AṬHA YOGA IS A SYSTEM OF BODILY POSTURES, OR ĀSANAS, CREATED AS A METHOD FOR THE YOGĪ PRACTICING YOGA FOR LONG HOURS EACH DAY, PERFORMING JAPA AND MEDITATION, TO EXERCISE AND KEEP THE PHYSICAL BODY HEALTHY SO THAT his meditations could continue uninhibited by disease or weakness. That is how it was explained to me long ago. The great, fully illumined ṛishis of old, in order to serve mankind, completely inwardly motivated the external world for good upon good upon good, as do the great ṛishis of India today as well. They sat in their caves, in forests or on river banks to think upon the karma of the masses and take it into their minds by understanding mankind’s predicaments. The impact of the cause-and-effect actions would affect their physical body. Outside of meditation, they would perform their routine of āsanas to untie the knots of these karmas they had taken onto themselves, and the villages and the countries and the individuals within them would improve. These great yogīs were, indeed, not unlike the Gods. The purpose of haṭha yoga today again is the same—to keep the physical body, emotional body, astral body and mental body harmonious, healthy and happy so that awareness can soar within to the heights of divine realization.§
Haṭha yoga has come along with advaita yoga from the Sanskrit ṛishis, and has been on Earth thousands of years. Each teacher of haṭha yoga teaches from the perspective of where he is in consciousness. For example, the advaitist, or pure monist, uses techniques of haṭha yoga to nurture the advaita philosophy within his students. The dvaitist, or dualist, uses the techniques of haṭha yoga to make somebody healthy, to heal kidney problems and for general limbering up of the individual.§
In 1969 we performed haṭha yoga in the Himalayas above Darjeeling, at 13,000 feet, on India’s Tibet/Nepal border. It was there that I was blessed with a very great unfoldment of blending all the major haṭha yoga techniques and practices into a concise system captured in Shūm, our language of meditation. This took place in the presence of over seventy-five devotees who had gathered from several countries, the largest such group to ever pilgrimage to India, we were told at the time.§
Haṭha yoga as it is generally being taught now in the Americas and in Europe is quite different than it originally was. The presentation of haṭha yoga in Shūm molds it into its original simplicity. The Shūm language perspective of haṭha yoga is of the Nandinātha Sampradāya. It is a more mystical perspective than ordinarily seen today. In our haṭha yoga we work with color, we work with sound and with the subtle emotions and feelings of the body when going from one āsana to another. That is the difference. Each āsana carefully executed, with regulated breathing, the visualization of color and the hearing of the inner sound, slowly unties the knotted vāsanās within the subconscious mind and releases awareness from there to mountaintop consciousness. Haṭha yoga opens up the consciousness, because when the height of the energy, the zenith, is reached in each posture and we change to the next posture, a small or large adjustment occurs within the physical and astral nerve system.§
True, there are those who regard it as a means of health, longevity, fitness, stamina or disease abatement. Haṭha yoga, or banasana as we call it in Shūm, is a harmless way of exercising the body, and it does produce all of these results. The results come more readily to those who have a subconscious foundation of Vedānta and a background of Siddhānta, temple worship. By this I mean the born Hindu who was raised in a religious home, worshiping in the home shrine, going to the temple with his parents, which is Siddhānta, and if fortunate, learning Vedānta. Haṭha yoga blends Vedānta and Siddhānta in the psyche of the devotee, as does japa, laying the foundation for deep meditation on Siddhānta and Vedānta. European and American devotees, even without having had these privileges, when practicing haṭha yoga become healthy and experience a certain mental peace. These are my observations over the past fifty years. Haṭha yoga and the basic techniques of prāṇāyāma should not be overdone. They are totally safe in moderation. And japa with the universal mantra Aum is beneficial to those of all religions and faiths and beliefs and nonreligions and all ism’s.§
Traditionally, haṭha yoga, or āsana, is the third step in the eightfold yoga system outlined by ṛishi Patanjali in his Yoga Sūtras. It is preceded by yama and niyama, the moral restraints and spiritual observances. Many people practice it today without having been established in the yamas and niyamas. Yet, the results, obtained slowly, bring them into the yamas and niyamas, which are the foundation of yoga in Hinduism.§
The great gurus, ṛishis and swāmīs who came from India and taught haṭha yoga at the turn of the twentieth century, guided the inquiring souls in a traditional way. At the turn of the ’60s those who came from India teaching mantras and high-powered prāṇāyāma techniques led them astray. The yamas and niyamas, as well as haṭha yoga, should precede mantra yoga. You need the haṭha, meaning “sun-moon,” before mantra japa should be done. And you need the yamas and niyamas before japa should be done. Once the yamas and the niyamas and the ha and the ṭha are all functioning properly, then we can begin performing japa.§
