See Below

This post continues from the last.

Opening to knowledge, getting that opening to grow so that one lives inwardly, purifying all the voices and movements that will cloud that opening is an aim of a stage in many disciplines. We know that knowledge and bhakti are related and that the high aim is to dwell with the knowledge of God in complete surrender of devotion.

The aim is to take this knowledge that comes through the higher faculties (distinct from the mental) and apply it in the world. The guidance leads us where? What is this intuition for? How does it relate back to Bhakti? Seeing that the earlier stages of bhakti are very much concerned with refuge in the world, and the giving of what is good. We also see that knowledge seeking is the third level. It is almost that the world becomes knowledge.

In Triyoga we work on the 3 bodies, physical, subtle and causal bodies. The physical includes the flows, working on the diet and lifestyle. The subtle includes the flows, pranayama, mudra and meditation. The causal is feeling the bliss. The three bodies can be subdivided into the five koshas, physical, pranic, mind, knowledge, and the bliss that surrounds the soul.

In this progression, for me, I was aware of the energy and emotional dimension of the physical practice when I came to it. For some this will have to be awakened. Pointing out body language and change of feeling, change of consciousness from doing the flows maybe helpful for them to flip on that switch that gives them the "aha!!!" Realizing the switches of consciousness from the day dream quality to the linear logical or back again as a matter of choice comes from doing sun moon breath is a good nudge.

When we do the flows, and mudras, with the coordinated breath we are opening up the flow of prana in the nadis. This brings growth. The physical flows and breathing stimulate the prana and this changes the nadis. This purifies the subtle energy and this goes more subtle to effect the mind. For instance doing the flows one can experience releases of emotion, such as fear, anger or even the laughing kriya. As we go deeper, aided by the systematic pranayama developed in pranavidya then we begin to gain deeper knowledge, entering into the Vijnana Kosha, knowledge sheath. Here we get streams of inspiration, knowledge about the flows, but also includes insight into others as well as into the self.

Part of that growth is the transformation of the heart. For instance when the breathing is established then the mind quiets. When I talk about the quiet mind, that is easier to grasp then the quietness in the heart. The quietness in the heart allows us to be in the present moment with our feelings, to feel what we feel without the habits of the thoughts racing around, and the imagination setting the drama. This is felt as calmness (quietness is the mind) and leads to peace, and joy. It various with the level/element. For instance it is resting and relaxation in earth, but it is enthusiasm and joy of accomplishment, the happy willfulness and enjoyment of strength, in the fire. The elements are never really isolated. We work them all in any flow, but they are emphasized in any series. Fire is any series three and in level three for instance.

There is also the corresponding subprana and the chakra. For instance series three the fire element deals with the manipura at the navel. The subprana is samana and this is the energy that allows for digestion, the processing of the experiences that are taken in.

The inverted poses and flows of Level 6 transcend duality and the elements. It can bring about strong intuitional movements from the body as it flows without direction of the mind into the poses. My favorite is watching someone in handstand getting the laughing kriya and giggling away...and it gets way cooler than that watching Kaliji!!!

Cultivating/establishing sincerity, calm receptivity, gratitude, compassion, love, all come out of this basic ability to feel the energy expressed by the heart. Bliss dawns.

Having established a flow of guidance, and the movements from the heart one is presented with awareness of the outerworld. The Bhakti and the aspirations provide better movement than the mental mind.

One can talk about the various forms of karma, about the jyotish configuration in your chart and even demographics and class structure. I prefer to refer to internal congruence (http://www.learningstrategies.com).

One has to have reached a level of understanding that acknowledges that our inner world is effecting our manifesting world. We can say we create reality, but this to me always comes across as too mental, like our perspective and the world are one. But let us say that there is a mechanical unfolding of our nature and there is a navigation that occurs due to our consciousness. What we concentrate on we bring towards us. And there is a stream of the Flow that comes from the higher nature of the Devi (femenine form of the energy and consciousness) creating and working in the vastness, and flowing through the millions of lives on the planet, all the varied forms of life on earth with all their interactions down into the foundations of the universe with it millions of galaxies and subatomic particles. And I feel good when I finish an art project, imagine what the Devi feels creating the universe....the causal body, bliss.

