Health, Healing and Beyond_Yoga and the living tradition of K. Krishnamacharya _ by T.K.V Desikachar with R.H. Cravens

 

Where is the conflict when the Truth is known, 

                                       Where is the disease when the mind is clear,

                                         where is death when the breath is controlled,

                                                       Therefore, surrender to Yoga.

 

 

 

 

 Yoga is the word from Sanskrit, and the word derives from the root yuj, which has two meaning. The first is "to bring two things together, to meet, to unite". The second meaning: "to converge the mind"  The simplest example from daily life is driving a car. We regulate the pedal, turn the steering wheel, while simultaneously keeping our concentration on the traffic and pedestrians around us. Various movement come together and converge with our attention. Champion racing drivers are likely to be among those familiar with moments in a "state of Yoga" iven if they might not call it that.

Another meaning may be even more important: "to reach a point we have not reached before". Something that is impossible at this moment becomes possible through Yoga. Today, I sit on the floor and can barely stretch my legs in front of me. AFter several weeks of practive, I may be able not only to sit erect, but to stretch and bend forward easily, with kness straight, reaching toward my toes. In stages, the impossible become possible. 

 

Yoga is the ability to direct the mind exclusively toward an object and sustain that direction without any distractions.

 

Mahabharata / Bhagavad Gita 

Load Krishna urges Arjuna: " Be one in self-harmony, in Yoga (action), and arise, great worrior, arise."

 

What is self-Harmony?

It is the union of body, mind, and spirit.

How is it achieved?

Practically speaking, it begins with physical health. 

 

There's no division between mind and body. Healing lies in the mind, and the Yoga of Patanjali is very much a science of the mind. As the mind draws nearer to Truth, the spirit inevitably manifests. 

 

Each student must be tought according to his or her individual capacity at any given time. Each progresses in different ways, at different rhythms and each step is to be experiencced for what the Bhagavad Gita shows it to be: and episode in the greatest of all adventures, the eternal quest to discover and fulfill individual destiny. 

 

Each person will have a different starting point, the the fulfilling esperience of the Yoga taught by Krishnamacharya will utilize five elements.

1. Asana (physical postures)

2. Pranayama (breathing technique)

3. Chanting (for it's healing effect on mind and body and to bring our spirit into contact with ancient sacred wisdom.)

4. Meditation (Opening our awareness both inward and outwoard beyond our usual mental limits)

5. Ritual  

 

What is mind?  (Patanjali가 정의한 5가지 마음의 작용) 

1. Comprehension (바른 이해와 판단) : which may be based on direct observation of the object, through inference, or by reference to reliable authorities. 

2. Misapprehension (잘못된 이해나 판단 ): it is comprehension taken to be correct until more favorable conditions reveal the actual nature of the object. This is the most frequent activity of the mind and it. rises from many sources, including faulthy observation or misinterpretation of what is perceived, or it may be due to our inability to understand in depth what we see, often as a result of past experiences and conditioning.  The error may be recognized later or never at all. 

A fundamental aim of Yoga practive is to recognized and control the causes of misapprehension. 

3. Imagination (상상) : comprehension of an object based only on words and expressions, even though the object is absent. Imagination also arises from or is shaped by dreams, fellings, and emothinal states. Past experiences, stored as memory, contribute to this mental activity. 

4. deep sleep (잠):  a regular conditon for living beings, occurs when the mind is overcome through heaviness and no other activities are present. There is a necessary time for it. But deep sleep and its heaviness may also result from boredom ro exhaustion.

5. Memory (기억): a mental retention of.  conscious experience. All conscious experiences leave their impressions on. he. ndividual and are stored as memory. The difficulty is that it is not possible to tell if a memory is true, false, incomplete, or imaginary. 

 

Each and all of activities can, at different times and. nder different circumstances, be beneficial or harmful, with immediate or delayed effets. Which this initial blueprint of the mind in place, Patanjali then offers the abbreviated guidance about achieving a state of Yoga. 

It is done through practice and detachment. Practice is basically a process of correct effort, and it must be followed for a long time, without interruptions, as a gradual process. Equally important, it must be conducted in a sprit of enthusiasm, freshness, and optimism that the student will indeed success.  Through faith (unshakeable conviction that we can arrive at the goal), which will give sufficient energy to achieve success against all odds, direction will be maintained. The realization of the goal of Yoga is a matter of time.