Twenty-four āsanas are taught in our Himalayan Academy. Though there are many more in complex haṭha yoga systems, I chose these as an adequate number to be gone through in succession to transfer awareness from the external areas of the nerve system to the inner areas of the nerve system and give a general exercise to the physical body through the performance of them each day. Each position holds awareness in one area of the mind or another. The names given to these positions in the Shūm language name not only the physical position, but also the area of the mind in which awareness is held.§
There are two phases in performing haṭha yoga. The first is physical, learning to loosen up the body and to properly attain the posture. Once the body can assume the various postures, the second phase can be mastered, moving rhythmically from one āsana to another when the energy flow within the āsana itself is at its high point. Thus the building of the energy within the body feeds the astral body and brings mental, emotional and physical health. It takes about a half an hour a day to perform the series of twenty-four āsanas well, or just ten minutes as a minimum. Group haṭha yoga is also good.§
The kriyās, such as the cleansing of the mucous membranes of the sinuses and of the digestive tract, are an integral part of haṭha yoga for many people. This is beneficial for the health, preservation and longevity of the physical body, as is āyurveda, which is actually a part of this form of yoga. From the Nāthas came haṭha yoga. And from it came these various disciplines, which enable you to go into the prāṇāyāmas, then into concentration and meditation. But you should prove to your guru that you are disciplined first. Truly, haṭha yoga is the beginning of all yogas. It is the ideal exercise for human beings.§
Haṭha yoga is an excellent preparation for meditation. Though meditation can be performed without doing haṭha yoga āsanas, it is an aid, a great helping hand, especially for the beginning student. One of the greatest benefits is that it makes the devotee aware of his nerve system—first that he has one, second that it has three or four sections, and third that the nerve feelings within his feet are different from those of his hands and again different from those in his head, and so on. Through this study, he learns that the nerve system and awareness and energy are all synonymous. He becomes aware that he is aware, that he can move awareness from one area to another. Therefore, in daily life he begins to do just that—move awareness out of unhappy conditions of the mind into happy ones, deliberately and at will, for when man equates awareness with the nerve system and with energy, he has, therefore, willpower and can become aware of what he wants to be aware of at will.§
Singling Out Seeds of Desire§
There is a classic question, “What way is there to control our desires and thus stay balanced?” Years ago, in 1950, I answered this concisely in an aphorism of Cognizantability, which you can read in Merging with Śiva. Here is that aphorism: “The seed of desire is a false concept in relation to corresponding objects. The conscious mind throws into its subconscious a series of erroneous thoughts based upon a false concept. This creates a deep-rooted desire or complex. Single out the seed of desire by disregarding all other corresponding erroneous thoughts. Then destroy that seed through understanding its relation in itself, and to all other corresponding thoughts. The deep-rooted desire or complex will then vanish.”§
Our deep-rooted desires or complexes—which are the battle within everyone during certain periods of life—must be defused first. But in order to defuse them, we have to find them. In other words, we have to bring our mind to a point where we can concentrate without any effort, where our mind is so calm and so quiet that we have effortless concentration. In other words, we have to bring our mind to a point where the subconscious mind itself is concentrated, giving birth to an inner peace which surpasses all understanding. In order to do this, the system of haṭha yoga was unfolded to very great teachers many thousands of years ago and handed down from teacher to teacher; and one of my teachers handed it down to me.§
Haṭha yoga is a system of handling the physical body so that you quiet it through the subconscious mind. Haṭha yoga is founded on the principle of holding the body in a traditional posture until the nerve currents figuratively speaking, get tuned up to a perfect pitch. It is like tuning the strings on a vīṇā. If you tune the vīṇā just right, each string will be in harmony with the others. In haṭha yoga we remain in each posture, each āsana, until the whole nature is tuned up to that posture. Change into another position and the whole nature will get tuned up to that position, therefore bringing calmness by tuning up the body.§
