. He had a booming voice and an immaculate Sanskrit diction. I learnt from and chanted Vedic chants with Krishnamacharya for hundreds of hours. Learning from and chanting with him has been an exceptional experience. The vedic chants are very powerful and have profound import. The Suryanamaskara chant running for about an hour contains the Gayatri mantra and is said to confer health and longevity. A chapter called svadhyaya, which runs for about 40 minutes, extols the virtues of vedic chanting and eulogizes the great gayatri mantra. In this chapter there is an advice to chant aloud during the day and that one need not do the rituals, but mere chanting will confer all the benefits. There are two chapters called pravargya which again are used while boiling milk which is said to tranform the milk into nectar. These two chapters running for about two hours are exceptionally charming. Sri Krishnamacharya also taught the Kataka portion of the vedas and then the Upanishad portion of the taittiriya branch of the vedas. Chanting is uplifting. It has got physiological and psychological benefits. Long chanting works with different chakra centers of the body and also improves the efficacy of breathing. It has got a calming effect on the mind. The traditional meaning of svadhyaya, an integral part of yoga, is chanting. The other non vedic chants that are commonly used include the various Sahasranamas like Vishnu, Lalita, etc. And many of these chants and recitations are said to confer specific benefits. In the form of phalasruti the texts themselves tell us the benefits that one can expect will accrue on chanting these.

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For more on mantras please refer to the Mantra Yoga chapter in my book, “Yoga for the Three Stages of Life”. ****** My friends Bo and Mark from Bangkok have sent the following letter Dear Mr Ramaswami I trust this mail finds you well. Bo and I have continuously been practicing VK and are very much enjoying it. We have also been trying to read up more on Shri Krishnamacharya’s works and that of his other students as well – in that respect, I wanted to ask you a question. We recently read in a book that breathing should be as follows: Exhale from lower abdominals, then middle abdominals, and finally towards the end of the exhalation, allow your chest to sink slightly (to expel final air). And to inhale, start breathing from expanding the chest (while maintaining slight contraction in the abdominals), and towards the end only allow the abdominals to bulge forward only slightly. Logic is that yoga/pranayama should be spine-centric, and as the exhalation adds rounding curvature to the upper back; therefore we try to minimize the rounding curvature by breathing out from the lower abdominals/lower back first; similarly the inhalation adds curvature to the lower back, hence we try to protect the lower back by first breathing into the chest/upper area while maintaining a straight lower back. We have also taken much more interest in Pranayama after our studies with you in LMU, reading up more on Pranayama and its various techniques/styles. Recently, we ventured on the pranayama teachings of another school . The school teaches to exhale starting first from the chest (and not the lower abdominals), then the middle abdomen, and then only towards the end to draw in/contract the lower abdominals. (The inhalation is quite similar to the book mentioned earlier wherein we breathe in while expanding the chest and slight contracting the abdominals). My question to you is: 1) Is it right to assume that the exhalation process outlined in the book is the same as taught to you by Shri Krishnamacharya? (if you were taught differently, please explain what you were taught to us) 2) Which of the two mentioned above exhalation types (starting with lower abdominals vs staring with chest exhalation) would you recommend for us in practicing pranayama? I find that the first book’s method allows for greater contraction in the abdominals (and preparing for Uddiyana Bandha on hold after exhalation), but at the same time because the abdominals are contracted first (prior to chest exhalation), it has to stay contracted for a longer period to wait for the end process of exhalation, thereby making the abdominals muscles harden after some time in the practice. 3) AAs we learned from you, in Pranayama, Shri Krishnamacharya insisted on keeping Jalandra Bandha throughout – however during inhalation and exhalation, is there a slight release of the Bandha to allow ease of air passage? 4) What is the reason for maintaining Jalandra Bandha throughout the Pranayama and not only during Kumbhaka (when we are trying to hold breathe from flowing out)? Thank you so much for your answers. We look forward to studying with you again. Best, Bo and Mark I wrote back Dear Bo and Mark: It is nice to hear from you. I am glad that you are getting deeper into the study and practice of Yoga. To the best of my recollection, my Guru did not compartmentalize pranayama as the teachers seem to do. He used to show how to do praanayama and each one drew one's own conclusions from that. Sri krishnamacharya's pranayama was very deep, the chest would expend substantially in inhalation and in exhalation he used the abdominal muscles significantly. In normal breathing, two sets of muscles come into play the-- intercostal muscles that help to expand the chest and then the diaphragm by distension it allows more

PAGE 52 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 air to go in and in exhalation the diaphragm returns to the original position. In Pranayama we try to stretch the intercostal muscles to the maximum and on exhalation we tend to push the diaphragm into the chest cavity as much as possible so that maximum residual air is squeezed out and the next inhalation you can draw in more fresh air. Naturally the spine and posture also become important so that we do not cramp the chest cavity by curving the back and other postural defects. That is why a proper upright posture is needed. My understanding is that both the chest breathing and abdominal movement take place simultaneously , but in Pranayama, we extend the exhalation by continuing to contract the abdominal muscles inward and and upward to push the diaphragm further in. So the abdominal movements take longer time than the chest movement but the way I understand and practice is that both the chest and abdominal movemets are somewhat simultaneous with the abdominal breathing movement taking longer time to complete. There are some reasons why Jalandhara bandha is helpful in Pranayama. Of course you slightly release the bandha to allow air to go in and out, but the J Bandha helps firstly to keep the back straight throughout the procedure. As much as proper posture is important the erect spine also is important in Pranayama which is facilitated by J bandha. It is believed and can also be verified that J Bandha helps with the mula bandha and Uddiyana bandha which are helpful in deeper exhalation. J Bandha also helps to maintain body balance. You can release the bandha a little bit during the inhalation and exhalation phases and maintain the J bandha tight during both the Kumbhakas. Thank you very much for writing and I wish you both well With best wishes Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami

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