Richard Freeman Lecture : Nada Yoga and Ashtanga also Yoga Taravali

Here's a lecture/talk I just came across that Richard "...gave in Hong Kong's Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hotel on September 13, 2007 to a group of enthusiastic Ashtanga students in Hong Kong".

...and a link to a blog post by Mary from the Yoga Workshop regarding the 2007 Hong Kong visit...to set the mood as it were.
http://yogaworkshop.com/hong-kongseptember-17-2007/

The downloadable talk below

http://archive.org/details/RichardFreemansTalkOnNadaAndAshtangaYoga

More studio talks can be found from the Yoga workshop website

Richard Freeman Studio talks

In the Hong Kong talk Richard begins by looking at the second part of the Ashtanga opening chant which comes from the Yoga Taravali

Abahu Purushakaram
Shanka chakraasi dharinam
Sahasra shirasam swetam
Pranamami Patanjalim

UPDATE

This is not actually accurate as it has no connection at all with the YT and is actually connected with the opening prayers to YS.

Only the first verse of YT is used and the prayer sequence the PJ uses is some sort of amalgam from different sources.

Just thought I would mention it as I know you are concerned about authenticity.

I am about to post the full text for the Yoga Tārāvalī along with a recording of the text chanted by TKV.

Paul Harvey

Centre for Yoga Studies

Yogāñjali Teaching and Therapy Centre
yogastudies.org

Thank you Paul.

Richard mentions in the talk that when he first met Pattabhi Jois he was given a reading list of 20 books, one of them the Yoga Taravali by Adi Sankacacharya, pattabhi Jois said contained 'the complete Ashtanga system'...but then, Richard continues, he'd say the same about every other book he gave me. ' 'This contains the complete Ashtanga System'...... It's better when he tells it.

Krishnamacharya also considered the Yoga Taravali to be "...one of the best poems on the message of yoga" and taught the text to his son Desikachar. There are 29 slokas (verses) that discuss yogic practices (such as the bandhas) and advanced spiritual experiences (the different states of samadhi, or "union"

Adi Sankara-s Yoga Taravali

TKV Desikachar and Kausthub Desikachar


Link to KYM where you can get a preview of the book











The KYM version above contains all kinds of notes and explanations etc as you'll see from the preview

If however you just want the 29 verses then there is the R. M Umesh translation from his long out of print Perfection through Yoga. Here are the 29 verses on Pdf

More about R.M. Umesh's book
"There is an English translation of the 'Yoga Taravali' in the name of
'Perfection through Yoga' with detailed notes and diagrams authored by Sri
R.M.Umesh and published long ago by the Sringeri Mutt.  Now the book is out
of print"

My teacher Srivatsa Ramaswami included it on a an album he recorded for Sangeetha called Yoga of patanjali & Adi Sankara, it can be found here with a preview
http://www.sangeethamusic.com/album-details.php?album_id=1565