I had a friend who I talked with about this subject. I asked if he could find an example in his life of concentrating on something then seeing the creation or shaping of an event. He wasn't to sure at first, but he came back a few months later. He was really into bikes, building a chopper. In fact he was really into American Chopper on the Discovery channel. One of the bike masters on the show had a set of handle bars that my friend wanted for his own bike. He had a few art books on the chopper and in the morning would take a gander at those handle bars at breakfast. He thought about trying to build his own. My friend had the skills, but thought that it would be very challenging to weld and he might go through a couple a sets of handlebars, not cheap! before he got it right. So he waited till he went to Sturgis.

He knew the Bike Master and thought he would get a chance to talk with him about the handle bars at the rally. He arrived at the rally to find the Bike Master in front of some cameras. Discovery was filming a documentary and wanted people in the audience to ask questions. No one was asking any good questions. My friend wanted to know about the handle bars, but in private. But then he thought, here he is, and they want good questions. So the question popped out. As it so happens the Bike Master said rather surprised, that the handle bars were in his new catalog that been released the day before. So he wouldn't have gotten the catalog yet in the mail.

My friend saw how he had focused his energy and received the result. It also works on the level of symbol or metaphor as getting a handle on one's life. Seeing the world as knowledge of the self.

Fate is what you can't change, but destiny is what you create.

have to continue this later...but internal congruence, being in the flow, I am sure it will come out just in time.

Know

"The methods of the Yogin are also different for he tends more and more to the use of direct vision and the faculties of the vijnana and less and less to the intellectual means. The ordinary man studies the object from the outside and infers its inner nature from the results of his external study. The Yogi seeks to get inside his object, know it from within & use external study only as a means of confirming his view of the outward action resulting from an already known inner nature."

Record of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo

This is another stage of passage. For me this includes two problems. The first is simply refining the faculty by which knowledge is received. Quieting the mind, concentration, give clarity of perception then comes inspiration and vision as you move from the mind sheath into the vijnana kosha. Most people come to a stage of development where they recognize the flow. They see things coming together for more than the externalized mind's viewpoint. This is the realm of flow stories, of signs, etc. From here often begins the journey of following/perfecting, the inner guidance. This involves all sorts of purification, one may think of screening out those inner voices/impulses that lead towards fulfillment of the desires of the lower nature and lack the truth power. One has to recognize, in my case it is by feel, the intuitive. From my experience clear seeing, clairvoyance also looms large and one has to integrate this ability.

On the down side of this is the habit of physical causality. Someone calls you on the cell and you hear their voice and know who they are. Practical enough, but some times you are just thinking of them before they call. Refining the ability to listen to that sense, and know when it is working is more challenging. Inner guidance is the same.

Just making the distinction between the subtle senses such as empathy, the subliminal information, such as from people's body language, vision into subtle realms, and the flow of knowledge from the spirit take time and awareness.

The second thing working against you is the authority of knowledge which is dominated by the mental demons. Small gods if you will. You can know perfectly well something by yogic sight, but all sorts of voices creep in. This cast includes the very popular, doubt, speculation, opinion, judgment, lack of knowledge. So you can see why something is occurring, for instance I know someone who has caused themselves work related medical problems. I know that this was cause by a need to avoid dealing with personal feelings. They learned this from their mother. They work hard in order to distract themselves. It works. They were successful in their career up until their body began to express other things.

However this ability to see into people could easily be retarded. First as the insight comes into thought it passes into the mental realm where one will naturally doubt any articulated statement of cause. That's the mental for you. The second thing is it can be attacked as speculation, one can think that it is being seen as a projection. I am projecting my own viewpoint on the subject matter. Or thirdly I have an opinion nothing more. Fourth, it will be attacked on a moral basis, I am being critical or judgmental of others. Fifth, the view may be correct, but you lack knowledge, you don't know enough or there is more to know. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and some of it is the mental's need to have shifting opinions and to work from thought to counter thought. Some is the emotions dominating the thought.

This purification is only possible when someone excepts the flow of inspiration, the ability to see. Occasionally in extreme situations people have intuitive flashes, but to integrate subtle senses, higher knowledge, foreknowledge, clear seeing, etc.. one has to do the work. For instance there is the impulse to know, and the impulse to go and read (google search.) One involves quieting the mind and concentrating inwardly, keeping that concentration, sometimes over the course of many days or years until all is revealed.

There is also the problem initially of self knowledge. The example I like to use is 911. Having dreams that preceded it, the dreams showed me foreknowledge of the events, but not in a predictable way. The event was only clear in hindsight. However the predictive power was accurate and useful for predicting how I would react to the event and the personality changes that would result. More than a prediction it showed that in the inner self things were all ready being prepared and the evolutionary problems to be dealt with were understood. Self knowledge is not what some are lookin' for. They tend to only see in terms of the external physical knowledge. They want stock market numbers, not insight into one's emotional-mental configurations with money.

