Christina Brown - The Modern Yoga Bible

The

Christina Brown

The definitive guide to yoga today

ancient wisdom for modern life

ATHA

The Yoga Sutras, as a codification of Hatha yoga, is an important classic text, containing 196 concise aphorisms that tell us exactly what steps to take to achieve the goals of Hatha yoga. The first line of the Yoga Sutrasatha yoganusasanam means: Now, the teaching of yoga. So atha is the very first word of the very first line of the Sutras. While its meant as an introduction to the remaining instructions, to me it means something more. What I love about it is that if you can truly understand and integrate this first word now you actually may not need the rest. If you can fully apply the concept of bringing your mind to the present moment, then you will be free. Its liberating to allow the past to drop away and to let the fantasies of the future have less of an imprint. When you exist in the present moment, so much stress just falls away. It is a beautiful experience to be present to life as it unfolds.

Try chanting it: Aa-Tha the h gives the second syllable a slight aspirated sound. The first syllable is a slightly longer sound, with a rising intonation, and the second is a shorter, falling intonation.

Do you know why you have opened this book? Yoga meets so many needs, its no wonder its popularity has grown and grown. While you may come to yoga with a physiotherapeutic goal in mind hoping to ease body aches and pains it probably wont take you too many yoga classes to discover some of the other benefits. For many, yoga develops into something that is more than just about lengthening and strengthening. It becomes about living life better outside the yoga room.

I am guessing that you could be looking at this book because you would like to feel calmer, more peaceful and a little happier. To me, whats most beautiful about yoga practice is how expanded and spacious I feel, both during and after it. When you find a practice that suits you well, its easy to get into a flow-zone that is very uplifting, and this can resonate long afterward. One of my students explained how he often felt after class: Its as if all is right with the world. This is not insignificant. In a world where the daily news features tragic stories of war, disaster, misfortune and violence, it can feel as if there is frequently little that is positive out there for us. We need to be able to peep our heads above any clouds of anger and hate that hang over us. Yoga provides essential relief to the darker elements of our worldscape. It reminds us that we can rise above aggression and hatred and live well.

Yoga practice allows me to re-experience the beauty of who I am, and to experience my body as a sanctuary. In a world where we are often encouraged to be busy and materially productive, spending time on yourself can be seen as selfish. I often remind my students how, when you love someone very much, it is natural to want to spend time with them. It becomes simple and effortless to give that person your time. Rolling out your mat ready for practice is an affirmation that you want to devote time to yourself. It is a great act of love toward yourself and, from that, it becomes deeply healing. The bottom line is that you can be happier practising yoga. And you deserve to feel this way.

A regular yoga practice can make you feel calm and peaceful, as well as more limber.

When you follow the guidelines from the ancient texts, yoga is a science. It offers us a logical series of steps that help us to live better. The aim of yoga is to clear the mind, improve the quality of the mind and understand the reality of the mind. The active postures, or asanas, that make up most of this book are a helping hand to the purpose of yoga. They will keep your body healthy, strong and limber. They also prepare the body to sit with ease, so that you can practise the mental focusing techniques that will help clear your mind. This is all a terrific antidote to whichever imbalances are occurring in your day-to-day life. As you read on, you will find that yoga has a solid basis. But yoga is also an art and, with that, a little bit mysterious and magical. How else can simply making a series of shapes with our bodies have such a profound effect on our psyche, make us feel so incredibly good and create such a vast number of yoga enthusiasts worldwide?

Unlike Western psychology, which has tended to focus on understanding those who are sick, Eastern psychology long ago figured out the importance of positive thinking. Two thousand years ago, Eastern yogis (practitioners of yoga) had already completed an in-depth study of the nature of healthy minds, worked out how to achieve self-realization and outlined how to deal with the pitfalls encountered en route. Their techniques are sound and time-tested. And what they discovered holds truer than ever today. While our modern lives arguably see us moving ever further from our roots and from that which keeps us grounded, those wise old yogis are still holding a beacon of light and truth, to guide the rest of us forward.

In this book there are references to the two most-discussed ancient texts: the ) is a collection of aphorisms codified by the sage Patanjali in about 400 CE. The Yoga Sutras are like a recipe book, describing step-by-step what we need to do to achieve Kaivalyam, the ultimate freedom. Youll find quotes and inspiration from the Sutras throughout the book, to guide you in your approach to modern life.

This book is about Hatha yoga, which is one of several branches of yoga. It is the yoga of effort the active yoga exercises most commonly practised around the world today. Yoga was originally taught by oral transmission in Sanskrit, the language used by scholars. Asana is the Sanskrit word for the physical postures that are familiar to yoga practitioners worldwide. The literal definition of