The UrbanYogi - Mukesh Banka

Today is punyathithi of respected Guruji BKS Iyengar, one of the most influential Yoga Gurus of modern era. I offer my humblest pranamas to Guruji 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Great souls like Guruji don't die they just leave the confines of mortal body and join the vastness of paramatama. Sharing some inspirational quotes of Guruji from his "Light on Life"

"Before our consciousness finally gravitates to our Self and our Self is merged in the Infinite, there are many fine threads to be woven together into the shimmering cloth of our practice."

"We have to weave in a meditation of such selfless purity that the impersonating ego will be unmasked for all time. When the ego is effaced, the afflictions that accompany it will disappear."

"Another thread that we must weave in is an understanding of how the elements inform our practice. I have discussed in the earlier chapters the elements of earth, water, fire, and air and how they correspond to the first four sheaths of body, energy, mind, and intellect. The final element that corresponds with the final sheath of bliss is called "space" and allows mobility and freedom in all the others.
Space is the most subtle and pervasive element, and we must learn to tame it."

"A vase, like a building, like a body, has two spaces—the one that it contains and the one that surrounds it. When we begin asana, we worry about the shape of the pose, that is, how we look in the mirror, in other words, the space we exclude. By now we should be worrying about the space we include, the space within, for it is largely that which gives true life and beauty to the asana. It is called yoga svarupa—the self assuming its perfect form through yoga."

"That is achieved through the inner distribution of space."

~ Guruji BKS Iyengar

Today is Death Anniversary of Shri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya Venkata Desikachar (21 June 1938 – 8 August 2016), better known as T. K. V. Desikachar. He was son of Shri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, the most influential yogacharya of modern times. The father Son teaching method is called Viniyoga (application of Yoga) which focus on individual based teaching of Yogasanas, Pranayama, Dhyana and Vedic Chanting.

In 1976 TKV Desikachar founded the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM), a yoga therapy clinic and yoga center in Madras, India, as a non-profit public charitable trust, teaching yoga inside India. Under Desikachar’s leadership, the KYM offered teacher training and individual instruction in asana, pranayama, meditation, yoga philosophy, and Vedic chanting, as well as pioneering research into the impact of yoga on people suffering from schizophrenia, diabetes, asthma, and depression.
As the KYM had been primarily set up with legal and statutory provisions to operate only within India, barring it from any activity outside India, TKV Desikachar and his son & student, Dr. Kausthub Desikachar, in 2006 founded the Krishnamacharya Healing and Yoga Foundation (KHYF), a partnership firm located in India. This was done to spread the teachings of Viniyoga® globally, as the tradition by then had many international students all over the world. The KHYF)is the worldwide headquarters, the anchor and official umbrella organisation representing the Viniyoga® tradition of Professor T Krishnamacharya and Desikachar globally.

I offer my humble obeisances and pranams to the great Yogi. May his teachings keep guiding yogsadhaks 🙏🙏🙏

यं ब्रह्मा वरुणेन्द्ररुद्रमरुत: स्तुन्वन्ति दिव्यै: स्तवै-
र्वेदै: साङ्गपदक्रमोपनिषदैर्गायन्ति यं सामगा:।
ध्यानावस्थिततद्गतेन मनसा पश्यन्ति यं योगिनो-
यस्तानं न विदु: सुरासुरगणा देवाय तस्मै नम:।।

~ श्रीमद् भागवत् महापुराण —12/13/01

One whom Brahma, Varuna, Indra, Rudra and Mrudgan pray to by singing divine hymns;
From the metered hymns of Vedas and the Upanishads with correct composition, arrangement, organization|

Whom the Yogis constantly meditate upon and see in their minds;
The one whom the immortal gods and demons also bow down to - I prostrate to same Sriman Naaraayan with all humility and submission

Wishing everyone a blessed Guru Purnima.

​On this auspicious occasion, I offer my deepest pranams to Adi Yogi Shiva for the ability to grasp the subject of yoga; to my teachers for showing me the correct way; to Guruji B.K.S. Iyengar for (indirectly through his books and videos) illuminating its subtle nuances; and to my students, whose dedication allows me to continuously refine my knowledge through teaching.

​May the blessings of Shiva and all great Gurus forever guide and shine upon us.

स्वाध्यायप्रवचनाभ्यां न प्रमदितव्यम् ।
~ तैत्तिरीयोपनिषद् , शिक्षावल्ली, एकादशोऽनुवाकः

"Don't be lethargic and negligent in svadhyaya (self-study) and teaching."
This is advice of a Guru to his students after culmination of their education

"I think my pupils have taken my years of practice very seriously. My suggestion to them would be that they should not get disturbed, having practiced for so many years nonstop. They should continue, because in life disappointments do come, depressions do come, breaks do come, but even then they have to restart immediately so that they can recover. And they should see the light, which comes through this.
They should not lose what they have earned. Even if they maintain the experience that they have, that is a great achievement. They should uphold it. They should not fall from the grace that they have earned with hard work."

