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Awareness Newsletters Our monthly Awareness newsletter is packed with interesting bits of information. We look at a different yoga pose each month, provide practical information about yoga for harmony and wellbeing in daily life, give you something to chew on in the Food for Thought section and you can contemplate on a quote coming directly from the timeless Vedic scriptures. The newsletter also includes news of Lotus Room events, such as workshops or festivals you can attend. Subscribe to the Awareness newsletter if you would like to receive it on a monthly basis, and do contact us should you wish to receive any back-issues. Hatha Yoga for Harmony & Wellbeing This section of our Awareness newsletter emerges from the frequently asked questions by students during classes. Here we aim to give you the practical knowledge you seek on how yoga practise can change the way you feel and think. A new tip is published online every month, so this section shows the items from the latest three issues of our newsletter. The Yoga of Relaxation Nowadays, modern life has become a race against time: business pressures, hurried meals, improper food and continuous tension are all the cause of fatigue, restless sleep, strain and irritability. Unfortunately today’s human being has completely forgotten how to relax, when relaxation is most important nowadays that we are experiencing this high level of stress. If you watch a baby asleep, you can notice that it gives up its weight entirely to the bed, without any muscular tension. Babies have not yet forgotten the art of relaxation; they are able to completely rest at their own will. Watching two hours of television is not relaxation. With TV, you're adding input rather than clearing out or cleansing. In a way, your mind is going to be even more tired when you are done. Learning how to relax in this age of rapid change – when high blood pressure and heart disease are the number one killers in society – is one of the most valuable skills to acquire during a lifetime. Since during deep relaxation only a very small amount of vital energy is being consumed, the remaining energy which is being constantly produced by the cells of the body can be conserved and accumulated for future engagement in service. Through conscious intent and regular practice of relaxation, one develops the ability to keep the mind and the body in perfect equilibrium in all situations. Disturbing emotions and worries dissolve from the mind. It is possible to feel a great change in the quality of life with just little time of regular practice every day. Every Breath You Take Oxygen burns up toxins in the body, purifies the blood stream and heals and recharges the body and mind. We all know how to breathe, because it is a natural reflex action. However, our breathing habits may change over time, due to many factors, making our breathing less than optimal. Bad postures, such as slouched positions, reduce the volume of the chest cavity and promote shallow breathing from the upper chest. This fills only the upper lobes of our lungs that constitute only a small fraction of our lung capacity while the breath becomes shallower and faster. In contrast, when we are relaxed with our chest expanded, the free and easy expansion and contraction of the lungs, diaphragm, ribcage and spine is enhanced during breathing, therefore increasing the volume of air that we inhale and exhale. Breathing exercises cause an increase in the elasticity of the lungs and rib cage. This creates an increased breathing capacity all day, not just during the actual exercise period. Deep, slow, yoga breathing reduces the work load for the heart, making it more efficient, stronger and last longer while there is less wear and tear of the entire body. Proper breathing lowers blood pressure, induces relaxation of body tensions and quietens nerves so a feeling of extreme peace arises in the mind and body. Around the Bends Strength and flexibility are not just a matter limited to our physical body. Do we tend to push our way through life? Are we strong enough to resist difficulty? Are we flexible enough to face life's ups and downs without complaint? Or do we sail through life way to easily always wearing a smile? We can see that muscles which are very flexible may be due to a lack of stability in the muscle fibres - that is superficial flexibility. In the same way, muscles with a forceful power that comes from bulkiness may lack the efficiency to vary their load-bearing - that is superficial strength. Too much emphasis on developing superficial strength can restrain flexibility, while too much emphasis on superficial flexibility can reduce strength and stability. This rule applies to our minds as well as our bodies. A truly strong mind is one that can adapt; a flexible mind is one that can cope with anything. Similarly, a strong body can go for any challenge; a flexible one will not break under any amount of pressure. The 8 Limbs of Yoga by Patanjali Patanjali is an evolved soul who lived sometime between about 500 and 200 B.C., but the exact date is unknown. Patanjali, often called 'the father of