Neve Sha’anan Yoga Center
About Vijnana Yoga
Practicing,
feeling, understanding - from inside
Sources
For years now, many of us
have attempted to deal creatively with the question: “What kind of yoga do you
do?”
Yoga is yoga, period. This is the reason that
for many years we have been careful to avoid attaching a title or term other
than yoga. Yet the need for a name and clear definition was genuine. I am a
student of Dona Holleman and of Mr. Iyengar, but over the years my students
and I have gone through a long and significant process wherein our practice has
taken on a form clearly different from what is today termed ‘Iyengar Yoga’.
There are three fundamental elements that I feel it necessary to point out so
as to clearly define the path of our practice.
The first element is the importance of ‘just sitting’ as part of
practice. The great emphasis that we place on the quality of consciousness
during the practice of āsana (postures) and prāņāyāma (breathing exercises)
requires us to sit in meditation. This approach stems from the living tradition
of yoga, which views meditation as the central tool for developing the
consciousness, as well as from the classic texts wherein meditation is
described as fundamental in all the systems of yoga.
The second element is the set of guiding principles, which teach us to listen to the
sensations of our bodies and enable movement from that place. At the start we
simply stand upon the mat and concentrate inward. Movement begins with bringing
the hands down from namaste. The consciousness searches out the touch of the
feet with the ground and the true alignment of the skeleton. Each part of the
skeleton is in harmony with all the other parts and we stand as a single whole
between heaven and earth. As the hands begin to move upwards, the muscles of
the body are soft but not slack. The consciousness is attentive and aware of
the body and the space surrounding it, while at the same time calm and
collected. As the hands continue to move up and down we concentrate on the
delicate movements created within the body while remaining attuned to the
skeleton as one integrated whole, even as the range of movement increases.
Keeping our mind focused, we direct our movements so that the muscles remain
true to the alignment of the skeleton, reminding ourselves to be attentive
without being reprimanding.
Movement will continue now for an extended time
and we strive to move from within the principles as
one unit, body and mind.
The third element is the
emphasis on study. In order to deepen our practice and understanding of yoga,
it is necessary to study the written tradition, if only in part. Therefore,
when students experience a desire to deepen their yoga and begin attending
workshops, retreats or long classes, they are gradually and continuously
exposed to the yogic literature.
These three elements together – ‘just
sitting’, the principles and the study of texts – have become our way of practice.
Together we searched for a name that would give some expression to these
qualities.
Vijñāna?
The Taittirīya Upaniśad, a 2,700 year-old text, describes the human
being and the cosmos as having five kośas, or layers: the physical, the
energetic, the mental, the ‘vijñānic’ and the
joyous. Our study groups were drawn to the term ‘vijñāna’.
What is vijñāna?
According to the great Vedantist philosopher Śankara, vijñāna is a deep
understanding or knowing that cannot come about merely through outer knowledge
that we receive through a teacher or a spiritual textual tradition. Rather it
is an inner clarity that is revealed through personal experience.
Ramakrishna continues thus: “The awareness and conviction that fire
exists in wood is jñāna (knowledge). But to cook rice on that fire, eat the
rice and get nourishment from it is vijñāna.”
The guiding
principles – relaxing the body, quieting the mind, focusing through intent,
rooting, connecting, awareness of breath and expanding – all these allow us
to go deep within and from that place to see, feel, understand and act
skillfully.
Calling our way of practicing Vijñāna Yoga is
but giving recognition to something that has always been there, something that
is at the core of our discipline: practicing, feeling, understanding - from
inside.
Many thanks to all my teachers for persistently pointing their fingers
at this one moon.
Orit
Sen-Gupta, June 2006, Jerusalem
Vijñāna, – the act of distinguishing or discerning,
understanding, recognizing, intelligence, knowledge, skill, art, science
(Monier Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary, p. 961)
“Verily, different from and within the
sheath consisting of mind (manas) is the atma consisting of vijñāna
(understanding). This has the form
of a person…
Faith
(śraddhā) is its head,
Order (rta) is
its right side.
Truth (satya)
is its left side.
Yoga is its
body.
The Great
Intelligence (mahat) is its lower part, the foundation.”
(Taittrīya Upanishad II.41)
“At the stage
of mind (manas), we accept authority which is external.
At the stage
of vijñāna, internal growth is affected. We develop faith, order, truthfulness
and union with the supreme.”
