Friday, August 18, 2006
Discovering An Ancient Text
For many years, my "practice" has consisted mainly of standing quietly, then moving in gentle, slow, inner directed movements, allowing the energies to flow as they will. For me, this practice has often been one of blissful silence, a sense of communion with what I think of as "the divine within."
I have long wondered if this practice could be some form of subtle yoga, something far more delicate and soft than the usual asanas which students perform.
Recently, I discovered the following passage of commentary on an ancient text known as "Yoga Spandakarika" (Daniel Odier's recent translation and commentary.) The title (translated) is the "Song of the Sacred Tremor," one of the foundational texts (perhaps the first) of Kashmiri Shaivism. (Kashmiri Shaivism is a particular tradition linked to the worship of Shiva which began centuries ago in Kashmir, but which later was practiced primarily in Southern India.) Here is the passage (from Odier) which caught my attention:
In the third phase the yogi gets up and allows his whole body to express the dance of Shiva in space. These movements look like a completely free kind of t'ai chi in which no movement is codified. The sequential linking of these movements make up the whole Kashmiri yoga such as I received its transmission from my master....
This is an extremely subtle and difficult yoga that requires thousands of hours of practice. The advantage of this yoga is that it makes all other physical practice unnecessary This tradition--so simple, so subtle--has gradually fallen into oblivion and has been replaced by the more spectacular hath yoga.
So, naturally, I wonder if this tradition is connected with my favorite practice. As I have mentioned before, sometimes all that is necessary is to flex the fingers softly or perhaps to move the eyes a bit in order to send sweet energies throughout the body.
I, of course, did no prior practice to "learn" this technique, and I know of no one else who practices in this way. It evolved naturally and easily as something quite natural and even familiar. In fact, I am not certain that it can be "learned," unless one does indeed receive a "transmission" from a very advanced teacher. I know that I can neither teach it nor share it--although I would love to give this gift to others.
I have long wondered if this practice could be some form of subtle yoga, something far more delicate and soft than the usual asanas which students perform.
Recently, I discovered the following passage of commentary on an ancient text known as "Yoga Spandakarika" (Daniel Odier's recent translation and commentary.) The title (translated) is the "Song of the Sacred Tremor," one of the foundational texts (perhaps the first) of Kashmiri Shaivism. (Kashmiri Shaivism is a particular tradition linked to the worship of Shiva which began centuries ago in Kashmir, but which later was practiced primarily in Southern India.) Here is the passage (from Odier) which caught my attention:
In the third phase the yogi gets up and allows his whole body to express the dance of Shiva in space. These movements look like a completely free kind of t'ai chi in which no movement is codified. The sequential linking of these movements make up the whole Kashmiri yoga such as I received its transmission from my master....
This is an extremely subtle and difficult yoga that requires thousands of hours of practice. The advantage of this yoga is that it makes all other physical practice unnecessary This tradition--so simple, so subtle--has gradually fallen into oblivion and has been replaced by the more spectacular hath yoga.
So, naturally, I wonder if this tradition is connected with my favorite practice. As I have mentioned before, sometimes all that is necessary is to flex the fingers softly or perhaps to move the eyes a bit in order to send sweet energies throughout the body.
I, of course, did no prior practice to "learn" this technique, and I know of no one else who practices in this way. It evolved naturally and easily as something quite natural and even familiar. In fact, I am not certain that it can be "learned," unless one does indeed receive a "transmission" from a very advanced teacher. I know that I can neither teach it nor share it--although I would love to give this gift to others.
