Overcome Toxic Self Criticism ( Be your best friend using this Yogic Process)

- by Kirti Tarang Pande 

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An experiment for our mental elements :

Do you criticize yourself? When was the last time you did it? This morning? Yesterday? Or, sometime back? Recollect that moment when you were critical of yourself. Go ahead, live that moment vividly in your mind. What was the cause of that criticism of self? What happened that made you criticize yourself?  Bring back that cause in your mind. Allow that memory to play in your mind with all its details. What were the words that you used to criticize yourself? Play those words again in your head. How are you feeling listening to those words, unpleasant or not unpleasant?

Inhale deeply, exhale and relax, let go of that memory.

Now, visualize your best friend in front of you. Someone you love and care about. Smile to your friend. Now visualize that your friend is in the same situation as you were when you criticised yourself. Recreate that scene, just in your place put your best friend there. Now, what will you say to your best friend? Will you use the same words? Are you criticizing your friend? Or are you listening to your friend in a calm compassionate manner? Are you undermining your friend or are saying that I trust you to fix it because I believe in you. Listen carefully to the words that you're saying to your best friend. Inhale deeply, exhale and relax.

Now, again recreate that memory. This time again it's you who is in the situation not your best friend. This time, instead of criticizing yourself use the same words that you used for your best friend. Words of trust and love . This time approach the situation in the same way as you did with your best friend: listen to yourself calmly and compassionately. How are you feeling in this moment- unpleasant or pleasant? Place your right hand on your heart, how is your heart beat right now? Inhale deeply, exhale and relax  completely.

Can you imagine how your life would be if you always operate from this place? Next time when you look in the mirror, inspecting yourself before an important event or date, if you talk to yourself the way you talk to your best friend, how would it feel like? What will be the after effects of that? Imagine next time you make a big mistake and its all your fault, in  that moment, you pause and say the things to yourself that you would say to your best friend in such a situation? Imagine the value it will add to your physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual well being.

Yogic Method of befriending our own self

Gita in Chapter 6, 5th verse says that uplift yourself, do not deprecate yourself because you're your only friend and your only enemy. Gita is an ancient Sanskrit text on tenets of yoga and it also shares the technique of how to uplift oneself to become our own best friend. This technique is something that I practice so that I can always be nice to myself and as a yoga instructor I have shared this technique with a number of my clients. This is a technique that my grandfather (and Yoga Guru), Shri Jagdish Chandra Upadhyaya taught me.

I was first introduced to it when I spilled a pot. My grandmother gave me that look and said, “You're lucky it was curd and not boiling milk, or else you would have burnt yourself". My grandfather, however, smiled at me lovingly and asked, “So what do we learn from this”? “Ummm… To mind our steps” I sheepishly answered. His smile just grew fonder and said, “To be like the pot of curd". Does it make sense to you? I didn't to me either, so he elaborated, allow me to expand that idea now:

This glass of water is sitting happily here & someone unmindful like me comes and knocks it over. What will happen? The water will spill. What if there was acid in it? The acid will spill. Situation, other people are just incidental, what comes out is what is inside of us. My grandfather said that I should become like a pot of curd. 

Curd is so soothing that it can calm down an elephant. Despite their size & strength, elephants are gentle beings, except that time of the year when the male elephant is on heat, it can go really wild and squash everything in sight. In such times, massaging his head with buttermilk really calms him down. 

Imagine if our entire being is full such a calming potion then no matter what they say, no matter what situation is, no matter how majorly we screw up, instead of saying you deserve it, you're stupid, you're worthless, why on earth would anyone love you, we say things to ourselves which are true, yet kind. Instead of deprecating ourselves, we will uplift ourself. Instead of acting like our own enemy we will act like our own best friend.

So what is this calming potion that we need to fill ourselves with? What is curd for our mental elements? If we circle back to Gita, we will find the answer written there, it's called Sattva. Gita doesn't just give us a buzzword # uplift yourself but also tells us how, by filling our being with Sattva.

Now what is this Sattva? Sattva is our innate quality to be blissful. The keyword here is innate. It is already inside of us. The more I look at my baby, the more convinced I get that Yogic Philosophy isn’t something we learn but something that we are born with and forget.

