Yoga Kit for Surviving Heartbreak

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Originally Published in Daily Bhaskar

Heartbreak can happen for many reasons- cheating, lying, moving away- physically or emotionally, break up, divorce, death, unrequited love or if you’re an Indian, perhaps it’s the parents/caste card that could lead to a heartbreak. Irrespective of the cause, heartbreaks leave victims helpless.

Why does one feel so helpless?

Speaking from a yogic point of view, this feeling of helplessness stems from following three aspects:

1. Pain: Modern psychology believes that memory constitutes a significant part of human mind. However, according to yogic philosophy, every cell of the body has memory. Both yogic & psychological viewpoints agree that we create memories through the perceptions that we allocate to the inputs of our sensory organs.

When we fall in love, we love through all the five senses, sight, smell, sound, taste and most importantly touch. Imagine the quality and quantity of memories love creates in our being, that too at cellular level!

Your heart might be broken but the memories are still very much a part of every cell of your system. Moving away from those memories is like ripping a part of every cell of your being. Of course, it’ll hurt.

2. Fear: As a defense mechanism, we try to divert our attention from past. The path that we choose here is towards future. This dwelling into future gives rise to a fear- what if I will never find love again, what if the next is worse, what if I will never be happy, what if I am forever alone. This fear is paralyzing. Our defense screams-‘abort mission future’ and we lapse once again into the memories. It’s a vicious circle.

3. Our mind, our biggest friend, our biggest foe:

We know that we must control our thoughts, move away from pain, and not succumb to fear. We aren’t masochists, at least majority of us are not. We understand this at an intellectual level, and yet we are unable to follow this on experiential level.

This is because; we can’t sit on top of our mind and control it.

Even Arjun, whose focus and concentration was so advanced that he would only see one eye of the bird while shooting, he was known to conquer sleep; and yet, he ended up saying:

“Chanchalam hi manah Krishna

Pramathi balavad drdham

Tasyaham nigraham manye

Vayor ivs su-duskaram”

- Geeta, Chapter 6, Shloka 34

Meaning: But Krishna! Mind is restless and headstrong. Controlling it is harder than controlling wind.

The emotional turmoil of battle of Kurukshetra made even Arjuna realize that the mind is much more powerful that we can ever be.

That’s why Krishna said,

“Bandhur atmatmanas tasya

Yenatmaivatmana jitah

Anatmanas tu shatrutve

Vartetatmaiva shatruvat”

- Geeta, Chapter 6, Sholka 6

Meaning: For those who have conquered the mind, it is their friend. For those who have failed to do so, the mind works like an enemy.

The explanation is simple: “I will control my mind” is a mental consciousness, and so are our memories, the emotions are mental consciousness too.

In this war amidst mental consciousnesses, how does it matter which one wins, when war itself means loss of peace? War is a problem in itself, then how can it solve a problem? So, if controlling mind through mind isn’t the solution, then what is?

What’s the solution?

The solution lies in three simple words- Working with Pranamayakosa.

Trying to manage one’s mind through mind is an oxymoron. It is futile. Therefore, we take refuge in the wisdom of Taititreya Upnishad. According to the Upnishad, a person lives in five dimensions:

1. Annamayakosa- dimension of matter

2. Pranamayakosa- dimension of energy,

3. Manomayakosa- dimension of mind,

4. Vigyanmayakosa- dimension of consciousness,

5. Anandamayakosa- dimension of bliss.

Since, heartbreak is affecting our Manomayakosa and Annamayakosa, we must work on our Pranamayakosa, and channelize that energy in unlocking the inherent healing wisdom of Vigyanmayakosa to reach the blissed out state of Anandmayakosa.

Why Pranamayakosa?

To answer this, we need to understand, Prana.

Prana is life-force- the vital energy. Yet, it is beyond the laws of energy known to modern science. This is evident in the following verse of Yogic philosophy:

““Svayameve tanavam yati,
Svayameva piñata yati.”

