Comments on: Empowering Yourself Through Yoga http://www.atouchofyoga.com/empowering-yourself-through-yoga.html Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:04:27 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Hugues Prévost http://www.atouchofyoga.com/empowering-yourself-through-yoga.html/comment-page-1#comment-68 Hugues Prévost Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:04:27 +0000 http://www.atouchofyoga.com/?p=754#comment-68 Thanks Kori for sharing your insights. These are very valuable as coming from someone sincerely committed to explore the invisible realms. I see you as such a person and am very happy you're moving past the superficial physical healing aspects of yoga which hold such a tight grip in the minds of most. I've owned a copy of the Yoga Sutras since 1992 but only recently started to appreciate its true value. This despite the fact I've been relatively comfortable reading Sanskrit for over ten years. The reason for this is the very condensed format of the sutras which fools even the most versed scholars. These sutras are meant to serve as a reference under the direct guidance of an accomplished yogi. Most of the translations out there were written by people who at best have only successfully gone through some of the very preliminary aspects of the first three limbs of yoga. Even being able to get into all the yogic postures does not necessarily mean we can fully understand Patañjali. It is my understanding that asana in the original system is essentially a required state before moving on to the next one, pranayama. The confusion with the different postures and techniques leading to that state is prevalent. So what's the state of asana then? I can't really answer that question with authority since I haven't reached that point myself. What I know tells me it is a state where we are totally free from physical limitations and we can't die from diseases and we stopped the aging process. Once we've reached that state, we don't need practicing the yogic postures anymore. Now that may sound like the ultimate goal to many people and it would be if our existence was limited to the physical body. But we're much more than that and that's why asana is only the third rung on the eight-fold ladder. For me, one of the most wonderful contributions of the Yoga Sutras is that it offers us an invaluable yardstick to measure our progress and those of our would-be saviors. It is very humbling to realize that most of the great spiritual teachers people rave about haven't even reached the state of asana since they all suffered (and died) from diseases, sometimes horrible, or kept on experiencing the aging process. Personally I don't buy the bull of an explanation that this is because they took on the "karma of their disciples" :) -Hugues Thanks Kori for sharing your insights. These are very valuable as coming from someone sincerely committed to explore the invisible realms. I see you as such a person and am very happy you’re moving past the superficial physical healing aspects of yoga which hold such a tight grip in the minds of most.

I’ve owned a copy of the Yoga Sutras since 1992 but only recently started to appreciate its true value. This despite the fact I’ve been relatively comfortable reading Sanskrit for over ten years. The reason for this is the very condensed format of the sutras which fools even the most versed scholars. These sutras are meant to serve as a reference under the direct guidance of an accomplished yogi. Most of the translations out there were written by people who at best have only successfully gone through some of the very preliminary aspects of the first three limbs of yoga. Even being able to get into all the yogic postures does not necessarily mean we can fully understand Patañjali.

It is my understanding that asana in the original system is essentially a required state before moving on to the next one, pranayama. The confusion with the different postures and techniques leading to that state is prevalent.

So what’s the state of asana then? I can’t really answer that question with authority since I haven’t reached that point myself. What I know tells me it is a state where we are totally free from physical limitations and we can’t die from diseases and we stopped the aging process. Once we’ve reached that state, we don’t need practicing the yogic postures anymore.

Now that may sound like the ultimate goal to many people and it would be if our existence was limited to the physical body. But we’re much more than that and that’s why asana is only the third rung on the eight-fold ladder.

For me, one of the most wonderful contributions of the Yoga Sutras is that it offers us an invaluable yardstick to measure our progress and those of our would-be saviors. It is very humbling to realize that most of the great spiritual teachers people rave about haven’t even reached the state of asana since they all suffered (and died) from diseases, sometimes horrible, or kept on experiencing the aging process. Personally I don’t buy the bull of an explanation that this is because they took on the “karma of their disciples” :)

-Hugues

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