We ignore the present and live from the known 

Yoga means union with the authentic, with the real… Our experience of life as thinking beings is from a past and towards a future, ignoring the present. We live from the yesterday and towards the tomorrow, from what no longer exists, towards what does not yet exist.  But we lose the now. We live from that stale world of the known, towards a world of hopes, expectations, fantasies, dreams and illusions, which draws us into an interminable search for aims and results.

Life is only the present, only this moment…

As ego, we are the known… we are the yesterday projecting itself as the tomorrow… we are nostalgias projecting themselves as hopes.  However, the past lacks a concrete existence, while the future is nothing more than imagination without solidity. What is, happens here and now. Life is only the present. Our life is not 20, 30, 40 or 50 years, but only this moment…
This yogic path reconnects us to the physical; it brings us back, to breathe and move in the present.  The average person has a body, but is not consciously present in it. In his daily life, he ignores it almost completely. In terms of consciousness, we could say that we live absent from our bodies. To situate ourselves in the present is synonymous with situating ourselves in our body. It is impossible to move a leg tomorrow or raise an arm yesterday…

Living from the hypothetical world of ideas and conclusions

As minds, we are accustomed to move in a theoretical world of ideas and conclusions. From the egoic perspective, life is hypothetical, supposed, imaginary, filled with theories and concepts. Most of society experiences dissatisfaction, because the theoretical or hypothetical does not bring satisfaction on the plane of the practical. When we situate ourselves in our physical body, we reconnect to the world of facts, and we return to function in the vital.

The human being is a multidimensional structure and there are various sheaths that envelop his soul: the physical body, called in Sanskrit the annamayakosha, the astral body, called the linga sharira or sukshma sharira, and which includes three layers, and the causal body, or karana sharira, with its sheath of bliss called the anandamayakosha. Without an understanding of these layers it will be very difficult to understand the true influence of hatha yoga. The asanas, pranayama, and relaxation influence not only our physical body but each and every one of our different levels of existence, from the gross to the most subtle.

Yoga, as well as the majority of methods of eastern medicine, speaks of an astral body composed of prana, in which are found chakras or energetic centers, and nadis that interconnect the chakras, the most important being the ida, pingala and sushumna.

The astral and physical bodies are united by a nadi resembling a silvery thread, through which the vital energy flows. The death of the physical body occurs when this thread is cut, which constitutes their final separation.

In the linga sharira or sukshma sharira, we find three different layers, or koshas:

The pranamayakosha

The pranamayakosha is the pranic sheath, composed of 72,000 nadis which interconnect in the energetic centers, or chakras. Even though the form of this sheath is subtle, it is very similar to the form of the physical body. It is composed of the vital airs or pranas and the five senses of action, or karmendriyas, which are: speech, manual movement, locomotion, procreation and excretion. The pranic sheath is made up of 72,000 nadis, as is indicated in the Hatha yoga pradipika:

catur-asiti-pithesu
siddham eva sadabhyaset
dva-saptati-sahasranam
nadinam mala-sodhanam

“Out of the 84 asanas,
siddhasana should always be practiced,
because it cleanses the impurities
of the 72,000 nadis”. (1.41)

dva-saptati-sahasranam
nadinam mala-sodhane
kutah praksalanopayah
kundaly-abhyasanadrte

“There is no other way,
but the practice of the kundalini,
for washing away the impurities
of 72,000 nadis”. (3.123)

dva-saptati-sahasrani
nadi-dvarani pañjare
susumna sambhavi saktih
sesastveva nirarthakah

“In this body there are 72,000 openings of nadis;
of these, the sushumna, which has the samhhavi shakti in it,
is the only important one,
the rest are useless.” (4.18)

And it is also mentioned in the Upanishads:

dva-saptati-sahasrani
pratinadisu taitilam

“In each of the 72,000 nadis,
there is a material which is like oil.” Ksurikopanishad (17b)
 

The manomaya kosha

The manomaya kosha is the mental sheath, which consists of the instinctive mind, and includes as much the manas as the citta; that is to say, the seat of desires and the governance of the sensory and motor organs. It includes the five senses of knowledge, or jñanendriyas, which are: hearing, touch, vision, taste and smell.
 