Meaning: Prana is that which can increase or decrease by itself without any external agency.

According to Yajur Veda, Prana manifests in our body in many ways and one of these manifestations is the electrical activity in our brain. Therefore, by controlling the prana we can control our mind.

Sankhya philosophy believes that any adhi (imbalance) of mind or vyadhi (disease) of body can be fixed with working with prana. That’s the reason why Swami Niranjananda calls pranayams the real yoga, and every limb of Ashtanga that comes before that (Yam, Niyam and Asana) is mere preparatory yoga. This is important in the ‘How’ part of healing the heartbreak.

How?

Phase 1: Preparatory Yoga

Step 1: Preparing the body

As discussed above, the memories of love are in every cell of our body. So, for our plan to work, it should not restrict its focus on our mind or heart but incorporate our entire physical system.

Also, as discussed above deleting the memories, is tearing away a bit of every cell of ours, aim here should be transformation of those memories from hurting to healing ones.

This transformation can be achieved by converting the vatta (air) in our body into Prana, through the Pawanmukta-asana Series- I.

In this series, we guide our awareness to the parts of the body where access of Vatta is stored. The Vatta is responsible for movement in our body and access of it leads to mental/emotional turmoils.

Through the 15 sukshma-vyayams (easy exercises) of this series, we can expel the access of Vatta, thus loosening the body, clearing energy and emotional blockages.

Step 2: Bringing our mind to equipoise

Once body is loosened and relaxed by expelling the Vatta. It’s time to do the same with mind. The easiest way to do this is through Vrikshana- the tree pose. This is a balancing asana. It is impossible to relax effortlessly in a balancing posture with a restless mind.

Phase II- The Real Yoga

Step 3: Sensitizing the body with breathe

Once we bring our mind and body to a temporary state of relaxation through asanas, it’s time we take this a deeper and more sustainable level through working on Pranamayakosa.

This can be done through simple Yogic breathing; we are not even required to do complicate Pranayams.  

According to clinical researches, when we breathe in and out in a systematic and coordinated fashion; the electrical coordination of the neurons becomes more systematic. Quantitatively, this can be measured in the effect of one acquiring longer alpha waves and receding beta waves, in the electromagnetic emission of waves in the brain. Unfortunately, the observatory skills of modern science are not developed beyond this point. One needs to inculcate faith or understand the philosophy of the Vedas to venture forward:

As body becomes more sensitive to the flow of breathe, it begins to absorb the pran shakti from the air that we breathe in. The awareness on this pran shakti becomes the bridge of us moving from gross to subtle aspects of our mind

The activities of subtle forces- memories, emotions, knowledge, and archetypes work here and hence can be controlled through this practice.

Step 4: Viyoga

Viyoga is learning how to detach oneself from subjective experience of life.

According to Geeta, Chapter 6, Shloka 23:

“Tam vidyad dukhah-sanyoga-viyogam yogsanjnitam

Sa nishchayena yoktavyo yogo nirvinnachetasa”

Meaning: That state of severance from union with misery is known as Viyoga. This yoga should be resolutely practiced with determination free from pessimism.

In short, practice ‘clean break up’. Just like a no therapy can work on a drug addict if he keeps taking his fix; no amount of healing will work on broken heart if we keep visiting the cause of it. That’s why in Hindu Dharma, when a person dies, all his belongings are offered to fire along with his body.

I am not asking you to set a bon-fire, just for 21 days, happily detach yourself with the stimulus of the memories of the heart-break. Every time a memory or a disturbing emotion arises, joyfully move your focus from that to sensitizing body with the in and out flow of the breath.

Happy Healing!

The other name of Kundalini

-Kirti Tarang Pande

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Originally Published in Daily Bhaskar

In my last article, I shared my personal Tantra practices. (http://daily.bhaskar.com/news/JM-SUC-infog-safe-tantra-for-success-5605966-PHO.html?ref=fbo) After, this story went live; I got many queries about ‘Awakening Kundalini’, so here’s what Tantra tells us on the subject:

Most important thing to know about Kundalini?

