Yoga Immersion

This coming Friday, I will be starting my training as a therapeutic yoga instructor. I signed up at the Integral Yoga Institute, in New York. It is my sincere hope that I will somehow, despite all economic odds and the horrendous health care system which by and large deems most therapeutic and alternative medicine services not medically necessary, my patients will benefit from a yoga practice that will be done with a gentle encouragement and an understanding that all of us start by facing, and then overcoming our limitations, whether physical or mental.

As a matter of fact, Yoga is known as a union of physical and mental, or the great late sage Sri Pattabhi Jois, commented in his book "Yoga Mala", it is a way of establishing the mind in the Self. It is with this union that perfect health is found to be rooted. It is not a series of strange postures on a rubber mat, or even a couple deep breaths for stress relief - it is a holistic health discipline that is perfect in union of the many areas it comprises.

You know my fascination with the tree as the perfect metaphor for life, health and renewal. How amazing it is that the great B.K.S. Iyengar compared the practice of yoga to a vibrant tree:

"A tree has roots, branches,leaves, bark, sap, flowers, and fruits. Each one of these components has a separate identity, but each component cannot by itself become a tree. It is the same with Yoga. As all the parts put together become a tree, so all the eight stages put together form Yoga. The universal principles of Yama (universal moral commandments) are the roots, and the individual disciplines of Niyama (rules of self-purification) form the trunk. Asanas (poses) are like various branches spreading in different directions. Pranayama (conscious prolongation of inhalation, retention and exhalation) which aerates the body with energy, is like the leaves which aerate the entire tree. Pratyahara (a discipline that quiets the senses and draws them inward) prevents the energy of the senses from flowing outwards, just as the bark protects the tree from decay. Dharana (concentration and stimulation of inner awareness) is the sap of the tree that holds the body and intellect firm. Dhyana (meditation) is the flower ripening into the fruit of samadhi (bliss). Even as the fruit is the highest development of a tree, the realisation of one's true self (atmadarsana) is the culmination of the practice of Yoga." B.K.S.Raja Iyengar, "Light on Pranayama" - the definitions in brackets are my insertions, also based on his book.