The Sivananda Yoga Practice
Sivananda Yoga is a classical style of Hatha Yoga
Sivananda Yoga is a classical style of Hatha Yoga that is a slow paced meditative class that helps encourage proper breathing, flexibility, strength and vitality in the body while calming the mind. The philosophy of Sivananda Yoga teaches Proper Exercise (Asanas), Proper Breathing (Pranayama), Proper Relaxation (Savasana), Proper Diet, Positive Thinking (Vedanta) and Meditation (Dhyana).
The Sivananda Yoga practice follows a sequence of asanas (yoga poses) designed to open the energy channels of the body while increasing flexibility of the spine, strengthening bones and stimulating the circulatory and immune systems. The asanas follow an exact order that allows for the systematic movement of every major part of the body in a balanced way that enhances prana (life force energy).
The Sivananda Yoga practice begins with Savasana (yoga pose used for relaxation) and pranayama (breathing exercises) followed by warm-up exercises including Sun Salutations (Surya Namaskar), 12 specific asanas (yoga poses) with beginner, intermediate and advanced variations and ends with Savasana with deep relaxation.
The 5 Points of Sivananda Yoga
Proper Exercise (Asanas), Proper Breathing (Pranayama), Proper Relaxation (Savasana), Proper Diet, Positive Thinking (Vedanta) and Meditation (Dhyana).
1 Proper Exercise – Asana (yoga pose)
Proper exercise act as a lubricating mechanism for the joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons, and other parts of the body, by increasing circulation and flexibility. The fundamental difference between Yogic exercises and ordinary physical exercises is that physical exercise emphasizes violent movements of the muscles, while Yogic exercises promote slow and conscious movements of the body, thus avoiding the build-up of lactic acid in the muscle fibers, avoiding fatigue.
Asanas
The main purpose of exercise is to increase circulation and the intake of oxygen. This can be achieved by simple movements of the spine and various joints of the body, with deep breathing, and without violent movement of the muscles. Yogic exercises are in fact called Asanas (yoga poses), an asana being a steady pose.
Yogic exercises, when done correctly, influence and positively energize all the systems of the body: the circulatory system, the muscular and skeletal systems, the endocrine system, the respiratory system, the digestive system, and most importantly, the nervous system.yoga helps us develop humility, compassion, and unconditional love. Through faith, prayer, and worship, we surrender ourselves to a higher power and transform our emotions into unyielding devotion. This sublime love eliminates restlessness and distraction and opens the heart to seeing everything as a manifestation of the divine. Bhakti Yoga is practiced through meditation, chanting, singing, inspirational talks and celebrations.
Spine Health
In terms of muscles, Yogic exercises not only strengthen the muscles but also stretch them. There is a great emphasis on the flexibility and the youth of the spine. Swami Vishnudevananda said: “flexible spine, flexible mind.”
The correct postures are performed with awareness and concentration, accompanied by breathing and relaxation. Thus Yogic exercises affect not only the physical body but also the astral body, the energetic body and the mind.yoga helps us develop humility, compassion, and unconditional love. Through faith, prayer, and worship, we surrender ourselves to a higher power and transform our emotions into unyielding devotion. This sublime love eliminates restlessness and distraction and opens the heart to seeing everything as a manifestation of the divine. Bhakti Yoga is practiced through meditation, chanting, singing, inspirational talks and celebrations.
Body - Mind
Through the systematic and rhythmic holding of the postures with breathing and concentration we come to a state of relaxation in the posture, where the prana (or chi) is allowed to flow unobstructed through the nadis to all the organs, cells and parts of the body, revitalizing them.
The body and mind are harmonized with each other, removing tension located in the different parts of the body and the mind. Also, in this process, the body and mind are put in alignment or in harmony with their ruler, the Inner spirit, thus giving to the practitioner a deeper sense of well being and meaning.
Yogic asanas prepare the body and mind to be strong for further practice of concentration and meditation. Other exercises that can be complimentary to the practice of Yoga are swimming and walking. Yoga doesn’t promote any excessive exercise or the kind of exercise that develops only one aspect of the body to the detriment of other parts.