yoga,' chose to write on three subjects: grammar, medicine and yoga. He is the author of the Yoga Sutra, where he describes the ways of overcoming the afflictions of the body and the fluctuations of the mind: the obstacles to spiritual development. There is more to yoga than postures and breathing, hence the development of the eight limbs of yoga: Ashtanga Yoga. These are Patanjali's suggestions for living a better life through yoga. The works of Patanjali are followed by yogis to this day in their effort to develop a refined language, a cultured body and a civilised mind, which in turn will assist their spiritual development. The eight limbs of yoga by Patanjali, which were described in detail in our Awareness newsletters, are: Yama – Behavioural principles (in external dealings) Niyama – Moral observances (within) Asana – Physical Postures Pranayama – Regulated Breathing Pratyahara – Sense Control Dharana – Concentration Dhyana – Meditation Samadhi – Superconscious state of absorption in the essence of God To receive past issues of the Awareness newsletter, send us an email with your request on info@lotusroom.org Food for Thought The Food for Thought section of our Awareness newsletter is compiled from excerpts from books published by Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, the international bhakti yoga organisation with which the Lotus Room is affiliated. A new snippet of wisdom is published online every month, so this section shows the excerpts published in the latest three issues of our newsletter. Divine Enjoyment Exploitation and enjoyment: we are in the midst of them and do not know anything but enjoyment. We want to understand anything and everything in terms of enjoyment; we are in such a filthy, degraded position. Only, enjoyment, enjoyment that is exploitation. But to exploit is the meanest type of nature, it is hateful, and we must get out of the clutches of that ghost of exploitation. And there is another ghost: renunciation, idleness. But the noble thing is dedication, a dedicated life. Excerpt from Heart and Halo by Swami BR Sridhar The Environment is Always Friendly We must try hard to detect God’s grace in whatever comes to us, even if it comes as an apparent enemy. Everything is the grace of the Lord, but we can’t see it; rather, we see the opposite. The dirt is in our eyes. Actually, everything is divine. It is all the grace of the Lord. The disease is in our eyes. We are diseased, and if the disease is cured, we shall find that we are in the midst of a gracious world. Only the coverings of desire deceive us from having a real estimation of the world. We have to think that God’s will is everywhere. Even a blade of grass cannot move without the sanction of the Supreme Authority. Every detail is detected and controlled by Him. We have to look upon the environment with optimism. The pessimism is within us. Our ego is responsible for all sorts of evil. Our tendency at present is to cure what we see on the outside. We think, 'I want everything to follow my control, my sweet will. When everything obeys me, then I will be happy.' But we must take just the opposite attitude. If we can do this, then in no time, our disease will be cured, and we’ll be in the midst of infinite blissfulness. Excerpt from The Search for Sri Krishna by Swami B R Sridhar What stuff are you made of? With a broad vision, we must know ourselves as created of smaller stuff, and thus only with assistance from above can we improve our situation and achieve a position in the higher plane. A submissive, serving attitude is necessary in us. If we submit, the universal dictatorial aspect of the Absolute will take us upward to a higher prospect. Excerpt from Prapanna Jivanamrtam by Swami BR Sridhar Selected Verses This section is compiled from the Quote of the Month section of our Awareness newsletter. A new sloka – Sanskrit for verse – is published online every month, so this section shows the slokas from the latest three issues of our newsletter. krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha, ataeva maya tare deya samsara-dukha, (Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 20.117) Since time immemorial, the individual souls have been engaged in misconception as exploiting agents. They have entered the land of exploitation, and come within the factor of time, space and thought, so action and reaction begins in the negative land of loan. Although we strive to become masters, really we become losers. trinad api sunicena, taror api sahisnuna, amanina manadena, kirttaniyah sadah harihe (Siksastakam 3) Humbler than a blade of glass, more tolerant than a tree, always giving honour to others, without expecting any for oneself, makes one qualified to always sing the glories of the Lord. achintyah khalu ye bhava na tams tarkena yojayet prakrtibhyah param yach cha tad achintyasya laksanam (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu: 2.5.93) That which is of the nature of the Absolute, is called achintya, or inconceivable. Reason can only comprehend what is of the mundane nature, so do not try to control what is inconceivable within your knowledge—your mental power. It is beyond your reason.