All of this has to be purified. Acceptance of sight is a big obstacle for some, especially those who need external validation for their thoughts. If one were to express some of the insights to others they would dismiss them for their own agenda.

One the one hand there is those people working to mend the rift between science and spirituality. On the other hand there is Small Mental Gods that creep in and distort this endeavor. If all it all boils down to a matter of theoretical, or authoritative supremacy, a matter of broadening the mind of science so they use the scientific method to investigate more things, things that might have been considered taboo in earlier times then that is hardly an integration. If consciousness and the tools of consciousness such as the practice of pranayama need to be validated in order for them to be thought of as useful practices then you are still operating from the mental asura rather than from the realm of the spiritual Gnosis. Everything will have to be measured by science first, pass inspection, and this is the way it is now already. Instead of denying spirit, science can open the door to spirit so long as spirit passes the test. This will help science and our world immensely, but doesn't really represent any change. Even if it is part of the work towards integration. The problem not being in the science, like brain wave analysis in meditators, but in the propitiation of the mental gods.

The main thrust of practice is to be able to develop the flow of insight, rather than be dependent on the external. For instance at higher levels of development one can acquire the power to know medicinal plants. Meaning that you can encounter an illness in someone, meditate on that and know what to do. You will know the plant, where to find it, and how to use it. This is different from looking it up in a book, memorizing the properties of various herbs and the like. So one could make a big deal over the writing of words on water and then looking at the snowflakes formed, which I am skeptical about as presented in The Messages from Water by Masuro Emoto (freezing temperature determines the size of snowflakes, a warm day has bigger flakes that a very cold day.) Though as the art of blending science and spirituality, in the same way I like the verisimilitude of Michael Crichton (http://www.crichton-official.com/). It's most wondrous.

You can argue with a fundamentalist and listen to the word belief over and over again, and you can enjoy the same fighting argumentation by reading science. There are things understood, verifiable things even in medicine, but go to more than one doctor and you will get different answers. This is the mental realm of external knowledge. We live in it. We live it.

It is an ancient practice to say mantras over water and then ingest the water. The effect of consciousness on food is a big consideration also. People cooking while chanting mantras is a good thing. I notice differences when receiving prasad from a highly evolved person than eating something at a potluck. Here the knowledge comes from awareness and experience. That is what you want.

To come to know something through putting the will of concentration on it. To hold it in awareness until its nature is revealed has to come hand in hand with the reason for knowing.

At one point in my development I began to use off the body energy work. No one taught me this, and it wasn't something that was popular like it is now, such as with Reiki, or Quantum Touch. I could feel people's energy from doing lots of breathing exercises, chi kung, and internal martial arts, and would begin to balance them, working out blocks, etc. This was valuable for me for several reasons. One it showed me that Pranavidya was extremely important. Doing pranayama to open up energy pathways and increase the flow of energy. The second reason was that as I worked on people they would inevitably start talking about the emotional reason behind their illness. The illness was a symbolic expression of the problem. So this meant that the inner work, on emotional traumas, personality defects, dysfunctional ideas etc could be changed by non mental means. This I already knew, yoga, meditation will slowly transform you, or quickly if you cooperate. If the yoga that you are doing is really working and built upon that knowledge. Just doing poses, or working on your abs won't do it, or it may do it, but be limited in it's effect. Super precise alignments are not necessarily it either since it is a process that incorporates all levels of the being. You could do the exact pose, but the internal alignment, the mindset you are doing it with could be wrong. The aspiration is more effective, see below...

The third thing that became obvious was that improper practice led to imbalances. The most obvious one I could see was over-centering in Tai Chi. Or in Yoga over developing the will with a strong ego that reduces receptivity, often because of insecurity about right knowledge, corrected by an overly mental fixation on alignment details in an attempt to fill in the lack of security. This brings in the need to control and force the body. That attitude to force and control the body is then projected on the students. Knowledge is rajas.

Fourth was discovery that working on peoples' stuff meant that you could pick it up. If you concentrate on something imbalanced you take on the same flow. In the same way we can talk about mirror neurons your body will adapt to theirs. I have a friend who used to come into conversations and we would lose all the spiritual quality. You could feel this inert dropping of the energy to dullness. The friend was working as a blood tech at the VA taking care of severely mentally impaired patients. This meant one needs protection. I found a simple method of protection that is discussed below.

