Centered Yoga

The Eight Vital Principles of the The Centered Yoga Method:

1. The meditative state of mind or the not-doing of meditation.
2. Relaxation or the not-doing of the body
3. Intent or the not-doing of visualization
4. Rooting or the intelligent use of gravity
5. Centering or the Knowledge of the Hara
6. Bodyscape or the anatomical understanding of the body
7. Breathing or the total use of inner breathing space
8. Elongating or using the total breathing to open the body

These principles assist you with your personal journey of Healing through –  discipline, discernment, practice, clearing, purifying and moving forward with Health and wellness Body, Mind and Heart.  

HARA AND THE CORE by  Dona Holleman

The human being is very complex. The part that is visible to the eye is obviously the physical body.

This body is, however, the result of, and is composed of, many parts that are not so visible to the eye.

Beginning with the most obvious part, the skull contains the brain, which is composed of various parts (neocortex, cerebellum, amygdale etc.)

The heart, which is the motor of the physical body, is generally associated with the emotions.

Less known is the lower part of the body, the so-called core , which means ‘centre’ where the internal organs and the intestines are.  The intestines are the ‘factory’ not only of the immunity system, to defend the body against diseases and viruses, but are also an important reservoir of emotions and  intuitions.

The physical body is, so to speak, the final result of the sum of all the other components,  mentally and emotionally. It is, so to say, the tip of the iceberg, visible above sea level, while the bigger part is under the sea level, unknown to many people.

In Western  languages there are no special words to describe those parts, therefore I will use the Sanskrit words, which are very clear.

The physical body is made of physical material, flesh, bone, nerves etc. which we can see, touch, examine, but which in itself is only inert material.

The bricks that construct the physical body is the food that we eat and the drinks that we drink. Therefore in Sanskrit yogic language it is called annamaya kosha, or the body made of  anna (food).

To move the annamaya kosha we need the brain. The brain is also material, but emits electric waves, and it is those that move the physical body (annamaya kosha).

Everything that the  annamaya kosha does begins with commands in the brain,.

The brain programs all the movements of the annamaya kosha and all the other processes of the physical body.  This centre of organization is called in Sanskrit in the yogic tradition manomaya kosha.  In this word we can recognize the word ‘man’ or ‘hu-man’ in English, for instance.

This is the organ that distinguishes us from the animals, who have it but in a more rudimentary form, less developed, and which makes us ‘human’.

There is however one thing that even the Western doctors do not know, but which the Orientals and the yogi’s have always known, which is that the manomaya kosha CANNOT act directly on the  annamaya kosha. There is NO connection between the two.

That which many people know, without knowing that they ‘know’,  is that between the brain and the physical body, between the  manomaya kosha and he  annamaya kosha, THERE IS ANOTHER BODY.

Acupuncture, shiatsu, tai chi, shao-lin and many other disciplines, do not act on the physical body, but on another body, a subtle, electric body.

This electric body (think of the meridians in acupuncture or nadi’s in yoga tradition) is called in yogi tradition  pranamaya kosha, or subtle or etheric body, made of prana, chi. According to yoga, and the name itself says it already, this body is made of prana.

Many books have been written on what is exactly this prana, but if we keep to the tradition, both occidental and oriental, we can see many figures of ‘saints’ surrounded by a halo of light.

Personally I would say that  prana is not air, not oxygen, not energy, but is the basic material of the universe, which is LIGHT, photons.

The pranamaya kosha is made of photons. It is a Light body, or Body made of Light.

In yogic tradition the practice of breathing, called pranayama, is a very important part of the practice. With pranayama, we inhale air, oxygen, but in the first place we inhale LIGHT. Therefore the guided breathing, called  pranayama, fills the  pranamaya kosha with light, strengthens it and makes it shine.  It is this shining that you see around saints, but it is also the same which we see when one is ‘happy’. We say that that person is ‘radiant’.  In the winter, when there is little light we feel more depressed, dull, but in the summer when there is a lot of sunlight we feel uplifted, full of energy.

The pranamaya kosha is the  ‘blue-print’ of the annamaya kosha, and is similar to the  annamaya kosha, or rather, the annamaya kosha is similar to the  pranamaya kosha, having been ‘created’ by it.

Any blocking or problem in the pranamaya kosha manifests itself sooner or later in the annamaya kosha. In the same way that the annamaya kosha becomes ill starting in the  pranamaya kosha, so also the healing of the annamaya kosha starts in the  pranamaya kosha.

