Erich Schiffmann - Yoga: the spirit and practice of moving into stillness

T he purpose of yoga is to facilitate the profound inner relaxation that accompanies fearlessness. The release from fear is what finally precipitates the full flowering of love. In this state you will love what you see in others, and others will love you for having been seen. This is the softened perception of the world that yoga promotes.

Therefore, the apparently simple benefits that accrue from the regular practice of yoga can change your life in very profound ways. Do not underestimate the value of being balanced, centered, and coordinated, of being strong and light, of being more flexible, without pain, experiencing the subsequent feelings of invisibility or transparency, and of being more sensitive....

Yoga will make you sensitive to the stillness, the presence, the hush, the peace of God. This deep inner stillness is at the core of your being. It is the ground, the joy of your being. The radiant peace youll experience is what happens naturally when the creative energy of God is allowed to flow through you unobstructed.

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The author of this book is not a physician and the ideas, procedures, and suggestions in this book are not intended as a substitute for the medical advice of a trained health professional. All matters regarding your health require medical supervision. Consult your physician before adopting the suggestions in this book, as well as about any condition that may require diagnosis or medical attention. The author and publisher disclaim any liability arising directly or indirectly from the use of this book.

An Original Publication of POCKET BOOKS

POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright 1996 by Erich Schiffmann
Photos copyright 1996 by Trish ORielly

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Schiffmann, Erich.

Yoga : the spirit and practice of moving into stillness / Erich

Schiffmann.

p. cm.

ISBN: 0-671-53480-7 (pb)
ISBN 978-1-4767-3562-7 (eBook)

1. Yoga. 2. Astnga yoga. I. Title.

B132.Y6S398

291.43dc20

96-41662
CIP

First Pocket Books trade paperback printing December 1996

POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.

Cover design by Brigid Pearson
Text design by Stanley S. Drate/Folio Graphics Co. Inc.

Front cover photo by Trish ORielly

To my mother

Creation flows, for life is the movement of Being.

Immerse yourself in stillness and become consciously one with the flow.

Conscious union is yoga.

F irst, Id like to thank Kathleen Miller for her preliminary editorial work when the book was in its formative years. Id like to thank Tom Miller for his wonderful final editing. Love to Leslie, my wife, for her patience, encouragement, humor, insight, feedback, and support during my long hours of writing. Special thanks to Trish ORielly for her excellent photography and Dr. Jim Dreaver, my dharma-jousting partner.

I would also like to thank all my teachers. Theyve each inspired me in their own unique way. Jim Fowler at the Krishnamurti School, Brockwood Park, England (theres always something special about your first yoga teacher); Sri TKV Desikachar of Madras, India; Jean Bernard Rishi, Paris, France; Mary Stewart, London, England; Dona Holleman, Florence, Italy; Vanda Scaravelli, Fiesole, Italy; BKS Iyengar, Poona, India; Krishnamurti, India; and, most notably, Joel Kramer, Bolinas, California.

Prior to meeting Joel, even though I had been doing yoga for years, I had not yet learned how to do yoganot really. I could perform most of the poses fairly well, but I hadnt yet discovered what it was all about. I was still looking to others to tell me what to do. Not surprisingly, and even though I loved it, I felt like I was doing someone elses yoga. It wasnt genuine yet. It wasnt mine. Joel taught me how to go within and run energy through my body. Within the first ten minutes of our first lesson, I was a changed man. From then on, yoga was mine.

I would also like to thank the many people whom I have been lucky enough to have in my experience, those that called themselves students. Im still learning from them. They give so much. They kept me going when times were tough.

Mostly, I want to thank my mother and father, my first gurus. They encouraged me to follow my calling, to honor my deepest feelings, and to help others as best I could. I felt loved by them, and I felt safe. That feeling of being safe and loved, though dim in my awareness a lot of the time, was always there deep within me giving me faith, hope, and courage in a world that can be very confusing. For that I thank them both with utmost, heartfelt gratitude. There is no greater gift than love. For me, they were the specific embodiment of Gods Love.

I would also like to thank my older brother, Karl, for giving me my first yoga book on my tenth or twelfth birthday. What a stupid present, I thought at the time. Why did you waste my birthday present on that? I found the book in one of my drawers a few years later.

P eople often ask me how I became interested in yoga and whether or not I was flexible when I first started. I usually say that I was reading Krishnamurti books in high school, and somewhere in one of them he said that if you really wanted to get your head together, if you wanted to achieve enlightenment, clarity, or peace of mind, otherwise known as Self-Realization, Awakening, or God-Realizationthat is, if you wanted to understand what he was talking aboutit helped if your body was as healthy and sensitive as possible, and he recommended yoga, meditation, and a vegetarian diet. I thought, Well, if any of this actually helps, its worth a try. And so I took up the practice. But it wasnt exactly like that. And, no, I was not flexible when I first started. I could not touch my toes, for example. But it came fast. I progressed quickly. I remember being able to balance on my head for a few seconds the first time I tried, but I was not able to cross my legs into the Lotus position.

My older brother, Karl, had earlier given me my first yoga book, The Spirit and Practice of Yoga by Michael Volin and Nancy Phelan, which I promptly put into a drawer and forgot about. I still have the book, by the way, and Karl now says he has no recollection of ever giving it to me. At some point, howeverI must have been thirteen or fourteenI remember finding the book and looking at the pictures. They had an exotic appeal. I remember liking the sheen of the mans skin, the look in his face, and thinking he appeared healthynot in a get-fit way, especially, but in a mystical, holy, deeply healthy, appealing way. I started dabbling with the postures. Im not sure why.

There were not very many poses in that book, maybe fifteen or twenty, but I tried them all. I especially remember attempting Uttanasana, the Standing Forward Fold, where you bend forward from you hips and touch your face to your legs. This wasnt possible by any means, initially, but after several weeks I bent over and was almost touching my face to my legs. I was really close. And so, I went for it. I pulled with my arms and stretched even harder, and I managed to touch my face to my knees for a brief moment. And I got such a rush! Energy sped through my whole body. It felt electricalmost scary, but not. It was actually intensely pleasurable, exhilarating. I was there just a moment, but when I stood up I was different. Something in me had changed. I realized I was tinkering with something powerful. I wasnt suddenly a zealous convert, nor did I become particularly disciplined about any of this yet, but in my mind I was beginning to think of myself as someone who was into yoga.