Fifth was the problem of lack of development. I found people that I could see the problem, and alleviate the symptoms, but not be very effective on in terms of healing, because the person needed to resolve the issue and was unwilling. I could see things and the reason. The message was loud and trying to get through. It was having to be loud and trying to come through me because the person didn't want to hear it.

Sixth was the feeling of receptivity. I could feel when I could really help someone and when they were resistant. This is a big time saver. If they are not receptive don't waste time. Why argue with a fundamentalist when it is not about rational thought, it is about emotion?

Now this is where it all sums up, at least for awhile.

Standing

I found myself having to explain the standing exercises. These are common to most martial arts. For the external styles they are thought of as stance training. In some external styles such as Shaolin they can be more than that.

Internal styles vary from teacher to teacher quite a bit. The way I teach doesn't emphasis standing due to the quality of students that I tend to get. In perfect world people would be doing a lot of standing. The standing has strengthening, of the tendons, of the Yi, and of the internal and external energy. It also promotes chi circulation and trains in the basic shapes. External stance training may overlap, but for most it is conceived of only as strengthening.

Tendon strength is the ability to lock the joints and this can be thought of as leverage. I describe it as three circles. 1) Formed by the legs and hips, this is instrumental in good knee alignment, correct use of the inner thighs which connects the legs to the core strength, and allows for circulation through the legs of the chi, and opens the K1 points. Movement/energy through the feet, ankles and knees, can be harmonized and made precise by understanding/feeling through the shapes of the lower circle.

2) The shape of the spine, this circle is formed by the release of the tailbone, the sinking of the chest and correct alignment of the Mingmeng, the center, and ribcage. This is the most important circle.

3) This has to do with the shape of the arms, wrists, hands, shoulders, shoulder blades, head, and mid center at the heart. It is the easiest circle to see as the arms embrace for instance. There are many shapes. Big Circle such as Single Whip posture, or extended circle such as the opening move of lifting the arms in the 48 Form, or lead arm in Single Palm in the Ba Gua.

When the basic shape is grasped from a structural point of view it can be tested to see if the person can bear weight from any direction.

With this is the energetic alignment and when you have proper shape chi will flow. Easiest to feel at the hands and arms it should be moving through the whole body. The flow of energy is part of the concept of shape, which includes the basic idea of leverage, but also takes on the shape of the mind/emotions, as some postures are more projecting and some are more receptive. This is helpful combatively in understanding where the palm should face in various techniques.

I follow the intuitive method so that when one has a feel for the balance of the shape, and has practiced sensitivity drills one will be to naturally use, by feel in real time, the correct shape. Your intention will express itself with a flow of power through the body. I have students what when doing drills end up not using one arm, which takes out half the body from the alignment and they get stiff and tense. This is a matter of more practice, but the standing would make them feel more natural with a connected flow of movement than with a disconnected one. Some people do place to much emphasis on rooting to the point where they have no foot work. They tend to stay in one place and step slowly and rigidly. They use big steps and keep to big frames. I generally like to be quick and agile with my footwork in order to gain superior position. Very small steps alignment adjusting freely to slight changes in angle. The standing needs to be taught with exercises that keep things adroit.

The intention is important. The will to hold the pose will increase intention (Yi). This is important and critical part of the training. If one is weak in intention one can be disrupted emotionally. Fighting is very psychological, the posture of the body both reflects the inner state (body language) See RealFighting.com for some common sense about spotting someone who ready to fight, the elbows and chest for instance. This also works in reverse and the shape of the posture produces a state of mind. You can look at Erle Montigue's http://www.taijiworld.com/Articles/newarticles.html description of Sudden Violence that comes from stimulating the limbic part of the brain. This comes from proper alignment in the training. Having the will to hold the proper shape and putting your time in will increase the will, while still remaining relaxed. Having done low stance training in Shaolin, holding the horse stance for over an hour in regular training, I found the effects are very different.

The external energy builds up around the limbs and torso and provides you resistance to other people's energy. You would have to reach the level of personal development where you can feel the emotions of others as a flow of feeling. If you feel this then you can understand the condensing of the chi around you. Some would lump this in with the aura, which is true, but it a specific feeling we are looking for and not all auric phenomenon are related to goal of condensing the chi.

