Jagati

What is Yoga?

Meaning union with the divine, yoga is a philosophy and discipline applied to the development of mind, body, and spirit. There are many disciplines of yoga emphasizing different aspects or combinations of how the balance of mind, body, and spirit is attained. There are four main yogas: Bhakti yoga, the path of devotion (Kirtan Chant); Jnana ("nyana") yoga, the path of knowledge and discernment; Karma yoga, the path of detached work, and Raja yoga, the path of meditation and control. One common aim of yoga is to achieve a state of balance and harmony between mind and body, bringing healing and transformation to all levels of who we are. There is evidence that yoga was practiced as early as 5,000 years ago, although the first written description is found in the Yoga Sutras, a book from the second century BC. The Yoga Sutras describe a multifold path to spiritual enlightenment that includes Hatha ("ha ta") Yoga, the system of physical exercises that is most often followed in the west. Through practices of exploring a variety of body positions or asanas, and the centering of the mind and breath in a meditative way, the practitioner increases body awareness, posture, strength, range of motion, balance, stamina, flexibility of body and mind and calmness of spirit. Yoga, "to yoke"—the act of yoking or joining together, is union of the individual soul with the ultimate Reality. It is also the method by which this union is achieved. So, just DO it. Practice it. Explore it. It will change your life forever :)

What is Anusara Yoga?

Anusara Yoga, the fastest growing yoga system in the US, was founded in 1997 by John Friend (www.anusara.com). The reason Anusara appeals to such a broad range of students is embodied in its ancient Sanskrit name, which means "flowing with grace," or "following the heart." These two distinct translations describe the experience that is unlocked by the Anusara method. Anusara Yoga integrates the age-old science of biomechanics with the understanding of the connection between posture, alignment, energy, movement and the heart. Our classes accommodate all levels of students, including advanced yogis, beginners, seniors, teens and children, as well as those with injuries and chronic misalignments.

Anusara (a-nu-sar-a) means 'flowing with Grace', 'going with the flow', 'following your heart'.

Anusara is heart oriented, inspiring and yet grounded in Universal Principles of Alignment for both the inner and outer body. It is a unique, therapeutic style of Hatha Yoga in which the artistic expression of the human heart blends magically with the scientific principles of biomechanics. Anusara was founded and created by John Friend.

Anusara takes its name from a verse in the great text, the Kularnava Tantra. It reads in Sanskrit, "Shakti-nipata-anusarena sishyo'anugraham-arhati". This means, by stepping into the current of Divine Grace's descent into the heart, the true seeker becomes worthy, enveloped in the Grace that sustains and nurtures his or her every action.

"Flowing with Grace, anusarena, we experience our inner worth, we align our bodies, our minds and hearts in the current of the Divine flowing through us, we celebrate life itself as we touch the Divinity who pulsates within us as our every thought, feeling, and experience." ~~Dr. Douglas Brooks

What is Tantra?

Tantra.... teaches that desire exists everywhere, even at the center of the universe. It was the desire of the One to experience Itself which was the impetus that led to the creation of the cosmos, and if we can learn how to appropriately channel and harness our own desires, we can use their energy to recreate our own lives. Whether you want to produce an effect in your own personal microcosm or in the macrocosm outside, you need a strong desire for your intended result if you expect it to manifest. The key to any successful Tantric practice, including upaya, is to combine repetition with intensity. For any remedy to work for you, you must crave your desired outcome as strongly as a drowning person gasps for air, and keep craving it thus until it comes to pass.
Only when you have a tremendous desire will you be able to change your destiny.

Robert Svoboda, 1997
Greatness of Saturn

The Roots of Chanting and Mantra...

There's a long tradition in India of saluting the teacher or evoking divine power through a mantra to open a practice. Such a preamble helps the student to steady her resolve and to remind her of the goal of the work, which is always self-liberation. It also serves to signal the student's intent to humbly offer the upcoming practice as a sacrifice to the divine, which is the source of all true wisdom.

The recitation of mantra is known as japa, which literally means "muttering, whispering." According to schools such as Hatha Yoga and Mantra Yoga, the universe is created through the medium of sound, and all sound, whether subtle or audible, issues from a transcendent, "soundless" source called the "supreme sound" or "supreme voice" (shabda-brahman or para-vac). While all sounds possess some degree of shabda-brahman's creative force, the sounds of mantras are far more forceful than other sounds.

As a practice, japa is thousands of years old. In the beginning, mantras were drawn only from the thousands of verses in the Rig-Veda, Hinduism's oldest and holiest scripture. After some time, mantras were taken from non-Vedic sources as well, such as the numerous texts associated with the schools of Hindu Tantra, or those revealed to seers (rishis) in meditation. Mantra Yoga as a formal school is a relatively recent development, though "recent" in yoga years means between twelve and fifteen centuries. Instructional manuals commonly list sixteen "limbs" (anga) of practice. Many of them--such as asana, conscious breathing, and meditation--are shared with other yoga schools.

The building blocks of all mantras are the 50 letters of the Sanskrit alphabet. Mantras can consist of a single letter, a syllable or string of syllables, a word, or a whole sentence. Etymologically, the word "mantra" is derived from the verb "man,' which means "to think," and the suffix "tra," which denotes instrumentality. A mantra then is literally an "instrument of thought" that concentrates, intensifies, and spiritualizes our consciousness.

Tradition estimates that there are 70 million mantras. This number shouldn't be taken too literally; it simply signifies that there are lots of mantras. Yogis assert that, to be most effective, a mantra should be received orally from a self-realized teacher (guru), not merely learned from a book, so that it's infused with the teacher's spiritual energy. And to preserve its reservoir of power, a mantra should be kept in strictest secrecy, and not revealed to anyone else.

Mantra traditionally has two purposes, which can be called worldly and spiritual. We usually think of mantra solely as an instrument of self-transformation. But in ancient times mantra was also used for mundane and not necessarily positive ends, such as communicating with and appeasing ghosts and ancestors, exorcism or warding off evil forces, remedies for illnesses, control of other people's thoughts or actions, and the acquisition of powers (siddha) or magical skills. As for its spiritual purpose, mantra is said to quiet the habitual fluctuations of our consciousness and then steer consciousness toward its source in the Self.