This blog is intended as a practice companion to T. K. Sribhashyam's book Emergence of Yoga ( see link at end of page ). I'm offering some practice guidelines below but these are in no way intended as a substitute for the book itself which I consider one of the most interesting and valuable texts I've purchased on yoga.
Coming from Ashtanga and Vinyasa Krama, while fascinated by the text, I foundthe book difficult to practice with. Though I had a fair to good asana Sanskrit name awareness, I found the practice descriptions frustrating to follow without pictures for quick reference. While it made sense to have the asana photos and instruction in a different section, on the mat it was too troublesome to be turning back and forth in the book. Given that Sribhashyam presents eighty or so practice sessions, it was also unreasonable, due to space and cost, to expect to have photo representations of all the sequences at the back of the book.
A blog provides sufficient space for such a quick reference companion. It is hoped that this will allow myself and others to more easily commit to a course of practice over the next three months or so of daily practice sessions. I firmly believe that it is only through actual practice that we can come to any understanding of a practice, a book such as Emergence of Yoga deserves to be practiced not merelyleft sitting on a shelf for occasional reference, as my copy had previously done.
see T. K. Sribhashyam's Pranayama article from his schools website.
P R A N A Y A M A - An Absolute necessity in YOGA
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GUIDELINES
"Always rest between a posture"
"Breathing is always with Ujjayi"
"Practice is with closed eyes"
“Asanas and pranayamas start on the left side”
from Andrea Panzer's ( a student of T. K. Sribhashyam's) blog
https://www.ashtanga-yoga-inspiration.com/home/blog/
IMPORTANT PRACTICE POINT 1.
"always rest between a posture" -
Lying down between Asana, mudra, and pranayamas
In Sribhashyam's presentation of his father's (Krishnamacharya) practice, you lie down and rest for 1 to 2 minutes after every asana, pranayama and mudra.
"Lie flat on the back, legs together, feet together, arms along the body, palms of the hands on the floor, chin lowered, eyes closed. Breathe normally through the nose." p65 Emergence of Yoga.
He doesn't seem to mention this in the book, but when I was first introduced to this practice by my friend Andrea Panzer several years ago it was indicated that during the rest, we direct our gaze from the Occipital (from the latin meaning back of the head- the bowl like bone of the skull), this was in her notes from the teacher training course she did with Sribhashyam and in other notes I've seen from other students.
"Divya Chakshush. Point behind the head (occipital) Divya Chakshush means "divine vision": this is one of the most important concentrations to obtain the vision of the soul."
My friend Andrea Panzer who practiced with Sribhashyam over an eight year period, before his passing, added this comment to one of my Instagram posts.
"After any asana or pranayama there is always lying. Lying is not resting. Lying is a Mudra in itself or better, a meditation. From the divine eye at the area of the occiput...where we always look from in yoga...as we are in a state of the observer....we see in a fine line between the big toe and the nose...and watch the state of our energy...which might move."
More notes to come on this ( a short transcription perhaps), but in discussion with Andrea the idea seems to be that we direct the gaze in a line from the Divine eye (located behind the third eye in the occipital region), to the Third eye (between the eyebrows) and on to Taraka beyond the horizon.
UPDATE: See this new blog post by my friend Andrea panzer on lying down after all asana, mudra and pranayamas
Below, from "The Pearl" or the influence of Mudra and Pranayama in the spiritual quest
A seminar of Sri TK Sribhashyam in Neuchatel, 29.7. to 01.08.2006
from Yogakshemam Newsletter May 2007 http://www.yogakshemam.net/English/homepage.html
This links in with Sribhashyam's introduction to the Life saving Sessions.
"Practice of these sessions helps awaken and develop the concept of the soul in Westerners".
I originally thought that the lying down to rest and focussing on the occipital was only in the mudra/lifesaving sessions, but no, we are directed to lie down and rest in the general session and pranayama sessions also.
I'll say that again. After every asana, mudra and pranayama in any of Sribhashyam's practice sessions, General, mudra/life saving or pranayama we are directed to lie down and rest for 1 to 2 minutes after every asana, mudra and pranayama.
As a dear friend who studied with T. K. Sribhashyam so nicely put it...
"After a while, you discover that this is the real challenge, conquer quietness."
IMPORTANT PRACTICE POINT 2
Concentration points get introduced in this practice and we will start seeing them appear in the general practice sessions too. These vital points go back to the truly ancient test Yoga Yajnavalkya with which Sribhashyam's book is closely aligned.
Sribhashyam stresses several times that we don't imagine the point but rather, with our eyes closed, direct our eyes towards the vital point. I found this particularly challenging concept with the Occipital. The idea I believe is that prana follows the gaze, if you merely imagine the point the prana won't get there.
Here is a list of the Vital points, I'll bring all these practice notes together and put them on a stand alone page at the top of the blog.
Here are some points of concentration:
16 vital points.
sirsa - the fontanel
murdhna - middle of forehead
bhrumadhya - between eyebrows
nasagra - extremity of the nose
talu mula - back of the palate
lalata - root of the uvula
kantha - throat
kantha kupa - back of the throat
hrdaya - middle of the heart
nabhi - navel
sroni - centre of the pelvis
mula - perineum
jangha- point at top of thighs
janu - point at middle of knees g
ulpha - point at middle of ankles pada angusta - point of the big toes.
Also of note...
Murdhna: the point located in front of the nose
Divya Chakshush: Point behind the head (occipital)
Aditya (the sun) is the disk of the sun, black and shiny,
The star: lying on his back to look as far as possible on the sky
Taraka: the horizon point,
NOTE on Mudra sessions:
There was some confusion regarding when the Mudra/lLife saving session should be practiced.
In Sribhashyam's book, Emergence of Yoga (English Translation) he says day 5 and that's what I started doing here, practicing the mudra session yesterday and planning to practice the follow up pranayama session today.
HOWEVER, two of Sribhashyam's students have told me that it's actually a one week cycle ( which makes sense). So FIVE days of general practice Asana sessions followed by a Mudra/Life saving session on the sixth day and a pranayama session on the seventh day then back to asana general practice sessions on the eight day. To reflect this I'll be posting Day 5 general session and placing it in the right order, behind this Mudra session and posting the first pranayama session tomorrow.
"Mudra session: One session every 5th day of practice. See examples of Mudra sessions."
T.K. Sribhashyam - Emergence of yoga
This confused me, where were the Mudra sessions in the book. He did say in an interview that he had hoped to write a follow up book on Mudra, Bandha and Dhyana, perhaps they were there. But of course the Mudra sessions he is referring to are the Life Saving sessions of chapter 8. It's confusing partly because the first Life Saving practice below doesn't seem to include any mudras. Sribhashyam mentions that the book follows a pedagogical progression, Life Saving session #2 contains 1 mudra, #3 has 2, #6 has 3.
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May be available on Amazon but check the language.
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