World Healing Newsletters

Why was Krishnamacharya so concerned with exploring Kumbhaka in all asana and what was the 'Buddhist Yoga' he supposedly studied in Burma? " He mastered Hindu Yoga in the Himalayas and Buddhist Yoga in Burma, then part of India. Later, he went to Cashmere to study Sufism".   (Krishnamacharya's son) Some refer to Vipassana as Buddhist Yoga practice, with it's focus on the breath. And what of Krishnamacharya's intepretation of YS II-47 II- 47. By relaxation of effort or by a [mental] state-of-balance with reference to Ananta As Ramaswami states   " Krishnamacharya interprets this sutra differently than other teachers..." " There is another interpretation of the word ananta. The...meaning comes from the word "ana" which means to breathe. Ana means preach. for example, prana, apana, vyana, and so on. They all come from the root ana, to breath. So, here ananta refers to the breath. Ananta Samapatti is to focus your attention on the breath. Anatasamapatti is to focus your attention on thelife force which is the breath." p97-98 A Brief Introduction to yoga philosophy, based on the lectures of Srivatsa Ramaswami  by David Hurwitz. In the example practice of his father's presented in Emergence du yoga  T. K. Sribhashyam draws attention to the concentration points (chakras) that krishnamacharya would employ during kumbhaka Apercu des séances pratiques de mon père- Overview practice sessions of my father Kapala bhati- 32 breaths Ujjayi Anuloma - 6 cycles A.K. (antha-kumbhaka = holding at top of inhalation) 5 seconds, Concentration Kanta  Utthita pada Angushta Asana - 6 breaths B.K. (Bhya-kumbhaka = holding at end of exhalation) 5 seconds, Inhalation concentration: Mula  and Kanta , Exhalation Concentration: Kanta  Bhujanga Asana - 3 breaths, Concentration: bhrumadhya  Sarvanga Asana - 12 breaths, Concentration: kanta Shirsasana Asana - 12 Breaths, Concentration: lalata  Ardha padma hala asana - 3 breaths Hala asana  - 3 breaths Karna Pida Asana - 3 breaths Adho Mukha padmaAsana - 3 breaths, Concentration: Kanta  Ardha baddha Padma Paschimathana asana - 3 breaths, inhalation Concentration: nabhi, Exhalation Concentration: Kanta  Badha Kona Asana - 12 Breaths, Inhalation Concentration: Mula and Shirsha Exhalation Concentration Mula  Basti ( pranayama) 60 cycles Nadi Shodana ( pranayama) - cycles, Abhyantara Vritthi Thank you to J.G for reminding me about this book, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones which I must have read over twenty years ago. He drew my attention to the translation of an ancient Indian text, Centering, which Paul Reps the compiler of the book describes as a 4000 year old teaching from India, offers what some consider to be the roots of Zen. Centering Practices: 112 ways to open the invisible door of consciousness. Transcribed by Paul Reps. From Zen Flesh, Zen Bones The first 15 below on Kumbhaka and Pratyahara. See THIS link for the full 112 Zen is nothing new, neither is it anything old. Long before Buddha was born the search was on in India, as thepresent work shows. Long after man has forgotten such words as Zen and Buddha, satori and koan, China and Japan and America - still the search will go on, still Zen will be seen even in flower, and grass-blade, before the sun. The following is adapted from the preface to the first version in English of this ancient work. DEVI SAYS: O Shiva, what is your reality? What is this wonder-filled universe? What constitutes seed? Who centers the universal wheel? What is tbis life beyond form pervading forms? How may we enter it fully, above space and time, names and descriptions? Let my doubts be cleared! SHIVA REPLIES [Devi, though already enlightened, has asked the foregoing questions so others through the universe might receive Shiva’s instructions. Now follow Shiva’s reply, giving the 112 ways.] 1. Radiant one, this experience may dawn between two breaths. After breath comes in (down) and just before turning up (out) — the beneficence. 2. As breath turns from down to up, and again as breathcurves from up to down— through both these turns, realize. 3. Or, whenever inbreath and outbreath fuse, at this instant touch the energyless energy- filled center. 4. Or, when breath is all out (up) and stopped of itself, or all in (down) and stopped—in such universal pause, one's small self vanishes. This is difficult only for the impure. 5. Consider your essence as light rays rising from center to center up the vertebrae, and so rises livingness in you. 6. Or in the spaces between, feel this as lightning. 7. Devi, imagine the Sanskrit letters in these honey-filled foci of awareness, first as letters, then more subtly as sounds, then as most subtle feeling. Then, leaving them aside, be free. 8. Attention between eyebrows, let mind be before thought. Let form fill with breath- essence to the top of the head, and there shower as light. 9. Or, imagine the five-colored circles of the peacock tail to be your five senses in illimitable space. Now let their beauty melt within. Similarly, atany point in space or on a wall — until the point dissolves. Then your wish for another comes true. 10. Eyes closed, see your inner being in detail. Thus see your true nature. 11. Place your whole attention in the nerve, delicate as the lotus thread, in the center of your spinal column. In such be transformed.  12. Closing the seven openings of the head with your hands, a space between your eyes becomes all-inclusive. 13. Touching eyeballs as a feather, lightness between them opens into heart and there permeates the cosmos. 14. Bathe in the center of sound, as in the continuous sound of a waterfall. Or, by putting fingers in ears, hear the sound of sounds. 15. Intone a sound, as a-u-m, slowly. As sound enters soundfulness, so do you. continue reading the rest of the 112 ways here -------------------------------- further reading Sandhinirmocana Sutra The Scripture on the Explication of Underlying Meaning. Front Cover. John P. Keenan