For instance, I extend my right arm out to the side and hold it there. For the first thirty seconds the arm may feel very comfortable , and I will feel all the nerve currents adjusting themselves to that position. After thirty or forty seconds, the arm will begin to feel heavy, and the part of the subconscious mind that controls the body will say, “All the nerve currents have been tuned up to this position. It is time to move to another position.” At this point, I move into another position, while visualizing the corresponding color. I again feel the nerve currents readjusting and tuning up to that position. Then the corresponding part of the subconscious mind will again inform me that the arm has been there long enough, and I should move into another position. After going through three positions, this arm feels entirely different from the other arm. It feels alive and vibrant, like a well-tuned vīṇā, while the other arm feels ordinary, like any old vīṇā that has been lying around.§
This is how haṭha yoga works: no stretching, no straining, no pulling, no stressing, as the whole body is tuned up to a perfect pitch. You will find that if you practice this series of āsanas regularly over a period of time, you will be able to concentrate without any effort whatsoever. In other words, you will be in an automatic state of concentration. You will be alive consciously and much more alive subconsciously than you have ever experienced if you practice this form of haṭha yoga consistently and live a balanced, dharmic life in keeping with the yamas and niyamas.§
When the body is tuned up through the correct practice of haṭha yoga, systematically over a long period of time, the mind becomes so acute that the student is able to single out the seed of desire by disregarding all other corresponding erroneous thoughts. In other words, in the practice of this alone, he is beginning to burn out the seeds of desire from within. When a student practices haṭha yoga past the elementary stages, he is watched by his teacher, who observes the progress by evaluating his vibrations, the effect on the skin, etc. Ideally, the student is becoming more spiritual by perfecting the physical body. Through this practice, the physical body will become supple, healthy and good looking. If a person is too heavy, the metabolism will adjust itself. If a person is too light, it will adjust accordingly. Through this practice, the body is becoming a perfect vehicle for the soul to live in. The tensions that have been built up through the years become fleeting, the mind becomes alive and he is able to single out the seed of desire and, in the light of understanding, destroy it. What does that do? That gives birth to a great wisdom through the subconscious mind. In other words, you don’t have to think to know. You know, and thinking is a result. Then you are able to become affectionately detached in all of your relations and find a greater love through understanding.§
Health and Longevity§
Haṭha yoga, coupled with āyurveda, regulates the heat of the body, and it is the heat of the body that prevents and wards off disease and all health problems. Therefore, Haṭha yoga and āyurveda, which balance the energies of the entire body, should be practiced throughout one’s lifetime for health and well-being. Satguru Siva Yogaswami, knowing all this, often said a fever is a blessing. From the haṭha yoga perspective, it is the heat that destroys, or fries, the germs. It also relaxes the muscle tissue and harmonizes the central and sympathetic nervous system, not unlike taking a very hot bath.§
Haṭha yoga and āyurveda also produce heat in the body. They work together. There is a formula for increasing the heat of the body in winter and reducing it in summer. When people are discouraged or depressed, the heat of the body goes down. When they are angry and excited, the heat of the body goes up. This is an unregulated heat, guided by emotion. When we eat certain foods, the heat of the body goes up. Other foods make the heat of the body go down. This fluctuation has its corresponding effects on the moods and emotions. It is the regulation and balance of this heat that haṭha yoga and āyurveda seek for a healthy and productive life. Haṭha yoga can cure diseases that can be cured through the balancing of the iḍā and the piṅgalā, which often brings a diet change, eating good foods according to the guidelines of āyurveda.§
Acupuncture and massage are also a part of haṭha yoga, a part of the same science of ha and ṭha. Acupuncture, which also works directly on the nervous system, is a refinement of it, as is moving the praṇas of the body through tai chi chuan. Haṭha yoga does not end with the haṭha yoga āsanas. All the rest are part of it, as are hot and cold baths, mineral baths, hot sand and proper foods. Haṭha yoga takes in āyurveda and āyurveda takes in haṭha yoga. They are all of a one interrelated system, just like dance. Dance is not only the movement of the body; it is exercise, rhythm, drama, the knowledge of music, knowledge of timing and more. It’s an all-inclusive art. Similarly, āyurveda does not stand alone. It’s a part of haṭha yoga. It is the science of life. I would recommend chiropractic to also be a part of the practice of haṭha yoga. The tendons are the inhibiting factor. There is no greater healing to be released into the body than through haṭha yoga, āyurveda, acupuncture and chiropractic.§
