Swásthya Yôga

SwáSthya Yôga is rooted in Sámkhya. Sámkhya is an ancient Indian theoretical philosophy. It is extremely technical, dynamic and adopts a naturalistic perspective of the practice. The line of Sámkhya adopted by SwáSthya Yôga is Niríshwarasámkhya.

SwáSthya Yôga is Tantric. Tantra is an ancient Indian behavioral philosophy. It is matriarchal, sensorial and non-repressive. Non-repressive means a philosophy that does not prohibit, and instead contributes to the liberation from repression in all its forms. It guides, but does not repress. Sensorial means that it respects and values the body, its beauty, its health, its senses and its pleasure. The line of Tantra adopted by SwáSthya Yôga is Dakshinacharatántrika.

ASHTÁNGA SÁDHANA

One of the main characteristics of SwáSthya Yôga is the ashtánga sádhana. Ashtánga sádhana means practice in eight parts.

1) mudrá reflexological gesture made with the hands;

2) pújá syntonic state with the archetype; interchange of energy;

3) mantra vocalisation of sounds and ultrasounds;

4) pránáyáma expansion of the bio-energy through breathing exercises;

5) kriyá activity of purification of the internal mucous;

6) ásana organic procedure;

7) yôganidrá relaxation technique;

8) samyama concentration, meditation and hiperconsciousness.

ANALYSIS OF THE 8 ANGAS

1) mudrá

It is the gesture that, reflexologically, aids the practitioner to attain a state of superlative receptivity. Even those who are not sensitive can enter into alfa and theta states already with this introduction. In the chapter Mudrá we will present the illustrations of the 108 mudrás.

2) pújá (manasika pújá)

It is the technique that establishes in the sádhaka a perfect syntonic state with the archetype of this lineage. With that, the length of wave appropriate to this modality of Yôga is selected, the correct compartment of the collective unconscious is connected and plugged into and the current is turned on, establishing a perfect exchange of energy between the disciple and the Master. We will explain this in the respective chapter.

3) Mantra (vaikharí mantra: kirtan e japa)

The vibration of the ultra-sound that accompanies the “vacuum” of the vocalisations, in this case of the ády ashtánga sádhana, has the purpose of unblocking the channels so that the prána may circulate. Prána is the generic name of the bio-energy. Only after this cleaning it is possible t make pránáyáma. SwáSthya Yôga utilises hundreds of mantras: kirtan and japa; vaikharí and manasika; saguna and nirguna mantras. On the chapter Mantra, we will teach th elyrics of more than 30 mantras.

4) pránáyáma (swara pránáyáma)

These are breathing exercises that pump prána to circulate through the nadís and vitalise the whole body. And also to distribute it through the thousands of chakras that are spread all over the body. To pump this energy through ducts that are obstructed by dregs resulting from bad nourishment habits, internal secretions badly eliminated and intoxicating emotions, is of no result or even harmful. Therefore, before the pránáyáma, we proceed to the previous cleaning of the channels, on the energetic area. We use 58 breathing exercises that are taught in detail in the respective chapter.

5) kriyá

These are activities of purification of the mucous that have the purpose of aiding on the cleansing of the body, this time on the organic level. In Yôga, one should only proceed to the corporeal techniques after taking care of cleaning the body by means of kriyás. We list 27 kriyás in this book.

6) ásana

This is the most known characteristic of Yôga for the lay public. It is not gymnastics and it has nothing to do with Physical Education. These are corporeal techniques that produce extraordinary effects for the body in terms of fitness, flexibility, muscle building, balancing of weight and health in general. In order to make the most of your potential, the ásanas should be preceded by the kriyás, pránáyámas, etc. We apply thousands of ásanas, and around 2000 of them are in this book. The effects of the ásanas manifest themselves starting from the yôganidrá.

7) yôganidrá

It is the relaxation that aids the yôgin on the assimilation and manifestation of the effect produced by all the angas. To the later, it adds up its effects of a good muscular and nervous recovery. But keep in mind that yôganidrá has nothing to do with the shavásana of Hatha Yôga. Shavásana, as the name indicates, is only one ásana, one position, in which you relax, but it is not the science of relaxation in itself. That science is called yôganidrá and it is not part of the curriculum of Hatha Yôga. Therefore, some instructors of Hatha Yôga disapprove the use of music or of verbal induction of the teacher during the relaxation. The yôganidrá applies not only the best position to relax, but also the best inclination regarding gravity, the best kind of sound, lighting, colour, breathing, perfume, verbal induction, etc.

8) samyama

This technique comprises concentration, meditation and samádhi “at the same time”, that is, practiced as a whole, in a sequence, on one seating only (etymologically, samyama may mean go together). If the practitioner is going to make concentration, reach meditation, or attain samádhi, that will depend exclusively on the personal advancement. Thus, it is also correct to call the eighth anga as dhyána, which means meditation. It is a less pretentious way.

Therefore, even for beginners, a practice of SwáSthya Yôga such as this whole of eight bundles of techniques that we just examined, will be greatly advanced in comparison with any other type of Yôga, since it assumes the possibility of attaining a sabíja samádhi.