When we work on the Transportation Chi Kung we learn to move the energy from any part of the body to any other. At first this is felt as weight. Then as you advanced more energy is felt in the movement and eventually you have an internal flow of chi that you can differentiate and coordinate with the outer flow. This also greatly refines the internal motions for striking especially the joints of the wrist and elbow and the shoulder blades. These exercises will produce strong whip power and this blends into coordinating the strike with the chi.

The simple example is the raise the arms and body and then sink back down with arms and the slight bend of the knees. At first you can feel the weight sinking down, then you begin to also "float" or be light going upwards. With transport exercises this becomes a circle up and down and you begin to add so it is always a continuous movement internally and you add the opening and closing.

For me the Internal Arts are still useful in observing the mind/body/emotions and be able to use it as a way coordinating and purifying the lower consciousness. Anxiety, fear, anger, competition, all those lower vital negative states get to "moved out" of the body and the confidence, forceful, peaceful emotions are "moved in." It makes for some clarity when seeing other people use their lower vital emotions and the expressions that come out of it. For instance I can see, because I have lived through and beyond, the survival consciousness and the things people do to indulge in it. The roles that people take on, the personalities and identities that rooted in these emotions.

Shen (spirit) development is another key aspect of Chi Kung. The alignments of the body, proper balance of the energy needs to be brought out to use it for spiritual development. Much of that is beyond most students, because you have to have a sense of what spiritual development is before you can "see." Standing is a wonderful bridge between the body, the mind. Standing is a meditation practice, and works with the energy. It is a very powerful transformative experience when it can be engaged in within the proper framework. The intention with which is practiced is important. If you approach it as only a strengthening practice it will work to do many things but it won't be integrated and key experiences that occur from doing the practice will be overlooked and opportunities lost.

Four Bhaktas

"...the Gita distinguishes between four kinds of bhaktas. There are
those who turn to him as a refuge from sorrow and suffering in
the world, arta. There are those who seek him as the giver of
good in the world, artharthı. There are those who come to him
in the desire for knowledge, jijnasu. And lastly there are those
who adore him with knowledge, jnanı. All are approved by the
Gita, but only on the last does it lay the seal of its complete
sanction. "

Essays on the Gita
Sri Aurobindo

Several ideas crop up. One that seems common is that India has more bhakti than the west, that there is in Indian cultural life more awareness of devotion. In the west we are more oriented towards the mental life. This idea or its variations is something I can identify with somewhat. Studying Bharatanatym, classical temple dance I encountered the idea of the Navarasa, the nine basic moods. These are used to define characters and each has a collection of supports...Bhava is mental state to be portrayed by the dancer. Sthayi Bhava is the 8 main states, one of which will be carried throughout the drama and all other emotions support of that theme. For instance Rati, love. Sattvika Bhava, 8 in number are controlled by a concentrated mind during the expressional part of the performance and reflect the state of the character, for instance crying. Vyabhicari Bhava is a temporary mental state that is a phase that supports the working out of the Sthayi Bhava, for instance in Rati there can be Vitarka which is doubt and insecurity. Picture the second guessing in the first stages of love before the couple is secure in their relationship. There are 33 of these supporting states.

This shows a very highly developed form of emotional intelligence and power to control and use the emotional faculty.

So for me I had to pass through various stages of mentally coming to know my emotional life. Partly this is learned by life experience and slowly coming to recognize emotional-mental interactions. Most political dialog is emotionally driven. See the Fox news network and ask what is the emotional appeal? Most ignorance serves to allow emotional indulgence. I have worked with many martial artists who were addicted to survival emotions, and it formed the core of their personality.

People generally are more or less developed in this regard. Some people have good languages for describing people and motivations and some do not. Some people know what the word compassion means, but don't really feel it. They are often not aware of the disconnect between the their ideas and the experience. There are also many people who lack the idea of developed feelings, for instance using music to control mood is the Ipod experience, but how many are aware that that is what they are doing? Many people live in a world that is subject to emotions, and at best seek to control/limit the emotions rather than creating them. The main thrust of basic spiritual practice is to remove the avoiding of our feelings. We act and distract ourselves from dealing with feelings. When we speak of purification in spiritual practice this is often one of the first results, the purification of pent emotions, or working through imbalances that cause strong emotions to well up, such as fear, anixiety, anger, laughter.

Out of this realization of this dimension then I can began move upward. But it isn't really a matter of bhakti is not a western thing, it is just that awareness and language of it isn't as well developed. This was the mistake in my thinking; that bhakti wasn't a western thing, confusing the outward forms. If we assume that bhakti, or devotion to the Divine is already there in potential and that has we grow spiritually it will begin to emerge and find expression then we can see it all around.