Kundalini as a practice originated in certain, Tantric sects. As discussed in my first article on Tantra Series (http://daily.bhaskar.com/news/JM-RIT-tantra-what-is-it-actually-5561341-PHO.html), Tantra is an esoteric yogic technique of achieving desired ends. Please pay attention here, the ‘desired end’ we talk about here is different from the ‘desirable ends’ of a common worldly person.

A tantric, is an ascetic, and only those tantrics whose sole interest is in merging with the Supreme Reality work on awakening of the Kundalini. That’s the purpose, the awakening of Kundalini serve in our terrestrial existence- ‘catalyzing the process of our merger with Supreme Reality’.

This means that an awakened kundalini is only a catalyst in this process. The process can and does still happen without it also.

Why is Awakening Kudalini such a buzz?

However, awakening kundalini is very popular, perhaps because it is marketed as an amazing, exciting and wish fulfilling thing happening in our physical existence. We all somewhere desire to be a super hero, don’t we? Is this branding of kundalini in alignment with truth though?

I leave this question for you to answer. I will simply show you the complete picture of kundalini, so that your views stand on solid foundation of facts.

The most important fact here to know is, the other name of kundalini.

The other name of Kundalini

This is where the dilemma about awakening and the key to awakening both reside. This other side of Kundalini is referred to as ‘Ahamkara’ in Tantric, palm leaf manuals.

Whether your physical being is aligned with the Kundalini or towards ‘Ahamkara’ is determined by the direction of your awareness and attention.

Aham, in Sanskrit means ‘I’, Kara means ‘create’. Therefore, Ahamkara means energy of identification. Meaning that faculty in organism that creates identification with its small limited terrestrial self- This is my name, this is my sex, this is my body, I belong to this place, I do this, I want this, and the list goes on.

This self identification is a result of focusing the Supreme Energy that resides amidst us in a narrow, self-cherishing individualized manner. This is what we call Ahamkara in Samkhya Philosophy.

However, when instead of focusing on self, we take this energy and direct it towards cherishing the macrocosm this multiverse and the Supreme Energy manifesting it all, it becomes Kundalini.

How this helps in Awakening of the Kundalini

According to Samkhya Philosophy, this organism that we label ‘I’ is engineered to move in the direction of our awareness. If our awareness is directed towards the union with the Supreme Reality, the organism will follow that path. If awakening kundalini is a requisite of the process it will happen, whether or not we are practicing the fancy ‘Kundalini Yoga’.

It is that simple!

But beware

Rewind a bit- Kundalini awakens when our energy is aligned with merger with Supreme Reality, and not with our terrestrial existence (and all the materialistic comforts that it brings). Therefore, the flow of logic implies that person with completely awakened kundalini has obtained a union with the Supreme Reality & the terrestrial existence of that individual is finished. The being, by the mere definition of kundalini, can’t be in this plane of terrestrial plane after it has awakened.

This is the reason, why tantrics (the authentic ones) have kept the technique of kundalini awakening a secret; because most of us want an awakened kundalini for materialistic comforts- good health, success, better sex, intellectual superiority, the list is long. This process is an oxymoron. If we are lucky, we will fail. If we meddle too much, we will damage our ‘Self’. Remember, this ‘self’ not only includes our body & psyche, but also everything we identify with- what we do, whom we love, etc.

Does it mean one can’t have an awakened Kundalini and stay alive?

According to Mahabharata, Vasuki, the serpent king, was able to awaken the kundalini to a certain degree and yet managed to stay alive. In fact, Vasuki lived to see all the four yugas- from Sata Yuga (mention in Samudra Manthan), to Treta Yuga (mention in Ramayan), Dvapara Yuga (mention in Mahabharata) to Kaliyuga (mention in legends of Buddha).

The key word Vasuki’s Kundalini Awakening is ‘certain degree’. Vasuki while aligning himself with Supreme Reality, managed to preserve enough ‘Ahamkara’ for his terrestrial well-being.

