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Amsterdam, 31 December 2007 Dear stretchers – and future stretchers… I hope that you have had a restful Christmas and that 2008 will bring you lots of challenges. In September 2007 the ‘stretch season’ began with the repeat showing of the DVD of a lecture that was given during the International Yoga Congress in Quimper, France. The lecture was given by the director of the Bihar School of Yoga, India, Swami Nirajanananda, and it concerned the ’18 ities’ of the late Swami Sivananda. For those who were unable to attend I’d like to briefly explain the significance of these ’18 ities’. Everyone who has attended a stretch class will be familiar about how to go about maintaining and reorganising the physical body by way of exercises. Yet according to the ‘bigger picture of Yoga’, described by Patajali in the Yoga Sutra’s, written in 400 BC, there are 8 stages of spiritual evolution that each human being can achieve. These are: 1,2: Yamas (5 social codes) and Nijamas (5 personal codes) that aim to reduce mental and emotional disturbances. 3: Asana – physical postures designed to enable you to sit effortlessly and completely still. This has been widely adopted in the western hemisphere and expanded in the way yoga is taught. 4: Pranayama – the control, guidance and direction of vital energy (prana, Chi, Ki) in the pranic body (Pranamaya Kosha), leading to mental and emotional balance. From here on the practices become more internally directed and less concerned with the material level of your existence… 5: Pratyahara – known as the ability to withdraw sensory attachment and concerns practices such as Yoga Nidra, Ajapa Japa, Antar mouna and Kaya Sthairyam – all of which we have begun to practice in the classes. 6: Dharana – the ability to strengthen the concentration to such an extent that you are able to focus exclusively on one point only and without effort. Here the focus still fluctuates. 7: Dhyana – at this stage the one-pointedness of attention is experienced as a continuous flow, in which you are conscious of the fact that you are practising, as well as being conscious of the object that you are focusing upon. This is what is called ‘meditation’. 8: Samadhi – in this stage one becomes only aware of the object that is being focused upon and there is no longer awareness of your limited self. This is a state called ‘enlightenment’. BECOMING AND EXPRESSING So in these 8 stages we are evolving and becoming. The aim of the ’18 ities’ of Swami Sivananda is to enable you to live and express yoga, by integrating these attributes into all your daily actions and thoughts, rather than just being limited to the attendance of the weekly class. These attributes are as follows: Sincerity; regularity; (freedom from) vanity; sincerity; simplicity; veracity; equanimity; fixity; non-irritability; adaptability; humility; tenacity; nobility; magnanimity; generosity; charity; integrity; purity. Swami Niranjananada decribed this as a way to ‘update you mental software’. A way to leave all the old patterns of restrictive thinking and behaviour behind, to move on and become more free to see more of the total picture of life. Over the years that I’ve been teaching I’ve noticed that most people attending the classes were not struggling so much with physical stiffness, but more often the mental stiffness were the most restrictive. By this I mean the inhibitions, doubts, lack of faith/self confidence, anxiety and fears, that limit and block the ability to move forward, to evolve. After all have you ever met anybody on this planet that does not want to feel and be more free, be less burdened by the past and less worried about the future ? So the ’18 ities’ concern 18 attributes that you can perfect within yourself, that will ‘update your mental software’ and lead you along the path of greater harmony and freedom. Beginning from 7 January 2008, we will be dealing with one of these attributes each week during the classes, as well as stretching and balancing the physical body ! As you may already know, I began a three year Yogic Study course in June 2007 at the Satyananda Yoga Academy, in Budapest. This is one of three Yoga Academies around the world that are the ‘limbs’ of the Bihar School of Yoga in India. Since I began this course my heart has opened up more and the way I teach has been greatly enriched. I will return to Budapest for a week in February and again in June 2008. So for those of you who want to be physically and mentally more free – I look forward to sharing this exciting journey with you in 2008. Judging from what I have seen and have heard this last season I would suggest four ‘new year resolutions' that I feel a number of participants of the classes need to embrace : )
HAPPY NEW YEAR ! P.S. All the classes begin again from Monday 7 January 2008 |
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