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Go
Deeper into
Meditation
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Exploring
the Essence of Ananda Yoga™
By Gyandev McCord
In recent years,
many yogis have committed themselves to an eclectic approach to
Hatha yoga, lumping together techniques and approaches from many
different traditions. In Hatha yoga, eclecticism is fine if all
one seeks is a physical workout. True yoga, however, is not just
a collection of techniques. A genuine yoga tradition holds to a
specific ray of divine grace because that ray is the source of its
power. Things are done in a certain way because that's how one can
best tune in to that that ray.
The Central
Goal
How does this
apply to Ananda Yoga™? Last year, referring to the origins
of Ananda Yoga in the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda, Swami Kriyananda
told me: "Yoga's purpose is spiritual, and since Hatha yoga
is the physical branch of Raja Yoga, Hatha yoga must have a spiritual
purpose. It can't be just to give you a good body… [The goal
of the postures is to] advance the purpose of the foundation of
Hatha yoga, which is Raja Yoga: to awaken the energy, loosen the
spine so the energy can reach the brain more easily, bring it up
the spine to the brain, and give you the experience of centeredness
and upliftedness."
That's the key.
Ananda Yoga practice is not just about getting "a good buzz,"
as one person put it. It's about generating and increasing an inward
and upward flow of energy in a safe, balanced, conscious way. Therefore,
every part of Ananda Yoga—including and especially one's attitude—should
contribute to this goal.
From Vine
to Branches
Let's examine
how some familiar aspects of Ananda Yoga help us accomplish this:
Energization:
Mastering Energization takes our practice to an entirely new level.
It's the technique par excellence for increasing energy and our
awareness of it. Only with awareness can we draw energy inward and
upward—without awareness, all the energy in the world won't
do us much good. Energization also prepares our nervous system to
handle more and more energy. It's a prime contributor to the overall
goal.
Sequence: Ananda Yoga routines are sequenced to bring energy
inward and upward. Standing asanas come first, to center the awareness
in the spine and begin to tune into energy. Then we move to a variety
of floor poses, designed to stretch and open the spine, and focus
energy there. Inverted poses follow, to draw the awakened energy
to the brain with the aid of "subtle gravity." Deep relaxation
in Savasana then helps us internalize this energy in the brain.
Finally, meditation brings energy to the spiritual eye.
Continuous awareness: We move slowly, smoothly and consciously
into and out of the asanas, so as not to diminish or interrupt our
awareness of energy flows generated through the asanas. By moving
in this way our awareness will increase throughout the routine—and
as awareness increases, so does the energy. Similarly, we never
strain with the asanas, because that would diminish both the energy
flow and our awareness of it.
Pauses: Why do we pause in a "neutral" pose between
"active" poses (e.g., in Tadasana between two standing
poses)? It certainly runs counter to most of the Hatha yoga we see
today, in which asanas (postures) are not held very long, and the
pauses between asanas are brief or nonexistent!
Kriyananda was quite blunt when I mentioned this trend of not holding
poses: "It's not good yoga," he said. "If you hold
a position, that's when you can get into the consciousness behind
that position. Constant motion isn't the answer. It just becomes
calisthenics." He later expanded on this: "Ours is a path
of constantly coming back to the center, to the spine. That's the
core of it, and you can't do that if you're always moving from one
asana to the next. The time between poses is very important."
So the pause
is not just to rest. It's to move toward the goal by working with
energy and consciousness to assimilate the benefits of the preceding
pose.
What About Affirmations?
If there's one thing that's unique about Ananda Yoga, it's asana
affirmations. It's tempting to say, "Ah, here's the essence:
without affirmations, it's not Ananda Yoga." When I asked Swami
Kriyananda about this, he took a different stance: "Obviously,
the center of Ananda Yoga is not the fact of having affirmations.
The center of Ananda Yoga is the way in which it helps our meditation,
our stillness. Sometimes those affirmations can seem a bit childish,
and I can see how people might resist doing them and still feel
they were working with the energy and so on. Nonetheless, they're
a good thing, and they do help your consciousness. Beyond that I
don't know what to say; you'll have to use your own intuition on
the matter."
Thus, it's not
a question of whether we can do Ananda Yoga without affirmations.
We can. The real question is—what leads us most quickly to
our goal? Affirmations are not the goal; raising consciousness is
the goal. But as Swami put it, affirmations "do help your consciousness,"
i.e., they are a means to the goal.
My own approach is like this: Over a long period (weeks, months),
the affirmation helps guide me to a more intuitive, more "feeling"
understanding of the asana. As my understanding grows, I'll repeat
the affirmation less—eventually just once or twice, to give
direction to my attunement efforts. It's not the affirmation that
takes me into that essence; it's my feeling capacity, guided by
the affirmation.
The Ultimate
Criterion
Above all, the
essence of Ananda Yoga is the vibration of Paramhansa Yogananda.
Earlier I said that each yoga tradition is a "specific ray
of divine grace." In Ananda's case, that ray comes through
Yogananda. Kriyananda drew upon that ray in order to develop Ananda
Yoga. It doesn't matter whether you are a disciple or not. Great
Masters will aid anyone who calls upon them. If you really want
to feel the essence of Ananda Yoga, call upon Paramhansa Yogananda.
Ask for his guidance, and try to tune in to his consciousness.
Gyandev Rich McCord is a Lightbearer and resides at Ananda Village.
He is the Director of Ananda Yoga worldwide and teaches at The Expanding
Light guest retreat, and serves as a board member of the Yoga Alliance.
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Yoga Postures to Deepen Your Meditation
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