When iḍā and piṅgalā are balanced, the sushumṇā is activated. Haṭha yoga balances the iḍā and the piṅgalā because it balances the entire body in which the iḍā and piṅgalā run. When the iḍā and the piṅgalā are balanced, the devotee is very present. He is very present. He is not conscious of the past, not conscious of the future. Many take the activation of the sushumṇā as the cultivation of kuṇḍalinī. Sushumṇā is the spiritual force. It is also the healing force, the primal energy, not only within the physical body, but the astral and mental bodies as well. All self-healings are done through the sushumṇā current. It is neither hot nor cold. It is of itself, unto itself, ever present. It gives the all-pervading feeling of the now consciousness. It is rāja yoga practice that awakens the kuṇḍalinī and guides its journey through the chakras. The kuṇḍalinī permanently alters consciousness by slowly expanding it into superconscious realms. It is the hot fire that burns cold, that cuts through the force centers which the sushumṇā holds together and energizes.§
It is the fire which burns hot, through the iḍā and piṅgalā, if it has been forced into action through premature rāja yoga practices. But it burns as a cool fire through the sushumṇā, altering consciousness all the way, if the devotee has been properly prepared for many years. This preparation is done by performing charyā, which is karma yoga; kriyā, which is bhakti yoga, unqualified surrender; and japa yoga, unceasing repetition of mantras; with a firm Śaivite Hindu religious-cultural background firmly implanted in the subconscious mind and followed as a way of life. That is why haṭha is the basis of yoga which all the swāmīs teach. Then from that you go to karma yoga, to bhakti yoga, japa yoga, rāja yoga and finally to jñāna.§
When the iḍā and piṅgalā —the ha and the ṭha—are balanced, the spiritual force is there, the pure life energy, sushumṇā, and it actually seems to rise up the spine, because the iḍā and piṅgalā balance from the base of the spine up to the nape of the neck. A great peace pervades the seeker, a feeling of nowness, happiness, contentment—but there is no altering of consciousness.§
Through the sushumṇā current, the energy continually flows down through the top of the head to the base of the spine. It carries with it the karma of this life, determining the character of the person, the form and shape of the body. It is the life force that is in tune with the entire universe, feeding through not only the iḍā and piṅgalā but all the organs of the astral body and mental body. It is this current that one goes into in deep sleep and wakes up energized.§
Now, this has nothing to do with the kuṇḍalinī force. The sushumṇā is not an altering-of-consciousness force. It is a sustaining-of-consciousness force. It is the force of sanity. Therefore, performing haṭha yoga, especially in the modern age, when we can become so externalized through emotional upheavals and overt mental activity, brings one back to oneself. We could say the sushumṇā is the purusha force, the soul force. It is where the jīva lives in the physical body.§
Untying Karmic Knots§
God Śiva created the soul perfect, but the mischievous actions of the jīvas, embodied souls, manifest various entanglements, karmas, actions and reactions. Fresh karmas are embedded in the sympathetic nerve system, and if serious, in the central nerve system. Haṭha yoga is the healer, the first-aid kit, for the results of mischievous actions of Śiva’s jīvas.§
Iḍā and piṅgalā are the tools of the jīva to express its creativity and work through its various karmas of each birth. The nervous system is the vehicle for the soul’s experience of karma, the back-and-forth battle within the physical, sensual universe. Therefore it needs to be strong. Haṭha yoga is exercise for the nervous system, the only science for this purpose, reaping a strong network in which the soul can go through these experiences. Haṭha yoga balance brings the sushumṇā into prominence, keeps the system healthy by being balanced and being fed by the sushumṇā. It is the kuṇḍalinī force rising through the nervous system that builds a new nerve system.§
Haṭha yoga can also be of psychological, mental benefit. It is a do-it-yourself psychological tool, a harmless antidote to physical, mental and emotional diseases. It is a harmless remedy for uneasiness. Haṭha yoga exercises the physical body and the emotional body, which is the astral body, in a controlled and a systematic way. A byproduct of this is a certain amount of benefit to the mental body. Its conscious and subconscious states of mind become quiescent. Superconsciousness temporarily prevails. That makes it the first of the yogas and the last of the yogas. The jñāni will practice haṭha yoga, the rāja yogī would, so would the bhakti yogī, so would the karma yogī, as would all who own a physical body. It is all-inclusive and will amplify the results of all the other yogas that are going on. It would lead one to the Hindu temple, to the Gods. They are the great psychologists and psychiatrists for the Hindu. Because haṭha yoga really does stimulate the kuṇḍalinī śakti, Lord Ganeśa is stimulated within the mūlādhāra chakra, and one is drawn to Lord Gaṇeśa in a temple, or to a picture of Him.§