The vijnanamaya kosha

The vijnanamaya kosha is the intellectual sheath, which includes the ego or ahankara, that is to say, "what we believe ourselves to be", the idea of "I" that relates what happens to itself and perceives itself as “the doer”, and the buddhi, the intellect or discriminating principle that evaluates and decides.

You are welcome to view and/or download the following yoga asana posters by Ramakrishnananda Yoga.
The charts include the following postures:

Yoga Asana Chart

The 19 basic hatha yoga postures include:

1. Matsyasana – Fish pose
2. Padmasana
3. Sirsasana
4. Sarvangasana
5. Salabhasan
6. Bhujangasan
7. Pashcimotanasan
8. Kakasan
9. Trikonasan

Yoga Series Poster

1. Sun salutation
2. Small sun salutation
3. Seven step series
4. Warrior series

adhah-siras cordhva-padah
ksanam syat prathame dine
ksanac ca kiñcid adhikam
abhyasec ca dine dine

 “Rest the head on the ground
and point the feet upwards,
the first day only for a second,
and increase the duration daily.”

 

Hatha-yoga-Pradipika (3.80)

Getting into the posture

1. Kneel, resting the buttocks on the heels (photo number 1). Rest your hands on the elbows, in such a way that the fingertips of each hand are placed on top of the opposite elbow. Hold your elbows with your hands without moving them from this position (Photo number 2). Place the elbows on the ground close to the front of your knees (photo number 3). Keeping the elbows in their place, release the hands, interlace the fingers, and place the forearms on the ground creating a tripod whose base is the distance between both elbows (photo number 4).
   
2. Place your head on the ground, at the apex of the triangle, with your interlocked hands on the back of the crown of the head, to serve as support. The forearms and the top of the head are the base of the posture. The weight of the body rests on the front, upper-central and upper-rear parts of the head, as well as on the forearms and the elbows (Photo Number 5).
   
3. Straighten the legs, raising the hips (photo number 6). Elongate the back and walk with the feet in small steps towards the head, until the vertebral column is erect (photo number 7). Disconnect the right foot and bring the right knee to the chest (photo number 8). Practice until you can lift the left foot and place both knees close to chest, with the soles of the feet facing upwards. Balance in this position (photo number 9).
   
4. Then, while keeping the heels close to the buttocks, raise the thighs and knees, aligning the thighs with the trunk (photo number 10). Finally, straighten your legs, aligning the entire body to create a vertical line (photo number 11).
   
5. Reduce the tension and the effort in the entire body, until reaching total harmony, quietness, wholeness and silence. Maintain the posture from 30 seconds to 10 minutes. There are yogis that stay in sirsasana for more than an hour.

Releasing:

Slowly bend the knees, bringing the heels towards the buttocks. Maintaining balance, bend the knees towards the chest. Slowly straighten the right leg and bring the foot to the ground, and then do the same with the left. Bend the knee and bring the buttocks to the heels. Rest for a few moments with the torso resting on the thighs and the forehead on the ground to allow the blood flow to resume its natural rhythm. Then place the palms on the ground, press into the hands and raise the torso until it aligns vertically with the hips and you are sitting up on your heels in Vajrasana. Lower the hips to the side, extend the legs and lower the back to the ground, vertebra by vertebra. Finally, extend the arms and legs slightly and rest in Shavasana with complete awareness.

*Illustrations by Prema

Many are those who try to start their journey on the search for the truth with questions about God, paradise, enlightenment… However, if you pay attention, you will notice that all these inquiries point to distant places… After all, these riddles refer to concepts that you can hardly understand… There is immense distance between your actual situation, or at least what we presently see, from our perspective, as our situation, and heaven… the sarvikalpa or nirvikalpa samadhi…

Hatha—yoga teaches us that any journey, as long as it may be, necessarily begins in the place where you are… If you do not know how to get to certain street and you call the police, or any information service, before telling you how to get to that place, they will ask you where exactly you are located now…

Much before going to buy a ticket to any place… much before setting out your run towards those distant places… it would be indispensable that you know where you are now…

This is what hatha—yoga suggests, while inviting us to inquire closer to ourselves in our present reality, while inviting us to start the search from the closest to us now… our body…

To realize it… to live it…

The human body as a temple for the Divine

For many, it appears strange that a religion can contain in itself something like Hatha—yoga; it gives them the impression that being engaged with the body in one way or another, is not a very spiritual occupation…

This is not difficult to understand, if we understand the negative attitude, especially of the Western religious institute, towards the human body, which is seen as an instrument of sin and even an obstacle for the spiritual progress…

The attitude of Hinduism and the East in general towards the human body and the human form of life is very different…

An example is found in our holy Bhagavad—gita, where in the ninth chapter, verse eleven, Lord Krisna says:

avajananti mam mudha
manusim tanum asritam
param bhavam ajananto
mama bhuta—mahesvaram

"Fools deride Me
when I descend in the human form.
They do not know My transcendental nature
as the Lord of all that exists."

