Asana - Pranayama

[Guest guest]

Pranam.

 

My Yoga teacher constantly urges that Asana and Pranayama are the most important

thing ( inturn says makes body better, will evade diseases ), Proceeding into

spiritual part of sadhna is no good untill you learn and practice Asana and

Pranayama for a very long period untill you become adict to it.

He is specilized in teaching Asanas and pranayama. Doesnot teach other 4 steps

of Yoga. Eventhough he doesnot insist on Yama and Niyama part of yoga, he still

considers them, saying let us proceed with Asanas and Pranayama.

Am i with a right teacher?

Pls guide me.

Luv.

[Guest guest]

, " senthil_sym " <senthil_sym m.

>

> My Yoga teacher constantly urges that Asana and Pranayama are the

> He is specilized in teaching Asanas and pranayama. Doesnot teach

> Am i with a right teacher?

 

Senthilji, you have touched a very important point, some might say

controversial.

 

The short answer is, your teacher is correct, as he is following path of Hatha

Yoga, in which Asana & Pranayama are main, & by themself can lead to Samadhi,

then Moskha.

 

The long answer is: People consider Hatha a poor cousin of Raja Yoga, but that

is not true. Hatha Yoga is a complete system in itself. Raja Yoga says try to

concentrate mind on 1 point, till it merges into it & enters Samadhi.

Hatha Yoga says this is very difficult for modern people, so they recommend

freeing all the blocked Prana in the body by Asana, then by Pranayama, bringing

it to Sushmna Nadi, which will lead to rise of Kundalni, Samadhi, then Moksha.

 

In this case, there is no need to try to control mind- as long as one is doing

Pranayama right, mind is controlled by itself.

 

An analogy is- there is a bird with 2 wings- Mind & Prana. Raja yoga cuts the

mind wing, Hatha Yoga cuts Pran wing- result is the same, the bird cant fly &

Samadhi is attained.

 

For this reason, Hatha Yoga doesnt insist so strongly on Yama/Niyama, saying

that bad habits are due to uncontrolled Pran, & once Pran is controlled, all bad

heabits also vanish. This shows the roots of Tantra in Hatha Yoga- Masters like

Gorakhnath took the then discredited Tantra, removed all rituals from it, &

created Hatha Yoga. Many teachers still insist on some Yamas, like being

vegetarian, while the Nath Sadhus are also Brahmcharis.

 

But Hatha Yoga itself has a bad reputation, as it is considered a mainly

physical excersise, while " serious " Yogis doing Raja Yoga. Your teacher is right

to say that HY will remove all diseases etc, so the slight discomfort is well

worth it. But HY is more than this, it also leads to Samadhi.

 

Now the main part- are you with the right guru? It depends. Does this path seem

good to you? All Hatha Yogas miracles are useless if your heart doesnt accept

the path.

 

My advice is: Stick with this Guru for some time more, but continue doing

Bhakti/Dhyana in your own time. After some time, you may get an idea which is

the right path for you. Even if you dont choose Hatha Yoga, continue with

Asana/Panayama, because they have such great effects for body/mind.

 

I also had lots of doubts on Hatha Yoga- a great book, I highly recommend is

Hatha Yoga Pradipika by the Bihar School of Yoga. There are other commentaries

available, but I recommend this version by Bihar School of Yoga. It explains in

great detail significance of Asana, Prayanama & Mudras/Bandhas for Moskha.

 

Luv,

Shantnu