Since Vasuki was a Shiva devotee (according to Vishnu Puran, he is the snake on Shiva’s neck), the tantrics follow the cult of Shiva. They do so with the hope of figuring out the Vasuki’s technique to preserving the right amount of Ahamkara.

What can we do?

Salute Kundalini! She’s the Supreme Goddess of our inert and inner energy. This inner and inert energy makes you become something more than you are right now; something out of this plane of your existence. However, you need to ask yourself a question first- do I really want this? If you have any attachment with your body, with people whom you love, with materialistic comfort; awakening kundalini isn’t the path for you.

Perhaps, you can follow the lead of Vasuki and awaken it to a certain degree. Using the limbs of Yoga is the easiest way to do it:

Step 1: Create a universal, macrocosmic consciousness by practicing the Yams & Niyams (Dos and Donts) Yoga.

Step 2: Prepare your gross body for the uncoiling of Supreme Energy through Asanas.

Step 3: Practice the art of controlling & directing the flow of energy through Pranayams.

Step 4: Steady your mind through Dharna. Just like you can’t plug in an energy source with shaky hands, you can’t pulg-in the flow of Kundalini through a shaky point.

Step 5: Follow a plug-point system. Not every electric point can handle a high voltage of current, similarly not every body can handle the strength of Kundalini. So find a teacher who can help you in uncoiling it in small, measured doses. Allow you to take a step back. Observe the effects & then repeat the process if it’s safe for your terrestrial being.

The DIY Kundalini

If you’re not a big fan of doing the hard-work and finding the guru; you would rather do it in the comfort of your home, here’s what to do:

Simply start putting needs of others before yourself. Every action that you take, ask yourself- how is it going to bring universal well-being. As your terrestrial self will gradually move towards the macrocosmic, universal self; your Kundalini will gently uncoil.

This will be slow, like the process of a monkey evolving into a human. The plus point is- just like that monkey’s evolution; it will be organic, in alignment with the nature and hence painless.

What not to do?

Don’t force your Kundalini to awaken. Kundalini is a Goddess. Goddess is nurturing Shakti as well as devastating Kali. Never forget that love and respect evokes Shakti, while force brings out Kali. Not all of us has the spiritual, mental & physical bandwidth to download Kali in our system.

Rama & Sita- Valmiki's Yogic Metaphors

-Kirti Tarang Pande

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Originally Published in Daily Bhaskar

The most interesting thing about Rama is that everyone feels strongly about him, because he is different to different people- with scientists finding evidence of ‘Ram-Setu’ a historian may look at Rama differently from a mythologists’ point of view. Those with romantic hearts see him as a passionate lover who walked across jungles all the way to Sri Lanka for Sita. A feminist may look at him as the man who disowned his wife. In present India, your views on Rama maybe decided upon by your political allegiance or vice-versa. Do you know why it is so? You may love him or hate him, but why you can’t ignore him?

Who is Rama?

As always, the simplest answer lies in Yoga. Sankhya Darshan, the philosophy from which Yoga & Ayurveda have emerged, uses Rama as a metaphor for Self Realization. Goswami Tulsidas has said,

“Ja ki rahi bhawana jaisi,

Prabhu moorat dikhe tin waisi”

Everyone paints Rama with their own brush

At Home Yogis’ Home, we initiate our students in Self-Realization meditation, where they discover themselves through their version of Rama.

How is finding Rama relevant to everyday life?

If we are in bondage of Maya, we can never find Rama. Bondage of Maya means limitation of perception. Only the things that we see through our senses come in our experiential field. Our experience forms our memory. Our memory tells us what we can do and what we can’t. This is what cages our true potential. Imagine, how our story would have turned out if our monkey ancestors would have been caged by their perceptions?

They would have thought, “We have never seen an ape on two legs? In our memory we can’t recall a monkey that ever walked on twos. We can never walk on twos”.

Thankfully, they didn’t allow themselves to be caged by perceptions and we evolved into bipeds.

