Bikram Yoga is for beginners, as well as advanced students of yoga. Bikram yoga is a challenging of 26 asanas, or postures, and 2 breathing exercises and is generally considered as the most intense type of yoga. Bikram Yoga is ideally practiced in a room heated to 105°F. Read more »

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Choosing the right yoga clothes will make your yoga exercises a lot more pleasant. The practice of yoga is a combination of various standing poses, breathing and relaxation. A healthy and fit body is the ambition of yoga. Before you begin your yoga class and buy yoga clothes the question still remains - what should I wear: discount yoga clothes, organic yoga clothes, plus size yoga clothes, are there special yoga clothes for men, yoga clothes for women, girl yoga clothes, or depends on yoga type, such as ashtanga yoga clothes, bikram yoga clothes, clothes for hot yoga? Read more »

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The scene of the revelation of this Tantra is laid in Himalaya, the “Abode of Snow,” a holy land weighted with the traditions of the Aryan race. Here in these lofty uplands, encircled with everlasting snows, rose the great mountain of the north, the Sapta Kula Parvata. Read more »

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That eternal immutable existence which transcends the turiya and all other states is the unconditioned Absolute, the supreme Brahman or Para-brahman, without Prakriti (nishkala) or Her attributes (nir-guna), which, as being the inner self and knowing subject, can never be the object of cognition, and is to be apprehended only through yoga by the realization of the Self (atmajñana), which It is. For as it is said, “Spirit can alone know Spirit.” Being beyond mind, speech, and without name, the Brahman was called “Tat,” “That,” and then “Tat Sat,” “That which is.” For the sun, moon, and stars, and all visible things, what are they but a glimpse of light caught from “That” (Tat)? Read more »

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Shakti is both maya, that by which the Brahman creating the universe is able to make Itself appear to be different from what It really is, and mula-prakriti, or the unmanifested (avyakta) state of that which, when manifest, is the universe of name and form. It is the primary so called “material cause,” consisting of the equipoise of the triad of guna or “qualities” which are sattva (that which manifests) rajas (that which acts), tamas (that which veils and produces inertia). The three gunas represent Nature as the revelation of spirit, Nature as the passage of descent from spirit to matter, or of ascent from matter to spirit, and Nature as the dense veil of spirit. The Devi is thus guna-nidhi (”treasure-house of guna” ). Read more »

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It cannot be said that current explanations give a clear understanding of this subject. Yet such is necessary, both as affording one of the chief keys to Indian philosophy and to the principles which govern Sadhana. The term guna is generally translated “quality,” a word which is only accepted for default of a better. For it must not be overlooked that the three guna (Sattva, rajas, and tamas), which are of Prakriti, constitute Her very substance. This being so, all Nature which issues from Her, the Maha-karana-svarupa, is called tri-gunatmaka, and is composed of the same guna in different states of relation to one another. The functions of sattva, rajas, and tamas are to reveal, to make active, and to suppress respectively. Rajas is the dynamic, as sattva and tamas are static principles. That is to say, sattva and tamas can neither reveal nor suppress without being first rendered active by rajas. These gunas work by mutual suppression. Read more »

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This earth, which is the object of the physical senses and of the knowledge based thereon, is but one of fourteen worlds or regions placed “above” and “below” it, of which (as the sutra says) knowledge may be obtained by meditation on the solar “nerve” (nada) sushumna in the merudanda. Read more »

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The worlds are inhabited by countless grades of beings, ranging from the highest Devas (of whom there are many classes and degrees) to the lowest animal life. The scale of beings runs from the shining manifestations of Spirit to those in which it is so veiled that it would seem almost to have disappeared in its material covering. There is but one Light, one Spirit, whose manifestations are many. Read more »

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Ordinarily there are four chief divisions or castes (varna) of Hindu society – viz.: Brahmana (priesthood; teaching); Kshattriya (warrior); Vaishya (merchant); Shudra (servile) – said to have sprung respectively from the mouth, arm, thigh, and foot of Brahma. Read more »

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The four stages, conditions, or periods in the life of a Brahman are: First, that of the chaste student, or brahmachari; second, the period of secular life as a married householder, or grihastha; third, that of the recluse, or vanaprastha, when there is retirement from the world; and lastly, that of the beggar, or bhikshu, who begs his single daily meal, and meditates upon the Supreme Spirit to which he is about to return. Read more »