If we are flowing through an area of the mind where we are aware of the emotional area of the nerve system, if we are having mental arguments with ourselves and we sit down and begin to practice the haṭha yoga āsanas, we become aware of energy in its natural state. We cease being aware of energy in its mirage of vibrations of the external nerve system. We have, in effect, shifted gears from the external to the internal after doing a few āsanas. This does not mean that after we finish our haṭha yoga session that we cannot get up and go into another room and continue the argument with ourself, or go back into the confused area of the mind of fears, worries or doubts.§
If you have a negative experience with someone, haṭha yoga can help you regain a balance. If someone antagonizes you, you feel it in your solar plexus and nervous system. You can either swim ten laps, run a mile or perform haṭha yoga to regain your inner balance. It harmonizes the forces of the physical and emotional bodies. It does not erase the incident from the mind. Nor does it resolve the matter. That requires other practical steps, such as sitting down and talking it over with the person or performing vāsanā daha tantra. You still remember the situation, and if you start recollecting it, you stir up the memory in the solar plexus. You can swim ten laps, run a mile or perform haṭha yoga to again regain your poise. So, we can clearly see that haṭha yoga is a yoking of the physical, emotional and mental bodies. As its name indicates, the yoga of ha and ṭha, sun and moon, piṅgalā and iḍā, creates a unified body.§
Karmas manifest in the nervous system, be they good, bad or mixed. This is all most desirable for the individual, in that it compels him to use his self-propelling force. All small and large tensions in the body are the result of mixed karmas and bad karmas that have not been resolved. Positive karmas create no tensions within the body. They dispel disease, harmonize the nerve system and keep the muscles relaxed. Karmas are forces leading to fulfillment, set in motion by the individual himself somewhere in his past. The performance of haṭha yoga, balancing of the ha and the ṭha, untangles the nerve system and regulates the timing of these karmas, so that they do not, in their fulfillment, reentangle the nerve system.§
Congested, unresolved, seeking-to-be-dissolved karma manifests as knots in the nerve system which can be seen as darkness or redness in the aura. You can carefully work with them through haṭha yoga, āyurveda, massage, chiropractic and acupuncture. With this union of approaches, results will be obtained that will be very satisfactory. Resolution can be stimulated through loosening the karmas through haṭha yoga. Then, when they come up in the mind or in interpersonal relationships, the use of spiritual journaling, vāsanā daha tantra; the use of bhakti yoga techniques, putting the problems at the feet of the Deities and sending prayers to the devas; the practice of karma yoga, selfless service; and of japa yoga will eventually resolve these karmas by dissolving the emotion connected to the memory patterns.§
Young people, before the age of twenty-five, in the brahmacharya āśrama, are generally more consistent with their haṭha yoga practices than older people. This is not just because they are young, but because few of their prārabdha karmas have manifested. From twenty-five to fifty, the prārabdha karmas of this life manifest in their fullness. This is the time when haṭha yoga is most beneficial. Some of the karmas created in past lives manifest first in the astral body, then in the physical body. Through haṭha yoga and simple prāṇāyāma, they can be conquered in the astral body itself. However, if they are persistent karmas, manifesting in the physical body as tensions, haṭha yoga becomes a total life- and environment-changing process.§
Often people give up haṭha yoga to stop the process of change. Others persist and finally dissolve the karmas systematically, one after the other. We often see people begin on the spiritual path and then abruptly leave it, burying themselves in their moods and emotions. The regular practice of haṭha yoga is self-discipline, which is a basic aid in character building. A good character and strong willpower are essential to advance oneself spiritually. Haṭha yoga may be done all through life. If a person gives it up, he suffers the consequences. It is the most perfect form of exercise. But it is certainly not the yoga of all yogas. It is a physical, mental, emotional, intellectual harmonization. When you have taken unto yourself many responsibilities and divided your awareness, haṭha yoga often becomes one of your last priorities and you may neglect it and, in a sense, sacrifice your body for your duties. But that does not mean that you are going to be rewarded with a lot of health or longevity. You will have to compensate by doing a lot of walking. I think that haṭha yoga is the overlord of all exercises. Each posture affects a certain organ and a state of mind connected to that organ.§