So, right now, yes, now you and I are going to do a small meditative exercise which has benefited me, my clients. We are going to do a small meditative exercise to learn to how connect with our Sattva, our innate tendency to be blissful. The goal is to nurture our inner bliss, allow it grow till it fills our entire being then irrespective of circumstances and other people we will always overflow with bliss. Irrespective of situation our inner voice will always make us feel blissful. So are you ready?

The Meditation :

The Takeaway:

Relax, how do you feel? Whatever you're feeling right now, it won't last, until we are regular with our practice for at least 90 days. Now how to be persistent with the practice? I would suggest 10 -2-1 method. If there's anything you want to takeaway from this session, allow it to be this : 10-2-1. Every morning ask yourself how much time do I have to hangout with myself ? After all, hanging out, sharing meaningful moments are the founding stones of any friendship that adds value to our well being. Then why befriending oneself be any different? Ask yourself how much time can I give to myself 10 minutes, 2 minutes or 1 minute? If you have 10 minutes, then I encourage you to do the meditation that we just did. If you have two minutes then use the Yogic tool called Svadhyaya  for this. We did it in the beginning of the session. We called it introspection, remember? Let's do it one more time. Just to get the hang of it. Come on do it, right now with me. Sit straight, roll your shoulders back. Hands on knees, palms facing upwards. Inhale, relax. Inhale, relax deeply, inhale relax completely.  Recreate the memory of the moment when you hurt yourself.. This time, instead of criticizing yourself use the same words that you would use for your best friend. Words of trust and love. Listen to yourself. Tell yourself, I understand you, I love you, I trust in your potential to fix it. Mentally repeat after me - I love and trust myself, I love and trust myself, I love and trust myself. Bring your attention to your heart, visualize bliss, Sattva here in form of white light, inhaling surrender to this white light, exhaling visualize it filling your whole body. Inhale deeply, exhale and relax  completely. Gently rub your palms, cup your eyes with your palms, blink your eyes. Slowly open your eyes. Bring  your hands down. Inhale and relax.

How about those days when we can't even spare two minutes for ourselves? On such days take out one minute. We always have a minute. Close your eyes and tell yourself - No matter what happens today, I will be my best friend. Everything that I will say to myself will be kind, true and will add meaning to my well being. Let's do it. Close your eyes. Relax. Smile softly. Repeat after me - Today, I will be my best friend. No matter what they say, no matter what they do I will only say kind and truthful words to myself, words that uplift me and add value to my being.

Happy Practicing :)

Nag Panchami, Nagas and Patanjali

Here's Why Every Yogi Must Know The Link Between Them

-by
Kirti Tarang Pande
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Have you ever noticed that logo of modern medicine has two snakes intertwined, just like the symbolism of yoga (representing Ida, Pingala wrapped around Sushma)?

Anyway, those who know me are aware of how vocal I am about protecting snakes. They think I am drawn towards them. Little they know it's the other way around.

The home I was born in was next to a lake full of blooming lotuses. Snakes were therefore our regular visitors. My family would simply escort them out to grassland nearby. A place where they wouldn't cross path with humans. We never hurt the snakes and they reciprocated the same gesture.

The story continues till this day. I have had various homes in various cities since. They all have one thing in common- serpent visitors. Even the home that I had in concrete jungle called Bombay! In fact, the garden of my previous home in Pune was inhabited by three of them. One was a copper colored cobra, another was a black colored cobra and third was special. It was a gift to me by my dog. 

One night my dog, a golden retriever, retrieved a green color viper! He was standing near stairs with tail of the viper in his mouth. Shockingly, the viper didn't dig his venomous fangs in my dog. Thankfully, my dog had the wisdom to keep its teeth off too. He was holding it in the soft part that's typical of a retriever mouth.

You see snakes respond to our thought processes. If you are scared and make sudden movements, the snake will be scared too. Either its flight or fight that follows fear. If snake has opportunity to flea, it will. If it's cornered then it will fight with the only weapon that it has.

However, if you are calm, the snake will be calm too. A student of mine was so meditative in Vrikasana, that a snake came and coiled at her leg. The student remained calm and after some minutes it left. Haven't you seen, snake cuddle Shiva? They coiled around his neck, weaved in his man bun.

What's the point I am trying to make here? 

Snakes are sensitive to vibrations. Vibrations help them survive. They don't have ears. You must have noticed this. Also, that their entire body is connected with earth, as they crawl. This makes them perceptive of energies. They are drawn to certain energies. 