And in case you feel like chanting along

yogatārāvalī 

vande gurūṇāṁ caraṇāravinde sandarśitasvātmasukhāvabodhe |

janasya ye jāṅgalikāyamāne saṁsārahālāhalamohaśāntyai || 1||

sadāśivoktāni sapādalakṣalayāvadhānāni vasanti loke |

nādānusandhānasamādhimekaṁ manyāmahe mānyatamaṁ layānām || 2||

sarecapūrairanilasya kumbhaiḥ sarvāsu nāḍīṣu viśodhitāsu |

anāhatākhyo bahubhiḥ prakārairantaḥ pravarteta sadā ninādaḥ || 3||

nādānusandhāna namo'stu tubhyaṁ tvāṁ sādhanaṁ tattvapadasya jāne |

bhavatprasādātpavanena sākaṁ vilīyate viṣṇupade mano me || 4||

jālandharoḍyāṇanamūlabandhāñjalpanti kaṇṭhodarapāyumūlān |

bandhatraye'sminparicīyamāne bandhaḥ kuto dāruṇakālapāśāt || 5||

oḍyāṇajālandharamūlabandhairunnidritāyāmuragāṅganāyām |

pratyaṅmukhatvātpraviśansuṣumnāṁ gamāgamau muñcati gandhavāhaḥ || 6||

utthāpitādhārahutāśanolkairākuñcanaiḥ śaśvadapānavāyoḥ |

santāpitāccandramasaḥ patantīṁ pīyūṣadhārāṁ pibatīha dhanyaḥ || 7||

bandhatrayābhyāsavipākajātāṁ vivarjitāṁ recakapūrakābhyām |

viśoṣayantīṁ viṣayapravāhaṁ vidyāṁ bhaje kevalakumbharūpām || 8||

anāhate cetasi sāvadhānairabhyāsaśūrairanubhūyamānā |

saṁstambhitaśvāsamanaḥpracārā sā jṛmbhate kevalakumbhakaśrīḥ || 9||

sahasraśaḥ santu haṭheṣu kumbhāḥ sambhāvyate kevalakumbha eva |

kumbhottame yatra tu recapūrau prāṇasya na prākṛtavaikṛtākhyau || 10||

trikūṭanāmni stimite'ntaraṅge khe stambhite kevalakumbhakena |

prāṇānilo bhānuśaśāṅkanāḍyau vihāya sadyo vilayaṁ prayāti  || 11||

pratyāhṛtaḥ kevalakumbhakena prabuddhakuṇḍalyupabhuktaśeṣaḥ |

prāṇaḥ pratīcīnapathena mandaṁ vilīyate viṣṇupadāntarāle || 12||

niraṅkuśānāṁ śvasanodgamānāṁ nirodhanaiḥ kevalakumbhakākhyaiḥ |

udeti sarvendriyavṛttiśūnyo marullayaḥ ko'pi mahāmatīnām || 13||

na dṛṣṭilakṣyāṇi na cittabandho na deśakālau na ca vāyurodhaḥ |

na dhāraṇādhyānapariśramo vā samedhamāne sati rājayoge || 14||

aśeṣadṛśyojjhitadṛṅmayānāmavasthitānāmiha rājayoge |

na jāgaro nāpi suṣuptibhāvo na jīvitaṁ no maraṇaṁ vicitram || 15||

ahammamatvādvyapahāya sarva śrīrājayoge sthiramānasānām |

na draṣṭṛtā nāsti ca dṛśyabhāvaḥ sā jṛmbhate kevalasaṁvideva || 16||

netre yayonmeṣanimeṣaśūnye vāyuryayā varjitarecapūraḥ |

manaśca saṅkalpavikalpaśūnyaṁ manonmanī sā mayi sannidhattām || 17||

cittendriyāṇāṁ ciranigraheṇa śvāsapracāre śamite yamīndrāḥ |

nivātadīpā iva niścalāṅgāḥ manonmanīmagnadhiyo bhavanti || 18||

unmanyavasthādhigamāya vidvan upāyamekaṁ tava nirdiśāmaḥ |

paśyannudāsīnatayā prapañcaṁ saṅkalpamunmūlaya sāvadhānaḥ || 19||

prasahya saṅkalpaparaṁparāṇāṁ saṁbhedane santatasāvadhānam |

ālambanāśādapacīyamānaṁ śanaiḥ śanaiḥ śāntimupaiti cetaḥ || 20||

niśvāsalopairnibhṛtaiḥ śarīrairnetrāmbujairardhanimīlitaiśca |

āvirbhavantīmamanaskamudrāmālokayāmo munipuṅgavānām || 21||

amī yamīndrāḥ sahajāmanaskā-dahaṁmamatve śithilāyamāne |

manotigaṁ mārutavṛttiśūnyaṁ gacchanti bhāvaṁ gaganāvaśeṣam || 22||

nivartayantīṁ nikhilendriyāṇi pravartayantīṁ paramātmayogam |

saṁvinmayīṁ tāṁ sahajāmanaskāṁ kadā gamiṣyāmi gatānyabhāvaḥ || 23||

pratyagvimarśātiśayena puṁsāṁ prācīnagandheṣu palāyiteṣu |

prādurbhavetkācidajāḍyanidrā prapañcacintāṁ parivarjayantī || 24||

vicchinnasaṅkalpavikalpamūle niḥśeṣanirmūlitakarmajāle |

nirantarābhyāsanitāntabhadrā sā jṛmbhate yogini yoganidrā || 25||

viśrāntimāsādya turīyatalpe viśvādyavasthātritayoparisthe |

saṁvinmayīṁ kāmapi sarvakālaṁ nidrāṁ sakhe nirviśa nirvikalpām || 26||

prakāśamāne paramātmabhānau naśyatyavidyātimire samaste |

aho budhā nirmaladṛṣṭayo'pi kiñcinna paśyanti jagatsamagram || 27||

siddhiṁ tathāvidhamanovilayāṁ samādhau

     śrīśailaśrṛṅgakuhareṣu kadopalapsye |

gātraṁ yadā mama latāḥ pariveṣṭayanti

     karṇe yadā viracayanti khagāśca nīḍān || 28||

vicaratu matireṣā nirvikalpe samādhau

     kucakalaśayuge vā kṛṣṇasārekṣaṇānām |

