This page is offered as a helpful guide to students looking to have a deeper understanding of some things that you encounter in a yoga practice.....

THE YOGA SUTRAS

The Yoga Sutras is the foundational text of Classical Yoga.  They are 195 aphorisms which were originally transmitted orally and put to paper by the sage Patanjali approximately 2000 years ago.  This text is actually more of an experiential workbook that reveals the field of knowing available to all of us.  It is broken down into four sections,  the second section being where the eight limbs of yoga (Ashtanga) are outlined.  The 3rd limb is Asana (posture), which is how most of us come to begin our yoga practice.  For those students looking to take their yoga work beyond the yoga mat, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is an invaluable text.  Yoga Sutra workshops are offered throughout the year by Todd Geiser in Myrtle Beach; please contact Todd if you have an interest in further study of this text.

        Recommended translations:

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Swami Satchidananda

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali  by Edwin Bryant

How To Know God: The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali  by Swami Prabhavananada and Christopher Isherwood

CHANTING 

Chanting Om is often used to mark the beginning and/or end of your yoga practice.   This can seem strange or intimidating if you are new to the practice.  First, it is important to keep in mind that yoga is meant to cultivate a greater sense of health and a truer knowledge of one's self.  Just as you should not push yourself into a painful place physically while on the mat, you should take care in developing all parts of your individual yoga practice.  You do not need to feel pressure to chant if it does not feel appropriate for you.  The chanting of om can offer a unifying quality to the energy of a group of people coming together to practice yoga.  On an individual level, the chanting of om, particularly at the beginning of class, is very effective in focusing the mind by removing distractions and the restlessness of worldly thoughts that may have made up a better part of your day leading up to your practice.  The benefits of chanting recited by recent scientific research includes an effective way to control stress, along with an increase in the body of oxygen and glucose, and a reduction in carbon dioxide.  Better control over stress in the body and an increase in oxygen and glucose (fuel for the body) will obviously be very helpful when preparing to move into a the physical exercise that yoga offers.  The metaphysical aspect of this age old mantra and all its complexities could not be summed up in one paragraph.  However, everyone should know that om is not religious in that it pre-dates religion. There were yogis meditating on the sound of om well before the inception of any of our major world religions.  While all forms of chanting is usually associated with various spiritual traditions, the sound of OM used in a yogic practice will always represent the basis for the practice...connecting to our deepest sense of being.  While you continue to realize the effect of voicing this one simple syllable, rest assured that it would not have lasted over five millennia if there wasn't something to it.  For those looking for a deeper significance to meditate on during the chant, understanding the four parts to this one syllable can be helpful:  "A" is the sound of infinite expanding energy in the universe, the energy of unity consciousness and Divine Love; "U" is the sound of that very energy manifesting into the reality of this world; and "M" is the sound of that energy in our own individual being. In the silence after the sound we sit in recognition and gratitude of the power and process of creation vibrating within us (this silence is anahata nada; the unstruck vibration.)

THE OPENING MANTRA

The Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga practice begins with an opening mantra.  This mantra is really 2 shlokas from different sources.  The first is a verse from the “Yoga Taravalli” by Sri Shankaracharya, and the second section comes from a longer text dedicated to honoring the sage Patanjali, the author of the Yoga Sutras.

Reciting the mantra and regarding it as an invocation sets the tone and intention of our practice as a guide of working with the known elements of breath and body, so that we may better know our true nature which extends beyond the limits of this world. This mantra opens us up mentally and energetically to what we can learn about our Self through the intensity of our undertaking on the yoga mat.  All knowledge gained, through the asana practice and the work on the other limbs of yoga as outlined in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is so that we may find a true depth to our joy, the kind of joy that cannot be altered from external circumstances.   The essence of this is expressed in the mantra by the words “Sandrasita Svatma Sukhava Bodhe”; when this is said, you are “invoking the insight into the happiness of pure being” (Bodhe = “to know”, Sukhava = “happiness”.)

THE CLOSING MANTRA

The closing mantra, or mangala mantra, is an ancient chant from the Rg Veda typically recited at the end of practice as an offering of the merits of our practice to the world we live. As the opening mantra sets the intention of using our yoga-asana practice as another step on the path toward Self-Realization; the closing mantra reminds us that we are not to do this selfishly, but so that we may use our awakening to share and support the powers of wisdom and peace in our world with an open heart.

“May all beings be happy and free and may I contribute in some way.”