SARVANGASANA OR THE SHOULDERSTAND

Sarvangasana is considered one of the most ancient and therapeutic yoga postures. The benefits according to some yogic literature are numerous, from taming down allergy, stimulating thyroid, calming the overly stimulated nervous system, to relieving asthma. Some even claim it to be an anti-aging pose.

The asana was depicted in Gheranda Samhita and it was actually not considered an asana or posture but a seal.

The hindu tradition states that we have a fluid of immortality, amrita, that will make us live longer.

Amrita is stored in our body in the Talu chakra, also called Lalana chakra, located on the rear part of throat. Amrita is droping into our belly until dry and we end this life time.

Yogis made this posture to live longer preventing that amrita drops down too rapid into the stomach and burn.

It´s also the meaning of all inverted postures like shirshasana for exemple.

This asana, Sarvangasana,has a counter posture, matsyasana to counter balance the effect of the Jalandar bandha (chin lock) of the shoulder stand.

Garudasana, the eagle pose as is called in the west

Although it is called “eagle pose” in English, garudasana is named for a divine creature. In South Asia, a garuda is a huge, mythical bird with the golden body of a man, a white face, red wings, and an eagle's beak. He is the king of the bird community, the enemy of snakes, and the friend of humans. Garuda is the vehicle of Lord Vishnu, the aspect of divinity which sustains the universe and takes birth as a man.

GETTING INTO GARUDASANA

Begin in tadasana, standing with your feet parallel and hip width apart, your arms at your sides, and the crown of your head rising toward the ceiling. Widen your peripheral vision.

1. On an inhale, raise your arms to shoulder level with palms facing up.

2. Exhale, bring your left arm over your right so that they are stacked with the left elbow on top.

3. Bend your elbows so that the backs of the forearms are parallel, with the backs of the hands facing one another. Wrap your forearms around each other until your palms touch. Keep your wrists in line with your forearms and lengthen your fingers. (If you cannot join your palms without distorting your wrists, keep your hands parallel with the backs facing each other). Press your forearms in opposite directions. Notice the stretch across your “wings” (shoulder blades).

4. Bend your knees, and shift your weight to your left foot.

5. Cross your right leg over your left above the knee.

6. Wrap your right foot behind your left lower leg, and see if you can hook it over the left calf or ankle. On the top half of your body, left wraps over right. On the bottom, right wraps over left. (If you can only bear full weight through one side, do not wrap the legs. Instead, keep your feet parallel, bend the knees, and take your hips back into a high squat as you would for chair pose.) Balance. Draw your hip points toward one another. Draw your navel back and up. Breathe. Imagine that you're an eagle poised in the sky, still to all outward appearances, but intensely active and present inwardly.

7. Breathe smoothly. Lift the base of your skull. Lean slightly forward from your hip crease, but lift your chest. Continue to press your forearms in opposite directions, widening through your shoulder blades. Focus your gaze on the inner edges of your hands, like an eagle soaring and sighting.

Pay attention to the qualities of softness or hardness in your breath, your body, and your eyes. Notice if your eyes want to harden and move forward, especially when you focus keenly on your hands. Can you be soft and focused at the same time? Can you keep your muscles active and your breath soft? Experiment with breathing into the back of your lower lungs, expanding the ribs like wings on the inhalation. Breathe like a gliding bird.
Remain in this pose for 30 to 60 seconds, then return to tadasana.

Repeat with the right arm on top and the left leg on top


REFLECTIONS IN GARUDASANA

Garuda is the vehicle of Vishnu, the preserver/sustainer/protector of the creation. Vishnu's name comes from the root vish, which means "to enter into," ­ "to pervade." Visnu sustains, preserves, and protects the universe by entering into it, never for a moment being absent—just as in meditation you choose an object of focus and then, to sustain your meditation, you continually choose that same object again and again with each moment. Contemplate what it means to preserve and sustain. What qualities would you need to be the vehicle of the preserver? How do you breathe as the vehicle of preservation? How does that energy feel in your muscles and bones?

Try the pose again. As you sustain it, let your awareness pervade every part of your body, your breath, your sense organs. Be equally present everywhere. When you find any part of your attention wavering, renew your commitment to being present there.

Namaskar

Credits:Zo Newell

Navarna Mantra

Aghoris and Kapalikas - The most ardent Shiva devotees

The Kapalikas (worshippers of Kapalin, the skull bearer, a name of Shiva) and the Kalamukhas (“Black-Faced,” so called because of the black mark, or tilak, customarily worn on their foreheads) were often conflated or mistaken for one another. Both were designated as mahavratins (“observers of the great vows”), referring to a 12-year vow of rigorous self-abnegation that was purported to follow the sacrifice of a Brahman or other high-ranking person. The Kapalikas performed their vow in imitation of Shiva’s act of severing one of Brahma’s five heads, which stuck to Shiva’s hand until he entered the city of Varanasi, where the skull fell to the ground at a spot therefore called Kapala-mochana (“The Releasing of the Skull”). Kapala-mochana was subsequently the site of a great temple. During the period of that vow, ascetics ate and drank from a skull (alleged to be that of the person they had sacrificed) and followed practices such as going naked, eating the flesh of the dead, smearing themselves with the ashes of corpses, and frequenting cremation grounds. Other Hindus, Shaivites in particular, were enraged by such practices.

Some otherwise puzzling sculptures on medieval Indian temples are sometimes explained as depicting Kapalika ascetics. An inscription at Igatpuri in Nasik district (Maharashtra state) confirms that the Kapalika were well established in that region in the 7th century. Another important centre was probably Shriparvata (modern Nagarjunikonda) in Andhra Pradesh. From there they spread throughout India. In an 8th-century Sanskrit drama, Malatimadhava, the heroine narrowly escapes being sacrificed to the goddess Chamunda by a pair of Kapalika ascetics. Successors to the Kapalikas in modern times are the Aghoris, or Aghorapanthis, although the latter do not follow all Kapalika practices.

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Samyama yoga

The Raja yoga or Ashtanga Yoga of Patanjali is an eight-step path (angas). Through the discernment acquired by practice we remove the layers of our true Being. It is a process of cleaning, improving and understanding the different aspects of our life. Yamas and nyamas are the two first angas, then Patanjali prescrive a few asanas in order that we can sit in a confortable way for the next angas. The following one is Pranayama (breathings) and to control the senses, Pratyahara. Here we arrive to the most internal part of this practice, is called Samyama and includes Dharana (concentração), Dhyana (meditação) and Samadhi (extase).All the first five angas were design to arrive here where true yoga begins.

NAULI KRIYA

The Shatkarma, also known as Shatkriyas, are a set of Hatha Yoga purifications of the body.Their purpose is to remove "gross impurities", cure a range of diseases, and prepare the body for pranayama, trapping the breath so as to force the vital energy prana into the central sushumna channel, allowing kundalini to rise, and so to attain moksha, liberation.

There are four steps,that you need to learned and master before moving on to the next step. They are by order:

1-Uddiyana bandha: the lungs are emptied, and the abdomen is pulled inwards and upwards under the lower edge of the ribcage

2-Madhyana nauli: only the central muscles of the abdomen are contracted

3-Vama nauli: only the left muscles of the abdomen are contracted

4-Daksina nauli: only the right muscles of the abdomen are contracted

After you master this 4 steps you are ready for Nauli Kriya and it´s here that the churning begins! By switching between madhyama, vama and dakshina Nauli in a smooth motion, we will use the abdominal muscles to massage the internal organs.

NAMASKAR