It is much easier for us to recognize the sacred in temples and cathedrals, in masses and prayers, in holy books and sermons… than to perceive The Divine in one of the most marvelous miracles of the creation, the human body… and very especially in the human form of life that is seen as a very precious opportunity to awaken the consciousness…

The modern society is a mind—society

Hatha—yoga teaches us to love the body and to be in it… I say to be because although this will surprise some, I would say that the modern man is not found in the body, but in the thought…

We are a society that resides in the intellect… the modern society is a mind—society, a society that directs the human being to dwell in the mind…

The modern society is characterized by stress and tension that in the corporal level is mostly because of this "ignoring" the body…

We go with the sensation that "we have" a body, or that "we carry" a sack of flesh and bones on us, without actually being in it, being in the body is to develop awareness of it, which will be like to wear it…

We drink a cup of tea while reading the newspaper and while thinking about what awaits us today in the office…

To be in the body or to develop awareness of the body is to perceive the aroma of the tea, to feel its heat on our lips and tongue, to feel our buttocks on the seat… that is, to situate ourselves in the marvelous experience of reality, instead of plunging into a world of dreams, memories, illusions and imaginations, until you reach a point of leading the life of half—sleeping zombies.  Consciously situating ourselves in the body is the beginning of waking up…

Begin by being in the body

In order to get out of our programmed sleepwalking and become beings of observation… the millenial hatha—yoga, which is only a part of raja—yoga, knows that the human being is much more than a body, but it is important to begin with "being in the body," for which it offers us these incredible and miraculous psycho—physiological asanas, or yogic postures, denominated hatha—yoga.

The practice and entertainment of asanas helps the development of flexibility in the muscles of the body, simultaneously improving the function of the internal organs, the immune system and the nervous system, resulting in a long and healthy life. Yoga speaks about health, although its definition for it is a little different from that of the West. For yoga, health does not only consist of not suffering from illnesses, but a state of complete balance and harmony.

Many do not understand the real difference between hatha—yoga and the different and varied methods of gymnastics and sports.  One of the most notable peculiarities of the Vedic method is that it is performed in the body and in the mind in parallel, influencing both simultaneously. The practice does not only refer to the physical level, but it also stimulates mental concentration, relaxation and observation. The characteristics that draw hatha—yoga further than different methods of gymnastics are so abundant, to mention some of them I would say that:

Unique characteristics of Hatha Yoga practice

1. In hatha—yoga one pays very special attention and importance to all the stages of breathing, including its retention.
2. The movements are slow, and are stopped when the body reaches a posture (with the exception of cyclic movements such as surya—namaskara— the sun salutation)
3. Relaxation is emphasized, being given a capital importance.
4. Concentration is notably developed, which is enhanced together with the advancement or the training.
5. Consciousness is developed, through observation and the attention to the muscles and parts of the body that can be relaxed during the posture or asana, just like the attention to the sensations on every level before, during and after the performance of the posture.
6. The practice of hatha—yoga produces not only strengthening, but also elongation and flexibility of the muscles, filaments and tendons.

Pranayama

Another very important aspect of hatha—yoga is pranayama, which is mistakenly known in the West as techniques of "proper breathing"…

Prana in Sanskrit is a term that denotes the energy of life itself, the vital energy… any movement in the cosmic manifestation, from the movement of the thoughts, through the heartbeats, to the movement of the planets and the galaxies, is a consequence of the vital energy or prana… the electric energy, the nuclear energy, the magnetism, and in general any manifestation of energy that is manifested in the physical plane, in the universe, is directly or indirectly prana, vital energy…

On the other hand, the term yama means expansion. Therefore pranayama refers to an expansive movement of the vital energy…

Breathing is one of the clearest manifestations or an external expression of the vital energy or prana in the human body… through pranayama it is possible to observe the marvelous movement of vital energy in our body and proceed to expand it consciously up to harmonizing it with the prana in the cosmic level, with totality.