Furthermore, yoga doesn’t consider any exercise without awareness as a Yogic exercise. Yogic postures (asanas) are internally oriented, non competitive, and meditative, promoting calmness and helping the practitioner to transcend identification with the body; this is as opposed to our over-attachment to the body and to external beauty. To learn more check out our upcoming
2 Proper Breathing – Pranayama (Breathing Exercises)
Yoga emphasizes breathing correctly (the Yogic full breath using the diaphragm). We substantially increase the intake of oxygen through deep inhalation and release the toxins appropriately through our deep exhalation. Yoga teaches us to be constantly aware of our breathing patterns, and to breathe consciously in our daily life. Specific breathing techniques (pranayama) are devised to further purify the nadis (energy pathways), balance the breath and the energy in our system, and to store and channel the subtle energy (prana - life energy) for higher purposes.
The word Hatha is composed of the words Ha and Tha, which mean sun and moon, respectively. This refers to the balance between the prana vayu (the positive vital air) and apana vayu (the negative vital air).
Prana (vital air) in the body of the individual is a part of the universal breath. The regulation of the harmonized breath helps the Yogi to regulate and steady the mind. Pranayama needs to be practiced by all serious Yoga practitioners. Advanced practices need to be done only by those already practicing a pure lifestyle, and it is recommended that you put yourself under the supervision of a teacher in a pure environment, like an ashram.
3 Proper Relaxation – Savasana
Relaxation techniques, such as Savasana, cool down the system like the radiator of a car. When the body and mind are constantly overworked, their efficiency diminishes. Relaxation is nature’s way of recharging the body. The state of our mind and the state of our body are intimately linked. If your muscles are relaxed, then your mind must be relaxed. If the mind is anxious, then the body suffers too.
3 Levels of Relaxation
We can say that there are three levels of relaxation: physical, mental and spiritual; there are also three levels of tension, or stress: physical stress, mental stress and spiritual stress. Relaxation is actually very scientific. Physical stress comes from poor eating habits, sedentary living, repetitive movements of the body, and poor posture. Modern life, especially in big cities, is full of stress as modern working and living conditions are full of pressure, and devoid of prana and relaxation.
Mental and emotional stress comes from a hectic lifestyle, highly demanding jobs, distractions of the mind, low vitality due to lack of prana, and negative emotions such as anger, hatred, jealousy, fear, and anxiety. The solution is to achieve the three levels of relaxation.
Physical Relaxation
Physical relaxation is achieved through the systematic practice of conscious relaxation (Savasana) and correct posture.can say that there are three levels of relaxation:
Mental Relaxation
Mental relaxation is achieved through correct breathing, concentration of the mind and positive thinking. A distracted mind is always anxious. A mind concentrated on a positive object is more relaxed and recharged.
Spiritual Relaxation
Spiritual relaxation is a deeper type of relaxation, when we become content, a detached witness of the body and mind. Through complete relaxation we live in the solid present, overcome our fears of death and of the future, and welcome life’s demands with strength and courage, able to guide our mind, control our desires and choose better priorities.
4 Proper Diet – Vegetarian
Correct nutrition and diet gives proper fuel for the body and the mind without creating toxins and digestive problems. Optimum utilization of food, air, water and sunlight is essential.
There is medical evidence that a balanced vegetarian diet is extremely healthy and provides everything the body needs. The Yogic vegetarian diet is sattvic (pure), and helps to calm the mind, and to reveal the spirit as well as nourish the body. The body needs food for two purposes: as fuel to supply energy, and as materials to repair body tissues. For repairing and building tissue, the body needs: 1. protein; 2. carbohydrates; 3. fats; 4. minerals.
These elements are found in larger proportions in vegetable tissue than in animal tissue. Nuts, peas, beans, soy bean products like tofu, and milk contain protein. Wheat, oats, rice and other grains are mainly carbohydrates. All protein foods and vegetable oils provide the fats, and the main supply of organic minerals and vitamins comes from fruit and vegetables.
A vegetarian diet is a natural diet, fresh and wholesome, full of fiber and alkaline in nature, energy producing, and easy to absorb and to eliminate.
Sattvic Diet
To maintain a sattvic diet, free from rajasic and tamasic influences, avoid stimulants and depressants such as caffeine, alcohol, cigarettes, drugs of all kinds, overly spicy food, onions, garlic, overcooked food, old food, frozen food, canned food, sodas and processed foods, as well as all meat.