~ Guruji BKS Iyengar

“I also say with backbends, you have to be cautiously bold. Not carelessly bold. You have to descend to the dictation of the spine. You cannot command from the brain to do the poses. As you play with a child, guarding the child from injuries, similarly you have to play in backbends, guarding your spine.”

~ Guruji BKS Iyengar

"Nature provides the means to adjust to the rhythms of life with all turmoils of day-to-day pressures and environments. The body astonishingly adjusts to the imbalances created by the possessor of the body.
When these are overstepped, the physical, physiological, and psychological diseases set in, creating psychosomatic diseases. It is similar to the ecological imbalances of mother earth when man taps and exploits nature."

~ Guruji BKS Iyengar

“Don’t think that unless you have reached the ultimate final pose then only the fruit comes. No. At every level, asana has something to offer.”
~ Prashant Iyengar Ji

A prominent YogGuru of modern times, Sri Prashant S. Iyengar Ji, son of Guruji BKS Iyengar, is one of the most revered yoga and yoga philosophy teachers worldwide. Currently, he serves as the director of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) alongside Abhijata, Guruji's granddaughter.

Wishing Prashant Iyengar Ji a very blessed birthday. May he continue to illuminate the world with the traditional essence of yoga, inspiring millions of practitioners. Humble pranams to the great YogGuru.

स्वभावसुन्दरं वस्तु न संस्कारमपेक्षते ।
मुक्तारत्नस्य शाणाश्म-घर्षणं नोपयुज्यते ॥
- दृष्टान्तकलिका

Something that is inherently and naturaly beautiful does not need further processing or refinement. For a pearl, grinding on a touchstone will do no good, infact it will destroy it!

Patanjali on Prāṇāyāma

Patanjali codified prāṇāyāma in Chapater II (साधनपादः) of his YogaSutras (2.49-2.53)

तस्मिन्सति श्वासप्रश्वासयोर्गतिविच्छेदः प्राणायामः।।2.49।।
From the awareness gained from the practice of asana (tasmin) having been established (sati), one proceeds (gati) in lengthening and extending the life force (prana-ayama) by observing and analyzing the sequencing (vicchedah) of the inspiration (svasa) and exhalation (prasvasayor) and the spaces between them.

This backing off or slowing down of the amount of force (or) absence of it, that is used towards exhalation and inhalation (vichchhedah) is the most important concept. Through that slowing process, there is an expansion of awareness on to the entire field of prāṇā. This sort of slowing, softening or braking of the effort in breath is used in practice of prāṇāyāma. One of the finest methods is to stabilize and calm the mind is breath awareness. First, be aware of the transitions between the breaths, and allow them to be smooth, without an abrupt transition, and without pausing between breaths. Consciously practice seeing how delicately smooth you can make the transitions. Allow the breath to be quiet, and make all the efforts to remove forceful or jerking motions.

बाह्याभ्यन्तरस्तम्भवृत्तिर्देशकालसंख्यामि परिदृष्टो दीर्घसूक्ष्मः।।2.50।।
Through over-viewing (paridrsto) the oscillations between the spinning patterns (vrttir) of the inward and outward characteristics of the breathing process and its tidal operations of stillness (stamba) in regard to duration (kala), location (desa), and the number of repetitions (samkhyabhih), as to its degree of subtleness (suksmah) and extended refinement (dirgha-suksmah) while the breath spins internally, externally, or comes into stillness (stamba) [pranayama is practiced].

बाह्याभ्यन्तरविषयाक्षेपी चतुर्थः।।2.51।।
Then the fourth (caturtah) phase (visaya) of successful prāṇāyāma, occurs when the prana is withdrawn and ceases to move (aksepi) either internally (abhyantara) or outwardly (bahya).

Patanjali here points out that we can observe and utilize four types of energetic processes - prāṇāyāma, i.e., the energetic process behind the inhalation, the exhalation, the disruption of either the inhalation or the exhalation, and fourthly the deepening awareness at the energetic space which occurs at the beginning of exhalation or inhalation processes which is neither an inhalation nor an exhalation, where an effortless natural suspension of the breath occurs which in turn leads us to the siddhi of balancing, harmonizing, and synchronizing the polar aspects of prana (energy) leading it into sattva -- the non-dual (sushumna).

ततः क्षीयते प्रकाशावरणम्।।2.52।।
From that (tatah) [successful practice of prāṇāyāma] the obscurations and coverings that the veil (avaranam) the inner light (prakasa) are dissolved (ksiyate).

धारणासु च योग्यता मनसः।।2.53।।
… and (ca) the ordinary mind (manas) [and nadis] thus become purified and functionally prepared and capable (yogyata) for successful concentration (dharana) practice.

Here, Patanjali is beginning to link pranayama, pratyhara, and dharana as one integrated mutually synergistic practice. In one sense, pranayama itself is a dharana (concentration) practice [which would not happen without pratyhara or withdrawal of senses], an awareness practice focusing on the universal prana and its intelligent source by aligning the energy body and physical body with that.