The sun is the giver of life. The energy of the sun makes possible for all life forms to evolve on this earth. The ancient yogis of India practiced a system of yoga that allowed the practitioner to access this life-giving energy for connecting with higher spiritual energies for their own evolution.

They believed the sun to be a reflection in the external world of the splendour of the soul within.

The tragedy is that not many such yogis are easily accessible and so the learner must check the antecedents of any teacher purporting to teach this powerful form of yoga that is based on the Martanda Surya yoga of Babaji Gorakhnath who has revealed the science of all yoga practices to mankind.

The exercises include gazing at the sun in tratak, channelling the solar emissions to various parts of the brain through hand movements (mudras), pranayama and chanting of mantras (powerful sound vibrations).

Interestingly, while practicing, they even have special actions to negate the harmful emissions of the sun and to allow only the beneficial rays to penetrate the body. The yogi learns to feed on this powerful nourishment gradually learning to do with minimal food.

The benefit of sunlight on the physical body has been well documented with doctors regularly advising patients to sun themselves for better absorption of vitamin D, and on the mental body with records of cold sunless countries having an unnaturally high rate of depression, suicides etc despite being economically developed.

The sun has a rejuvenating and exhilarating influence on the human mood. It has also been shown to effect blood pressure and diabetes. Many unrelated events have been found to correspond with increased solar activities.

The results of studies by the American Foundation for the Study of Cycles shows occurrences of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, meteor showers, altered germ cell maturation and even changes in fashion trends and fluctuation in the stock market that correspond to these solar emissions that extend thousands of miles into space.

The practitioners of solar meditations use the energy of the sun to eliminate physical disease and by constant purification attempt to convert their physical body into a body of light fit enough to be a receptacle for divine energy and then finally realise themselves to be divine.

Absorbing solar energy to heal: Sit with your back exposed to the early morning sun. With your eyes closed imagine the body absorbing the sun rays. Consciously relax the body and visualise the solar energy like liquid golden light penetrating first the skin, then the muscle, tissues and the bone. Keep sitting until your whole body is saturated with every cell radiant and the light gently flowing in your bloodstream.

YOGA
Break free with yoga
Jyotii Subramanian

The first two tenets of yoga Yama, meaning restraints, and Niyama, meaning observances, are the most ignored by hatha yoga. Many beginners and even some adepts consider them as a pack of moral bullshit.

However, these two limbs of yoga take on more importance as the yogi progresses on the path towards higher realisation to raja yoga, and the sincere disciple, by virtue of the practice, feels an inner urge to follow them. Aparigraha, means non-hoarding or non-collecting. The practising sadhak is constantly offloading baggage, be it physical, emotional, or mental. As the chakras, are balanced and activated through the practice of asana, pranayama and other specific exercises taught by a master, the practitioner realises the limitations that come with an attitude of amassing material goodies for a rainy day! This restraint does not only extend to gathering frivolous material objects but transcends to include debilitating passions and emotions that diminish the sadhak. Carefully collected memories of being wronged or being happy, emotions that have been nurtured to depress, or contrarily elevate, mental callisthenics, that allow a person to conduct oneself always for personal profit, are all dropped with equanimity by the practising yogi. By doing this, the yogi makes life simple and spontaneous and connects to an inner fountain of unrestrained joy.

Tapa is an important observance for a yogi relentlessly on the path of yoga. Tapa means 'to blaze'; the practice given by a realised master burns the impurities in the seekers psyche. As the intensity and duration of the practice increase the person sloughs off negative emotions and mindset, the physical body cures of all disease and the mind is filled with clarity.

Svadhyaya means self-study. Once again, due to the practice, the witness consciousness in the practising sadhak is awakened. Also known as, the sakshi bhav, this consciousness allows the practitioner to watch one's action from the outside. A talent to observe oneself and ones life as it unfolds develops. The practitioner also learns to observe the thread that connects the past, the present, and the future in an unbroken chain of action and reaction.

This may extend to more than just this life to many past lives. This self-study helps one to know the exact circumstances that have brought one to this specific condition in life. The yogi faces one's own drawbacks and talents with equipoise and having come to terms with them is ready to move on.

YOGA
Choosing Yoga as a way of life
Jyotii Subramanian

Connecting to the inner self S it comfortably on a chair or mat. Keeping the back straight take a few deep breaths to relax the body and mind. Now breathing normally move inwards to connect with the core of silence within. This may take a few practices as untoward thoughts keep disturbing. Keep trying to cut through all extraneous feelings and mental frequencies. Once you are connected stay there enjoying this quality of peace and joy. This is your true nature.

W hy Yoga? People who take the decision to start on this path do so for a variety of reasons, primary of which is good health, closely followed by a means to bust stress and relieve tension, of late it has become a fashion statement. Rarely is the reason spiritual pursuit, at least at the beginning. But all practising yogis know that the moment a seeker steps on the path of yog sadhana with the first pranayama breath or asana, the irreversible journey towards the divine has begun.

Introduction to hatha yoga practice is the beginning of this quest. The yogic postures or asanas work on the muscles, the organs and the skeletal system inducing them to become more efficient. So as the muscles elongate and become more flexible, the skeletal system strengthens, the joints get lubricated and the organs rejuvenate by throwing out toxins that make them sluggish. At the start a general feeling of well being floods the physical body. When a beginner first learns to perfect yogic postures subtle chemical alterations take place in the body. These alterations allow the body to adjust internal climate to external factors. Yoga postures that are specified for particular disease work on that organ. For example asanas prescribed for the diabetic work on enhancing the insulin producing pancreas, those for asthma and bronchitis will be lung specific. Once the physical ailments are taken care of the seeker is ready to move on to higher levels of the emotion, mind and spirit. Though it must be remembered here that the process is holistic and the very practice of asanas also starts the healing and transformation in the emotional and mental bodies, it is the awareness of the one practising yoga that takes time to develop.

The nature of the individual soul is to evolve and yoga creates the ambience that helps this natural process. Without effort the practitioner easily moves from the realm of physical well being to emotional nurturing under the guidance of a sincere teacher. Since the whole process of yoga is of cleansing and refinement, the emotional body too starts to rid itself of excess baggage in the nature of emotional trauma, hurt, grief, anger, hate etc. leading to a state of unexplainable joy and bliss. Finally the mind itself loses its clever conniving ways to become more clear and innocent; acting instead of reacting the yogi moves through life unaffected by external circumstances and becomes free to move forward towards realising spiritual potential.