What is energy that draws snakes? How does it connects with Patanjali?

Thanks to Einstein, we know that  the universe consists of various wormholes. Through these worm holes or channels, subtle currents flow.These currents are termed as Nagas (snakes)  in yogic texts. To understand why yogis chose this particular metaphor, we need to understand worm holes.

The concept of worm holes came as a result of Einstein, Flamm and Rosen's  works on General Theory of Relativity. Don't let the name dropping scare you. It's easy to understand. Worm hole is a passage through space-time continuum. Its USP is that it creates shortcuts for long journeys across the universe. Ah! I caught your attention now. Therefore, this is the time when I must caution you. These wormholes come with dangers of sudden collapse, high radiation and fatal contact with exotic matter.

Much like snake, isn't it. A meters long snake rolls itself into a small coil. The snake venom can kill you but can also be used as a drug against heart attack. Also, in ancient India snakes were found everywhere. So, the yogis thought, 'Why not use snake as metaphor? To make it approachable to a common man, let's  make this simple. Let's use a metaphor that people come across daily." There couldn't have been a better metaphor than Naga (snakes) for Kundalini (the fundamental force).

This is the reason why Patanjali is symbolized as half-snake. His understanding of seen and unseen life processes was mystifying. It was apparent to people that the Kundalini fundamental force is him. At least, partly. As I have discussed in my previous article that one can't have completely awakened Kundalini and hold on to this physical body at the same time. So, they gave him a half-snake body.

 But why Naga Panchami?

Naag Panchami comes in the month of Sravan- monsoon. It's a month dedicated for worshiping Shiva- Naga Bhushan. This also a month when rain water floods the homes of snakes and they seek shelter in ours.

Therefore, in ancient Indian culture this month was set aside to honor snakes. One can't honor and hurt something at the same time?

Why honor the snakes?

Snakes are called farmers' friends. They eat mice and other rodents that hurt the harvest. India was an agricultural economy. It was a simple treaty. You protect our crops, we protect you.

This the talk in materialistic terms, which may not be relevant to all of us today. However, its spiritual significance can't be ignored.

Spiritual significance of honoring snakes:

On Nag Panchami we honour all forms of Nagas (snake). Bowing to an ordinary snake or its image is just a metaphor for surrendering to Kundalini (transformation force within us) and to Lord Shiva (master of all the manifested and unmanifested energies of the universe)

What not to do in Naga Panchami?

Offer milk to snakes: I have no clue which Pundit started it, but none of Vedas mention offering milk to snake. Anywhere. Moreover, snakes don't like it. Every time I had put a bowl of milk out for a snake, it has gone in opposite direction. My dog is the one who would polish it off. 

Don't give money to snake charmers. Snakes hate captivity. They don't eat in captivity. By paying to snake charmers, you're bank rolling a business model of torture. Moreover, Kamasutra strictly warns against it. The curse of a tortured snake is bad for sex life- that's what Kamasutra says.

Don't pour milk on an image or sculpture of snake/Shiva. There are children in our country dying of starvation. The milk that you're pouring is also food of cow's child. Please don't waste it. If I take your child's food, make your child starve to rub that food over your body, will you pleased? Then, why do you think that it will peace Shiva. The milk of your love, devotion and dedication is all that Shiva craves for and rewards for.

What to do on Nagar Panchami?

• Let go of your fear of snakes. Please don't imprint your fears on your children. We must understand that fear is root of all our misdoings. Don't believe me? Investigate for yourself. Moreover, fear hails from ignorance. So understand that snake are not interested in hurting you. So many people die in road accidents. Everyone I know has fallen off a vehicle at least once. Yet, I don't see them screaming at the sight of a car. Then why snake? How many snake bite events you have personally witnessed? Most of the Indian snakes are not even poisonous.
• Take time out to meditate on Ajnaya Chkara- eyebrow center. Sit in a comfortable posture with spine erect and surrender your awareness to the Ajnaya Chakra. Don't concentrate or focus, you will have a headache. Just as you offer flower at feet of a deity, pour milk at Shiva, with same emotions offer your awareness to Ajnaya Chakra.
• Understand that Nagas (snakes) represent energy current. This current has potential to transform us and hurt us. It depends how we use it.
  Electronic energy ruling our era of Informational Technology is also an energy. If ancient yogis were alive today, they would have put it in category of Nagas.  We must be careful that we are using it for our transformation and not becoming a slave to it.

