What is VK?

What are the essentials of Vinyasa Krama that we teach?
1) Do asanas with a number of vinyasas, or variations, in succession. It is the art form of yoga practice. Vinyasa means art, and it involves aesthetic variation within the specified parameters.
2) The basic parameters used in Vinyasa Krama are steadiness of the posture, a calm mind, synchronizing the breath with slow movement of the limbs, and while in the postures, having the mind closely following the breath.

Why practice Vinyasa Krama yoga?

To quote Sri Ramaswami: "Vinyasa Krama Yoga is an ancient practice of physical and spiritual development. It is a systematic method to study, practice, teach and adapt yoga. This Vinyasa Krama (movement and sequence methodology) approach to yogasana (yoga posture) practice is unique in all of yoga. By integrating the functions of mind, body and breath in the same time frame, a practitioner will experience the real joy of yoga practice. Each of the important postures (asanas) is practiced with many elaborate vinyasas (variations and movements). Each variation is linked to the next one by a succession of specific transitional movements, synchronized with the breath. the mind closely follows the slow, smooth, deliberate ujjayi yogic breathing; and the yoking of mind and body takes place with the breath acting as the harness."

What is Kaivalya?

Kaivalya = Absolute freedom from the bondage of matter. The ultimate goal of the Yogi.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Yoga and Traditional Shamanic Elements Go Hand In Hand

Ayahuasca as a Spiritual Path
http://www.sachavacay.org/spiritual_path.html

   In the old times before we knew Ayahuasca, certain Sages dedicated their lives to the study of the Self. They attained connection with the ultimate reality. They understood nature, and the essence of everything. Then, at this point, traditional medicine was brought to humanity. These Sages understood the energy of every plant, the medicine of everything. This formed the basis of traditional shamanism, not just in the Amazon but, everywhere in the world. In Quechua these Sages are known as SumaRuna, or great people. 
Working with Ayahuasca, you can choose different paths, good or bad. Those shamans who choose the bad path look for power. Shamans who choose the good path look for spiritual evolution and the ultimate reality. 
In the remote areas of the jungle, certain kinds of Shamans or Sages use the Ayahuasca as a spiritual path. There are different levels of shamanism; shamans grow differently. When a shaman attains certain levels of high spirituality, he may choose to live in isolation, away from all people. These shamans understand the true nature of reality; at certain stages they do not even drink Ayahuasca anymore. 
In these times now we have lost such a great spirituality. We are so involved in our daily life, our egos, what we do, what we want, like, do not like, and all this causes suffering. We don’t feel connected with the Earth; most people, in fact, don’t have any connection with the Earth anymore. 
  
The farther we are from the Earth, the farther we are from our true nature. 
  
Staying connected to the Earth does not mean working the land or digging in it. Feeling your hands and feet dirty with the Earth is good, but the inner connection is the key. 
  
Ayahuasca helps us to remember our true nature, our origins. Ayahuasca allows us to see the reality, raw, without any conditioning. One of the most important lessons of the Ayahuasca is about dissolving our small self into the higher self. We call that surrender. 
  
All of us, we are going to die. We may have 20, 40, 60 years on this Earth. Maybe 80. The Ayahuasca teaches us how to die. 
  
Finding God in this life is not the least or the most important thing – it is what we have come here to do. When Ayahuasca becomes our path to the Divine, God’s grace flows through the plant to the deepest part of us. Divine Grace manifests in our lives in many ways, accelerating the process of evolution. That is Divine Grace, bringing our most profound tendencies out to the consciousness, tendencies sleeping so deep in ourselves we do not recognize them. This is part of this process of evolution. 
The act of thinking about God is in itself the Grace of God. 
  
Your experience does not end when the Ceremony is finished. The journey of Ayahuasca as a spiritual path begins AFTER the Ceremony, where you realize your most profound tendencies, bringing more consciousness into them, becoming more complete as a person. There is a deeper connection with reality. It is the experience of many people to feel a deeper bliss or joy after Ceremony as they begin to connect with higher realities – or God.   
Ayahuasca gives physical, emotional, and psychological healing, but Ayahuasca can take us deeper. True healing comes from the source. We need greater contact with the self, with the truth, with God. If we focus on the path to spiritual evolution, Ayahuasca can bring us to God.

http://www.sachavacay.org/spiritual_path.html

1 comment:

  1. Perfectly said , Sounds very similar to one of my Ayahuasca teachers Don Diego

    ReplyDelete