Alica Jones' new 'Ashtanga with Beethoven' video and her earlier Surf Guitar medley

Thank you to Kathryn for sharing one of her teachers,  Alica Jones', new video over on her blog ArkieYogini

I've had Alica's earlier video on my iPad and itouch for a year or two, still makes me laugh out loud in delight

Here's the earlier Surf guitar medley

And the new Beethoven video

Gregor Maehle's upcoming book, working title : "Yoga meditation: Through Chakras, Mantra and Kundalini to Spiritual Freedom”.

Gregor Maehle's status update this morning...

"Good Morning!
I am today posting an outline of my meditation book, working title ‘Yoga Meditation: Through Chakras, Mantra and Kundalini to Spiritual Freedom”.
As I’m only on the third draft I’m still able to change things around so feel free to give me feedback if you have any strong feelings either way.

Outline
The book is the result of my 35 years of meditation experience, combined with as many years of study of scripture and 15 years of direct instruction from Indian masters. The book is laid out in 18 chapters, each describing what I believe to be a ‘law’ or principle of meditation.
The 18 laws come in three parts, with six laws each pertaining to Hatha -, Raja –, and Bhakti Yoga. It is explained that these components in ancient days formed one Maha Yoga or ‘great yoga’ and only through the lapse of time we have lost it. Patanjali called the architecture or structure of this yoga 'Ashtanga Yoga'.

Part 1 'Hatha Laws or the physical dimension of meditation'
This part describes how the physical practices like asana, pranayama and kriyas create the foundation for yoga practice. The reasoning is that I want to entice physical yogis to practice meditation, too, and meditators to include asana, pranayama and kriya into their practice. In the now following laws I will show in a scientific matter how physical yoga lays the bedrock for meditation.

Law 1 Success in meditation is powered by Kundalini.
Meditation is powered by Kundalini
What is Kundalini?
Why does Patanjali not mention Kundalini?
Exercise: How asana alignes the spine for Kundalini

Law 2 Apana driven up is the 1st engine of Kundalini.
What is apana?
Peristalsis, fasting and Basti
Basti and Ashvini Mudra
Exercise: increase fruit and vegetable intake and decrease meat and starches to prepare for Kundalini

Law 3 Converting metabolic fire (pitta) into fire of intelligence (agni) is the 2nd engine of kundalini.
the ignition of intelligence.
Exercise: Sankalpa (creative thinking)

Law 4 The Oceanic breath powers the Oceanic experience in wave-like motion.
The linking of breath and mind
Exercise 3 How breath waves lead to the oceanic breath

Law 5 Prana rises only if there is a balance of lunar and solar forces.
Are there any dangers to meditation?
Nostril balance
Exercise: alternate nostril breathing

Law 6 Pratyahara is attained once lunar prana (amrita) is arrested in the cranium.
Amrta siddhi and the senses
Exercise 3a Extending your inversions

Part 2 'Raja Yoga or the Mental Dimension of Meditation''
In this part of the book the essential technique of yogic meditation is taught in six steps subdivided into some 24 or so sub-steps. It also explains that Raja Yoga is not a separate discipline but a continuation of Hatha Yoga.

Law 7 The mind automatically attaches itself to the next object arising.
Do not start by meditating on awareness
Exercises

Law 8 The type of meditation object chosen determines the mindset created
Inner and outer objects
Tamasic, rajasic and sattvic objects
Why is the central energy channel (sushumna) important?
Location and colour of Sushumna
Exercises

Law 9 Directing prana and vrtti simultaneously is the 3rd engine of Kundalini.
How to structure meditation.
Meditation and its elements.
Exercise
Why not meditate on one chakra only?
Exercises

Law 10 The lotuses (padmas) are always facing Kundalini.
Origin of the bija mantras
Exercises

Law 11 Dharana occurs once the audio, visual, kinaesthetic/tactile, olfactory and gustatory components of mind are bound to their respective places.
Exercises

Law 12 Mastery over the five sensory components of mind slows the breath and enables the increase in the elements of meditation.
Exercises
This method can be extended ad infinitum until Kevala Kumbhaka is reached

Part 3 'Bhakti Yoga or the Spiritual Dimension of Meditation'
This part shows that Bhakti Yoga is not a separate discipline but the fruit of Hatha and Raja. Without Bhakti, that is devotion to the Divine Hahta and Raja will remain dead. This part is spiked with my own spiritual experiences.
What determines the speed of your spiritual evolution?

