Yoga as a Technique for Altered Consciousness

Yoga is an ancient and quite popular form of meditation, although in the West many people see it as more of a fitness activity or exercise. In its own right, practicing Yoga for the mere sake of health benefits is a wonderful and beneficial activity. However, what many people do not realize is that Yoga is also a very powerful meditative technique that can achieve astonishing results.

I’m not a Yoga instructor, so I’m not going to go over any poses or anything like that, in actuality, my experience with Yoga stems from stretching prior to meditiations in order to clear and open my meridian channels. In this respect, I feel I have some knowledge of the more mystic side of Yogic activity, and that is exactly what this article will concern itself with.

Yoga is a word from the ancient language of Sanskrit – one that was very pure and precise in its meaning, and developed alongside the Great Wisdom traditions of the East. It can be likened to Hebrew in the sense that language in and of itself is considered sacred in some cultures.

With that in mind, I hope the reader can realize that objects in Sanskrit are not named arbitrarily, they are, to the contrary, given very specific and precise meanings to convey vast meanings. When translated into English, the word Yoga means ‘Union.’

I will leave it to the reader to take what meaning they will from that association, and move on to the first four out of what are known the “Eight Legs of Yoga”

The latter four, I’m afraid, are very advanced material, of which I myself do not feel I am sufficient enough in the practice to understand and appreciate. However, it is of course up to the jurisdiction of the reader as to whether or not they choose to inquire further than this article illuminates.

The first four points are named as thus:

Yama
Niyama
Asana
Pranayama
Yama can be roughly translated as “control” – although I will remind the reader that these ancient words have meaning far beyond what can be translated into English. It is concerned with the willpower of the individual, with one’s ability to maintain and occupy a certain state or space in their thoughts. For instance, the exercise of sitting still and trying not to allow any thought to enter one’s mind is primarily a practice in developing Yama. The implications of Yama are, again, farther reaching than one paragraph could illuminate, and I encourage the reader to find further material for study. In more physical terms, Yama could be thought of as exerting willpower over one’s own body, holding a strenuous position or the like.

Niyama can be roughly translated as “direction” – and is a little bit more difficult to explain. To illustrate, imagine a ball, a toughly knit and concentrated ball (held together by Yama). Niyama then, is the direction in which that ball is moving. Say, for instance, your desire before you begin practice is to have a vivid visualization of your Chakra centers. Yama would play into it by shutting out all other thoughts that do not concern your goal, and Niyama would be that motivating force which brought you closer to that event occurring. Yama and Niyama are delicately balanced, as having too much direction without control will merely lead you to a wandering mind, and too much control without direction will not get you anywhere.

Asana and Pranayama are both important in their own right, although they are closely related enough that they can be grouped together. Asana is one’s ability to shut out sensory input from the body, and Pranayama is the ability to shut out sensory input from the mind. Asana I trust is easy enough to understand, although Pranayama can be confused with the first principle of Yama. To this, a more Western-rooted explanation is helpful.

When we get into deep enough levels of interior consciousness, we drop into the Theta brainwave state. This is a hypnotic trance, and is also the same state we are in when we dream. You may find that when you enter this state, you have a tendency to merely “drift” without any real direction- you have lost both Yama and Niyama, although Asana is higher than when you first began the practice.

Pranayama, then, is your ability to maintain both your Yama, Niyama, and Asana once you enter these deeper states, conditions in which it is very easy to lose focus – even if you are in guided meditation with someone speaking to you and working you through a visualization, or whatever may apply. The Theta state is perhaps the hardest obstacle in learning how to achieve very deep and engrained states of consciousness, as it is difficult to navigate without losing lucidity and awareness. To re-integrate with the initial definition I gave, Pranayama is one’s ability to shut out the mind’s tendency to wander, drift, or pander about, and to maintain Yama and Niyama.

I hope this basic overview of these four principles helps the reader with their own practice, and I encourage you to read further into this topic.