Suggested Readings:

The other name of Kundalini

Five Tantric Ways of Success

Easy 5 Step Yoga Routine for better sleep

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Easy Bedtime Routine For Insomniacs

Step 1: 

Wash your hands and legs nicely. Rinse your eyes (preferably using an eye-cup).

Step 2:

Put ghee in your nostrils and inhale deeply. In winters, replace ghee with almond oil. Rub ghee/ almond oil on backbone, head & soles of the feet.

Step 3:

Practice Sarvangasana. Start with holding the final pose for 2 minutes & slowly build it to 8 minutes. If you find Sarvangasana challenging you can do Viprit Karni- legs up the wall pose.

Step 4:

Bhramari 5 rounds

Step 5:

Lie on your bed in Shavasana, fingers in Pran Mudra, take 16 deep and slow inhales & relaxing exhales. Then turn to your right side 32 deep inhales & relaxing exhales. Turn to your left side 64 deep inhales & exhales.

For online Yoga and Meditation Sessions, write to us at homeyogishome@gmail.com

Suggested Reading:

Easy yoga trick to wake up fresh & energized

Do you know this Tantra Yoga Janamashtami ritual can bring you closer to your true love?

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Originally Published in Daily Bhaskar

Janamashtmi’s relevance in Tantra Yoga:

My Tantra Yoga mentor, the Aghori Naga, was a fire-worshipper. He would spend his days in Homa (offering oblations to fire) and nights in Dhuni (transformation by being consumed by fire).

While he dedicated his entire sadhana to Homa & Dhuni, he would tell me that there are four nights in a year when the practices Homa and Dhuni are particularly worthwhile.

One of these four nights is- Moha Ratri, the eighth tithi (day) of the krishna paksha (days of receding moon) in the month of Shravana. In Dwapar Yuga, Krishna was on born Moha Ratri and since then this day is celebrated as Janamastami in popular culture. (It’s not a coincidence that Krishna was a Param Yogi. He was born in the planetary alignment to be one).

Moha Ratri, the night of love in Tantra Yoga:

There’s a story in Tantra Yoga lore-

Once upon a time, there was a star. The star was in love with a blue lotus, which grew in the Mansarovar pond of Kailash Parvat. Every night, the star would touch this lotus with its celestial light. The touch of love would make the blue-lotus bloom and they would spend the night in the luminous embrace of love.

One night, the star fell sick; the gravitational forces at its core became stronger than the momentum of fire burning inside it, thus restricting the flow of its light.

When the blue lotus heard of it from the moon, it offered itself as oblation to the internal fire of the star. That night, the star finally shone, it shone like a blue lotus. That night was Moha Ratri and since that day, on every Moha Ratri the star shines like a blue lotus.

This is the reason why in tantra yoga tradition, Moha Ratri is considered as phase of love. My tantra mentor would say that on this night, through simple rituals and oblations, a human body can be converted into a receptor of celestial light, which in turns transforms our being into living embodiment of love.

Therefore, born on this night Krishna is such an irresistible lover. Whether it was milkmaids or Vrindavan or Radha or Meera or the timeless poets and artistes they have fallen inexorably in love with Krishna.

So, on Moha Ratri tantrics observe homas and dhuni to become Krishnamaya, in order to become the irresistible lover like him.

However, before we can discuss the DIY Homa and Dhuni, it is essential to understand what it means to be a lover like Krishna.

Krishna’s love:

Krishna embodies love for all- Gopis or Gopalas, Devas or Asurs. He accepts all.

When hunched-back and hated by all Kubja came to him with a wish of turning into a beautiful maiden, Krishna didn’t give a lecture on body-image issues, but he granted that wish. When he rescued 16,100 maidens from Narakasur and married them to restore their honor, he made each of them feel like chosen one, like he loved them more than anyone else. When he stole the clothes of Gopis, he robbed them of their egos, enabling them to meet Krishna in their purest form. When he loved Radha, it was beyond social bonds, time and space.

Krishna’s love incorporates all the 12 Rasas (spiritual tastes) - passion, wonder, conjugal love, fun, chivalry, kindness, servitude, friendship, horror, shock, saintly and parent like.

This is what makes Krishna the Supreme Lover and this is wish of tantrics on the night of Moha Ratri, for which they practice Homa and Dhuni

.