Mental knowledge can get in the way here. One thing that I find is that I know people who have the idea of Bhakti and will look at the four categories of Bhaktas and they won't relate it to personal experience and begin to see those four possibilities in themselves.

Arta, those who seek refuge from suffering. I have met many people who are involved in Church activities for this very reason. They see the church as their anchor because of loss of loved ones, personal battles with medical problems, etc. These are not people that I interact with much day to day. But talking to people who do hospice for instance... This type of Bhakti is often produced by life circumstances. The world view of these area as its own set of supporting emotions and ideas. I know many people who pray for others or donate some of their mantra practice to helping others, this is bhakti.

Artharthı, those who see the Divine as the giver of good. I definitely have lived this aspect, and I would include those who look to nature with a sense of beauty and a call to peacefulness and purity as in this area. Their bhakti may not be named as such but it is part of their expression. We may not think of sun and snow while cross country skiing as a religious practice, but it can be a connection to spirit. The lord will provide. Thank GOD!

Jijnasu, this is the person who comes seeking knowledge. Providence, one of the great lost words. I find it interesting to note the number of people who I have met who are still caught in the battle between the people who follow the mythology of Christ's resurrection, versus those who follow the teachings of Christ and the battles that gave us the idea that you can't know the mind of God. Some people are very insistent that you can't know why something happened etc. However I would state that many times it if you look clearly you can see intuitively what it was about and see the flow of things. Many people begin to differentiate between nature and spirit by recognizing those moments when people and events flow together. It is not the moments themselves, but the recognition of the flow... Seeking greater knowledge of the self and feeling the gratitude as things become clear is definitely part of bhakti. Using that knowledge to surrender and going deeper into the bliss...

Making a list of supporting emotional states that though temporary support the bhakti of the heart would have to include things like, calm, receptive, peaceful, gratitude, laughter, sincerity, compassion, etc...

Ideas Sinking In

"...for here no metaphysical truth is brought into expression solely for its own sake. It seeks the highest truth for the highest practical utility, not for intellectual or even spiritual satisfaction, but as the truth that saves and opens to us the passage from our present mortal imperfection to immortal perfection. Therefore, after giving us in the first fourteen verses of this chapter a leading philosophical truth of which we stand in need, it hastens in the next sixteen verses to make an immediate application of it. It turns it into a first starting-point for the unification of works, knowledge and devotion, - for the preliminary synthesis of works and knowledge by themselves as already been accomplished."

Sri Aurobindo Essays on the Gita

for me the long sentence just recaptures in my mind the long train of events in my own life/progress of going through various realizations however dim and vague they started, that allowed me to climb through the first awakening to the spiritual current. Understanding and seeking purpose in the world, and seeking greater knowledge of ultimate reality, of my self, who I am in my nature and beyond, and finding out knowledge of the spiritual practices/disciplines, of metaphysical knowledge that would organize/integrate experiences and further give explanatory power and a framework that would guide the practice practically towards greater growth. And as in the quote above, seeing how Bhakti and devotion which naturally arises was actually the way onward.


To me this is a realization that is hard fought to see clearly and integrate into the ideas that I am actually acting upon.


I see several people in my life who have ideas of spiritual life and the idea that their practices will help them, but they don't practice but are caught in social life that keeps them too busy. I know this place well.


I appreciate Triyoga for being able to start with a base physical practice, and physical habits, getting on the mat are really useful for establishing time and space each day. You can start with the idea of a purely practical physical practice for health even. But then we come to integrating the breathing and taking out the overly talkative extremes of minutiae alignments, the yoga as the image/role of being powerful, the distraction of therapy knowledge or working on specific fitness that lacks knowledge of subtle body. Instead from the basic movement base one has to grown in awareness of the body from movement and entering into the quiet state in the midst of activity in order to get more and more refined. This is the flow and the breath the all important tool. All the while the nadis are being opened. Not only by the breath and movement, but also mudra, the hand gestures, the shapes of the postures, sealing and circulating the energy. Eventually meditation in motion is established, and begins to inspire and inform taking the place of the external alignments (though still useful, especially good verbiage) and laying the foundation for a deeper knowledge that comes from the Devi. This too goes further as the nadis develop, the emotions are cleared, the elements balanced and Bhakti will inexorably arise... or as we fathom the depths of being, we as would say, we delve into anandamaya kosha and experience and dwell in the bliss surrounding the soul.

Upward

Intensity
Relaxation

Concentration