The thought and the mind are directly and intimately related with prana, this is the reason that through breathing it is possible to influence mental states or produce suitable mental situations as a preamble for concentration and meditation, because when we manage to effect the external or gross prana, through breathing, it is possible to go on effecting prana in more subtle levels, such as the mental… the will, the individual soul and from it, the Supreme Self… In life everything is interdependent, and we can see this very clearly in the interdependence between the mind and the breathing. For example a state of rage, anger and tension produces accelerated breathing, a state of a quiet, tranquil and peaceful mind is manifested as serene breathing, and a situation of high concentration will notably reduce the mental activity.

The observation of the breathing and the expansion of prana will provide us the power to observe mental states and the possibility of transcending them, of going beyond them.

Savasana – Relaxation

Savasana, or relaxation, also occupies a very important place in the context of hatha—yoga. In the course of time, more and more professionals, physicians, psychologists and psychiatrists have come to appreciate the practice of relaxation, which forms an inseparable part of every hatha—yogasession. Every one of us who suffers from any disease or discomfort, has heard from his doctor this very familiar phrase… rest, repose in bed…

Modern Western medicine knows that when we reach states of rest and tranquility, the organism has the power to cure itself. Apart from the numerous benefits of relaxation in maintaining the physical and mental health, we cannot ignore its great contribution to the development of moral and ethical values in the human being or, as technically called in raja—yoga yama and niyama. A relaxed and tranquil person will react in a mature way to difficult situations, and will be patient in his relations with others.

The person who knows the art of relaxation is able to save a lot of power and vital energy, for the simple reason that both the muscular tension and the mental and emotional tensions, by unnecessary worries, constitute tremendous loss of energy; stress is a great waste of energy.

The astral body – A body of vital energy

The physical body is not our only cover, so to speak, apart from it we have other energetic layers that cover the soul… for example, the yogis, just like most of the methods of eastern medicine, speak about a body of prana , a body of vital energy called "astral body", in which we find the cakras, or energetic centers, and the nadis, prana conductors, something like veins or channels through which the vital energy flows…

Many of the so—called illnesses are due to obstacles in the natural flow of vital energy through the nadis, what Chinese medicine tries to do through acupuncture, digit puncture, what the different types of massage try… or what the Japanese Shiatzu tries is… to release obstructions in order to allow the free flow of prana through its conducting channels in the astral body… so, this is exactly what the asanas achieve, they affect the chakras or energetic centers one after the other, the yogic relaxation eliminates tension, thus also eliminating the energetic obstacles, giving us a very deep sensation of peace and tranquility, not only on the muscular level but also on the energetic one. Hatha—yoga is only the basic step of raja—yoga, apart from all the previously mentioned it includes postures that require very high levels of concentration which are called mudras and bandhas and directly affect energetic circuits, it is very important that their practice shall be carried out on an empty stomach. In many cases these mudras and bandhas are interconnected between them. Regular practice of them produces a high concentration of prana, which derives to different benefits, both in the physical level, such as strengthening the organism to cure illnesses, and even to awaken different mystic powers, called siddhis… apart from that it is important to mention the kriyas as well, which are exercises for purification that also notably stimulate the awakening of kundalini.

Yoga means union… union with reality…

We live in a mind that lives "from" and "in" the nostalgias and memories of the past… it projects us from that yesterday, and through hopes, expectations and dreams it creates a future in which it constantly dreams… a dream of goals and ideals…

As ego we are past… we are yesterday projecting itself and creating that tomorrow…

However, the past does not exist, it does not have a concrete existence… neither does the tomorrow with the future, imaginations and fantasies… the reality or what there is, as it is, occurs only in the present… here and now…

Hatha—yoga situates you in the present moment, in the now, for the simple reason that it locates you in the body… and the body moves in the present, to be in the body is to be in the now…

You cannot move a leg tomorrow or raise an arm yesterday…

To go into and out of every posture with tremendous observation invites you to be here and in the now…

To be conscious of this eternal union and harmony with the reality… because in going after the body you will touch the soul…