Literally, monkeys can evolve if they break-up from Maya (limitations of perceptions) and take refuge in Rama (become self-relized). Just visualize what benefits we can draw from it as humans!

But how to find Rama?

Rama can only be discovered through Sita.

Valmiki through his Ramayana, shares the yogic path of self- realization in a poetic way. So, instead of clear philosophical reasoning we get visual metaphors.

Rama is self realization & so is Sita. Rama is the ‘action’ aspect of the consciousness while Sita is the ‘bliss’.

 Laxman guarding them is our ‘buddhi’- ability to discriminate . Bhrittrhari in Niti Satakam says;

“Aharanidrabhyamaithunam ca samanyametat pasubhirnaranam|

Buddhirhi tesam adhiko viseso buddhirvihinah pasubhih samana||”

Meaning, it is the Buddhi, the discriminating power, and it is the freedom of choice that characterizes us as human beings. Otherwise, food, sleep, fear & sex are the attributes of animals too.

Till now we have got our ‘self’ that’s pure consciousness comprising of action & bliss, which guarded by our discriminatory power. The minute we let down our discriminatory power, the bliss is gone. The minute Laxman leaves Sita, she is abducted by Ravana. Ravana is Sankhya Darshan, a metaphor for Maya and ego. When we are trapped by the limitations of our perceptions, how can we achieve our goals? How can we find bliss- Sita?

That’s when Rama takes help of Vayu putra Hanuman. Hanuman represents our Prana-the life force. The Vayu within us, the oxygen that we take in is our life-force. We can’t live a minute without it. It’s when we devote our life-force to self-realization, as Hanuman is devoted to Rama we can find our true potential, our bliss.

How to channelize our life-force?

Swami Vivekananda has given us four paths to it:

1. Bhakti Yoga: We surrender to Hanuman and focus our senses to devotion of Hanuman.

2. Raja Yoga: By practicing pranayams, keeping our awareness fixed at the breath.

3. Janana Yoga: Reading & understanding the essence of Ramayana with respect to the metaphors that it contains. Then, transferring that wisdom from the realm of intellect to the realm of action.

4. Karma Yoga: Staying in the present all the time, guarding our actions, thoughts & speech with discrimination and freedom of choice.

Five Tantric Ways of Success

-Kirti Tarang Pande

Official Website, Instagram, Twitter

Originally Published in Daily Bhaskar

In my last Tantra article, I promised that I will be sharing practices of Safe Tantra- ones that don’t require a Guru’s supervision.

How it works:

To understand & be able to use the power of Tantra in our day-to-day world, it is essential that we first know what this day-to-day world is and who we are.

Sankhya Darshan says that this seen world is created with Panchamahabhoota (Five basic elements)-

1. Kshiti (Earth)

2. Jal (Water)

3. Pavak (Fire)

4. Akaash (Space)

5. Sameera (Air)

According to Taittiriya Upnishad, our Annamayakosa (our gross physical body) is an amalgamation of these Panchmahabhoota.

At initiation level, we use Tantra as a technique of shuddhi (purification) of these Panchmahabhoota. This prepares not only our physical body to receive, accept & assimilate the explosion of our Shakti but in the realm of realism, it imparts success to us.

Now the question is-

How to purify Panchamahabhoota through Tantra:

Simply follow these five easy steps, one for each mahabhoota in your daily life;

1. Kshiti (Earth)

Earth gives us stability. The stability is essential to us but it comes with Tamas (inertia). This inertia prevents us from taking necessary actions in the direction of success. Therefore, in order to bring any kind of desirable change in our lives it’s crucial that we minimize (if not eliminate) the Tamas within us.

This can be done by understanding how Tamas functions. In my personal practice, I follow a simple thumb rule- anything that gives pleasure now but pain later is Tamasic & should be minimized if not eliminated.