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The universe consists of a Mahabrahmanda, or grand Kosmos, and of numerous Brihatbrahmanda, or macrocosms evolved from it. Read more »

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The passage of time within a maha-yoga influences for the worse man and the world in which he lives. This passage is marked by the four ages (yuga), called Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali-yuga, the last being that in which it is generally supposed the world now is. The yuga is a fraction of a kalpa, or day of Brahma of 4,320,000 human years. Read more »

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Each of these Ages has its appropriate Shastra or Scripture, designed to meet the characteristics and needs of the men who live in them The Hindu Shastra are classed into: (1) Shruti, which commonly includes the four Veda. (Rik, Yajuh, Sama, Atharva, and the Upanishads), the doctrine of which is philosophically exposed in the Vedanta-Darshana. (2) Smriti, such as the Dharma-Shastra of Manu and other works on family and social duty prescribing for pavritti-dharma, as the Upanishads had revealed the nivritti-dharma. (3) The Puranas, of which, according to the Brahma-vaivartta Purana, there were originally four lakhs, and of which eighteen are now regarded as the principal. (4) The Tantra. Read more »

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The human body is Brahma-para, the city of Brahman. Ishvara Himself enters into the universe as jiva. Wherefore the maha-vakya “That thou art” means that the ego (which is regarded as jiva only from the standpoint of an upadhi) (1) is Brahman. Read more »

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Attractive Yoga Mat Bags are intended for your yoga mat and rug, to easily carry all you need for your yoga class. The Yoga Mat Bag is ideal for when you travel; this is an elegant and handy way to carry your own yoga mat wherever you go. Read more »

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The book is intended as a practical manual, and the student who takes it seriously as such will derive most benefit from it if he treats it as a six months’ course rather than as a reading book. At the end of the course the earnest student will find that he knows exactly what to do next. All the same, others who wish to treat it only as a general help to their meditations will find benefit from reading it through, and picking out for their use whatever appeals especially to themselves.

Many hard-headed people may think that my convictions as to the possibilities which we may attain in the near or remote future by internal self-culture are excessively extravagant; but I can assure them that they are perfectly in accordance with the practical mysticism of both East and West, and are consistent with the actual experience and attainment of a number of experts whom I have had the honour to meet and know.

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Do you desire success in life? Will you take the means that infallibly secure it? Will you choose, and say to yourself: “I will have wealth; I will have fame; I will have virtue; I will have power’. ? Let your imagination play upon the thought, and watch the dim clouds of hope shape themselves into heavenly possibilities. Give wings to your fancy, for fairer than any picture that you can paint with thought is the future that you can claim with will. Once you have imagined, once you have chosen, say: “I will”. And there is nothing on earth that can hinder you for long; for you are immortal and the future is obedient to you. Read more »

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But, whatever you choose, one thing you will need in all things and at all times — concentration of purpose, of thought, of feeling, of action; so that this, like a powerful-magnet, will polarize everything with which you deal. In all the aims of life it is needed for success. Read more »

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One of the higher efforts and achievements of concentration of mind has been well described by Dr. Annie Besant in her book The Ancient Wisdom, in the following words: Read more »

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YEARS ago I described the contents and workings of the mind as a magic box, comparing it to the nest of boxes produced by an Oriental conjuror, who spreads his carpet and lays a box in the middle of it, then takes a number of boxes out of that box, and then a number of boxes out of each of those, until the whole carpet is piled up with boxes. I compared these boxes to ideas in the mind and described how one idea contains or gives rise to innumerable others. Read more »

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In the previous section I have described a mind-cycle, beginning with a coruscation or up-welling of ideas of mental pictures, continued with a desire and ending with a decision to act. We started the engine ticking over, engaged the transmission and then handled the steering wheel. This process is a full cycle, for at this point the ideas begin to flow again, but in a prescribed direction determined by the will. Read more »

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The drift which I have so carefully described and you, I hope, have inspected in your own mind, is not a bad thing nor a disorderly one. It is the relaxed condition of the mind, and we can use it for resting when we are mentally tired. In the course of prolonged study involving mental effort we may stop awhile to rest and recuperate by simply leaning back, closing the eyes, relaxing the body — especially the neck — and quietly watching the mental drift. Read more »