(from
S. Radhakrishnan’s commentary on the Taittrīya Upanishad)
“As directly as the physical vision sees and grasps the appearance of objects, so and far more directly does the gnosis (vijñāna) sees and grasps the truth of things.”
(Śri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, page
463)
The Guiding
Principles:
4. Rooting
5. Connecting
7. Expanding - Elongating and Widening
In the beginning, relax the body. Inhale, and with the exhalation release tension. Inhale, and with the following exhalation scan the body from top to bottom and from the bottom upwards.
Wherever
there is gripping or tension - relax.
The
mind is looking at the body with a parental eye. With time one can observe
tense areas releasing and embracing space. If areas of weakness are noticed,
inhale into them with courage and enliven them with energy. Let excess leave
the body; relax. Thus the body becomes stable and quiet. Back Top
When
we position ourselves on the mat we distance ourselves from our responsibility
to react to the world. The eyes look inward to catch the inner mood, the state
of mind.
Whether
we are concentrated, dispersed or nervous; happy, sad or angry; whether we are
afraid, tired or energetic - the eyes are positioned at the back of the head.
We
observe ourselves and our practice from an inner silence. With each inhalation
the eyes sink deeper into the back of the head. With each exhalation there is
an intensification of concentration.
Empty
Mind intensifies itself in practice. Back Top
Now
the body and mind are at ease and stable, quiet and concentrated. From this
place we see our objective - Sitting, Pranayama, Asana - and direct ourselves
towards it.
The
mind directs itself to the practice; the body awaits the practice; the heart
embraces the practice with all its might.
With
each inhalation there is an intensification of intent, with each exhalation the
sharpening of its direction. By visualizing ourselves sitting, breathing,
moving, or by imagining another person in that practice we devote ourselves
wholly to it. With each breath, with each pose we reaffirm our intent. Back Top
The mind rests at the place where the body touches the earth. Let the weight of the body sink into this place - for example, the feet. Intensify the weight pressing down, as if the foot would like to sink into the earth, and then feel the power of that downward movement flowing through the body. As the roots of a tree deepen and widen into the earth, so the branches above expand into the sky.
It is
easy to understand the idea behind rooting, yet surprisingly difficult to
execute it in every movement and posture. As rooting is mastered, the body
becomes light and loose and moves without effort. Back Top
Always
be conscious of two opposite directions that are connected to each other. To go
up, go down. To go forwards, shift into the back. Wishing for the left side,
steady yourself on the right. Wishing to expand, come from the core.
The first
direction is the arrow, the second direction is the bow; the thread which binds
them is Connecting. In each pose the farthest limb from the ground connects to
that which is rooting into the ground.
Every
single body part in between is whole in itself, a distinct, functioning unit.
All the parts are balanced and work together in harmony.
Like a
chain floating in space, the rings that make up the chain never touch each
other. The more each part is distinct, the more the connection between them
remains steady - the body in any situation moves in oneness. Back Top
Be
aware of inhaling, of exhaling. Inhale - go deep within; exhale - connect to
the world. Inhale - accept what is; exhale - give yourself to the earth.
Inhale
along the body, exhale and root. Inhale and connect the farthest parts, exhale
and move into the final pose.
While
inhaling the body elongates and widens, while exhaling it steadies itself in
rooting and connecting. At times the breath is sweet and soft, at times it is
deep and long. Sometimes the exhalation lasts longer than the inhalation,
sometimes it is short and decisive.
At
times only in the background, at times the source of action, breath is always
present. Back Top
7. Expanding - Elongating and Widening
When
there is rooting while exhaling, inhaling brings about elongation and widening.
Or perhaps the elongating and widening, that occur as a result of rooting,
allow for inhalation.
When
elongating and widening occur, not one ring touches another as the chain called
body moves in space. Then there is no sagging into the joints, no effort in the
muscles. The skeleton shields its coverings; the coverings create space for the
skeleton. Thus the body moves about - relaxed and connected - one. Back Top
All the principles coexist and need to be applied at all times, yet it is difficult to oversee their functions simultaneously. In order to deepen our understanding of the principles, we need to choose one that attracts us and work with it constantly until it is mastered. Many times we can work with one or two principles for a few years until these penetrate and become second nature to us.
This
while remembering that it is only when all the principles coexist
simultaneously in practice, that the practice is whole. Therefore when we
practice yet feel ‘stuck’ we need to look carefully and find which principle is
neglected, and then revive it. Back Top