However, the thing with Tamas is, it’s addictive. So, here’s a cheat trick to overcome Tamas addiction:

Cheat Trick:

Shitali, Shitkari & Sadanta are three pranayams that help in getting rid of any kind of cravings. Practicing each one of these three pranayams 9 times daily help in quenching the Tamasic yearnings.

2. Jal (Water)

Majority of tantrics concentrate mostly upon water element, because when it comes to physical body it’s the most important element. In fact, there’s an entire field of Tantric Alchemy dedicated to it, it’s called- Rasa Vidya- the knowledge of Rasa. It’s such an esoteric practice that there’s a test that one needs to pass before getting initiation into it. The test is called-

Gagan gamana, swarna karna (One should be able to levitate & turn base metal into gold).

This external alchemy is taken as a proof of internal alchemy that comes after an internal transformation. This transformation is a product of purification of water element inside our body.

This purification, according to Taittriya Upnishad, must begin at mental level. Water is Rasa in Sanskrit, so are our emotions. In order to purify water element at physical level, it is essential that we purify our emotions first.

In my daily practice, I find Mindfulness & a Tibetan meditation technique called Tong Len the most effective way of purifying emotions.

3. Pavak (Fire)

Placed in the middle of the five elements, fire acts as a bridge between the dense elements (earth & water) and subtle elements (air & ether). Therefore, to create balance in physical body purification of fire is indispensable. As a result, we find fire as a foundation of both the paths of Yoga- the known Vedic path & the secret Tantric path. In fact, the first word, of the first shloka, of the first mandala, of the first Veda is Agni- fire.

Since the fire exists in physical body in the form of acids, enzymes & melanin, the simplest way to purify it is through food.

This means, fixing number of meals, fixing meal time & eating only that food which doesn’t aggravate our dosha (Vata, Pitta, Kapha).

4. Sameera (Air)

The job of air is to move. If it’s not in continuously moving at right time & right rate, then it produces undesirable effects, especially in tubular organs.

The easiest way to purify air is to purify the channels through which it moves. In Patanjali Yogsutram, rishi suggested working on purification of three major channels called sushmna, ida and pingala; before dawn and right after dusk. He suggests so because while Ida & Pingala function the whole day but these are the time when it is easiest to get Sushumna to work.

The best way to do this is by practicing nadi shodhan pranayam for beginners & anulom-vilom (in the authentic way as mentioned in Patanjali yogsutram) by advanced practitioners. In my personal practice, I do so every morning at 5am, before stepping down from bed.

I can’t control how my day is going to be, but I can control how it begins- by balancing my body, speech & mind through Pranayams.

5. Akaash (Gagan)

If we go by the definitions used in Riga Veda, Akaash in its most complex sense is what we today call the quantum mechanical field, the vacuum energy. In its simplest form, Akaash’s that from which the particles that make this multiverse spontaneously emerge, some of them manifest themselves and create the seen reality. 

Therefore, the Riga Veda says that this multiverse is in a continuing process of externally manifested space & time.

This makes Akaash the trickiest of all the five elements- it’s not only the subtlest one but has the most complex function! So, the purification it has to be difficult.

No! Akaash maybe the most subtle thing around, it’s still a matter. (According to me, this is the fundamental difference between modern physics & Sankhya philosophy).    

The easiest way to purify any element is to figure out what creates the element & then removing the external particles. In Sankhya Darshan, it is believed that the Tanmatras create Akaash.

What are Tanmatras? Let’s leave that for another day, for now, let’s stick to the purification of Aakash. Patanjali Yogsutram talks of Pratyahara for this.

Pratyahara is simply cutting the food of the five senses. It is only when we withdraw from our sense, we get the window to experience the reality beyond the external manifestation of it.

At Home Yogis’ Home, we get a taste of that experience through ‘Naad’ meditation, in which through ‘Shanmukhi mudra’, we connect with the impulse that create the sound of our breath.  

By doing so, we don’t simply see things but we become a person of ‘vision’. To be a successful leader in modern economy it’s essential to be a visionary. We are going to discuss this in details next week.