In Japanese that energy, that light, which is the subtle body, is called chi, and the body made of  chi, prana, the pranamaya kosha, is that body that acts between the brain, between the manomaya kosha,  and the  annamaya kosha.  The annamaya kosha in itself cannot execute the commands of the  manomaya kosha.  Tai chi, shao-lin and all the other oriental disciplines serve to strengthen and control the pranamaya kosha.

The manomaya kosha, which composes a command for a certain movement, sends this command to the pranamaya kosha, which in turn ‘collects’ energy, chi,  prana, to execute the command and translate it in a movement of the  annamaya kosha.  When it has gathered sufficient chi or prana  it can move the  annamaya kosha. This process is called intent. It is this command, this intent sent out by the pranamaya kosha which moves the annamaya kosha.

This process goes on all day, but for 99 %  it is on an unconscious level.  Each movement that we make follows this procedure.

So what is the difference between the daily movements and the yogic core movements?

The annamaya kosha, the physical body, has a center, which is between  the upper part of the body (arms, head and chest) and the lower part (legs)

This center is called in western  language core.

The word core means center.

The core covers the central part of the physical body between the pelvic diaphragm and the thoracic diaphragm.

The bones that contain the core are:

• The five lumbar vertebrae
• The false ribs (3)
• The floating ribs (2)
• The bones of the pelvis (ilium, ischium and pubis). For later reference the word ‘pelvis’ in Latin means ‘basin’.

The muscles of the core are:

The posterior muscles:

• The erector spinae
• The quadratus lomborum
• The greater  psoas
• The smaller psoas
• Iliacus
• Gluteus medius and minimus

The lateral muscles:

• Gluteus minimus
• Tensor fasciae latae

The anterior/lateral muscles:

• Rectus abdominis
• External oblique
• Internal oblique
• Transversus abdominis

But the most important muscle, which few people know and use, is the psoas.

The psoas is the only muscle in the body that connects directly the inner thigh (the small trochanter)  to the lumbar spine, and has a very important role in the correct posture and in the activity of the core. It stabilizes the pelvis and the inner organs.

The action of the psoas

Wrong (above):

The psoas is loose, does not have tone, and the weight of the inner organs pulls the lumbar spine forward, so that the pelvis collapses/rotates forward (ante-version). Think of  a pregnant woman with the lumbar collapsed forward because of the weight of the baby.

Correct (below):

The psoas works in a correct way, has a good tone and sustains the inner organs, keeping the pelvis in a vertical position, even slightly in a retro-version. This slight retroversion I have called the scoop. Remember that the word pelvis means basin. The organs are held correctly and do not ‘spill over and out’ forward.

The core is the central part of the annamaya kosha. It is purely physical.

Within the core, which is the physical part, however, is the subtle center, the center of the pranamaya kosha, which, in various languages, is called hara, dantien, kanda. This subtle center is below the navel, halfway the navel and the pubic bone, and halfway between the two iliac crests.

This is the center of the pranamaya kosha, and is considered the center of life and vitality in many traditions.

Since we all know the word hara I will use that from now on.

The hara is the center of the pranamaya kosha, and is situated in the center of the core, which is the center of the annamaya kosha. The hara is the subtle center from where the energy radiates in the whole subtle and physical body. All the movements of the physical body start here, also those which are furthest away from the center (arms, shoulders etc.).

A word here about the core and hara being the center of life and emotions (the intestines and the emotions), it is interesting to see that the most common modern ‘disease’ is obesity, especially in the central part of the body (the core), the so-called belly-fat, thighs and buttocks.

Our  modern life has never been in history so stressful and hectic, with millions of things to do every day and millions of problems to solve, but our annamaya kosha and the amygdale, which is the center of the three f’s, fight, flight or freeze, has not been able to keep up with modern life, technology and other stress factors.

As this stress is practically continuous, the brain produces constantly cortisol, the so-called stress hormone, as the body and brain feel continuously ‘threatened’ by daily life (think of cortisol as nature’s built-in alarm system. It’s your body’s main stress hormone).

As a result the body tries to ‘protect’ its most vulnerable part as far as emotions, the core and  hara is concerned and builds a ‘cushion’ around it to protect it against the perceived threat, stress: the famous ‘big belly’, obesity.

Jon Gabriel in his book: ‘Visualization for weight loss’, explains in a simple way how this whole process functions, and how to reverse it by learning certain techniques of visualization and meditation in order to ‘convince’ the body that there is no life threatening situation going on and therefore lower the production of cortisol.

