Skip to main content

Yogasanas, Kundalini and the body-mind connection


John Kaldawi learned that the ultimate purpose of yoga is the awakening of 'Kundalini shakti', the evolutionary energy in man.  Practicing asanas stimulates the chakras, distributing the generated energy of kundalini all over the body.  About 35 asanas are specifically geared to this purpose.: bhujangasana for manipura chakra, sarvangasana for vishuddhi, sirshasana for sahasrara and so on.  The other asanas regulate and purify the nadis facilitating the conduction of prana throughout the body.

The main objective of hatha yoga is to create balance between the interacting activities and processes of the pranic and mental forces.  Once this has been achieved, the impulses generated give a call of awakening to 'sushumna nadi', the central pathway in the spine, through which the kundalini shakti rises to sahasrara chakra, thereby illumining the higher centers of human consciousness.

Hatha yoga, therefore, not only strengthens the body and improves health but also activates and awakens the higher centers responsible for the evolution of human consciousness.

Furthermore, John Kaldawi learned that Prana, the mind and body are not separate entities although there is tendency to think and act as though they are.  The gross form of the mind is the body and the subtle form of the body is the mind.  The practice of asana integrates and harmonizes the two.  Both the body and the mind harbor tensions or knots.  Every mental knot has a corresponding physical, muscular knot and vice versa.

The aim of the asana is to release these knots.  Asanas release mental tensions by dealing with them on the physical level, acting somato-psychically, through the body to the mind.  For example, emotional tensions and suppression can tighten up and block the smooth functioning of the lungs, diaphragm and breathing process, contributing to a very debilitating illness in the form of asthma.

John Kaldawi also learned that muscular knots can occur anywhere in the body: tightness of the neck as cervical spondylitis, the face as neuralgia, etc.  A well chosen set of asana, combined with pranayama, shatkarmas, meditation and yoga nidra, is most effective in eliminating these knots, tackling them from both the mental and physical levels.  The result is the release of dormant energy; the body becomes full of vitality and strength, the mind becomes light, creative, joyful and balanced.
Regular practice of asana maintains the physical body in an optimum condition and promotes health even in an unhealthy body.  Through asana practice, the dormant energy potential is released and experienced as increased confidence in all areas of life.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Zen Buddhism:

John Kaldawi was inspired by Zen Buddhism which is at the heart of the Japanese culture as the school of Mahayana Buddhism.   It is a practice that is transmitted directly from a master to a disciple.   It is also called ZaZen, Za for sitting and Zen for meditating, and is also called the journey of self discovery.   It is the experience of living from moment to moment, in the here and the now.   It is the attitude of spiritual awakening which is also the source of all actions of daily life flow like eating, breathing, sleeping, working, walking, thinking, etc... Doing more research, John learned that Zen is not a theory, or an idea or knowledge, not a moral teaching, and does not require one to believe in anything, but rather a practical experience.   One cannot intellectually learn Zen because the mind in limited.   It is a spiritual path that does not tell people what to believe, but Zen lead them to basically not to think. John Kaldawi als...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pranic currents and the breath

John Kaldawi learned that the pranic currents, ida, pingala and sushumna, operate alternately.  The current that is flowing at any particular time may be gauged by noting the flow of breath in the nostrils.  When the left nostril has a greater flow of air, then ida nadi is predominant.  When the flow is greater in the right nostril, then pingala is predominant.  If the flow is equal in both of the nostrils, then sushumna is predominant. Doing more research, John Kaldawi learned that when the right nostril (pingala) flows, there is more vital energy for physical work, digestion of food and so on.  The mind is extroverted and the body generates more heat.  When the left nostril (ida) is flowing, mental energy is dominant.  The mind is introverted and any kind of mental work may be undertaken. During sleep ida nadi flows.  If pingala flows at night, sleep will be restless and disturbed.  Likewise, if ida flows while taking food, the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mooladhara Chakra Mantra

John Kaldawi learned that the Sanskrit word "moola" means "root" or foundation and that is precisely what this chakra is.   Mooladhara is at the root of the chakra system and its influences are at the root of our whole existence.   Mooladhara is the first chakra and is located in the male body slightly inside the perineum, while in the female body it is located on the posterior side of the cervix.   Mooladhara is traditionally represented by a lotus flower with four deep crimson petals.   On each petal is a letter: vam, sham, sham, sam, written in gold. Doing more research, John Kaldawi learned that in tantra, mooladhara is the seat of kundalini shakti, the basis from which the possibility of higher realization arises.   This great potential is said to be lying dormant in the form of a coiled serpent.   When aroused, it makes its way upward through sushumna nadi in the spinal cord until it reaches sahasrara where the ultimate experience of enlighte...
Post a Comment
Read more