Conversations with Mirra and Aadil

Going within–exploring the hidden chambers of the heart to find one’s true Self–is really the first step in yoga.  Continuing from that step, we can take the next one: bringing forth the latent divinity that we discover within, so that we may fully serve our individual dharma, or life purpose.

Although I began watching my parents practice with B.K.S. Iyengar when I was three, and joined them at age seven, it took me years to fully absorb this basic lesson.  For the first 13 years of my yoga practice, my effort was directed at physically mastering pose after ever more difficult pose.  In my late teens, I often practiced seven hours a day, many days in a row.  Staying half an hour in Headstand and an hour in Shoulderstand would leave my neck so stiff that I could not even turn it the next day!  In some sessions, I would perform 150 or so poses!  By age 20, I had a repertoire of hundreds of poses, including high risk asanas rarely seen and almost never taught.  I brought enormous energy to my practice, but it was more in service to my ambition and ego than to a higher and deeper purpose.

Then, helping a friend lift some crates, I ruptured two disks in my lower back.  For what seemed like an eternity, I was unable to sit, stand, or walk without experiencing excruciating pain. When I could finally do asana again, I had to start from the beginning.  The muscles around my pelvis, legs, and spine had seized up to protect my back, and I was stiffer than most beginners.  This whole experience was a great lesson in humility, and it began the transformation of my asana practice to the much more heart-centered approach that is now the core of my teaching.

In your yoga practice, regularly pause for a moment, and look within. There, inside your Heart Center, find the inner smile. This connection with the inner smile leads to a state of unconditional bliss in which external circumstances cannot sway the joy we feel for who we are.

As a way of exploring this in depth, my brother Jehangir introduced me to a technique I frequently use in my teaching: Stand in Namaskarasana (standing erect with the hands in Namaste). Pause, draw your mind inside your chest, and feel the connection with your Heart Center. Allow your inner smile to emerge and create a smile upon your face. In other words, your face shouldn’t smile because you are expected to smile, but because your face spontaneously reflects the smile in your heart.

Once you have found this communication between heart and face, maintain this connection as you perform just one Surya Namaskar or some other familiar pose. Do not move unless your movement is initiated by the inner smile. As soon as the smile is lost, stop, reconnect, smile again, and only then continue. If you are honest, you may be surprised at how little you move. Most of our movements come from habits, conditioning, expectations, or a sense of duty. These mental processes live far from the Heart Center and can hardly be used to bring us back to it. We must be guided by the heart, and its eternal smile.

In class, observe whether you are competing with your neighbor. Are you trying to “accomplish” postures? Do you feel frustration at not succeeding? Are you violent in your attempts? Do you feel inadequate? If yes, does that make you angry? As you observe your responses, realize that they are the result of lifelong conditioning and not your true nature. As long as your responses to life are conditioned, you cannot be blissful – you cannot be free. Freeing yourself from the fetters of conditioning (be it by parents, teachers, advertisers, or religions) is a matter of finding and establishing the connection with your Heart Center, with your soul, and acting from the bliss within.

I recently had a wonderful time teaching the foundations of yoga and realized that this information never loses its value.  For most, our introduction to yoga comes from the study of asana and pranayama. Therefore, today’s article provides a summary of the basics of these two foundational practices. 

 There are three general types of asana practice: sustained, flowing, and therapeutic. Purna Yoga incorporates all of them. In sustained asana – as taught by my asana teacher, B. K. S. Iyengar – postures are held. By holding poses for periods of time, refined movements and alignments evolve, and inner energies are opened and channeled. Sustained asana can be done in an active or a restorative manner.

Flowing asana, taught in a variety of traditions, is used to generate heat, flush out toxins, and develop external form and strength. Using the breath to connect the postures while fixing the gaze on certain points requires and cultivates an intense focus in the mind.

Therapeutic asana is designed for individuals for particular problems, each student receiving a unique practice. The normal “rules” may not apply – knees may be kept bent, movements may be done slowly, active poses may become passive, and in some cases (such as depression) passive poses may become active. Extra props are often used to help support the student.

As we practice pranayama and refine our control over the breath, we open the energetic channels of the body and are better able to receive Divine light and inspiration into our life. In an ideal scenario, asana simply prepares the body to safely receive the power of pranayama.

Pranayama helps the nervous system to both cleanse and strengthen itself. When the nervous system is in our control, we are able to perceive the causes of our physical and psychological tensions. Thus, asana and pranayama work together. With asana, we learn to control the body and keep it still, and with pranayama, we learn to control the mind and nervous system.

The first step toward pranayama is to use your breath to go deeper into asanas. This will help you build the connection between your breath, nerves, and body, for it is the nerves that always tell the muscles what to do. While studying pranayama, first learn ujjayi pranayama, then viloma, and then the more subtle and powerful pranayamas. Because of the inherent risks to the nervous system, pranayama must always be studied under the tutelage of a yoga master