nilambu: yoga's voyage - A Personal Yoga Studio in Georgetown, Washington, DC - small yoga classes, personal yoga instruction and group lessons

This section addresses some common questions about yoga. Here you can explore the literature of yoga, the philosophy of yoga and the history of yoga. You get basic instructions on how to meditate. Find out if yoga is a religion. Discover all sorts of interesting things about yoga here and stretch your experience of yoga into the often surprising and gratifying area of philosophical knowledge.

If you have a question about yoga that isn’t answered here, email me. Check back often - your questions and my own will be investigated and addressed.

Yoga is physical and spiritual discipline. Yoga signifies unity and promotes wholeness. What does yoga unify? Answers include the human and the Divine, the finite and the infinite, the sun and the moon, the body and mind.

For me, yoga is a practice (body) and philosophy (mind) that outlines and advances a manner of living - doing, thinking, perceiving and feeling - in order to bring light and lightness. Also my yoga is a spiritual endeavor that brings me closer to the divine in myself and others as well as to God.

Other helpful definitions can further elucidate. B.K.S. Iyengar notes the etymology: “The term yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj meaning to bind, join, attach and yoke, to direct and concentrate one’s attention on, to use and apply.” Iyengar also conveys that in the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna defines yoga as, “a deliverance from contact with pain and sorrow.” Donna Farhi notes, “Yoga is a technology for removing the illusory veil that stands between us and the animating force of life.”

There are lots of different types of yoga emerging today in the United States - all wonderfully egalitarian and available. In the tradition of mixing cultures, the evolution of yoga in the USA is an assorted salad with a variety of flavors and textures. Note, however, that yoga was always heterogeneous. And over time the branches expanded exponentially. The Spirit of Yoga by Kathy Phillips includes a useful drawing which depicts (in the shape of a grapevine) how the varieties evolved and the lineages of the most popular forms today.

This panorama of potential practices can overwhelm and confuse. An excellent porthole to navigate this muddle is the Yoga Educational & Research Center's web site www.yrec.org. See particularly the beginner's guide.

One point of clarification; There are schools of yoga and paths of yoga.

A yoga school is a type of yoga (also referred to as style or form) - a derivative or lineage of a certain type of hatha yoga practice. Overlaps amid these schools add to the confusion. Examples of yoga schools are vinyasa, anurasa, viniyoga, Iyengar, Kripalu (if the school is named after an actual place or person, then it's capitalized - Iyengar is a person and Kripalu is a place in Lenox, MA). See the excellent link at the Yoga Educational & Research Center for information on various schools available in the United States: http://www.yrec.org/styles.html. YREC helpfully includes links to the schools' national site for even more background.

A yoga path is an aspect of yoga - a focus of a given practice and is very personal. People are different and respond to various emphases. So, alternative paths are offered. And you can have more than one path. Examples of a yoga paths are karma yoga (selfless) bhakti yoga (devoted love), jnana yoga (spiritual wisdom) raja (classical). Phillips again is helpful; Read chapter entitled, "Yoga Grows Up: The Scholars." Also see "Introduction" of Iyengar's Light On Yoga.

nilambu offers yoga in the vinyasa style. Vinyasa translates as "flow," and in vinyasa yoga the poses flow one into another. This form of yoga stresses the importance of breath and consciously coordinates breath with the movements and poses. I also teach vinyasa with music as an accompaniment which I find helps control and synchronize the rhythm of the breath and the body. Yoga in this manner is a form of dance and frankly really fun. Vinyasa yoga represents a middle path between the precision of Iyengar yoga and the vigor of Ashtanga yoga.

Hatha yoga is "forceful yoga" or the yoga of force. This yoga is requires rigorous discipline to find union with the supreme, to awaken the serpent power (kundalini) and to create an indestructible divine body (divya-deha). The word, "hatha" is derived from terms for sun (ha) and moon (tha). Thus, hatha yoga is also considered to be the union of the sun and moon energy, and the goal of hatha yoga is to balance those two opposing energies in the human body. Hatha yoga emerged from the lineage of Tantrism.

Tantrism originate around fully 1000 AD (and probably began around 500 AD) and includes various beliefs. The central goal is to bind together the spiritual energy of the universe - believed to be a goddess (Deva). In contemporary minds, Tantric is associated with sex, however this aspect is only one dimension and is simplistic. See chapter, "Tantra-Yoga: the Transmutation of Sexual Energy," in Feuerstein's The Shambhala Guide to Yoga, for full discussion of the historical, philosophical and spiritual context.

There are four main texts that are considered the traditional literature of yoga. The Bhagavad Gita is the earliest, written about 500 B.C.E. The Upanishads were written about the same time. The Yoga Sutras were assembled about 2000 years ago. The most recent text, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, could have been written anytime between the 6th and 15th century, C.E., but most likely in the 14th century.

