108 Sūtra Study Pointers – 154 – Dhyānam is the art of cultivating…


Dhyānam is the art of cultivating
a continuity of presence within
the activities in the psyche.
– Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter Three verse 2

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108 Sūtra Study Pointers – 153 – We see ourselves within a mirror reflecting the opposing fluctuations…

We see ourselves within a mirror
reflecting the opposing fluctuations
of Rajas Guṇa and Tamas Guṇa.
– Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter Two verse 15

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108 Yoga Practice Pointers – 106 – The intention within  Bṛṃhaṇa Kriyā…

“The intention within
Bṛṃhaṇa Kriyā
is to feel brighter.

The intention within
Laṅghana Kriyā
is to feel lighter.”

Link to Series: 108 Yoga Practice Pointers

Āsana and Mudrā Practice Techniques Glossary
– Grouped into Standing, Kneeling, Lying,
Inverted, Backbend, Seated & Sitting

Prāṇāyāma & Bandha Practice Techniques Glossary
– Grouped into Primary, Secondary & Ancillary Techniques

108 Postural Practice Pointers – 47 – Short and Longer Term prerequisites for Bakāsana or Parśva  Bakāsana…

Short and Longer Term prerequisites for
Bakāsana or Parśva  Bakāsana
include:
Utkaṭāsana
Adho Mukha Śvanāsana
Caturaṅga Daṇḍasana
Nirālamba Śīrṣāsana
Viparīta Vṛkṣāsana

Link to Series: 108 Postural Practice Pointers

Āsana and Mudrā Glossary
– Grouped into Standing, Kneeling,
Lying, Inverted, Backbend, Seated & Sitting

108 Postural Practice Pointers – 46 – Short and Longer Term prerequisites for Eka Pāda Uttāna Mayūrāsana…

Short and Longer Term prerequisites for
Eka Pāda Uttāna Mayūrāsana
include:
Dvi Pāda Pīṭham
Sarvāṅgāsana
Halāsana
Śalabhāsana
Dhanurāsana

Link to Series: 108 Postural Practice Pointers

Āsana and Mudrā Glossary
– Grouped into Standing, Kneeling,
Lying, Inverted, Backbend, Seated & Sitting

108 Yoga Planning Pointers – 46 – Thus, with these two aspects there are a lot of variables

Voluntary Efforts and Involuntary Effects in an Āsana Practice

4. Thus, with these two aspects there can be a lot of variables.
For example, using or not using the breath in Āsana
practice can be either a voluntary or involuntary aspect.
Thus, if you are not used to using the breath in an Āsana
and its quality is affected involuntarily, then we must apply
a voluntary action to improve or sustain the quality of the breath.
Or, if we are used to using the breath, the way we use it
can become fixed and unchanging – an involuntary effect.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
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108 Yoga Planning Pointers – 45 – Also, certain steps have to be taken to avoid…

Voluntary Efforts and Involuntary Effects in an Āsana Practice

3. Also, certain steps have to be taken to avoid, anticipate
or compensate for the effects of the involuntary response.
This means certain steps have to be taken to consider the
voluntary intention and a potentially involuntary response.
From this, we can evolve certain suggestions with regard
to anticipating potentially unconscious practice patterns.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Viniyoga of Practice Planning Principles

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
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108 Yoga Planning Pointers – 44 – This can also apply to our attitude whilst working…

Voluntary Efforts and Involuntary Effects in an Āsana Practice

2. Thus, this means these effects can also apply to our
attitudes whilst working habitually in a particular Āsana.
For example, an involuntary response as a result of memory.
So we can have a blindness, in that we are unaware of the
position of the arms, legs, or body, as well as in our attitude.
Thus, we need to at least apply movements voluntarily
in our efforts to influence the qualities of the Āsana.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Viniyoga of Practice Planning Principles

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– Collected Practice Planning and Practice Theory Questions

108 Yoga Planning Pointers – 43 – As well as the consideration around the use of Āsana dynamically…

Voluntary Efforts and Involuntary Effects in an Āsana Practice

1. As well as the consideration around the use of
Āsana dynamically or statically, there is also,
depending on our background to Āsana practice,
the voluntary effort and the involuntary effects.