The Japanese have a kind of ‘walking meditation’ called ‘Shinrin-yoku’ (professor Qing Li of the Nippon Medical School of Tokyo is the main researcher in this field). In his book ‘Art and Science of Forest-Bathing’ he describes the ‘technique of forest walking’, which is a slow walking through a wooded area, paying total attention to everything you see (!) which has the same aim of taking a ‘holiday’ from modern life by immersing oneself in nature in a meditative way, leaving computers and cell phones at home.

For the same reason yoga should be done very slowly in order not to set in motion this ‘defence’ mechanism by unnecessary stressing it. I have noticed however, that many people after doing years of yoga ‘increase’ their body fat, which, as I said, may be triggered by the fact that they do yoga or other exercises in a hurried and stressful way, setting off the body’s alarm system.

How to activate the core.

To activate the core you have to contract  the glutei and the tensor fasciae latae muscles of the thighs and ‘suck’ the abdomen inside, starting from the pelvic diaphragm and pubic bone up till the sternum (xiphoid process).

At the same time the lumbar spine and the sacrum are slightly pushed forward vertically and the pelvis placed in a slightly retro-version mode.

This movement is called scoop  (like the spoon with which you take the soup out of the soup bowl, or the ice-cream out of the ice cream carton).

The scoop is part of a type of breathing which I call mula bandha breathing.  With this movement the breathing changes and moves from the anterior ribs, where most people breathe erroneously, to the back ribs, where in fact the lungs are, and as a consequence the back ribs widen towards the sides of the chest.

(Note : The true ribs (1-7) are attached to the sternum, and therefore cannot widen.  The false ribs (8,9,10) are not attached to the sternum but to each other with cartilage, ribs 11,12 are the floating ribs, which attach only to the vertebrae. Therefore the main widening is done in the false ribs and the floating ribs).

At the same time the place where the breathing enters the throat, which for most people is in the upper throat, is lowered and the air enters through the lower throat (the part of the throat used for yawning and ‘heaving a sigh of relief’).

The total effect is that the movement of the breathing starts in the lower abdomen, goes backwards towards the kidneys and from there goes upwards,  following the curve of the spinal column and ending up behind the manubrium, which is the upper part of the sternum, which, as a consequence, lifts (the first part of jalandhara bandha).

This is the movement of the mula bandha breathing, from down upwards. Obviously, however, the air itself enters in the lower throat and goes down into the lungs.

Attention:

The lower part of the sternum, the xiphoid process, does NOT come forward, like many people do erroneously, placing in this way the sternum in an inclined position , but the sternum remains vertical with the manubrium in a vertical line above the xiphoid process. The whole movement takes place on the back side of the chest (where the lungs are). You can imagine that you have a large belt between the chest and the pelvis. This belt should always have the same width in the front and in the back, so the frontal ribs should not move upward away from the iliac crests.

It is important to emphasize that this whole movement of the breathing is only possible with peripheral eyes. With concentric eyes this movement is not possible. With peripheral eyes the air enters automatically in the lower abdomen, with as a result the mula bandha breathing, while with concentric eyes the air enters automatically in the upper throat, resulting in the classical Ujjayi breathing of the old texts.

In ‘HARA AND THE CORE Part Two’ I will discuss concentric and peripheral eyes, total attention and isometric and isotonic exercises.

The scoop is part of a type of breathing which I call mula bandha breathing.  With this movement the breathing changes and moves from the anterior ribs, where most people breathe erroneously, to the back ribs, where in fact the lungs are, and as a consequence the back ribs widen towards the sides of the chest.

(Note : The true ribs (1-7) are attached to the sternum, and therefore cannot widen.  The false ribs (8,9,10) are not attached to the sternum but to each other with cartilage, ribs 11,12 are the floating ribs, which attach only to the vertebrae. Therefore the main widening is done in the false ribs and the floating ribs).

At the same time the place where the breathing enters the throat, which for most people is in the upper throat, is lowered and the air enters through the lower throat (the part of the throat used for yawning and ‘heaving a sigh of relief’).

The total effect is that the movement of the breathing starts in the lower abdomen, goes backwards towards the kidneys and from there goes upwards,  following the curve of the spinal column and ending up behind the manubrium, which is the upper part of the sternum, which, as a consequence, lifts (the first part of jalandhara bandha).