Karma can be experienced externally, or internally in a softened way, through haṭha yoga. It is according to the nature of the karma that the devotee experiences one kind of release or another. Small karmas can be totally dissolved within oneself. Large, negative and mixed karmas would return, and if there is a lesson to be learned will be experienced in the outside world but mitigated or softened through haṭha yoga and the vāsanā daha tantra, which if practiced regularly do bring flashes of superconsciousness into the person’s understanding mechanism.§
There is still another kind of karma that people carry, and that is the karma of other people. Certain people are parasitic and want someone else to live their life for them. These kinds of karmas can be very heavy on the nerve system. But they can be resolved and thrown off immediately through haṭha yoga. We cannot help but help our loved ones with their karmic experiences. Therefore, the haṭha yoga and basic prāṇāyāma techniques and all that we have explained so far keep the motherly and fatherly people of this world helpful but unburdened.§
Western Seekers§
The millions of people who practice haṭha yoga just to stay limber and beautiful are also on the path of mitigating mixed and negative karmas. Even the time that they use performing haṭha yoga keeps them out of mischief. Anyone who is practicing haṭha yoga, no matter what his basic belief system is, is exposed to basic tenets of Hinduism. He becomes attracted to books on haṭha yoga, written in India, which are full of Hinduism. Haṭha yoga has come to be a basic household yoga in the modern world. This is a break-away from tradition, but it has worked out well.§
Many seekers delve into elaborate, high-powered prāṇāyāmas, breathing practices. But you don’t need elaborate or high-powered prāṇāyāmas for effective haṭha yoga. The simplest are the best. There are two ways to practice prāṇāyāma. One is to control and regulate the breath, which in turn regulates the prāṇas. The other is to use the breath and the prāṇas to awaken the kuṇḍalinī fire. This is rāja yoga, not haṭha yoga. Haṭha yoga is balancing the heat and cold that already exist within the body. Rāja yoga is awakening the fire to deliberately burn out karmas that have not yet manifested in this life—good, bad and mixed—or which may not manifest until another life. There is a great difference here. Many other yogas have to be gone through and perfected before rāja yoga should be practiced. A university medical school does not put a scalpel in the hand of a novice. In rāja yoga, the patient is himself. He must be well prepared.§
What is the phenomenon of spontaneous, uncontrollable movements and shaking of the body that seekers sometimes display? These “kriyās” are similar to other emotional releases, like laughing and crying, depression and demobilization of physical functions through the loss of the will. They come spontaneously, often unbidden, and are more often experienced by those who do not have a firm philosophical Sanātana Dharma foundation within their subconscious mind. These actions are wrongly thought to be desirable signs of spiritual progress, but in reality they are unnecessary shaking and jerking of the body. In Śaiva Siddhānta, this is not a part of spiritual practice, but is considered a fairly primitive release, as is speaking in tongues, the primal scream and incomprehensible trances which, as described by the ṛishis, one goes into as a fool and comes out of as a fool. None of these are transforming to consciousness; they are emotional releases.§
A regular regime of haṭha yoga can help harmonize and stabilize those kinds of outbursts. It harmonizes the heat and cold, which harmonizes the ups and downs of emotion. The full intent of a developing society is to foster controls. Haṭha yoga is a control. So are the basic prāṇāyāmas. They add to a flourishing society. We are not in favor of going back to primitive, uncontrolled outbursts and fostering departures from society by individuals with no structure whatsoever to sustain themselves. This is the cultish nuisance which society deplores today.§
The Nerve System§
In haṭha yoga we are moving our awareness from an external part of the nerve system to an internal part of the nerve system. In doing so, the physical cells adjust. It takes time for the physical body to change. Therefore, haṭha yoga and āyurvedic nutrition for meditation should be worked on consistently over a period of time for positive results to manifest—at least one year or a year and a half.§
As we move awareness into the internal nerve system, the physical body begins to respond. It begins to become lighter. The muscles begin to relax. There have been people who have experienced states of superconsciousness which enabled them to immediately to sit in lotus position, padmāsana; whereas previously they couldn’t sit in that position at all. The superconscious system completely dominated the external nerve system with a rush of bouncing energy, and that internal nerve system took over the physical body temporarily.§
