The intent of this Progressive Yoga Vidya Training is to make you aware of the actual aspirations of yoga, which is the pranic awareness, the pranic activation, and the utilization of the pranic energy. Asanas constitute a small part of the yogic system. It has become popular because it is physical. If you are interested in yoga, you will focus less on the asana practice, and more on the pranayama practice, the practice of prana development or the practice of prana awakening.
When Paramahamsaji used to teach us, we used to practise one pranayama for eight hours. We used to practise one bandha for eight hours. It was not a practice of 3, 4, 5 rounds, but for hours. During the day, keep on practising, keep on practising, keep on practising. That gave us an experience of the possible changes that can happen. What is the use of practising 3 rounds, 4 rounds – it is only a placebo effect. If you practise the same pranayama for 50 rounds, you will get to understand the effect of pranayama. That is what we did.
We used to practise 100 rounds of bhastrika. We used to practise maybe 500 rounds of bhramari during the day. The body went through a lot of physical changes. There was so much heat and energy in the body, that our diet had to change. We were not eating normal food – roti, dhal, subji. No. It was all liquid to manage the heat. That is something which none of you have experienced, because you have only done 3, 4 rounds of practice and said, ‘Oh, wonderful. I feel so relaxed and calm.’ That is the extent of yoga experience today, ‘I feel so relaxed and calm.’ Maybe that is the need. I am not denying it. The majority of people need it.
I am not talking for the majority of people, I am talking for those sincere people, who want to explore and discover yoga. In the course of time, that is the focus – in one practice go deep as much as possible, experience it, awaken it, utilize it, live it. Then go to the next. I am sure that in a few years’ time, you will see a big change in your body, in your pranic body, in your mental body, in your vijnanamaya and anandamaya koshas, in all the koshas. A condition has to be created and that is the purpose.
28 October 2023, Progressive Yoga Vidya Training, Ganga Darshan, Munger