Law 13 The Chakras constitute stages of brain development towards life as Divine Love.
Exercise
See only the Brahman in any Divine image.
Link between moon in water chakra (chakra of lower emotions) and moon in Ajna

Law 14 Internal kumbhakas make visible the Divine in Sahasrara.
Exercise

Law 15 External kumbhakas ignite Kundalini below Muladhara.
Exercise

Law 16 Apana gati, activating the inner upward-force within apana through the double-up wave, is the 4th engine of Kundalini.
Law of negating forces
Exercises

Law 17 The meditation experience can be integrated into life only then when it is ‘understood’.
Importance to integrate and “understand” the meditation experience, understand that the world is an expression of divine love, creativity and intelligence
The true meaning of understanding
Understanding the chakras
Exercise

Law 18 The Jnana Yoga: When Shakti comes to rest in Muladhara, consciousness becomes invisible and the world becomes visible. When Shakti (Kundalini) unites with Shiva in Sahasrara, consciousness becomes visible and the world invisible.
The Nagaraj, a metaphor for the unified field
Mountain-top metaphor
Practices
Stance of the Bhakta towards the Sahasrara experience
Do not go straight to Jnana Yoga
Svadharma first and only then think of merging into Sahasrara

Epilogue
Yoga is set to make a major contribution towards the spiritual evolution of humanity. Once you made break throughs, do not take off into ‘nirvana’ but make a contribution to this evolution.

Anyway that’s it for today. Please excuse the typos, etc. I feel that this will become my most important book until now. Mainly because I am practising meditation longer than asana and about double as long as pranayama. You can expect however that this book will describe meditation not in a wishy-washy fashion but explain meticulously every minute facet and also give exercises for each step so that you can experience for yourself. Please let me know what you think of the content so far and whether you think something is missing (or in fact shouldn't be there). (:
Thank you
Have a great weekend.
Gregor

Mark Darby, fundamentals: 'making it easier'. Paschimottasana, Janu sirsasana

There's a video I've been trying to find by Mark Darby (that's the one I'dtitled 'Possibly the most important ashtanga video' and now I can't find it, sorry), it looks very much like the one below but is of Paschimottasana rather than Janu sirsasana (let me know if you come across it).

I was thinking of it this morning while reflecting on how much easier Ashtanga has become, even after three weeks off ( I'm brushing up on my Ashtanga in prep for a Richard Freeman workshop at the end of the month). I thought that perhaps it's something to do with not trying so hard, not using so much muscle, no pulling or pushing oneself in and out of postures.

Can't remember when it began to get easier, perhaps, those long stays in Vinyasa Krama or later in the Rishi approach that I explored  a while back.

It was still work this morning, still hot and sweaty but mainly because I'd lost a little fitness and hadn't been jumping back that much, still work but not as hard as I'd expected it to be.

In the video ( the one I can't find ) Darby is showing how he hardly uses his hands, that the whole forward bend is done way down in the groin, the bandhas are engaged, your lifting up and over, leading with the chest...it was something like that.

And thinking about it, it's like that in every pose, the marichi D, passasana, badha padmasana,  kurmasana, baddha konasana and so on, it's how I'm approaching postures these days, the hands merely guiding rather than pulling, the lightest touch....almost an after thought.

In the beginning of course we're in a hurry, pulling and levering ourselves into postures ....or being pressed and pushed perhaps in adjustments, depending no doubt on how skilled your teacher is.

And of course the jump backs are all muscle, later there's more technique, you work out how to shift your body weight better, get the timing right...... it gets easier, it really does.