Easy DIY Tantra Yoga ritual for Moharati:

If you want to experience love in its purest form- an immersion in spiritual, mental and physical union. Here’s a  simple ritual to follow. You don’t have to be a Yogi or a tantric follow this, it just requires pure heart. If you have a partner, you can practice with the partner or you can practice alone, either way, it potent enough to sort out your love life-

Step 1:

On Moharatri/Janamashtami sit in any meditative posture, close your eyes and visual Krishna as Supreme lover- a physical manifestation of the 12 Rasas- dearest friend, kind father, and passionate consort. Visualize him as an embodiment of all accepting physical, mental and spiritual love. Meditate upon this visualization.

If you find this visualization difficult, you can focus on a picture or idol of Krishna.

Step 2:

Light a ghee lamp. Place it at eye level. Stare at its flame, no blinking. If tears roll down your cheeks, it’s okay. They are soul cleansers. As you stare at the flame, perform a mental Homa. Offer all your mental afflictions to the flame- anger, rage, jealousy, hatred, ego, greed, desires. One by one disrobe yourself of all the afflictions you have accumulated. Finally, oblate all your karmas to the flame- negative and positive and transcend beyond all the karmas.

Step 3:

Close your eyes and rest in this state of purity, with your eyes closed, visualize the scared fire touching you with cosmic love, transforming you into an irresistible cosmic lover.

Step 4:

Gently open your eyes, come out of meditation, cup your palms, fill them with cold water, blink your eyes in the water.  

    

 Suggested Reading:

1. This Diwali Woo Laxmi Through Sound Yoga
2. This Navratri channelize the inter 'Shakti' in three breaths
3. Meeting Durga through path of Rumi

General Guidelines For Practicing Yog Nidra

1 - Kirti Tarang Pande

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Mandala Courtesy: Bhavana Agarawal, Instructor, Home Yogis' Home

1. Yog Nidra is usually practiced for 1 or 2 ghatika, i.e. 20 or 40 minutes.
2. Light and loose clothes should be worn for the practice.
3. There are separate Yog Nidra practices for – therapy, learning and for spiritual progress.
4. The practice rooms should be quiet, well ventilated, the temperature should be neither hot nor cold, and semi dark.
5. Television, music, mobile and other forms of distractions should be turned off before starting this practice.
6. Shavasana is the recommended posture for Yog Nidra. This minimizes touch sensations by eliminating contact between the limbs of the body. Fingertips are extremely sensitive organs of tactile sensations, therefore palms are turned upwards. In order to, eliminate the sight stimuli, eyes are kept shut.
7. During the meditation, the instructions should be followed with gentle awareness. Please do not concentrate or hold your breathe.
8. Staying awake is the most important aspect of Yog Nidra.
9. While focusing of sound, no sensory impressions are to be forcibly excluded. Thoughts should not be forcibly excluded. On application of force, just like a wild horse, mind too gets disturbed and restless. The best way out is- not to accept or reject any sensory impression or thought. If sensory impressions are coming, allow them to come, if thoughts are coming let them come, just don’t pay any attention to them. After sometime, mind loses interests in external world and automatically becomes quiet. This methid of calming the mind is called Antar Mouna. It prepares the consciousness to practice Yog Nidra.


Want to know more? Read...

1. Nyasa Tantra and Yog Nidra
2. What is Yog Nidra
3. How to stay awake during Yog Nidra?

On unrelated note, suggested reading:

1. Orgasm and Yoga



2. Yoga Kit for Surviving Heartbreak

Nyasa Tantra and Yog Nidra

- Kirti Tarang Pande
Official Website, Instagram, Twitter

Mandala Courtesy: Bhavana Agarawal, Home Yogis' Home

What is Nyasa Tantra?

Nyasa means to place and Tantra means technique, this makes Nyasa Tantra a technique of physically and/or mentally placing matrikas on the body parts of the sadhak.

Some tantrics view Nyasa Tantra as a practice of ‘divinizing the body’.

Yog Nidra and Nyasa Tantra

Until Swami Satyananada Saraswati popularized it, Yog Nidra remained as a lesser known practice of this tantric sect.

It used the powerful technique of Yog Nidra to rotate the consciousness in the body. Through this rotation, physical body is consecrated by higher awareness/divine consciousness. In short, this technique is used by tantrics to dissolve negative karmas and hence become ‘devata-maya’.

