You may have tried already many other techniques, you might have attended a workshop with Tony Robbins or went on a shamanic ritual in the Amazonas. Now you have tried it all, it’s time to give yourself in for Yoga.

Yoga in Sanskrit means union. The union between the micro and macro. Yogis live a clean life in regards to body, mind and emotions. It is realized through dissassociation from the mundane and it aims at the more subtle dimensions of life. The goal of Yoga is self-realization.

Patañjali – Modern art rendering in Patanjali Yogpeeth, Haridwar

To begin with Yoga, it helps to understand that Yoga is not gymnastic as mainly tought througout the world. Yoga comes with attitude, ethics and dangers. 

Patañjali has scientifically categorized the spiritual discipline of Yoga through sutras, mainly through compiling old Yoga scriptures in one masterwork. The first sutra is: And now Yoga. Yoga, because you have tried everything else, now it is time to do Yoga.

Ashtanga, The eight stages of Yoga (by Patañjali)

Patañjali defines Yoga as 8 stages or limbs.

1. Yama: It’s a moral compass for behaviour to bring order for attainment of deeper harmony with all other beings. It can be seen as the moral code of Yoga.
2. Niyama: It’s a ethics compass for behaviour to bring order for attainmenet of deeper harmony within oneself.
3. Asana are body postures as best known in Yoga. Asanas create resonance and bio-energetic balance using techniques which increase awareness. 3 hours and 48 minutes in a steady and pleasant state of posture is the measured time by Patañjali and Yogis to obtain all the benefits of a specific Asana.
4. Pranayama: A Yoga technique for rhythming the vital breaths. Through repetition, one becomes aware of Prana, the universal subtle energy. Prana itself means life force, the equivalent of Chi in Chinese Taoism.
5. Pratyahara: It is the the withdrawal of attention within oneself in order to resorp all senses in the self.
6. Dharana: It is the momentary knowledge of the object through the absence of the ego.
7. Dyhana: It is the meditative state of no-mind.
8. Samadhi is the stage of self-realization.

The eight stages of Yoga can be subdivided in 2 parts:

A) The visible part of Yoga include the stages 1 – 4
B) The Raja-Yoga or Antaranga Yoga is the inner Yoga of consciousness which include the stages 5 – 8

Have you ever wondered what exactly Nikola Tesla meant by that? We all know that Nikola Tesla had very unusual habits, but he was a great mind and scientist. What exactly did he mean with non-physical phenomena? What is the non-physical to a scientist?

In this video by Osho, he explores what basically Nikola Tesla was saying so mysteriously.

But where is the nothingness? In the atom? In the Electron? Osho gave the example with a stone. What happens if you cut a stone? You find more stone (lol).

At The DNA of Success, Sadhguru explained it with 13 zeros and a 1 behind the 0. That equals nothingness. And there lies super-significance.

What does a mystic has in common with one of the brightest minds in humanity, Nikola Tesla?

All the mystics talk about the central importance of the nothingness. Sadhguru, Osho, Lao Tzu and so many more mystics, all talk how central important the nothing is. Shiva means that which is not. Silence is the mother of all sounds. Darkness is the absence of light. The nothing is indeed for a lack of better expression, a label for the polar opposite of the outer, the inner. The inner does not know the same method as the outer. It is inverted. It is the principle of duality.

Duality

In Sanskrit, ha means Sun and tha means moon. Hatha Yoga is the so called physical Yoga, the Sun-Moon Yoga where ha (sun) is the plus (+) and tha is the minus (-) energy. They both represent the fundamental polar energies in Yoga and existence in general. At the level of earth, human collect the telluric energies (earth vitality), the minus (-). The plus (+), we collect through the cosmic energies. In Yoga, we want to bring ultimate balance into our system. That is a nutshell explanation of the polarity of energies.

So, on a very basic form, existence is manifested in a dual universe. You got material (+) and non-material (-). Interestingly, they are polar opposite, but at the same time complementary.

The unconscious can not exist without the conscious – Osho

Thoughts represent a force in the universe. Being conscious of your own thoughts is of immense importance. The usual man has many thoughts in his mind and Yogis describe the phenomena of thought as having wild, crazy monkies in your mind that are stung by a poisonous scorpion. The chatters are endless. The art is to tame the monkies so the there will be no ripples in the lake. Just still and calm serenity without any single disturbance. Hence, you can see the bottom of the lake without any ripples or any disturbance.

The effects of being centered in harmony by your vision control are of intense impact for all the dimensions of your existence. Now, learning new techniques developed by Yogis can and will bring immense life quality improvements. The level of self-control is greatly enhanced by practising these concentration techniques.

Generally spoken, there are 2 types of concentration techniques. The passive concentration allows the mind to naturally focus, if it is of its interest. The active concentration is harder, but more rewarding if under control. For now, we are focussing on an active concentration technique.

This version of Shambavi Mudra is an advanced Yoga practice. We are going to visualize a simple object at will. The mind must be firmly fixed in the command center of Agna chakra (3rd eye). You hold a simple objects such as a ping pong ball in front of your 3rd eye at a distance of 10 to 30 cm away.

1. Sit in an upright position, preferrably on the ground in a lotus position.
2. Place your left hand loosely on your knee with a hand mudra (thumb and index finger together) looking upwards.
3. Hold a ping pong ball approx. 10 – 30 cm away from your 3rd eye (approximately 5 cm above the height of your eyebrows)
4.  Have a staunch look at the ping pong ball, don’t gaze. Focus on the ball for as long as you can in relaxation but concentration.
5.  Close your eyes, slightly upwards. Visualize the ping pong ball as it would be in front your eyes for the same duration as you have looked at it.
6. Rub your hand palms together to energize your palms and place them like cubs over your eye.
7. Slowly come out of the exercise.

Note, that Shambavi Mudra is not a meditation technique, but a technique to facilitate meditative states by bringing more centerness into your existence.

There are 2 basic recommendations for continuous progress. One is perseverance. The mind will naturally oppose when one concentrates, because it doesn’t want to be tamed. It has a life of itself with its own dynamics. Hence, we need to apply rigurous control and discipline to keep up with the practise of Shambavi Mudra. The second is regularity. It is better to do the practise daily for 3 minutes than every 3 weeks for 20 minutes. The path is long, but the reward is impeccable. You may not realize the benefits immediately, but over time you will be realizing the centerness. At that time, you will understand the big progress you have made by activating your 3rd eye, Agna chakra. Its been said that a 5 minute exercise of Shambavi Mudra amplifies Agna chakra by the factor of 500. The results are high capabilities of concentration and augmented intelligence if trained enough. Note, that if you stop the training, your newly gained qualities will be slowly and steadily lost.