This is the movement of the mula bandha breathing, from down upwards. Obviously, however, the air itself enters in the lower throat and goes down into the lungs.

Attention:

The lower part of the sternum, the xiphoid process, does NOT come forward, like many people do erroneously, placing in this way the sternum in an inclined position , but the sternum remains vertical with the manubrium in a vertical line above the xiphoid process. The whole movement takes place on the back side of the chest (where the lungs are). You can imagine that you have a large belt between the chest and the pelvis. This belt should always have the same width in the front and in the back, so the frontal ribs should not move upward away from the iliac crests.

It is important to emphasize that this whole movement of the breathing is only possible with peripheral eyes. With concentric eyes this movement is not possible. With peripheral eyes the air enters automatically in the lower abdomen, with as a result the mula bandha breathing, while with concentric eyes the air enters automatically in the upper throat, resulting in the classical Ujjayi breathing of the old texts.

I will shortly discuss concentric and peripheral eyes, total attention and isometric and isotonic exercises.

But first I will talk about  isotonic and isometric exercises.

As I explained before,  all movements are done VERY slowly, without hurry or stress, starting from the core and with total attention to have the desired effect.  These exercises to reinforce the core are isometric exercises.

An isometric exercise is a kind of static contraction  of one or more muscles.

The word isometric combines the Greek word isos, which means equal, and metria, which means measure.

Isometric exercises are done by antagonistic muscles.

Antagonistic muscles are those muscles in the body that oppose each other,  where one muscles functions as a ‘break’ for the other, to prevent the action of the other.

In this contraction the antagonistic or opposing muscles ‘work’ in equal measure: the length of the muscle and the particular angle of the joint that the muscle covers changes little or not at all, or gradually. This is because one muscle ‘breaks’ the action of its antagonist.

For example: the biceps of the arm, which bends (flexes) the arm, is the antagonist of the triceps of the arm, which stretches (extends) the arm, and vice versa. Or the biceps of the thigh, which bends (flexes) the leg, is the antagonist of the quadriceps, which stretches (extends) the leg. The glutei are the antagonists of the abdominal muscles, and vice versa.

The antagonist ‘breaks’ or blocks the movement of the muscle which is the opposite. This happens anyway. The elbow does not close suddenly and abruptly when the biceps is shortened, but closes with a certain control. That control comes from the triceps.

In the isometric exercises this control, this breaking of the movement of one muscle by another, is accentuated. The triceps ‘break’ the movement of the biceps in an exaggerated way, it seems it does not want that the  biceps does its job. Here the biceps ‘wins’, even though with little margin.

You can, however, at any point in the exercise, make the two antagonists equal, that means that both ‘win’. As a consequence there is no movement whatsoever, only a strong contraction of the two antagonistic muscles, or of a single muscle.

Isometric exercises, in contrast to isotonic exercises where the muscles are in constant movement,  is much more precise.

For this kind of work you need to do four things:

1. Do the movements very slowly
2. Do the movements on an exhalation
3. Do the movements with peripheral vision
4. Do the movements with total attention

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

Peripheral vision

As human beings we are part of the kingdom of the animals, in particular of the kingdom of the mammals.  What is a mammal? It is that animal that gives live birth and gives milk to its young ( mammal means breast).

Within the group of the mammals you can distinguish two groups, those who eat meat: (the carnivores or predators) and  those who eat grass (the grass eaters or prey animals).  Between these two there is a third category, the monkeys and primates, who eat leaves and fruit, so they too are prey animals.

The human being belongs in the group of the primates (the chimpanzee is our nearest cousin)

But with the development of the brain we occupy a situation in the middle: our body is a prey animal (a famous phrase in English says: The Naked Ape),   but our brain has turned into a predator due to lack of teeth, claws, hooves etc.  The history of the human being is signed by blood and violence. The ancient Romans said: homo homini lupus est (the human being is a wolf for the human being)

That the body is a prey animal you can see from many things: We sweat (dogs do not  sweat but put the tongue out to freshen up), we can cry (predators do not cry), we ‘suck’ liquids while predators lap the liquids up with the tongue,  and so forth.

But, as we said before, our brain is a predator. This we can see from the history of human beings which is soaked in blood.

If we look at the eyes of a predator and at those of a prey animal,  you can see that the predator has the eyes on the front of the face,  (concentric), while the prey animals has them on the side of the face (peripheral).

