The Essence of Yoga

The fundamental natural, upright posture is important for us all to realise as being required for the comfort and function of the complex physiological processes that we tend to take for granted when we are experiencing good health.

This is the first training for a yoga student, before attempting the many variations of the classical yoga Asanas.

Children who learn what is correct from an early age are likely to relate to it when they are growing up and so avoid unwelcome pressures and complaints originating in poor posture.

As the upright stance has a corresponding link with mental uprightness, natural pride and self confidence, it is obvious that this simple discipline will have a profound and positive affect upon the personality and self image of the individual.

Many parents who practise the physical disciplines of Yoga are able to pass on appropriate health benefits to their children by helping them to understand natural health principles and so encourage their co-operation. Building better health of course begins under direction of the parents but the practical skills and benefits are usually readily experienced, to serve as an encouragement to young ones.

Yoga teachers who have been trained to understand the modifications and cautions that accompany the health practices that were first designed for adult application are able to train and inspire children to take a positive life approach.

This will often help them later in avoiding the rebelliousness stages, peer pressure and negative temptations associated with drugs, alcohol and premature sexual experimentation.

Self confidence grows as students master their physical skill in assuming the many Asanas that present an enduring challenge.

As all methods used in the Yogic philosophy are based upon ‘non-violence’ or Ahimsa, these ideas are employed in gentle physical training, in encouraging right standards of behaviour, and in cultivating constructive interests and actions rather than destructive trends.

Yoga teachers aspire to help you to help your children in simple matters of health and physical and mental well being.

In order to achieve the goals and aims you have for your children the wisest course is to seek an interview with the teacher of your choice. 

Children love attending small classes and usually have no reluctance associated with their training.

Yoga students learn to be happy.

This is one of the basic health Asanas.  The position is to accent the chest and ribcage so that with the action of deep respiration certain physiological benefits are offered.

Benefits include better circulation and tonic affect on the heart, lungs,  thyroid gland and kidneys.

It is a classic position to assist those with asthma and lung complaints in which case it is sustained for  about 10 deeper breaths. As with all Asanas, a short period of relaxation follows.

Apart from a preventative purpose, the position can sometimes relieve an acute attack of asthma. Children will usually require some support and assistance.

There are several variations in positions of the legs and the arms as illustrated.

The philosophy and practices of classical Yoga are for application by adults and it can be anticipated that parents practising Yoga will naturally transmit appropriate information to their children.

However as Yoga offers a total education ranging from physical culture to mind training and spiritual awareness it is understandable that there are many aspects which can be contributed by the professional Yoga teacher and used to complement the demands of present educational systems.

In spite of disciplinary measures in education being at present unpopular in western countries, self discipline and self confidence nevertheless go hand in hand. Children must not be deprived of the benefits derived from early training whether the disciplinary measures relate to physical training or to character. It is well evidenced that discipline demanded from any teacher provides the initial basis for the student’s subsequent self discipline.

All are encouraged to live a life of high ethical and moral standards. A surprising number of them have become naturally aware of spiritual life through their directly experiencing the power of love and goodness through the instrument of their own intuition.

The simple yogic health practices are invaluable both as a means of prevention of physical ailments as of therapeutic benefit. Children become more acutely aware of the need for caring for their bodies through following the natural laws that influence good health.

They develop better muscular control over their physical bodies through exercise

They experience the reduction or correction of minor symptoms

How to experience self commanded muscular relaxation

Improved physical posture and mental attitudes

Better concentration and learning skills regarding studies

Instruction about healthy eating habits

Improved respiration and relief from complaints such as asthma and hyperactivity

Awareness of the need to build their own self image & confidence

Willing obedience and respect for parents, teachers, and elders

Increased joy in living

These are some of the many advantages from offering your children classes from a professional teacher of classical Yoga who specializes in teaching children and who works in close co-operation with parents to ensure their welfare.

The value of Yoga is not so much in offering yet another ideology. We have enough confusion regarding ideas, philosophies and spiritual teachings. Confusion tends to reduce our capacity to keep clear the beautiful simple spiritual message that all great teachers have conveyed regarding the ideal way of life. Our life purpose must include our practical attempt to put this message into practice.