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Examples:
1. Milk — baby; pen — hand; ship — sea; spade — garden; fatigue — sleep; gluttony — indigestion.
2. Animal — dog; view — landscape; chair — table; red — blue; heat — cold.
3. Car — wheel; tree — root; house — door; root — branch; arm — leg.
4. Earth — round; coin — silver; ice — cold; ink — fluid; lemon — yellow. Read more »

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We may now turn to the first exercise: Read more »

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BEFORE you sit down to commence the practice of recall quietly but definitely decide what is to be your object of concentration and for how long you propose to sustain it. Sometimes people sit down and then begin to decide what to do; they start on one object and then change to another because they find it unsatisfactory, and at last they wake up to realize that their time has gone and they have done nothing. Read more »

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A story is told about the Greek philosopher Plato and Diogenes the Cynic. One day Diogenes visited Plato. When he came into the room he saw the table covered with a rich cloth, shelves glittering with silver cups and other vessels, and other sumptuous furniture. He took hold of the cloth with force, dragged it onto the floor, and stamped upon it with his feet, saying, “I tread upon Plato’s pride”. Plato quietly answered: “And with greater pride!”Of such stories our lives are made up — stories about ourselves and others, some true to fact and others fanciful. True or fanciful, it is the richness of the stories that makes the richness of our lives and it is the richness of our mental power that makes the richness of the stories. Fact and environment give opportunity, but living has strength, color and richness only on account of what it brings to opportunity. Therefore better than to seek opportunity is to be prepared for it. Read more »

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Confidence is faith in the continuance and increase of your own mental ability. It is not belief. It is knowledge — the knowledge that there is a constancy in the very constitution of things. Read more »

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WE have studied the first process of thought — the way in which every idea opens out in many directions. We have now to consider the second process — the way in which our attention passes on from one idea to another and forms a flow of thought. It is a matter almost of common knowledge that our attention travels among thoughts very much in the same way as our body moves about among things. So close is the similarity that we may say that the attention seems actually to walk on two-feet from one mental image or idea to another. Read more »

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The human body has been described as a vehicle for carrying a bag of tools. I sent for a California carpenter the other day. He arrived in an ancient Ford, from which he brought out a very modern kit-box containing at least a hundred tools. In the human body we find legs with which to carry the rest of the outfit about, arms to work with and alter the world, and senses to see what those things are. This carpenter operates in an immense world, but attends to a very small part of it — he sees only a small portion, and works only on a bit of that. Read more »

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Be it folly or wisdom, I must concentrate on some part of this world. Few men have the inclination and power to ignore it altogether. I must decide to pay attention to this thing or idea rather than that. For this purpose it is the little fish of attention that I have to control. Read more »

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Amidst all this competition for my attention what is it that causes me to pick up this or that? Briefly, it is the mood of the mind. We know that the will can step into the current of thoughts, watch them drifting along, and interrupt and direct them. We have seen that it can also impose an overall command or give standing orders covering a period of time. Read more »

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It remains to be said that we can deliberately cultivate a mood by concentrating upon it, and thus can predispose the mind to certain associations of thought, so that whatever may turn up in the world or in the mind will lead on to our purpose. This is the way in which concentration leads to success in our chosen vocation or avocation. It makes almost everything you meet a co-worker of yours. Read more »

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CONCENTRATION is not an end in itself, but a means to develop the will so that it may make the entire life purposeful. Polarize your entire life — all your actions, your feelings, your thinking — by establishing a permanent mood towards success in some line of human endeavor. It may be the mood of an artist, a scientist, a poet, a philosopher, a philanthropist; it may concern art, religion, science, interpretation, philosophy, thoughts and deeds of affection and kindness, or works of commerce or government; it may aim at skill in action, or intense and expanded feeling, or a clear and deep understanding of life; it may seek self-government, or, the mastery of environment and success in outward things. That is for you to choose; but choose something definite and polarize your whole life to that. Read more »

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Then you must give up wishing, for you cannot both wish and will. The two things are utterly incompatible. I have already explained this by reference to the will to pick up or not pick up a pen. It should be understood that indulgence in wishing is not only a waste of time, but also an invitation to harmful emotions. It is like slouching along the road instead of walking erect. Read more »