The Bhagavad Gita is one of the sources of Hindu philosophy. The text is constructed as a dialogue between Arjuna, a warrior soldier, and Krishna, the Hindu God. The Bhagavad Gita is an extract from the larger Mahabharata, one of two Indian epics. At the beginning of this passage, Arjuna hesitates on the eve of battle because he’ll be fighting people he knows. The war is between cousins and amid family. Krishna discusses Arjuna’s reluctance. In taking Arjuna through his doubts, Krishna sets forth the yoga method. Yoga was already considered ancient when The Bhagavad Gita was recorded (about 500 B.C.). 1

Bhagavad Gita translates as “Song of God” or “Song Divine” or “Lord’s Song.” At times very abstract, historians consider this song a primary source of yogic knowledge.

1 Georg Feuerstein, The Shambhala Guide to Yoga (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1996), p 5.

The Hatha-Yoga-Pradpika is the oldest and most popular hatha yoga text. The title translates as “Light on the Hatha (Forceful) Yoga,” Pradipika means lamp or light or that which illuminates. The work is believe to have been written in the 14th century but could have originated anytime from the 6th to 15th century.

Sutra literally means, “thread,” and each sutra contains a thread of a thought.    A sutra is an aphoristic statement or a work containing such statements.

The Yoga Sutras is the source text of classical yoga. These 195 aphorisms serve as a concise guide for the philosophy and practice of yoga.   Patanjali compiled them over two thousand years ago. Although often considered the author of the yoga sutras, historians generally believe that he assembled and recorded the oral tradition of yoga.

The Yoga Sutras are divided into four chapters:

1st chapter                       on ecstasy samadhi-pada
Addresses the theory of Yoga is called the chapter on ecstasy
51 aphorisms.

3rd chapter                      on the powers vibhuti-pada
Sets forth the internal rigor and ability a yogi acquires
55 aphorisms.

2nd chapter                     on the path sadhana-pada
Introduces the practices of Yoga for the novice
55 aphorisms.

4th chapter                      on liberation kaivalya-pada
Delineates the freedom and peace gained from Yoga
34 aphorisms. 2

2 Georg Feuerstein, The Yoga Tradition (Prescott: Hohm Press, 1998), p. 216.

What is the difference between the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and the Yoga Sutras?

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra is the main text of Classical Yoga, which is synonymous with Raja (royal) yoga. The Yoga Sutras were assembled over two thousand years ago. As noted above, the Hatha-Yoga-Pradipika is a much more contemporary text and formulates hatha yoga. Feuerstein notes that, “traditionally…hatha yoga has always been looked upon as a ladder to Raja-Yoga.” 3 (Raja translates as royal yoga generally understood as classical yoga). B.K. S. Iyengar notes that the Yoga Sutras addresses spiritual discipline and the Hatha-Yoga-Pradipika addresses physical discipline and that therefore, the two texts complement each other. 4

3 Georg Feuerstein, The Shambhala Guide to Yoga (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1996), pp.26-27.

4 B.K. S. Iyengar, Light on Yoga (New York: Schocken Books, 1966), p. 22.

The word “upanishad” has three roots: “upa” which means near, “ni” which means down, and “shad” which means to sit. And so together upanishad means to “sit down near” and evokes the position a student takes to listen to a teacher as well as the settling down of the mind to prepare for reflection. The writing dates from about the 6th century B.C. 5

After the Yoga Sutras, the Upanishads are my favorite traditional yoga text. Like the Sutras, the text conveys feasible and accessible principles that still resonate. The language is lyrical and poetic. And as with the Yoga Sutras, my favorite translation is by Alistair Shearer (who does so along this time with Peter Russell). 6 Shearer’s introduction again helpfully connects Western ideas and poetry to what follows.

5 Swami Muktibodhananda, commentator Hatha Yoga Pradipika (Munger, India: Yoga Publications Trust, 1993), p. 1.

6 Alistair Shearer & Peter Russell, trans. The Upanishads (New York, HarperCollins, 1973 text 2003 intro).

Patanjali assembled the Yoga Sutras. Little is known of him historically. Hindu tradition associates him with a famous grammarian who lived in the 2nd century B.C., and the writing style of the yoga sutras supports that date. 7

In myth, the name Patanjali was given to Ananta (an incarnation of the 1000-headed ruler of the serpent race that guarded the secret treasures of the earth) because he wanted to teach yoga on earth, and he fell (pat) from Heaven onto the palm (anjali) of a virtuous woman. 8 Isn’t that cool?

7 Georg Feuerstein, The Yoga Tradition (Prescott: Hohm Press, 1998), p. 214.

8 Ibid.

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