The predator ‘chooses’ his prey, concentrates on the prey, while the prey animal has to see 360 degrees around to see where the predator is in order to be able to escape. There is a famous quote which I like very much:

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

Christopher McDougall

The human being, being ‘double’, both prey and predator, can look in two ways:

• With ‘concentric vision’ or the vision of the predator
• With ‘peripheral vision’ or the vision of the prey

Concentric vision ‘concentrates’, calculates, thinks, programs, uses the programming, thinking brain that can talk and is in contact with the physical body or the  annamaya kosha, is in contact  with the front of the body and can examine the body in pieces, (shoulders, knees etc).

Peripheral vision ‘feels’, is intuitive, in contact with the pranamaya kosha, in particular with the back side of the body, does not think, does not talk or make programs. It is instinctive. When the horse feels ‘threatened’ it runs away as fast as possible without analysing the situation, without thinking, programming. It just runs. The peripheral vision feels the pranamaya kosha, while the concentric vision sees the annamaya kosha.

We humans can see the world in both ways.

The eyes have an oval form, with an inner corner (close to the bridge of the nose) and an outer corner (towards the sides of the face).

With concentric vision the energy of looking goes through the inner corners of the eyes; the eyes are close to the bridge of the nose and concentrate, choosing, can see the body in separate pieces. A  modern example is someone who works at the computer or cell phone.

With peripheral vision the energy of looking goes through the outer corners of the eyes, on the side of the face, with the feeling that they widen.  They do not choose, but ‘feel’ the subtle body or pranamaya kosha, the body is not divided in pieces to examine detail. There is no talking, and one feels the back side of the physical body. These are the type of eyes we can see on the Buddha statues and paintings, and on the ancient Egyptian statues and paintings, where the eyes are almond shaped towards the sides.

To learn the technique of an exercise you have to first use concentric vision: you need to learn all the ‘pieces’ of the exercise separately with the physical body or annamaya kosha.

When you have learned the details you need to make a quality jump. You need to use peripheral vision to feel the exercise as an exercise of the  pranamaya kosha, as a ‘holistic’ exercise, a spiritual exercise (the word ‘spiritus’ in Latin means air).

As we are practicing our movements with the yoga, breathings, and guided meditations – it is important to understand that you are clearing the Energy Centers with your attention.  The guided breathings bring more Light into our etheric field, our chakras and this brings more light, Prana, chi, orgone energy into our body.  This will create Health in your body on all levels.

WHAT ARE THE ENERGY CENTERS?

Energy Centers are amazing vortexes of energy that we have through our body, as well as above and below our body field.  There are eight major ones and we also have ones in our hands, soles of our feet and minor ones throughout our body.  We are opening up to twelve main energy centers as we each evolve.

Each of the Energy Centers has its own  level of consciousness and frequency.  Each has its own individual glands, its own unique hormones, chemistry and individual plexus of neurons.  As each center is activated it will emit energy for the body and is a ‘mini brain’ bringing intelligcne and energy into the region.

There are 8 main Chakras that  harmonize with our life emotionally, spiritually and physically.  We can open and clear the centers with Happiness, Joy, Love, Sound and ‘allowing’  for the Healing and Source to move through us.  As our Chakras are more open — Creative Energy of Source moves through us and we can evolve and transcend adversities;  feel safe in our choices and life; move from Love; express our Truth from our Higher Self; and perceive a broader spectrum of reality.  Harmony, enlightenment and balance with ourselves, our world and our path is activated;  and feeling all we have intended and put into action on our Light Path is happening and then our 8 th Chakra begins to be activated.  We are now Open and allowing the Golden Light from above to be flowing through us without blocks.  WE are Vessels for the Light on Earth.  When we create from our Lower centers of anxiety and fear- it is not the same because we are not moving from our Higher Self.

Through our inner attention of our Breath with the Light, we clear and renew with the Golden Light of Love

1st Root Chakra – Connection of Heaven and Earth

2nd Spleen Chakra – Greater Creativity and Healing

3rd Solar Plexus – Greater Wisdom and Inner Knowing

4th Heart Chakra – Higher Love.  A bridge between the lower and the higher energies.  Our emotions choose the way to go. 

High Heart- Christ Consciousness into the Thymus

5th- Throat region and Higher Communication, Cosmic Expansion

6th Third Eye – Opening Spiritual Vision

7th The Crown Chakra – Higher Spiritual Understanding 

8th Soul Star- Our connection to Heaven and Earth  (white)