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Many people do not realize that it is the nature of man to modify his environment, not to submit to it except in so far as his own judgment advises him to do so. He has the combinative and constructive power of mind which, acting through his hands, alters and adapts old forms and makes new ones by rearranging and combining them. Read more »

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When purpose and pleasure are brought together work becomes play. Every bit of work done in this spirit strengthens the man who does it. It is recreative as well as creative. Artist and carpenter — they make pictures and chairs, but even more they make men, themselves. Think on what you are doing more than on the result, or what you are going to do afterwards. You will not then miss the pleasure of little things. I pick up my pen; there is sheer and undiluted pleasure in this, if I allow myself to experience it. It is natural and pure, and mine when I stop fighting, it. In such little things thought, love and will can flow and grow. And then arise peace and strength and — in active life — the union of work and play. Read more »

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It is said in an old Indian book that there are four great enemies to human success: (I) a sleepy heart, (2) human passions, (3) a confused mind, and (4) attachment to anything but Brahman. [Each student has to attach his own meaning to this word, keeping it always flexible, so that it may expand and become illumined. Literally: the Evolutioner, Grower or Expander, not creator] Read more »

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I HAVE already spoken of relaxation and muscle balance, and their relation to the practices of concentration and meditation. These are necessary so that (I) the body may not be injured by the mental efforts and (2) the mental work may not be spoiled by bodily discomfort. Thirdly, we have to remember that bodily attitudes are associated with states of feeling, such as lying down with sleep, and kneeling with prayer. That has to be taken into consideration when you are selecting a posture, but there is no objection to your lying down to concentrate or meditate, so long as you find that it does not conduce to sleepiness. Read more »

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1. The Standing Exercise.
With your watch in sight try to stand perfectly still (except for breathing and blinking) in front of a mirror for three to five minutes. Make no response to any twitching, tickling, itching, creeping, aching or creaking feelings that may arise. Think “stillness”, not “not-moving-ness”. Read more »

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The question arises: “why should one recommend physical exercises in a course of mental concentration?” Read more »

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At the end of a month of practice of the kind of physical exercises given in this chapter, though you can sit quietly, and the body has become lighter and brighter, so that you can get up like a cat in the morning, you may still find yourself troubled by outside things during concentration or meditation. Noises, for example, may divert you. In that case spare fifteen minutes a day for a month for practice on the following lines. Read more »

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SOMETIMES when we are engaged in study or writing a visitor arrives; he may be a welcome friend at any other time, but at the moment he is a trouble. So also when we are engaged in an attempt at concentration, “visitors” throng in upon us, some welcome and others unwelcome. What is it that brings them here so inopportunely, and by what means can we persuade them to take their leave? Read more »

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If you have already said: “I will”, all this will be done, and your concentration will not be disturbed by such thoughts and feelings as these, which constitute the major part of the intruding thoughts that populate the spaces around you. If you have said: “I will”, you cannot even wish that certain thoughts should not intrude; if you find yourself wishing this at any time you will know that you have not yet really willed. Read more »

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There is another class of intruders, which appear to come telepathically from other minds and from the objects around us. In these days of radio communications there need be no difficulty in believing that thoughts coming from other minds influence ours; that our own habitual thoughts hang about us when we are busily engaged, and discharge themselves upon us in our moments of quiet is a matter of common experience. Read more »

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Although I have said that one should learn to concentrate even in a bus or train — anywhere and on any occasion which does not call for vigilance or response on our part, and when no one is talking to us — so that we may be positive and strong in our policy of life, I do not say that we should ignore the conveniences of quietude and non-interruption in our times of special practice. We must be strong enough to face and overcome difficulties, but need not deliberately make or seek them. Read more »

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THE explanations and practices of concentration given up to this point should enable the student to follow a line of thought fairly steadily. Next comes thinking. Thinking is the combining of two or more ideas to embody another idea, which is no more contained in the originals than water is contained in hydrogen and oxygen. In some cases, as in learning, two ideas are given, and to understand the matter we have to think them into a unity. Read more »

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Exercise 5.
Look round a room, noticing the various objects in order. Close the eyes and review them mentally. Again, follow a procession of the letters, of the alphabet, and any different alphabets you may know, such as the Greek, Russian, Hebrew, or Devanagari.