yogabook / yoga order
1) yogash chitta vritti nirodhah:
Freely translated: Yoga is what quiets the hamstering of your mind.
2) Don´t compare – don´t compete:
It doesn’t matter what the neighbor does, unless he or she is in an emergency and I’d have to save him or her.
3) The pose lasts as long as the pose lasts:
If you are strictly of the opinion that you have to get out, you probably have to. What would you have more than your perception and reason, and who would want to stand above that? Nothing prevents you from returning to your pose shortly afterwards.
4) Keep your face soft and your breathe flowing:
When the face becomes soft, much worse things happen under the surface.
5) We always work at the limits:
Boundaries are something completely normal. No matter which way you go, you will come up against a border somewhere. Border contacts are usually interesting. Wanting to overrun your body’s boundaries is a form of violence that your body will most likely respond to with counter-violence, which you most likely don’t want to feel. After all, you want to live well in your body for some time to come. But your body could care less how YOU feel.
6) In a pose, exertion and the sensation of stretching are normal:
They are quasi constitutive for a pose. If you don’t feel either of them, it’s possible that not only do the right things fail to materialize but in addition, maybe even wrong things happen, going unnoticed. Tell me! If you feel anything other than these two, e.g. joint pain, nausea, a tendency to run away… is not part of the pose, tell me!
7) The poses may seem to train the body:
The more important thing is that they help you to develop good inner qualities and mitigate obstructive ones. Because of their vertical connctions, poses can also have an effect or trigger something on other levels, especially psychomentally.
8) You come to practice:
This means going beyond the known, the familiar, the mastered, overcoming hurdles and obstacles and expanding capabilities and possibilities. Therefore, I am not prepared to waste your time and willingness nor mine with weakly effective exercises.
9) Taking a pose
is the transformation of one state of equilibrium into another state of equilibrium without anything other than equilibrium and stability being present in between.
10) savasana is NOT sleeping, it only looks like:
It is an exercise in wide-awake, highly attentive internalization, in withdrawing the senses from the outside world and turning inwards, however that works, and whatever you find there. And the most difficult exercise rather than one of the easiest…
11) How long does it take you to learn to play the violin or study mathematics?
Why should you learn to master such an important, complex and powerful instrument as your body more quickly? You will gradually get to know and use it, rebuild and refine it. Many things take time, or more precisely: practicing in time.
12) Everything has its measure:
The pose needs what the pose needs. Give it what it needs, even if it goes beyond what you are used to give, perhaps willing to give, but probably not what you will be able to give.
13) Yoga is not a sport.
The goal of sport may be fun, performance or socializing. The goal of yoga is health and wholeness on all levels and inner growth.
14) Many things are just a question of persistence,
correctly speaking the sustainability of the effort, here for example who is more persistent, your stiff or weak muscles or YOU?
15) Every weakness comes out at some point,
not just those of the body. With yoga, we usually have good opportunities to work on this.
16) I only make suggestions:
If you consider them inappropriate or unfounded, you must reject them.
17) Don’t say I’m good at yoga…
Like everyone else, I have my limits and am only a few days‘ practice ahead of you.
18) Everything in this universe is in approximation to the next higher level,
you, the bacteria in your gut, your planet, your sun … So are your asanas, your thinking, your inner attitude.
19) Everything in this universe develops from coarse to fine:
From tamas through wild rajas to sattva. The possibility of getting from tamas directly to sattva is illusory. Therefore, strive for improvement and do not shy away from the necessary effort!
20) God is a hierarchical phenomenon
and describes the wholeness of a certain level for its parts, which approach it in unimaginable ages. You are the God for everything that is in you and what you are made of, guide it well so that it serves you well!
21) Your identifications are arbitrary,
even if not by chance. You will replace them with higher quality ones in due course.
22) The interesting things are the ones beyong the rim of your tea cup,
but you have to get to this rim first. And this cup won’t be the last.
23) Time is one of the most popular illusions,
the usual, quantitative even more than the qualitative. So when you leave, move away or end your life, say goodbye with a knowing and serene „see you soon“.
24) Your body follows its habits.
Not what is right or sensible, just like the psyche and the mind.
You are the person to educate them.
25) You practice yoga as you live – and vice versa.
You have your own approach to everything, not unfounded, but often improvable.
26) You want to know why you and I are doing this?
The goal of human development can be described as the ability to deal with all possible opportunities, contacts and situations without fear and in a balanced way, for one’s own benefit and that of the system in which one is embedded! Read more at Patanjali, in the Gita or at seeledienstmeditation.de
27) Asking is only ever as embarrassing as you think it is
Regardless of what you think, I know that asking is not embarrassing and usually leads to more information, so it makes sense. So, if you don’t understand something, don’t know a term, don’t know how to do something, ask me.