Yogis advocate “ahimsa”, the principle of non-violence, non-injury and respect for life. Everything our body and mind needs for growth can be provided from the vegetable kingdom.
By avoiding eating animal flesh we nourish ourselves in a natural and healthy way.
The vegetarian diet helps in the performance of asanas as the body and the joints becomes more flexible. It is a wonderful way to prevent heart disease, arthritis, obesity, and a good remedy for many chronic diseases.nutrition and diet gives proper fuel for the body and the mind without creating toxins and digestive problems. Optimum utilization of food, air, water and sunlight is essential.
Gradual Change to Vegetarian Diet
Changing to a vegetarian diet can be gradual and life transforming. It consists not only in deciding to stop eating meat, but in learning a new way of life, by being conscious of how you nourish yourself.
It includes not only being aware of what you eat, but also how you eat. Yogis promote taking time to cook, and to eat consciously in a regular manner, with appropriate intervals between meals to allow the digestive fire to activate and digest the food.
Blessing meals is also encouraged to sanctify the act of eating and for offering thanks to the Creator.
Proper diet includes periodic fasting as well, to give a break to the digestive system, purify body and mind, and to make the mind more perceptive, more sattvic, and more conducive to concentration, contemplation and meditation.nutrition and diet gives proper fuel for the body and the mind without creating toxins and digestive problems. Optimum utilization of food, air, water and sunlight is essential. Gradual Change to Vegetarian diet
5 Positive Thinking and Meditation
Just as a driver of a car manages to bring himself to his destination without accidents and setbacks, so the yogi learns to manage his mind and emotions in order to keep him positive at all times. Positive thoughts are energizing and facilitate growth, while negative thoughts are draining and inhibit growth.
Only with a positive outlook about oneself can one can maintain a meditative life which will ultimately lead to intuitive knowledge and inner strength. Techniques, such as Savasana, cool down the system like the radiator of a car.
When the body and mind are constantly overworked, their efficiency diminishes. Relaxation is nature’s way of recharging the body. The state of our mind and the state of our body are intimately linked. If your muscles are relaxed, then your mind must be relaxed. If the mind is anxious, then the body suffers too.
Content Sources: sivananda.org, dlshq.org, sivanandayogafarm.org, sivananda.eu
Photo Sources: sivanandayogafarm.org
Website Banner Photo Source: Photo of Anson Bingham. Taken from ansonbinghamyoga.com
Left - Swami Sivananda Right - Swami Vishnudevananda
Sivananda Yoga Lineage
The teaching lineage of the Sivananda Yoga can be traced back many hundreds of years to the great sage Adi Sankaracharya (788-802 CE) who unified the diverse spiritual practices prevalent at the time into a cohesive system based on the Upanishads of the Four Vedas. The teachings have been passed from guru to disciple in an unbroken chain to the present day and are the mainstay of the teachings of our organisation.
Swami Sivananda
Swami Sivananda (1887-1963) was born in South India to a pious Brahmin family. He became a medical doctor and hospital director during his pre-sannyas life in Malaysia. He found out that curing people of their physical ailments did not really solve the problem of human suffering and he started his quest to find the answer, becoming a wandering sadhu and starting to practice intense tapas (austerities) and meditation in Rishikesh, Himalayas. He became not only a doctor of the body but also a “doctor of the soul”. He founded the Sivananda ashram in 1932 and the Divine Life Society in 1936 and published 200-300 books in English outlining practices for a spiritual life.
Swami Sivananda’s teachings can be summarized in six words: “Serve, Love, Give, Purify, Meditate, Realize”. Swamiji attained Mahasamadhi in 1963. The government of India published a stamp in his honor for his 100 year birthday anniversary, as he is recognized as an authoritative teacher in classical Yoga. Swami Sivananda, foreseeing that the whole world would need Yoga teachings, wrote his books in English, accepted western disciples, and sent some of his closest disciples to the West to teach Yoga. One of his foremost disciples is Swami Vishnudevananda, whom he sent to America in 1957 with the words: “Go to America, people are waiting”
Swami Sivananda
Modern Day Saint
Swami Sivananda’s teachings are the inspiration behind the teachings of the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers. The founder, Swami Vishnudevananda, was one of Swami Sivananda’s close disciples, and was sent the the West by his teacher in 1957 to spread the teachings of Yoga and Vedanta. Swami Vishnudevananda, known as “Swamiji” established this organization in his Master’s name. The Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm is a branch of the international organization.
