TRI DOSHA

It's easy to understand why John Friend highly recommends the book Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Yoga "for all sincere students of yoga." Because, Mark Singleton's thesis is a well researched expose of how modern hatha yoga, or "posture practice," as he terms it, has changed within and after the practice left India.   But the book is mainly about how yoga transformed in India itself in the last 150 years. How yoga's main, modern proponents-T. Krishnamacharya and his students, K. Patttabhi Jois and B. K. S. Iyengar-mixed their homegrown hatha yoga practices with European gymnastics.   This was how many Indian yogis coped with modernity: Rather than remaining in the caves of the Himalayas, they moved to the city and embraced the oncoming European cultural trends. They especially embraced its more "esoteric forms of gymnastics," including the influential Swedish techniques of Ling (1766-1839).   Singleton uses the word yoga...

"The great thing about Ayurveda is that its treatments always yield side benefits, not side effects." • Shubhra Krishan, Author of Essential Ayurveda   This well-said quote is warmly accepted by people in India who wish to gain the benefits of Ayurveda. An ancient medicinal form, Ayurveda was developed during the Vedic times about 5000 years ago.   Ayurveda-An Insight   The word Ayurveda basically consists of two words; Ayur and Veda. 'Ayur' stands for life, while 'Veda' suggests science. It literally means the 'science of life'. It is not a medicinal system; it is much more than that. It won't be wrong to call Ayurveda a way of life.   The Science of Healing   Unlike other medicinal systems, this age-old system deals with physical, mental and spiritual health. Governed by the laws of nature, Ayurveda suggests that health can be acquired by establishing a perfect harmony among mind, body and soul. According to this old science o...

It's easy to understand why John Friend highly recommends the book Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Yoga "for all sincere students of yoga." Because, Mark Singleton's thesis is a well researched expose of how modern hatha yoga, or "posture practice," as he terms it, has changed within and after the practice left India.   But the book is mainly about how yoga transformed in India itself in the last 150 years. How yoga's main, modern proponents-T. Krishnamacharya and his students, K. Patttabhi Jois and B. K. S. Iyengar-mixed their homegrown hatha yoga practices with European gymnastics.   This was how many Indian yogis coped with modernity: Rather than remaining in the caves of the Himalayas, they moved to the city and embraced the oncoming European cultural trends. They especially embraced its more "esoteric forms of gymnastics," including the influential Swedish techniques of Ling (1766-1839).   Singleton uses the word yoga...

When most people think of tantra , they usually imagine that it is all about advanced sex. While sex is certainly a component of the tantric science, there is a lot more to it than that. Let me tell you what tantra sadhana involves.   Sadhana is a term that describes a spiritual path which has a specific objective or goal. A sadhu or sadhika is a man or woman pursuing a spiritual path that leads to a higher degree of spiritual realization. Since tantra is such a spiritual path, one who pursues it can expect to encounter enlightenment and liberation from earthly constraints of mind and body.   Tantra sadhana is therefore a spiritual pursuit in the classic sense of the tradition of 'Bhakti'. Sexual techniques are certainly involved, but only in the context of liberation from physical and spiritual repression. Overcoming these repressions plays a big role in tantra sadhana so that complete self-realization becomes possible.   A person embarked on the path of tant...

It's easy to understand why John Friend highly recommends the book Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Yoga "for all sincere students of yoga." Because, Mark Singleton's thesis is a well researched expose of how modern hatha yoga, or "posture practice," as he terms it, has changed within and after the practice left India.   But the book is mainly about how yoga transformed in India itself in the last 150 years. How yoga's main, modern proponents-T. Krishnamacharya and his students, K. Patttabhi Jois and B. K. S. Iyengar-mixed their homegrown hatha yoga practices with European gymnastics.   This was how many Indian yogis coped with modernity: Rather than remaining in the caves of the Himalayas, they moved to the city and embraced the oncoming European cultural trends. They especially embraced its more "esoteric forms of gymnastics," including the influential Swedish techniques of Ling (1766-1839).   Singleton uses the word yoga...

When most people think of tantra , they usually imagine that it is all about advanced sex. While sex is certainly a component of the tantric science, there is a lot more to it than that. Let me tell you what tantra sadhana involves.   Sadhana is a term that describes a spiritual path which has a specific objective or goal. A sadhu or sadhika is a man or woman pursuing a spiritual path that leads to a higher degree of spiritual realization. Since tantra is such a spiritual path, one who pursues it can expect to encounter enlightenment and liberation from earthly constraints of mind and body.   Tantra sadhana is therefore a spiritual pursuit in the classic sense of the tradition of 'Bhakti'. Sexual techniques are certainly involved, but only in the context of liberation from physical and spiritual repression. Overcoming these repressions plays a big role in tantra sadhana so that complete self-realization becomes possible.   A person embarked on the path of tant...

It's easy to understand why John Friend highly recommends the book Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Yoga "for all sincere students of yoga." Because, Mark Singleton's thesis is a well researched expose of how modern hatha yoga, or "posture practice," as he terms it, has changed within and after the practice left India.   But the book is mainly about how yoga transformed in India itself in the last 150 years. How yoga's main, modern proponents-T. Krishnamacharya and his students, K. Patttabhi Jois and B. K. S. Iyengar-mixed their homegrown hatha yoga practices with European gymnastics.   This was how many Indian yogis coped with modernity: Rather than remaining in the caves of the Himalayas, they moved to the city and embraced the oncoming European cultural trends. They especially embraced its more "esoteric forms of gymnastics," including the influential Swedish techniques of Ling (1766-1839).   Singleton uses the word yoga...