Perhaps we should be exploring more simpler variations of postures, something like David Swenson does in his Ashtanga book, getting happy and comfortable with all those stages rather than trying to force ourselves into the main posture. I was lucky in that I started with David's book, was still in a bit of a rush though, too much of a rush.

Or perhaps we should be starting with a more Vinyasa Krama practice and then moving on to Ashtanga later, linking the postures together.

Other ways to make this practice available...

Anyway, still got a long way to go myself of course, another twenty years or more before my own practice is anywhere near as effortless as Darby makes it look but it's become easier and you can see, just about see how, with time and patience......

UPDATE
Just found the paschimottasana video I was originally after...

And here's the other Russian video I posted earlier. the section on paschimattanasana is half way through.

Nice link in comments to an Iyengar Video http://youtu.be/4t2OLXi2xvY (see around 16:16) where he argues that janu sirsasana means head of knee to floor. Not convinced, liked to see have seen him argue it with his teacher Krishnamacharya seen below around 1934 from Yoga Makaranda.

Heather Morton : Backbending, Raja kapotasana extension

Heather looks very composed, ....relaxed here, kind of follows on from my previous post.

She hardly seems to be using her arms, no pushing and pulling herself into these deep backbends which is what I would have to be doing to get this deep. So (note to self) don't aim this deep right away, for such a full expression of the pose but rather find where's comfortable and work there throughout our body, following the breath, then take it just a little past our edge and work there....

Here's a link to my earlier post on Heather and her backbending DVD
http://grimmly2007.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/practicing-with-heather-mortons-back.html

August 2012 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami-Divine Mother (Sakthi) Chants

Dear Yoga Friend:

I am in Los Angeles, teaching a 200 hr Vinyasakrama Yoga Program at
Loyola Marymount University. Again I am fortunate to have a compact
but very yoga dedicated and talented group of participants coming from
different places, regions and countries..Brazil, Mexico, Lithuania,
UK, Australia. We are into the fourth week. The program is scheduled
to conclude on Aug 11th 2012. It also affords me a chance to  meet
many  friends in LA -David Hurwitz, Ross Smith, Sarah Mata, Lisa
Leeman, Arun Deva, Dr Chris
Chapple, Amparo Denney, Maxine Mills and several others.
In August I will be teaching a two day workshop on
Pranayama and Vinyasa Krama - August 16 - 17th - 9:30 am - 12:30 pm &
2- 5:30 pm
at Ananda Ashram in Munroe New York.
http://www.ananda-ashram-yoga-teacher-training.com/

DIVINE MOTHER (SAKTHI)CHANTS.

With the end of summer, the festive season starts in India. Ganesa
Chaturti, Krishna Janmashtami, the ten day Dasara and then Deepavali
all happening during the rest of the calender year. Festivity is
always associated with devotional fervor.

Patanjali recognizes the importance of devotion to the Divine in his
Yogasutras. While considerable emphasis is placed on individual effort
for all levels of yogis, the importance of taking divine help and
guidance is emphasized with equal vigor. Iswarapranidhana in three
different contexts emphasizes this aspect. Whether one is a born yogi
as in the Samadhi pada or the entry level yogi attempting Kriya Yoga
or the lifelong Ashtanga Yogi in Sadhana Pada all can benefit from
this aspect of Yoga immensely. He also includes Swadhyaya or study and
chants in both Kriya Yoga and Ashtanga Yoga for both spiritual
knowledge and communion with one's favorite deity or Ishtadevata.
Patanjali includes meditation as per one's own religious disposition
as a powerful practice even for the Samadhi yogi in the sutra
"yetabhimata dhyanad va" Some of the commentators like Sadasiva
Brahmendra following the traditional line, interpret yetabhimata as
following one of the six traditional methods of worship in India. Adi
Sankara who wrote several outstanding works in Sanskrit on the six
deities is hailed as "Shanmata sthapanacharya" or the one who
formalized the six matas or religious denominations, which are as
follows