28) How long does it take until …?
There are two wonderful answers to this
1. it depends ! It depends on your constitution, your work on the task and the ratio of co-factors to counter-factors, such as, e.g., muscle-stiffening sports.
2. find out ! When you’ve done it, you’ll know how long it took..
29) It’s not about toughness.
It’s not about toughness, yoga’s not martial arts. Harshness and ruthlessness belong elsewhere, here mindfulness, awareness and respectful treatment of the overall system and its limits are needed and practiced.
30) Positive distances between the base joints of the fingers and the floor are called mouse holes and are not part of the pose.
Seemingly insignificant detail here, important requirement there! Don’t think that the importance of things always jumps out at you.
31) Nothing hangs – except hair and clothing
In every pose, every part of the body is given a meaningful task, some of which may seem to contradict each other, but which can always be solved by increasing body awareness, strength and flexibility. Even in uttanasana, the arms do not hang down, no: the elbows stretch towards the floor!
Only hair and clothing cannot be entrusted with meaningful tasks, except: do not disturb.
32) The last half degree is the most exciting !
The 179.5 degree before that are boring. Educate yourself to mindfulness, perception, respect for yourself and your overall system and get everything out of it that you want. You can be sure of my respect and cooperation.
33) I never want more than your maximum, but also, never shall I want less !
Unless there are tangible medical or psychological reasons, let’s find out together how far you can and want to go to your individual limits. We will find out together within your frame.
34) The right thing doesn’t stop being the right thing just because it’s difficult, hard or impossible.
Maybe tomorrow the „is“ will become „seems“ and the day after tomorrow you’ll be rid of the superstition that it can’t be done because you see how it can be done.
35) Masking cascade
A problem on one path does not have to be the last, its solution can be the path to the next one to be solved. The second cannot be guessed until the first has been solved. Solve the whole cascade.
36) There are different foci of practicing
Mainly duration, intensity, precision, inner posture and breathing.
37) Props are the playpen that allows you to walk. But it also blocks the big wide world.
Use them as long as they are needed, but no longer. Everything has its place and its time.
38) There is exactly one standard for you: yourself !
Nothing and no one else. Your own standard lies within yourself and continues to change as you develop.,
39) The body is not a fire-and-forget system
nor are psyche and mind. It is not that they carry out an order once given or follow a rule once set up, rather they are children, who need education and control.
40) The attitudes are both a diagnosis and a therapeutic measure
They show you where and to what extent there is room for improvement and at the same time work on this improvement.
41) Consciousness is the set of (real and abstract, inside and outside of yourself) things you are able to perceive and the way you react to them (on all levels of your being, inside and outside of yourself).
The two main aspects of any being are perception and re/activity. Everything in this universe is endowed with them, according to its level. In sum, it forms its consciousness. Its expansion and refinement is the goal of yoga, of life and of all existence on every level. The Kleshas Avidya (ignorance), Asmita (identification with the personality), Raga (desire, craving), Dvesha (aversion), Abhinivesha (fear) are the fundamental obstacles – open, serene, purposeful aspiration the path.
42) What fights is only the body
As I said, your identifications are not arbitrary, but that doesn’t make them right or helpful. You are not your body, but it is your powerful tool. Perceive it well and accurately in order to be able to work with it in the best possible, long and healthy way, but do not identify with it. Don’t confuse dog and master.
43) Nothing can be so beautiful or so terrible that it would be worthwhile to stop breathing,
not even a yoga pose ..
44) Get any randomness out of the pose
You are stable in a pose if and only if you are doing the right thing. Standing halfway cleanly in a pose by chance has no value. Take the pose in such a way that you stand securely, calmly and cleanly, unconditionally and reproducibly, today and tomorrow, simply because you know you are doing exactly the right thing.
45) Clartiy is not necessarily pleasant or easy.
These are completely independent parameters.
Clarity about something can compel action, even unpleasant, strenuous action.
46) Information WITHOUT evidence is worthless.
WITH evidence, information becomes KNOWLEDGE, which cannot be acted against. This must be the goal.
47) Don’t try to cheat me,
you’re always only cheating yourself, never me, I’m not cheatable. Practice properly even if you think I’m not watching you.
48) How you take an exercise,
is how you will stand in it. How you leave it shows how you stood. The end is inherent in the beginning.
49) Take what you can get and make more of it !
This is one of our biggest „tricks“.
50) If you can’t imagine something, don’t try it!
Your brain would not innervate your body appropriately.
51) Life is a spontaneous phenomenon and cannot be planned.
You have to take what comes and make the best of it. Just like in a yoga class..
52) Trying to repress something
is the best guarantee of running into it again.
53) Avoid cramps !