These efforts are known as our personal Sadhana or our spiritual self discipline.  Just as we rely upon a disciplined driver to be a safe driver on our roads, so a controlled and disciplined person is a safe person and not likely to harm others along life’s way.

 Most of us realise the transient nature of personal ambitions and desires by which our personalities are fulfilled, but we also are aware of the deeper needs of the human soul. We all yearn for a better state of the world in which we find ourselves and aspire in some way to improve our environment and help to build a better, peaceful world.

The yogic way of life, based upon following Natural Laws, is essentially simple, yet inspiring as we benefit from the hard earned wisdom gained from limitless centuries of human experience and which, if applied, will lead to an advancement of our present civilization. It is based upon the premise that to improve the world, each of us must first improve ourselves.

This is our first responsibility to our own soul so that we may be capable of contributing to the welfare of the whole world. The success of the greater purpose will be dependent upon each individual choosing a positive lifestyle.

A clear outline of a practical method of selecting a natural lifestyle and method of self improvement is given us in the tenets of yoga teaching.

The word yoga means to unite, to join together or to integrate. In regard to the practice known as Yoga, there are several spheres of reference – integration of the physical with the emotional nature –to co-ordinate emotional and mental aims – to integrate mind and body – and to join the individual soul to the Universal Life Source, or God.

The system known as Yoga is an integral part of the classical systems of Indian Philosophy, all of which stem from the ancient and profound Vedic teachings that are considered to have their origin in antiquity. The Vedas refer to all aspects of human life and the natural sciences, including those involved in the spiritual evolution and advancement of mankind.

It is believed that all our great western philosophers over the centuries have dipped into and adopted these Indian wisdom teachings with the result that many similar ideas permeate their doctrines.  Both the philosophic and the practical guidelines of old are a valued source of information that continues to inspire earnest scholars as well as all those who question life today. 

What follows will help you, whether you are a beginner seeking to improve your physical and mental health, or you are an exponent seeking for new insights to encourage your continuing practice of Yoga.

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The wonderful system of maintaining a free, flexible, strong and healthy body through the practice of specific positions in addition to those involved in normal daily activity, is invaluable. It is based upon natural abilities for movement and the use of positions, the simplest of which can be observed in young children. The full range of body freedom is formalized in the sophisticated, traditional classical Indian Yoga teaching of the 84 Asanas passed down through the centuries.

There are understandably many common name variations to describe them in English, so there will be differences given out in different teaching institutions throughout the modern world. However there is serious attempt to retain the identity of the 84 classical Asanas by referring to the Indian names for them and standardize them for the future. However, as Indian names will be found to vary also, although each will end in ‘asana’, it demonstrates a certain need for identifying Asanas through the image as well as the word.

As there is a great deal to learn about Asanas beyond the more obvious benefits in self help to maintain a healthy body and balanced mind, in our practice we must, as with all things, apply ourselves to starting at the beginning.

So there are many that can be assumed with comparative ease by a beginner and many that are beyond present capacity. It is patient attention to the simple Asanas and the incorporation of the right breathing or pranayama, together with a mental focus upon its purpose that will bring results that will be experienced almost immediately. This will encourage further training.

Every Asana has a basic form, that can be modified to allow those with physical limitations to derive benefit or offers further variations that are more challenging to the serious Hatha Yoga exponent who may seek to proceed to master the full range of the more advanced Asanas.

But we must be reminded that merely to assume Asanas as a demonstration of acrobatic abilities is not in the spirit of Yoga, which is designed for inner mastery of mind and body, so that one’s soul can grow, blossom and expand so that spiritual consciousness can be experienced.  

The following images demonstrate a few variations of Asanas with varying degrees of difficulty – all of which, remember, can be modified, and some extended.

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The Spinal Twist or Half Twist –Ardha Matsyendrasana – is generally mastered  but the Full Twist is extremely difficult.

The Plough or Halasana has many well known variations

Head Knee or Paschimottanasana has several increasingly difficult variations

Lunge , Leg Split or Anjaneyasana has several popular variations

The aspirant undertakes certain self disciplines when following any path towards improvement including the spiritual path of Yoga where classic disciplines have remained unchanged for centuries. These practices belong to a universal system, the principles of which can be adopted and also adapted by people of any nation, culture, or religion.