1, Ganapathya or worship of Ganapathi/Ganesa 2. Kaumara or worship of
Subrahmanya or Muruga as more popularly known in South India 3. Saura
or worship of Sun 4. Vaishnava or worship of Vishnu and His many
avataras such as Rama and Krishna 5. Saiva or worship of Siva and 6.
Saakta or worship of Sakti or Divine Mother. This is a great help to
many Yogis who have no problem with God and religion. Another
expression used in Yoga and elsewhere in the vedas is Svadhyaya and
the conventional interpretation is that of chanting vedas, and the
benefit according to Patanjali is communion with one's own deity
(ishtadevata). Iswarapranidhana also is the term used by Patanjali on
three different occasions giving considerable importance to Bhakti or
devotion. Sri Krishnamacharya was foremost an exceptional Bhakti Yogi.
He would interpret "Iswarapranidhanat va" as "Iswarapranidhanat eva"
indicating that devotion was a superior path. Hence while there is
considerable scope for individual effort in Yoga, one with Bhakti
appears to command considerable advantage in the path of Yoga.

The worship of Divine Mother as sakthi is a very popular devotional
practice. There are several works on Sakthi that are very popular. One
of them is Lalita Sahasranama

Lalita Sahasranama (1000 names of Lalita) is a sacred Hindu text for
the worshippers of the Goddess Lalita Devi, i.e. The Divine Mother, in
the form of her power,Shakti. Lalita is the Goddess of bliss, an
epithet for Shiva's wife Goddess Parvati. Etymologically, "Lalita"
means "She Who Plays". In the root form (vyutpatti), the word "Lalita"
means "spontaneous" from which the meaning "easy" is derived and from
there the word implicitly extends to "play". It is supposedly one of
the most complete stotras which can be recited for complete salvation


The names are organised as in a hymn or stotra. This work occurs in
the Brahmanda Purana. It is a dialogue between Hayagriva, an (avatar)
of Mahavishnu.Hayagriva is the god of learning and knowledge and the
great sage Agastya. The temple atThirumeyachur,near Kumbakonam is said
to be the place where sage Agastya was initiated into this
sahasranama.
The slokas are organised in such a way that Devi is described from
"Head to Feet" also  popularly known as kesadi-padanta-varnana. This
kind of worship is said to enormously help in meditation.

Lalita Sahasranama is held as a sacred text for the worship of the
Divine Mother It is one of the principal texts of Shakti worshippers.
Lalita Sahasranama names the various attributes of the Divine Mother,
and all these names are organised in the form of a hymn. This
Sahasranama is used in various modes for the worship of the Divine
Mother. Some of the modes of worship are parayana or recitation,
archana or individual offering for each name,homa or fire offering,
etc.

Usually, in a sahasranamam, if the same name repeats, the commentators
use their scholarship and inspiration to give different meanings to
different occurrences of the same name (this practise occurs also in
Jewish Talmudic commentary). Lalita sahasranama has the unique
distinction, among all the sahasranamas, of not repeating even a
single name. Further, in order to maintain the metre, sahasranamas use
the artifice of adding words like tu, api, ca, and hi, just fillers.
The Lalita Sahasranama however does not make any use of such auxiliary
conjunctions and is therefore unique in being a pure enumeration of
holy names that meet the metrical, poetical and mystic requirements of
a sahasranama solely by their order throughout the text.

Lalita Sahasranama is a very popular chant. Many people  worship
Sakthi as the Supreme Creatrix, Universal Mother, Her Majesty above
all other devatas including the Trinity of devas, Brahma, Vishnu and
Siva. Many chant the Sahasranama every day in the morning and or more
frequently at dusk. Popular days for the Lalita Sahasranama chants are
Fridays, Tuesdays and especially the Full Moon.

As I have mentioned many times, I recited this and had this work
recorded in 1982 by Sangeetha which can be got on line from the
following link

http://www.sangeethamusic.com/album-details.php?album_id=1552

I find one can also play/listen to it from the following link

http://www.muzigle.com/track/sri-lalitha-sahasranama-stotram-4

Another important Sakthi work is Devi Mahatmayam from a purana called
Markandeya Purana. This Sanskrit work has been translated into many
languages including Tamil. Popularly known as Chandi and also Durga
Sapta Sati as it contains 700 Slokas, it is recited regularly
especially during the Dasra/Navaratri festivals in early Fall.

