Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha, Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Munger, Bihar, Yoga Publications Trust, (1996), 2002
…Although many health professionals consult this text as a guide when constructing programs to provide clients with physical, mental and emotional balance, these techniques are not primarily for the sick but for the healthy.—Preface, p. xii
When learning the practices of yoga, the guidance of a qualified yoga teacher is recommended….—Preface, p. xii
Introduction to Yoga
…Yoga cannot provide a cure for life but it does present a proven method of coping with it.—p.2
There are many branches of yoga: raja, hatha, jnana, karma, bhakti, mantra, kundalini and laya, to name but a few….—p.2
…In the ancient texts, hatha yoga consists of the shatkarmas [six acts], cleansing practices, only. Today, however, hatha yoga commonly embraces the practices of asana, pranayama, mudra and bandha as well.—p.2
The yoga we know today was developed as a part of the tantric civilization which existed in India and all parts of the world more than ten thousand years ago…. [?]—p.2
…The techniques of yoga have their source in tantra and the two cannot be separated, just as consciousness, Shiva, cannot be separated from energy, Shakti.
Tantra is a combination of two words, tanoti and trayati, which mean ‘expansion’ and ‘liberation’ respectively. Therefore, it is the science of expanding the consciousness and liberating the energy. Tantra is the way to attain freedom from the bondage of the world while still living in it. The first step in tantra is to know the limitations and capacities of the body and mind. Next it prescribes techniques for the expansion of consciousness and the liberation of energy whereby individual limitations are transcended and a higher reality experienced. —p.3
…His [yogi Matsyendranath’s] chief disciple, Gorakhnath, wrote books on hatha yoga in the local dialect and in Hindi.—p.4
…One of the most outstanding authorities on hatha yoga, Swami Swatmarama, wrote the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, or “light on Yoga’, in Sanskrit, collating all extant material on the subject. In doing so, he reduced the emphasis on yama and niyama from hatha yoga, thereby eliminating a great obstacle experienced by many beginners….—p.4
…Yoga has succeeded as an alternative form of therapy in diseases such as asthma, diabetes, blood pressure, arthritis, digestive disorders and other ailments of a chronic and constitutional nature where modern science has not….—p.5
Asana
Hathasya prathamaangatvaadaasanam poorvamuchyate.
Kuryaattadaasanam sthairyamaarogyam chaangalaaghavam.
Prior to everything, asana is spoken of as the first part of hatha yoga.
Having done asana, one attains steadiness of body and mind, freedom from disease and lightness of the limbs.—Hatha Yoga Pradipika (1:17)
Asana means a state of being in which one can remain physically and mentally steady, calm, quiet and comfortable. In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali there is a concise definition of yogasanas: “Sthiram sukham aasanam”, meaning that position which is comfortable and steady….—p.8
In raja yoga, asana refers to the sitting position, but in hatha yoga it means something more. Asanas are specific body positions which open the energy channels and psychic centres….—p.8
In the yogic scriptures it is said that there were originally 8,400,000 asanas, which represent the 8,4000,000 incarnations every individual must pass through before attaining liberation from the cycle of birth and death…. Through their practice, it is possible to side-step the karmic process and bypass many evolutionary stages in one lifetime….—p.9
Yogasanas and prana
Prana, vital energy, which corresponds to ki or chi in Chinese medicine, pervades the whole body, following flow patterns, called nadis, which are responsible for maintaining all individual cellular activity. Stiffness of the body is due to blocked prana and a subsequent accumulation of toxins. When prana begins to flow, the toxins are removed from the system ensuring the health of the whole body. As the body becomes supple, postures which seemed impossible become easy to perform, and steadiness and grace of movement develop. When the quantum of prana is increased to a great degree, the body moves into certain postures by itself and asanas, mudras and pranayamas occur spontaneously….—p.10
The main object of hatha yoga is to create balance between the interacting activities and processes of the pranic and mental forces. Once this has been achieved, the impulses generated give a call of awakening to sushumna nadi, the central pathway in the spine, through which the kundalini shakti rises to sahasrara charka, thereby illumining the higher centres of human consciousness.—p.11
Yogasana and exercise
Yogasanas have often been thought of as a form of exercise. They are not exercises, but techniques which place the physical body in positions that cultivate awareness, relaxation, concentration and meditation. Part of this process is the development of good physical health by stretching, massaging and stimulating the pranic channels and internal organs.
Although asana is not exercise it is complementary to exercise….
There are several differences in the way asana and exercise affect body mechanisms. When yogasanas are performed, respiration and metabolic rates slow down, the consumption of oxygen and the body temperature drop. During exercise, however, the breath and metabolism speed up, oxygen consumption rises, and the body gets hot. Yoga postures tend to arrest catabolism whereas exercise promotes it. In addition, asanas are designed to have specific effects on the glands and internal organs, and to alter electrochemical activity in the nervous system.—p.12
Introduction to Pranayama
Pranayama is generally defined as breath control. Although this interpretation may seem correct in view of the practices involved, it does not convey the full meaning of the term. The word pranayama is comprised of two roots: prana plus ayama. Prana means ‘vital energy’ or ‘life force’. It is the force which exists in all things, whether animate or inanimate. Although closely related to the air we breathe, it is more subtle than air or oxygen. Therefore, pranayama should not be considered as mere breathing exercises aimed at introducing extra oxygen into the lungs. Pranayama utilizes breathing to influence the flow of prana in the nadis or energy channels of the pranamaya kosha or energy body.
The word yama means ‘control’ and is used to denote various rules or codes of conduct. However, this is not the word which is joined to prana to form pranayama; the correct word is ayama which has far more implications than the word yama. Ayama is defined as ‘extension’ or ‘expansion’. Thus, the word pranayama means ‘extension or expansion of the dimension of prana’. The techniques of pranayama provide the method whereby the life force can be activated and regulated in order to go beyond one’s normal boundaries or limitations and attain a higher state of vibratory energy.—p.363
Introduction to Mudra
…The Kularnava Tantra traces the word mudra to the root mud meaning ‘delight’ or ‘pleasure’ and dravay, the causal form of dru which means ‘to draw forth’. Mudra is also defined as a ‘seal’, ‘short-cut’ or ‘circuit by-pass’.—p.423
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