i have a 60 slide power point i would like to post for those passionate about yoga. corri chadwick is familiar with it, but i thought it would be good to get it "out there" for public interest. there is a great deal information out there about what folks think yoga is. i thought i would provide some insight into what one of the greats(krishnamacharya) had to say about the nature of yoga. About The Clinic Relevance of the first sutra in building the clinic About the who, what, how, and why of the clinic What is Yoga Are Its Practices Scientifically Based? Introduction to pre-requisites of Pranayama( asana, bandha, kumbhaka, mudra,samavritti, visamavrtti, puraka, rechaka) Pranayama: Anuloma, Viloma, and Prathiloma Ujjayi It is essential in an environment intended to promote insight, transition, and some form of personal transformative process to have an environment that is safe, comfortable, quiet with a sense of the auspicious or preciousness of the moment. Equally important is the sacredness of the relation between practitioner(teacher) and client(student). The clinic is therefore built upon the insight first shared by Rishis as a necessary precondition for personal growth. Patañjali (Sanskrit: पतञ्जलि, IPA: [pət̪əɲɟəli]; fl. 150 BCE or 2nd c. BCE) is the compiler of the Yoga Sūtras, an important collection of aphorisms on Yoga practice. According to tradition, the same Patañjali was also the author of the Mahābhāṣya, a commentary on Kātyāyana's vārttikas (short comments) on Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī as well as an unspecified work of medicine (āyurveda Patanjali considered the first author to compile the knowledge of yoga. Wrote 194 terse sayings or Sutras. First Sutra: “athayoganushasanam” We are here together as teacher and student in an auspicious moment to transmit the knowledge of yoga. THE PRACTICE SETTING, AND SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENT OF RAPPORT AND TRUST BETWEEN STUDENT AND TEACHER IS THE FOUNDATION FOR THE TRANSMISSION OF YOGA SECOND SUTRA: WHAT IS YOGA? “YOGAHA CITTAVRTTINIRODAHA” Yoga is the suppression of, freedom from, (as though covering with a lid) the modifications of the mind. Some say(the spontaneous disappearance of the mind) This provides the practitioner with the ability to directly focus on any given object in a sustained fashion without any distractions. Restraining the “mind-stuff” from taking various forms. Thus, yoga is a mental state where one can direct the often uncontrolled activities of naturally restless conscious mental behavior, the sutras call the mind. Mind is an activity not a thing THE EIGHT LIMBS OF YOGA: 1 Yama: our attitude toward the environment 2)Niyama: our attitude toward ourselves 3). Asana: the practice of body postures 4).Pranayama: the practice of breathing exercises 5).Pratyahara: The restraint of our Senses 6). Dharana: The ability to direct our minds. 7). Dhyana: The ability to develop full understanding of all the relations to that which is studied 8).Samadhi: Complete integration and immersion with the object to be understood. WHAT IS YOGA? Yoga is not a thing or even a set of practices. it is the mental experience of a lifting or stoppage of the usual mental processes leaving a mental state of unmodified consciousness. Yoga is the experience where usual conscious mental activity stops and no mental modifications “clutter the view”. That’s it. no magic, no spells, no special twists, holds, exercises. Getting to that mental state involves many of the practices referred to in much of the popularized awareness of yoga. WHAT IS YOGA, CONTINUED; Yoga may then occur when any activity leads to the stoppage of the modifications of the mind. To attain the state of yoga, physical practices have been described in literature and are abundant in popularized yoga. The physical practices like pranayama are not yoga. They are simply practices that can lead to yoga. Popularization and hype about physical practices is not the essence of what yoga is BOTTOM LINE; WHAT IS YOGA BOTTOM LINE YOGA IS A MENTAL STATE ENOUGH FOR NOW. More to come along with photos Sri Krishnamacharya gave me to use for research purposes. OM SHANTI.