This is what we want to accomplish. We want to be living in the inner nerve system and have it motivate the forces of the physical body, rather than living in the external nerve system, which should basically take care of the functions of elimination, keeping the blood circulating and the other instinctive functions of the body. Because we become conscious of the nerve system as being the physical body, we relinquish our consciousness of skin and bones as being the physical body. That’s also what we do when we learn to dance. It is the nerve system that dances. The physical body’s movement is only a reaction. Therefore, one could dance sitting still, not moving at all.§
From a mystical perspective, the nerve system is the area of the mind within man’s body through which energy bounces. It is through the nerve system that we become aware of three worlds: the external world, objects, things, people; the world of thought, concepts, precepts, light; and the world of rarefied space, of inner space in the internal areas of the mind. Energy bounding through the nerve system is encased in an energy sheath which disseminates highly charged actinic energy into another type of energy called actinodic force, and then into odic force.§
The subtle nerve system is unseen by any type of physical mechanism, in the same way electricity is unseen. This is called the psychic nerve system. The physical nerve system can be seen, as this energy becomes translated into odic force. These nerve systems in depth in the external working together cause man to be what he is as man.§
A good way to portray the inner nerve currents would be with the example of an onion. You have one skin on top of another skin on top of another skin on top of another skin—or like a gem stone, for instance a diamond. You have one layer on top of another layer on top of another layer on top of another layer. Esoterically, nerve currents are not like a bunch of little wires. That is only seeming. That is the way it looks when you look from the external world in, but when you look from the inner world out, you see them in sheaths or layers, completely covering the entire being of man, one vibratory rate to another that awareness is moving through. It’s not flowing out one little channel and another, so to speak. Nerve currents are like great rooms of a house rather than the hallways. Try to experience for yourself this new way of looking at nerve currents. Visualize yourself as an onion.§
The practice of haṭha yoga āsanas makes us aware of the totality of the nerve system, both the inner realms of the nerve system and the external. Man in everyday life is only aware of his external nerve system. He is not aware of the internal, and he is not aware that he is unaware of the internal areas of the nerve system. He is only aware of the external, of what he sees and what is in the immediate range of his feeling mechanism, his emotional mechanism and intellectual mechanism, and he generally is programmed to feel and see more or less the same things all the time. That’s why he wishes to go on a vacation, so he can see and feel different, or exercise other areas of the nerve system. The practice of haṭha yoga brings awareness of the other areas of the nerve system which are active all the time, and thus brings a certain improvement in physical health and emotional relaxation, simply because awareness is transferred from one area of the nerve system into another, and mental peace is felt because he is aware of the area of the nerve system which is peaceful.§
Haṭha yoga āsanas loosen the muscles around the bones and increase the circulation of the blood, causing man to be aware of the nerve system as it flows through the physical body only. Man in everyday life is aware of the nerve system as it flows through the emotions or through the intellect. A new, challenging idea comes to him, and he begins to go into the thinking area of the mind. If he becomes confused in that area, it reacts back emotionally on him. Many, many hours of the day, he is not aware of the physical body or the energies flowing through it. Haṭha yoga brings awareness right to the physical body, right into the spine, where energy begins flowing through the physical body, the emotions and the mind. He studies these energies and becomes what is called perceptive, or he becomes aware in the area of the mind that is refined.§
Threefold Purpose§
In summary, the purpose of haṭha yoga as taught in the Himalayan Academy is threefold. 1) First is self-discipline. To regulate the study into a daily practice, the seeker has to actually perform this discipline with his physical body each day. This regulates his time and builds a good habit pattern for his approach to meditation. 2) Second is control of awareness. Immediately the seeker gains the ability to detach awareness from that which it is aware of and fulfill the first step of the basic philosophy. 3) Third is mastery of the nerve system and preparation for meditation. Haṭha yoga makes the seeker aware of the inner nerve system as opposed to the outer nerve system. Thus it sets the stage for him to begin his meditations in the correct area of the nerve system. In one area of the nerve system we approach daily life. In another area of the nerve system we approach meditation. Awareness travels between the two. The mature, unfolded mystic is fully conscious of both areas of the nerve system and therefore is within himself while doing his daily duties.§