For me, YOGA is the joyous participation in being. It is a study of movement – movement of our body, breath, emotions, thoughts, energy and vibration. It is a movement out of and towards stillness, a deeply personal process of self-exploration and integration of all our parts into a greater unified Whole. A process of remembering and of active participation in the wonder of Life, as an individual being and a being in relationship. It is also a set of very useful techniques which allow us to strengthen and relax, regenerate, clear, focus and cultivate our mind, and become more aware and conscious. When we move and breathe, we come into contact with our selves and what is, we give attention, touch and love to parts of us that need it, we fine tune our energy and open ourselves to receive and express through our whole being.
ASANA is the intelligent movement of the body in union with breath, designed to restore harmony. It is a creative impulse which surges from our within, out of deep listening to ourselves and our needs at the present moment. It is a participation in the dance of opposites, condensing and expanding, stability and flow, groundedness and lightness, rest and action, being and doing, listening and acting. Each posture is a process to be felt and experienced, created in the moment. There is a natural geomtry in our body and out of it spirals of movement emerge.
Our BREATH is one of our most intimate and wondrous faculties. It is a process essential to being alive, and which connects us to the circle of life. The Sun gives light to this beautiful Planet, and plants, trees and algae from the oceans nourish with it and create oxygen in this process. Us humans breathe in this oxygen into our lungs. From there it goes into our heart and to our blood. Blood then carries it to each and every cell of our body and feeds the cells, creating life energy. At the same time, the cells give out carbon dioxide, a gas, which moves from your blood to the lungs and is exhaled, nourishing the very same organisms that created oxygen for us. Thus the circle is complete and our each breath is a reminder of that circle.
Conscious breathing makes this process even more subtle. The breath can be directed like a laser, like an energy current. It can travel precisely through our body, open pathways, cleanse, melt obstacles, widen, regenerate and energise. It can bring healing through gentle attention. There are many techniques of breathing available to us through history, but only us can get to know the potential and strength of our breath through experience, experimentation and practice. We need to spend time with our breath to get to know it, to feel it, to learn how to modulate it, focus it and open it.
HEART.
Using traditional terminology Yoga of Heart is hatha yoga transmitted to me through the following lineage of teachers: Krishmamacharya – Desikachar – Mark Whitwell – Domagoj Orlić.