Swami Satyananda was the first yogi of modern times to pull Yog Nidra out of tantric rituals which were difficult to incorporate in the daily practice of a common man. Thus, making it relevant to our times.

The practice of Yog Nidra in Nyasa Tantra

In Nyasa Tantra a session of yoga sadhana is closed with Yog Nidra.

Yog Nidra is practiced in sitting posture. First the name of a body part is recited and then corresponding matrika is placed/touched/experienced upon that part.

Angushtadi-Shadanga-nyasa and Hridayi-Shadanga-nyasa is two common Yog Nidra practices amongst modern tantrics of Nyasa sect.

Want to know more? Read...1. General guidelines for practicing Yog Nidra
2. What is Yog Nidra
3. How to stay awake during Yog Nidra?

On unrelated note, suggested reading:

1. Orgasm and Yoga


2. Yoga Kit for Surviving Heartbreak

What is Yog Nidra?

- Kirti Tarang Pande
Official Website, Instagram, Twitter

Mandala Courtesy: Bhavana Agarawal, Instructor, Home Yogis' Home

Yog Nidra (yogic sleep) is a state between sleeping, dreaming and wakefulness.

 At the beginner’s level, Yog Nidra is a state of dynamic sleep. As we go deeper into practice we realize that it’s an experience far beyond all this.

It is a psychic sleep, a state of deep relaxation with inner awareness. It is a spontaneous point of contact with the subconscious and unconscious dimensions.

Where it came from?

The first available reference to Yog Nidra is found in ancient Hindu text- Mandukya Upnishad, written in late 5^th century BCE.
While discussing the four stages of consciousness with respect to the scared utterance of Om (AUM), Mandukya Upnishad talks about Yog Nidra as-

An awareness of consciousness in a deep-sleep state leading to the unraveling of Prajna(highest and purest form of wisdom).

In Raja Yoga, rishi Patanjali refers to Yog Nidra as an aspect of Pratyahar, which leads to higher states of dharna (concentration) and Samadhi. He calls it a state where the mind and mental awareness are dissociated from the sensory channels.

The method:

Yog Nidra, the practitioner is guided by the Guru to turn inwards, away from the outer experiences. The entire process is an attempt to separate the consciousness from external awareness and from sleep. This sieved consciousness is used as a mind transformation tool.

Practice of Yog Nidra

These days Yog Nidra is most commonly used as guided relaxation technique, as a learning tool and as a therapy for insomnia, post traumatic stress disorder and other psychosomatic conditions.

However, traditionally, Yog Nidra is a practice of Mantra Yoga and Nyasa Yoga wings of Yoga.

In Mantra Yoga, Yog Nidra is practiced with the chant of AUM or SOHAM, to invoke the presence of a deity, in the body of a practitioner. This visualization meditation is performed before pooja.

While in Nyasa Tantra, Yog Nidra is performed at the end of the practice as a meditative technique to harmonize the deeper unconscious and awaken the inner potential.

Home Yogis’ Home and Yog Nidra

We infuse the essence of both Nyasa Tantra and Mantra Yoga in the practice of Yog Nidra. For the ease of practice, we have extracted the ritualistic practices of Nyasa Tantra from Yog Nidra. In all this, our attempt is to keep the practice as close to its original source Mandukya Upnishad as possible, while making it adaptable for our modern minds.

Therefore, we teach this powerful technique as a bedtime practice.

Caution:

While we always underline that learning to relax consciously is the step 1 in the practice of Yog Nidra, sleep isn’t regarded as relaxation. In fact, from a yogic point of view, sleep is nothing more than a sensory diversion. Therefore, the biggest challenge of our modern minds in the practice of Yoga Nidra is- to maintain a relaxed awareness and not fall asleep.

What’s the solution?  

            

Go step by step. At Home Yogis’ Home, we approach Yog Nidra through following stages and until a practitioner is comfortable with a stage we do not jump to the next one:

Stage 1:

Initiation into ‘Antar Maun’ meditation, to familiarize the practitioners with the process of resting in a relaxed awareness.

Stage 2:

Preparing the mind through a special ‘preparatory meditation’.

Stage 3:

We touch the surface of Yoga Nidra through four-point Pratyahar.

Stage 4:

Initiation into Yog Nidra.

Want to know more? Read...