The Devī Māhātmya slokas are from chapters 81-93 of the Mārkandeya
Purana, one of the early Sanskrit Puranas, which is a set of stories
being related by the sage Markandeya to Jaimini and his students (who
are in the form of birds). The thirteen chapters of Devi Māhātmyam are
divided into three charitas or episodes.

The narrative of Devi Mahatmyam presents a dispossessed king, a
merchant betrayed by his family, and a sage whose teachings lead them
both beyond existential suffering. The sage instructs by recounting
three different epic battles between the Devi, the supreme Mother and
various demonic adversaries (the three tales being governed by,
respectively, Mahakali (Chapter 1), Mahalakshmi (Chapters 2-4) and
Mahasaraswati (Chapters 5-13). Most famous is the story of Mahishasura
Mardini - Devi as "Slayer of the Buffalo Demon" - personification of
Tamas and a tale known almost universally in India.

It takes about three hours to chant it in its entirity. I had this
recorded by Sangeetha in the mid-eighties. Here is the link for
download
http://www.sangeethamusic.com/album-details.php?album_id=1513
I find that this volume, one can play/listen from the following link
http://www.muzigle.com/home#!album/devi-mahathmyam-2
Mooka Panchasati, a five hundred verse work by Mook Kavi, is another
beautiful work . Written in unuasual Sanskrit meters, it is an
exceptional work of Sanskrit beautySri Muka Panchashati was composed
by Sri Muka Sankarendra Saraswati, the 20th Acharya to adorn Sri
Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. The acharya was the son of one Vidyavati, an
astrologer and astronomer. He was a congenital deaf-mute. But through
the grace of Goddess Kamakshi he gained the power of speech. On
knowing this attainment of speech by Mooka because of the grace of
Devi, the then Acharya of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, Sri Vidyaghana,
sent for the boy's parents and told them of his intention of giving
sanyasa to the boy and, with their consent, gave sanyasa to the boy
and ordained him as his successor in the Kamakoti Math. Vikramaditya
Sakari of Ujjain, Matrugupta, some time king of Kashmir, and
Pravarasena, who succeeded Matrugupta on the throne, all considered it
a rare privilege to serve at the feet of this great Acharya. Muka
Sankara is the author of Muka Panchasati, a lyrical outburst of poetry
on Kamakshi, The brilliance of the work is said to be rivaled only by
Lila Suka's Krishna Karnamrta. He attained mukti at a village near
Godavari on full moon day in the month of Sravana of the cyclic year
Dhatu (437 AD). Some consider him as the avatara of Kalidasa an
outstanding Sanskrit poet, himself a great devotee of Sakti.

I chanted this beautiful work in the mid-eighties and played a few
slokas to the Paramcharya of Kanch Mutt. He listened intently to
different portions for almost half an hour and blessed me with a shawl
and himself released it at the Kanchi Mutt on the Dasara day, the day
of victory for Devi. It was a red-letter day for me. The recording is
available on line from Sangeetha

http://www.sangeethamusic.com/album-details.php?album_id=1596
The following link can be used to listen/play the album

http://www.muzigle.com/album/mooka-panchashathi

Another chant I did which is dedicated to Durga is Durga Sahasranamam
in early 2000. It is in the form of a stotra. It is from
Skandamahapurana and again is chanted during the Navaratrri/ Dasara
time. It is again a beautiful piece. You can listen to it . Here is
the link
http://www.muzigle.com/album/sri-durga-sahasranamam
The Sun is worshiped in the female form in the name of Gayatri. In
this volume many Gayatri meter mantras and also the Saharanama of
Gayatri Devi can be found, This was recorded in 2002 Here is a link

http://music.raag.fm/Sanskrit/songs-21251-Gayathri_Sahasranama-Srivatsa_Ramaswami

To listen to  my other albums, about 20, you may open the following
link and search for Srivatsa Ramaswami

http://www.muzigle.com/track/

With best wishes
Sincerely
Srivatsa Ramaswami