While the word “yoga” actually means the perfection of union, it is often used in reference to asanas, or physical postures. By practicing these physical postures, we can bring our bodies into balance and harmony and experience improved health.
This section is devoted to the practice of yoga asanas, yoga philosophy, and pranayama (breathing techniques). The Yoga Teacher of the Devi Mandir Family, Adaityananda, can help prepare us to sit for longer periods of time in our worship and meditation.
Feel free to contact us for questions about your practice!
Dhanurasana
The Pose
From lying on your stomach bend both legs so the feet point toward the ceiling. Try to reach your hands back and see if you can grab your toes, feet or ankles. Once you have a grip on both legs, lift the thighs off the floor and engage the legs to the extent that is possible in the position of a bow, which is what this posture is called.
Effects and Benefits
Physical – Dhanurasana may appear to be a very involved and difficult posture, but it is a very important pose for the modern day. This pose has an amazing affect on the entire digestive tract and stimulates the organs of the body. It is a very powerful posture that also stretches and strengthens the back. It can also serve to stretch the shoulders as well as the hips.
Spiritual – This pose creates a great energy throughout the body and opens many of the subtle channels called Nadis. The solar plexus of nerves, which is associated with Manipura Chakra, is especially enlivened by this posture.
Shree Maa’s Yoga
The Shree Maa Asana Sequence is a holistic spiritual practice which creates and maintains a divine vibration and a soothing peacefulness in body, mind, and soul. It is excellent for use as a daily spiritual discipline.
Shree Maa’s yoga practice takes four aspects of Yoga – Asana (physical postures), Mantra (chant), Pranayama (breath control), and Meditation – and weaves them together into one discipline. This weaving together of our spiritual knowledge and practices reflects our understanding of the word Tantra, which literally means “to weave like the warp and woof of a cloth.”
The Benefits of Mantra in Yoga Practice
Mantra – Man Trayate – means “that which takes away the thinking/opinion part of the mind.” By thinking about the mantra, we become free from other thoughts and cultivate its divine vibration within.
In the Shree Maa Asana Sequence, each asana is held for the length of time for you to recite one (or more) mantra(s). For example, you could choose the Mantra Om Namah Shivaya (meaning I bow to the Consciousness of Infinite Goodness) and chant the mantra out loud, or mentally, while holding the pose.
Using Mantra during our yoga asanas has special benefits as best outlined in Chapter Seven of the Devi Gita:
For a beginner, apply one mantra to each asana. As you advance, you can add more recitations of the mantra, or even change the rhythm and control of the breath (Pranayama). You may also do multiple rounds of the standing asana to increase the length of the practice.
A great place to learn the asana sequence is to follow along with this video, as Shree Maa chants the Gayatri Mantra. Alternatively, scroll down the picture gallery of each asana, where you can gain insight into the posture and its benefits. Once you have completed the asana sequence, move forward to the Pranayama Sequence. Here is the video:
The Eight Limbs of Yoga
Yoga, which literally means “union with the Divine,” cultivates the awareness of being connected to the whole of creation.
By practicing yoga, we can achieve what everyone yearns for – peace, bliss, contentment, and good health.
There are eight steps of yoga, often referred to as the eight limbs of yoga, which delineate the steps to achieving the highest goal.
These eight steps, which were documented in the Devi Gita and other scriptures, provide guidance on how to live a spiritual, meaningful, and healthy life.
By following these eight limbs, our lives will become more organized and we will find more time to meditate and practice tapasya (spiritual austerities).
These eight steps provide an excellent foundation for our yoga practice:
- Yama – Take control of your life by defining goals. It is not possible to find a path until we know what the goal is. We have to organize our life so we have the time and desire to practice. The process of union begins with a clear definition of the goal. In addition, there are ten aspects of Yama described in the Devi Gita, which outline the ideal qualities of a spiritual aspirant.
- Niyama – Create a discipline and use the time you have created to consistently do your practice. We must budget our time, budget our resources, and budget our mind so that we can decide how to dedicate our lives to the pursuit each goal.
- Asana – Practice Hatha Yoga, which is the physical postures, and treat your body like a temple. When the body is steady and relaxed, it will be easy to sit down in one meditative posture.
- Pranayama – Practice the various breathing techniques to make the breath and mind steady. Through the breath, become aware of the connection between body, mind, and spirit.
- Pratyahara – Let your awareness and your senses withdraw from external objects to focus your attention inside. In practicing the other limbs of Yoga, such as Pranayama, the senses will begin to cease looking outside. This gives you the opportunity to observe yourself and look within.
- Dharana – Collect all of the different thoughts in the mind and concentrate on one of them. In Dharana there are three: the meditator, the object of meditation, and the relationship between them.
- Dhyana – Merge into deeper meditation, where there are only two: the meditator and the object of meditation. The relationship between the meditator and the object of meditation becomes so deep that it is intuitively understood.
- Samadhi – Become totally absorbed, where there is only One. Samadhi is total absorption and union between the meditator and the object of meditation. This is a state which can only be experienced, not explained – it is known as “Sat Chit Ananda,” or Truth, Consciousness and Bliss.
A great place to start learning a practice is to follow the Holistic Yoga Practice that Swami Satyananda Saraswati teaches. This practice incorporates physical postures, breathing techniques, and meditation practices, which eventually lead the spiritual aspirant into union with the Divine.
Make a disciplined practice of yoga to enjoy peace, bliss, contentment and better health!
Jai Maa! Jai Swamiji!