Childhood and Medical Career
Swami Sivananda was born on September 8, 1887, to a well known and respected family in Tamil Nadu, South India. As a young boy he already showed spiritual tendencies, then as a young man he felt the strong urge to work in the service of humanity. For this reason, he became a medical doctor and served the poor in Malaysia for several years. He also wrote and published a health journal to spread helpful information on health and hygiene. Later he came to realize that medicine alone could not alleviate the deep suffering of humanity, and that a more profound approach to healing would be needed.
Renunciation
Driven by his wish to find the deeper causes of people’s suffering, and the way to alleviate it, he gave up his medical career and entered into a life of renunciation. He returned to India and spent a year travelling before settling in Rishikesh, in the Himalayas, in 1924. In Rishikesh he practiced intense austerities, and met his guru, Swami Vishwananda. He was initiated into sannyas (monkhood), and given the name Swami Sivananda Saraswati.
Early Years as a Monk
For the next seven years Swami Sivananda practiced meditation intensively, but even during this period he continued to serve the sick in a small medical clinic which he created. Wherever he went, he conducted sankirtan (chanting), delivered lectures on Yoga philosophy and taught people how to keep strong and healthy by practicing yoga asanas (yoga poses), pranayama (breathing exercises), and kriyas (cleansing exercises). Most of all he encouraged people to make constant efforts for spiritual development. An increasing number of disciples were drawn to him to study and learn.
In 1932 he opened the Sivananda Ashram, in 1936 he established the Divine Life Society. His teaching organization “The Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy” was started in 1948. Swami Sivananda’s aim was to spread spiritual knowledge and train people in the practice of Yoga and Vedanta. He was a prolific author, publishing more than 200 books, and spread knowledge further through the activities of disciples who he sent all over the world.
Swami Sivananda’s life was an outstanding example of service to humanity, both during his years as a doctor and later as a world-renowned Yoga master and sage. He lived by his ideals, to serve all, to love all, to mix with all and to see God in all beings.
Swami Vishnudevananda
Swami Vishnudevananda brought the classical Yoga teaching to the West in 1957. He lived from 1927 – 1993. The International Sivananda Organization has actively carried on with his teaching mission in many countries, with worldwide Teachers Training Courses and by publishing books such as “The Sivananda Companion to Yoga”, and “Yoga, Mind, & Body”. This section of our website is a summary of the teachings of these two Masters, the essential teachings of yoga philosophy and practice from the Sivananda lineage.
A Dynamic Yogi
Swami Vishnudevananda was sent to spread the message of Yoga and Vedanta in the West in 1957 by his Master, Swami Sivananda, with the words “People are waiting”. For 37 years he worked tirelessly as an active and dedicated spiritual teacher travelling around the world establishing city Centres and Ashrams where his work could be accomplished.
The Early Years
Swami Vishnudevananda was born in the south Indian state of Kerala on December 31, 1927. After completing school he entered the Engineering Corps of the Indian Army. It was while he was in the army that he first met Swami Sivananda, one of the great saints of modern times. After being discharged from the army, Swamy Kuttan Nair, as he was then known, was a schoolteacher in his native Kerala for a short while, before leaving his life behind and entering the Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh in 1947. Within a year, he took the monastic vow (sannyas) with the name of Swami Vishnudevananda. Swami Sivananda saw in his young disciple special tendencies towards Hatha Yoga.
With his training directed towards this discipline he became an expert, mastering many of the most difficult and advanced Hatha Yoga techniques (asanas, pranayamas, mudras, bandhas and kriyas). How did he learn these ancient practices which to a great extent had been lost in modern India? He often said, “My Master touched me and opened my intuitive eye. All this knowledge returned to me from past lives”. Remaining at the Ashram for ten years, he was appointed as the first Professor of Hatha Yoga at the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy. He held a number of other positions at the Ashram, including personal secretary to Swami Sivananda.
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