caratu jaḍamate vā sajjanānāṁ mate vā

     matikṛtaguṇadoṣā māṁ vibhuṁ na spṛśanti || 29||

|| iti śrī ādi śaṅkarabhagavatpāda viracitaṁ yogatārāvalī sampūrṇam ||

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PS.

I was asked why I've been going on so much about the whole Ujjayi pranayama Vs breathing with sound in Ashtanga topic recently, why make it such a big deal. I was asked..

"Isn't it the same whatever you call it, ...that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, kind of a thing" .

Well, apart from the fact that the Shakespeare quote is bad phenomenology, I just think we lose too much... throwing out the baby with the bathwater as it were.

With Ujjayi we have the whole, Patanjali, serpent allusion thang going on, hissing breath and all that, which can then tie in with kundalini, more serpent power, look at verse 6 in the Yoga Taravali above,

'When the female serpent (kundalini) is awakened by the practice of Uddiyana, Jalandhara and moola bandhas, air, which is directed inwards, enters the subhuman and abandons its outgoing and incoming activity'. Verse 6 Yoga Taravali

If we think of the breath in Ashtanga as ujjayi pranayama we get the whole world of pranayama to play with in our asana practice, if we so choose (we don't have to, we can keep it simple), the lengthening of the breath, the smoothness, steadiness, like the pouring of oil, the channeling of prana... all that comes as a given with referring to the breath in our asana practice as a pranayama. 

Call it breathing with sound and we then have to add to that. What does that mean breathing with sound, it strikes me as.... impoverished.

As bad as suggesting that the bandhas are merely pulling up your anus

...or drishti looking at your nose, or toes etc..

These are fine in the beginning right, and as quick reminders but there's more to bandhas, more to drishti and more to noisy breathing too.

And there is Kumbhaka, there's always kumbhaka. Try to avoid it. Right now....breathe in and then breath out again without stopping in between for a even fraction of a second, you can't do it. Breath normally, what's that a half a second in between? Now do your best Ashtanga breathing, call it soundbreathing if that helps, draw theair in fully, inhalation and exhalation the same, time the slight pause in-between ...I make mine just under two seconds. That, in a sense, is kumbhaka, a mini kumbhaka.

It's like throwing an apple in the air, ....for a moment, just a moment, it floats, it's free.

That what happens to you in every breath in every asana, for a moment just a moment....

For Krishnamacharya that natural kumbhaka might be enough, especially in the beginning but he would also invite you to explore that, to make that pause a little longer, five seconds perhaps ten, to hold the air out or in as you explore an asana. This isn't the same as formal pranayama which is a highly ritualised practice, involving specific postures and practices ...although perhaps it prepares us for it.

It's an option. A proficient practice doesn't have to be about the next pose it can be about exploring the breath a little more in one or more of the postures that you already have. I've heard of Ashtangi's who  are held at a pose for years, some know they will never go beyond a certain posture and that's OK, explore the breath, it's a more advanced practice anyway. Whether that's in lengthening the breath further, including visualisation as you half consciously direct the breath to marma points, to nadis or chakras if that happens to be your thing, or explore those mini kumbhka's ...'to facilitate and enhance the effects of asanas and vinyasas'.

Ujjayi pranayama, as a concept, seems so rich in possibilities, breathing with sound.....well.