1. General guidelines for practicing Yog Nidra
2. How to stay awake during Yog Nidra
3. Nyasa Tantra and Yog Nidra

On unrelated note, suggested reading:

1. Orgasm and Yoga
2. Yoga Kit for Surviving Heartbreak

Orgasm and Yoga

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Originally Published in Daily Bhaskar

First things first, yogis are not bores. I know ‘Brahmacharya’ is an important Niyam of Yoga, but it doesn’t mean celibacy. Celibacy is a one of the methods of Brahmacharya, and so is orgasm! I know it sounds confusing, to dispel it, we must understand what ‘Brahmacharya’ really means.

Meaning of Brahmacharya:

The word Bharmacharya is made of two Sanskrit dhatus- Brahman meaning the higher/universal consciousness and charya meaning conduct/behavior/practice.

Therefore, in its unadulterated and Vedantic sense, Brahmacharya means- To behave/act like higher consciousness. Like Rumi says, “Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.”

That’s the reason why “Aham Brahmasmi” (I am that universal consciousness) is one the primary Mantras given to students of Mantra Yoga.

Now the question arises- how do celibacy and orgasm fit into this picture? To answer this, we need to know- how to act like Brahman?

How to act like Brahman?

In simplest terms, to act like higher consciousness means, having no interest in the pleasures of the materialistic world for personal good.

Hence, celibacy, which means, restraining from sensual pleasures, by definition, is the easiest, simplest and safest way to do it. Moreover, one needs no partner or instructor for this practice.

Unlike sex, in order to use sex as an instrument of spirituality, one requires a lover and a teacher with right motivation. This is rare and even after having the right teacher; it’s a risqué and slippery road.

It’s time we discuss this in details:

Orgasm and Yoga:

Yoga is defined as ‘yujyate anena iti yogah’, one that unites is yoga. The union that we are talking about is of Atman- the inner self & the Brahman. (Now you can gauge the importance of the role Brahmacharya plays in Yoga).

Moving on, the Sanskrit word for orgasm is Brahmanadasahodra (as mentioned in Rasavada, propounded by Bharat Muni, 3^rd century BCE). Brahmandasahodra literally means, twin brother of the bliss of knowing Brahman.

This implies, through orgasm one can understand the bliss of knowing the Brahman. Once we have understood Brahman in a blissful fashion, it’s easy to act like it. Given that bliss is a powerful motivation, contrasting it with celibacy (only practitioners of higher yoga find bliss in celibacy).

When we start acting like Brahman, it’s easy to unite with it, which is the goal of Yoga (as discussed above).

When we look at things this way, the orgasmic path of yoga seems pretty alluring and simple. Then why did I caution you earlier, calling it risqué?

Why is orgasmic path of yoga risky?

Orgasm is the twin brother of the bliss of knowing Brahman. This implies that it’s the closest thing that we have got, but it’s not the real thing.

However, the pleasure of this bliss of yogic method of orgasm is so immense that it becomes hard for us to even imagine that something could be more pleasurable & blissful than this.

How can we desire something that we can’t even imagine? If we don’t desire something, we won’t act to get it. If we won’t act like Brahman, we won’t be united with Brahman (as per Patanjali Yogsutram).

In short, upon experiencing the orgasm through yogic method, it’s rare that a practitioner can remember that this experience is an instrument to achieve the real thing. It’s not the real thing.

Thus, the growth of the practitioner in yogic path stops. The practitioner comes close to realizing the goal of Yoga but fails to realize it. Tragic isn’t it?

Then what to do?

Find out what’s your goal. Not everyone desires to unite with Brahman, for some the twin brother is good enough. If you’re one of the latter, then go ahead with it- find a genuine teacher, with right motivation and practice with caution, questions and love.

By the way:

Key features of orgasm attained through yogic method:

(According to Rasvada of Bharat Muni)

1. Everything dissolves in immensely blissful state of rasa- anandaikaghana (union with bliss).

2. The experience is ‘aloukika’ (transcendental).

3. The subject-object duality ceases to exist (advaita).

4. One stops identifying with the Atman (individual self).

5. A special preparation of body and mind is required to practice this.

6. It is not the ultimate goal, but a powerful instrument to attain the ultimate goal.

Rama & Sita- Valmiki's Yogic Metaphors

-Kirti Tarang Pande

Official Website, Instagram, Twitter

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.