According to the impact of this in the background,
certain voluntary intentions can, often unconsciously,
trigger certain involuntary, multilevelled responses.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
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Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
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108 Dhāraṇā Practice Pointers – 11 – Dhāraṇā has three distinct cyclical phases…

Dhāraṇā has three distinct, cyclical phases,
from a placing of awareness on the focus,
to an awareness of observation wandering,
to a re-placing of awareness on the focus.

Link to Series: 108 Dhāraṇā Practice Pointers

108 Postural Practice Pointers – 45 – Our relationship with Āsana Practice can be too…

Our relationship with
Food can be too much,
too little, or wrong.
The same could also be
said for Āsana Practice.

Link to Series: 108 Postural Practice Pointers

Āsana and Mudrā Glossary
– Grouped into Standing, Kneeling,
Lying, Inverted, Backbend, Seated & Sitting

108 Yoga Sūtra Study Word Pointers – 12 – Saṃprajñāta

The aim of this Series, and its companion page (Paul’s Yoga Sūtra Study Questions), with its Sūtra by Sūtra guided study question within a parallel flow, is to progress through a themed reflective journey across the four chapters or Pāda that comprise the Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali.

On this page, a word will be listed as a symbol for a specific verse or set of verses as we progressively traverse each chapter. It will offer an exploration, via a link to the Saṃskṛta Glossary, of all the connected quotations and posts, collated from within the website these past 12 years, to invite the reader to form their own opinion as to what is implied.

On the companion page, a question will be proffered as a reflection and inquiry into a single verse. Here each verse in the text will be explored successively, via a link to its translation, word-by-word breakdown and added commentaries collated from the website, again to invite the reader to form their own opinion as to what is implied.

My wish is to offer an insight into the spectrum of Yoga teachings received from T Krishnamacharya mainly via TKV Desikachar, in terms of both breadth and depth.

108 Yoga Sūtra Study Word Pointers – 12

SAṂPRAJÑĀTA

Chapter One verses 17-19

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T Krishnamacharya Yoga Sūtra Quotes – Collected & Collated into Chapters

108 Dhāraṇā Practice Pointers – 10 – There was a time when folks were confused as to what is Meditation…

There was a time when folks were
confused as to what is Meditation.
Now I wonder if folks are more
confused as to what isn’t Meditation?

Link to Series: 108 Dhāraṇā Practice Pointers

108 Prāṇāyāma Practice Pointers – 36 – One role for a staged descent within a Pranayama descent…

One role for a staged descent
within a Prāṇāyāma practice,
in terms of ratio and length,
is to offer a receptive space to
reveal any side effects of effort.

Here it can be actually more
difficult to step down gradually
in stages rather than just stopping.
Thus a subtle mirror in the descent
can reveal any stress in the ascent.

Link to Series: 108 Prāṇāyāma Practice Pointers

Glossary of Āsana and Mudrā Practice Techniques
– Grouped into Standing, Kneeling, Lying,
Inverted, Backbend, Seated & Sitting Categories

Glossary of Prāṇāyāma & Bandha Practice Techniques
– Grouped into Primary, Secondary & Ancillary Techniques

108 Yoga Sūtra Study Question Pointers – 16 – In Sūtra 1.16 Patañjali introduces two concepts which are fundamental…

The aim of this series, and its companion series (Paul’s Yoga Sūtra Study Keywords), with its single guided Sūtra word within a parallel flow, is to progress through a themed reflective journey across the four chapters or Pāda that comprise the Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali.

On this page, a question will be proffered as a reflection and inquiry into a single verse. Here each verse in the text will be explored successively, via a link to its translation, word-by-word breakdown and added commentaries collated from the website, to invite the reader to form their own opinion as to what is implied.

On the companion page, a word will be listed as a symbol for a specific verse or set of verses as we progressively traverse each chapter. It will offer an exploration, via a link to the Saṃskṛta Glossary, of all the connected quotations and posts, collated from within the website these past 12 years, again to invite the reader to form their own opinion as to what is implied.

My wish is to offer an insight into the spectrum of Yoga teachings received from T Krishnamacharya mainly via TKV Desikachar, in terms of both breadth and depth.

Chapter One Samādhi Pādaḥ verse 16

tat-paraṃ puruṣa-khyāteḥ guṇa-vaitṛṣṇyam |

In Sūtra 1.16 Patañjali introduces two concepts which are
fundamental to the philosophical foundations in Sāṃkhya.
What are they and what is their relationship to Vitṛṣṇasya
within the Sāṃkhya teachings discussing cause and effect?