For this reason it has attracted many followers in the present era as people realise that both physical health and spiritual growth can only be effected through self responsibility and self effort. Physical health requires purification of the blood and body cells. Psychological health requires elimination of past problems and clear focus on positive self determination.

Our spiritual state has similar requirements. In matters of the soul, each much cleanse not only the heart and mind, but ensure that the deepest  realms of one’s consciousness does not harbour any negative feelings, resentments or unresolved problems or attitudes towards others or in relation to life itself. Only this way can we ensure that our aspirations and our chosen route towards excellence is not inhibited.

In the spiritual life, growth in heart, mind and our being brings us new spiritual experiences through self purification and a clear understanding and application of the simple rules and teachings that we feel are good.

It is the practical implementation of our spiritual aspirations and cherished ideals in daily life, that is known as our personal Sadhana.  It represents our personal spiritual aspiration and the self discipline that is entailed in order to becoming that ideal.

Our Sadhana is a totally private practice shared by no one and only perceived by one’s often unknown and unseen spiritual Guru or teacher of greater spiritual stature.

Our personal effort and our spiritual quest in time brings its rewards. We experience degrees of elevation and expansion of our consciousness that culminates in the supreme state of awareness known as Samadhi.

Psychology or the understanding of human nature is perceived as the knowledge of the total nature of the individual. This is inclusive of –

personality that comprises physical body,(kaya) emotional nature,(kama) and mental nature (manas) and conceived as a collection of feelings, perceptions (anjna) and past impressions (samskara)

soul that is perceived as the consciousness of the immortal self with its profound wisdom accumulated through many incarnations of life experiences relevant to male births or as females

spirit or the supreme directing intelligence of the individual being that is likened to a spark of the Universal fire, or as a drop of the Universal ocean of life of the Cosmos.

Once these aspects are recognized and identified through our own insight and understanding of ourselves it is possible to see ourselves as an integrated human being and be able to comprehend much more about ourselves than the mere personality.

Self knowledge and self understanding are held as important throughout all cultures and hinted at as the commencement before embarking on a more expansive search to comprehend the nature of all things beyond.

Although it is natural to require some knowledge or perception of our origins as well as our life purpose and future, the first can be replaced with the faith that it was from God or the Divine Light that we came and to this we return, life after life. Each life we undergo experiences that the law of Karma deems  necessary in our long spiritual evolution towards the ideal of human excellence and that mysterious concept, perfection.

We are likely to find life easier with acceptance of the natural law that stipulates that each individual grows through his own efforts. There is no known ‘instant’ achievement.

We can only add to any present knowledge of psychology by seeking to understand and embrace all ideas motivated by truth and directed towards truth.

There is much to learn.

The law of Karma represents the function of Supreme Justice. It is the natural law that has been explained to humanity from time immemorial – that what we do in using our free will, will inevitably have repercussions. Good or constructive action results in good – just as evil action brings disaster.

It is easy enough to grasp as a philosophy. But for its acceptance we must rely to a large extent on our faith, on the teachings of wise ones greater than ourselves in understanding of spiritual matters, rather than upon the immediate evidence that the law is demonstrated to our satisfaction at close range in our human affairs.

The fact that the Law functions throughout all time rather than within the confines of our own limited human scale makes it beyond our capacity to understand purely on our terms of reference.

We must contemplate the issue and stretch our intelligence to consider a Greater Justice than human values of fairness and our inadequate efforts to devise effective laws that leave us satisfied that we have created a true semblance of justice that functions on the material level of our existence.

 Personal fortunate circumstances or responses teach us what is right in moral law and give us confidence in the direction of our own self culture as bad ones reveal our weaknesses that are designed to be a springboard for our future strengths. We are regularly reminded of the need to assess the direction that we are taking in our path through life.

Karma teaches us through our pain and problems how to overcome material circumstances and personal weakness. We know under its Law, that what comes in our life experience is just – we have sometime in the past long stretch of this life and the previous incarnations, earned our good fortune just as we have earned our bad.  The law of Karma rules us all, without favouritism. We would be best guided by taking refuge in this Law.