They are useless in every sense and prevent the muscles in question from working properly for days.
54) It is my duty to make the exercises look easy.
If I didn’t, you might be deterred and wouldn’t believe you could learn it. We have to accept your amazement at the difference between the way my pose looks for you and your feeling in your pose.
55) Go far beyond the stage of only adumbrating the pose!
Explore the limits to get the most out of your time and energy and the maximum depth of experience.
56) Commission three scientists..
… a combinatorial scientist, i.e. a mathematician, a mechanic, i.e. a physicist, and an anatomist, i.e. a physician, with the task of designing a set of physical exercises that is as universal as possible and does not rely on props: the result would be the poses of hatha yoga.
57) After you move out of supta virasana into ardha supta krouncasana, are you lying crooked on your mat?
It doesn’t matter! The main thing is that you lie straight within yourself and walk straight and upright through life, no matter who seems to be orthogonal to you or you to them.
58) We are not bound by tradition …
… and limited to them, neither to any school of yoga nor to any other – except to give thanks that their work has brought us to the point where we are now – but it does not oblige us to freeze at this level. The traditions represent what we have learned from our predecessors and reflect the past work into the present. Humanity has a duty to penetrate ever deeper into the understanding of its being and the world and in doing so sometimes renders past views obsolete, changes them and adds new insights that may relativize others. If traditions contain misunderstandings, misinterpretations and limitations – and this will necessarily be the case – we have a duty to correct them to the best of our knowledge and belief.
59) It’s yoga, not ballet !
Others may stretch their toes away, we stretch our heels. Yoga poses done well may look graceful or even impressive, but we choose the most sensible of all the options available without asking whether the majority will find it the most beautiful.
60) It’s not about perfect performance ..
.. but about steady, though not always rapid, progress. Tasks are there to be tackled and solved calmly and sustainably. The surface is the surface. What happens underneath, how it happens and why, what energy is expressed through it: THAT is the real thing!
61) Don’t fiddle around, do it!
As long as you remain in thinking, you are in a dissociated state. In the best case scenario, thinking leads the way; in the worst case scenario, it circles around without producing any fruit or even bears negative fruit. However, if it goes ahead in a favorable way, the underlying more inert and less causal layers such as the emotions and the body must follow, otherwise a discord and a break in the energy flow will occur. If your thinking was wrong, you will have recognized it more quickly if you have acted. And if you were mindful, no harm occured, only a gain in experience.
62) The complexity of a system,
whether atom, unicellular organism, human being or solar system, determines the mightiness of its evolving consciousness. Its current degree determines the size of the appropriate tasks and the responsibility it can take on in the grand plan and is nothing other than its current degree of evolution. This results in a goal and the necessity to walk the path to this goal.
63) The findings from your experiences and studies form the background of your consciousness,
which helps you to understand and categorize all current experiences and, if you keep your thinking clear and calm, illuminates the path ahead step by step, goal by goal, like a parabolic mirror with the light emanating from your self. Meditation and the effort to keep your thinking clear and the focus of your consciousness above eye level help you to keep the reflector clear and are important tools for the path.
64) Enlightenment is just the name for a spontaneous phenomenon,
where a spark of spiritual reality penetrates the consciousness in a flash. At the beginning of the path as a human being, this cannot yet happen, later it happens sporadically and even later increasingly frequently. Being enlightened, on the other hand, is the state in which the height and clarity of consciousness can no longer be shaken or broken into.
65) Service is purposeful activity born out of the soul’s reaction to the grievances or needs of other entities.
It is one of the biggest decentralizing factors.
66) Decentralization is the process by which the focus of consciousness is shifted away from one’s own personality and its supposed needs
to things that are above and outside of it, namely the spirit on the one hand and service on the other. Decentralization is thus one of the most important processes of development.
67) In addition to study, meditation and service are the master tools of development.
Meditation is directed inwards-upwards, towards the spirit, service is directed outwards towards the well-being of one’s own and the other kingdoms of nature and thus serves decentralization.
68) Say what you mean and mean what you say – and practice what you preach.
Everything else messes up your own system and others and creates weired karma.
69) A yoga class is like life
you don’t know what challenge you will face next, but you do know that you will take it and make the best of it.
70) quot licet Jovi non licet bovi
For us, this means that if a gymnast in a mass event is forbidden to straighten their knees or an orthopaedic surgeon forbids the average patient with little awareness of posture and movement from hunching over in everyday life, this serves to protect them and is advisable, if not wise and responsible. A yoga class led by an experienced teacher, on the other hand, represents laboratory conditions, as it were, in which precision and maximum attention are the best prerequisites for maximum effectiveness and efficiency with ideally no side effects. Therefore, the rules of one do not apply to the other, nor vice versa.