To Download or View this Question as a PDF Study Sheet

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T Krishnamacharya Yoga Sūtra Quotes – Collected & Collated into Chapters

 

108 Yoga Planning Pointers – 42 – In relation to the psychological ideal of remaining there…

Different Types of Postural Activity in Āsana Practice

12. Finally, the consideration of movement
or stasis sits within a relationship to the
deeper purpose of Āsana within our journey
through the body and the breath, to the mind
and beyond, through considerations such as:
In relation to the psychological ideal of remaining there.
According to the definition in  Chapter Three verse 2 of
the Yoga Sūtra, a continuity of psychic activity is the ideal.
This is seen as the ability to stay, as if in the same moment, as
one moment melds into the next moment and the next moment.
In other words, the ability to internally maintain a continuity of
experience as if maintaining an apparent stillness of movement.
Access to such subtle states requires a containment of movement
that ultimately extends from the body to the breath to the mind.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
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Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
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108 Yoga Planning Pointers – 41 – In relation to the concepts of Dhāraṇā and Dhyānam…

Different Types of Postural Activity in Āsana Practice

11. Furthermore, the consideration of movement
or stasis sits within a relationship to the
deeper purpose of Āsana within our journey
through the body and the breath, to the mind
and beyond, through considerations such as:
In relation to the concepts of Dhāraṇā and Dhyānam.
Dynamic is the effort to move the activities of the mind,
as well as of the body, in one direction as in Dhāraṇā.
The observations from dynamic work also allow us to see
the role or appropriateness or subtlety of static work.
Here static can be considered as the holding of the mind,
as well as of the body, in one direction as in Dhyānam.
As Dhāraṇā precedes Dhyānam in terms of directing the
activities of the mind, so dynamic work precedes static
work in terms of directing the activities of the body.
So, the quality of the attention within the mind, as well
as the body, is important in helping us to experience the
progressive interrelationship between movement and stasis.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Viniyoga of Practice Planning Principles

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Practice Planning and Practice Theory Questions

108 Yoga Planning Pointers – 40 – In relation to the fluctuations of the Guṇa…

Different Types of Postural Activity in Āsana Practice

10. Furthermore, the consideration of movement
or stasis sits within a relationship to the
deeper purpose of Āsana within our journey
through the body and the breath, to the mind
and beyond, through considerations such as:
In relation to the fluctuations of the Guṇa.
Ideally, dynamic work is a state of still movement,
rather than a state of active movement, as in Rajas.
Equally, static work is a state of bright stasis,
rather than a state of dull stasis, as in Tamas.
Thus, in relation to the Guṇa, the application
of both movement and stasis in Āsana need to be
appropriately supported by a quality of Sattva.
As in a quality of stillness within dynamic work
and a quality of brightness within static work.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Viniyoga of Practice Planning Principles

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Practice Planning and Practice Theory Questions

108 Yoga Planning Pointers – 39 – In relation to the dual concepts of Sthira and Sukham…

Different Types of Postural Activity in Āsana Practice

9. Furthermore, the consideration of movement
or stasis sits within a relationship to the
deeper purpose of Āsana within our journey
through the body and the breath, to the mind
and beyond, through considerations such as:
In relation to the dual concepts of Sthira and Sukham.
Dynamic can be too much effort, as in overly Sthira,
and Static can be too relaxing, as in overly Sukham.
Thus, the use of movement and stasis in Āsana needs
to consider how to correlate these two qualities, namely
that of steady attentiveness with that of spacious clarity.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Viniyoga of Practice Planning Principles

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Practice Planning and Practice Theory Questions

108 Yoga Planning Pointers – 38 – The consideration of the roles of movement and stasis can be further developed…

Different Types of Postural Activity in Āsana Practice

8. Furthermore, the consideration of the roles of
movement and stasis can be further developed through
Krishnamacharya’s teachings on application of Āsana.
For example, whether for circulation or for purification,
within both structural and/or systemic roles for Āsana.
Regarding circulation, or what he called Rakta Calana.
When you want to activate the circulation you move.
Regarding cleansing, or what he called Śarīra Śodhana.
When you want to activate a purificatory process you stay.
Both presume there is competent access to the breath,
working access to the concepts of Prāna, Apāna and Agni,
and experience of how to direct the breath in the spine.

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Viniyoga of Practice Planning Principles

Āsana Mudrā & Prāṇāyāma
– Collected Practice Planning and Practice Theory Questions