Novelty and Antiquity
Viktor Boyko
(Chapter1 from the book «Yoga: Art of Communication»)
At the time when a drop is touching water glassy,
The air fogs, and someone approaches from behind,
So what, he speaks, is your experience to you within your forces?
Oh, no, answer I, dropping to the whisper...
Svetlana Kekova
The life is a process of sense (order) extraction from environment. Thinkers of all times asserted that from the philosophical point of view the person as such initially does not exist, his real appearance in space of this world is not the fact, but the act. The person arises only as a result of the certain efforts. There are great number of variants "becoming human being fully", called "second birth", however to solve this problem of coming-to-be successfully is far from possible for everyone.
One of the ways to clear your nature and be fulfilled, become "sound" and at the same time free is yoga in its traditional kind, known thousands years (we name exactly this variant classical). «It is impossible to deny an importance of one of the most essential discoveries of India, namely that our consciousness can represent itself as "witness", "observer", free from influence of psychophysiological factors and temporal (connected with time) conditionality. It is consciousness of the "released" person who has managed to leave stream of time...» (M.Eliade, «Yoga: Immortality and Freedom»).
There are a lot of original methods of self-realization (though there are certainly incomparable more fakes), among them there are no the best or worst ones, all of them are real, it is only necessary to find suitable. I categorically object against transformation of the Russian into a parody of Hindu by means of slavish copying alien customs and behaviour. Technology of yoga is non-national, and, saved from metaphysics and mysticism, it excellently works (by analogy with computer) in isolation from «motherboard».
Contrary to narrow-minded ideas, yoga is a rather complicated subject, not having analogues in life experience of the person of the West. For some reasons fragments of its universal technology found itself scattered in time and space, among various peoples, epochs and cultures. At the certain share of success and patience I managed to restore an initial masterpiece using separate fragments, it had taken me about three decades.
Unfortunately (and more likely fortunately), I did not have a real guru who guaranteeing safety considerably accelerates process of yoga learning by the pupil. My teachers and co-authors are adherents of the past and the present devoted themselves to yoga, without them this book would never be born.
Since some moment material of the book with which I had worked began spontaneously to be ordered. And thus the text in which the received conclusions apparently should be stated has turned into the mechanism of independent manufacture of sense, being before not quite clear. When the mental content has been transferring on paper, all its components, refracting in verbal equivalents, are settling down spontaneously and completely in a new fashion. The arisen conclusions have confirmed the fact that it is in the process of yogic practice based on principles of Patanjali Yoga-Sutras problems of body (health) and existence (being) are resolved and the spiritual transformation goes on.
It cannot be said that as a result of a long and persistent practicing yoga, I had greatly grown wiser, understood everything, and written this book. Having accumulated a plenty of various data on the subject and a big personal practical experience, I was given an opportunity for writing it. And further has worked the principle of action by not action. Here is its essence: The order of the real world is such that the human is not capable to come to many results (changes) by consecutive operations. Wishing to perfect ourselves, we are confronted at once with a contradiction: even if it is clear what and in what direction is it necessary to change, it is impossible to understand, who and how will do it. How can I improve myself? How can psychosomatics, whose part is my personality existing for a long time, become other? Who will change it? Who knows what and how is necessary to change, maybe, ego? But it is of erroneous idea of ego and its defective behaviour, based on these ideas, that pitiable state arises, which one must investigate. In order that those changes prove to be really necessary and correct, they must be done by a force from the outside which should be clever and know all about me. But from whence can it appear? The only thing to do is following: it is necessary to create conditions for free functioning of psychosomatics in its own interests which simultaneously are also mine, but hiding from me (elements of the situation which ego basically cannot know - see Gödel’s theorem of incompleteness).
In this case the necessary adjustment, inaccessible to ego, is spontaneously (without my control, but as result of the conditions created by me) made bythe systemitself, and it is just «action not by action» («act by not act», in the Chinese culture – "u-way"). I canonly createconditions for initiation of a desirable course of events, but it is realized by the natural mechanisms working independently, without human understanding and will.
«It becomes obvious that one cannot impose ways of the developmenton intricately organized systems. More exactly, it is necessary to understand how to promote their own tendencies of development» («FoundationsofSynergetics»).
«The Development of the trance condition is an intrapsychic phenomenon caused by internal processes, and actions of hypnotherapist are directed to create for them favorable conditions. By analogy one can tell that the incubator creates such conditions for breeding chickens, but chickens themselves come out due to development of biological processes inside eggs. The inexperienced doctor inducing a trance condition tries frequently to direct behaviour of the probationer according to his ideas how the last one should conduct himself. The role of the doctor, however, should reduce to minimum» («Strategy of Psychotherapy»).
Transformation by means of yoga principles of which had been described by Patanjali is possible only in the channel of «action by not action». As a matter of fact, it is soft management of initial conditions as a result of which the system works in itself in direction useful to it and hence useful to me, and that is just yoga. Any physical or mental activity constructed from the beginning to the end on personal efforts, self-control and occurring in a usual state of wakefulness is not yoga!
All modern kinds of pseudo-yoga («author's styles») are senseless as a matter of fact since in the nonlinear environment what the organism of the person is, «only those structures can arise which are potentially incorporated in it and answer own tendencies of processes in the given environment. And no other metastable nonfluctuating structure can not be designed. It is some kind of evolutionary rules of an interdiction» («FoundationsofSynergetics», p. 132). To put it briefly, one can think up any sequences and updating of physical actions, any way one likes to name them, but useful they will be onlyin that case when their dimension and character coincide with the main task of psychosomatics – the preservation of homeostasis stability.
«The American doctors and chiropractors are seriously worried about the growing number of traumas which people receive at yoga practicing, especially by its "high-speed" variety so-called "power-yoga" which enters more and more into a fashion last years. As experts recollect, there had not been a boom like that since the Eighties when Jane Fonda began to advertise aerobics. «Boston Globe» correspondents give examples of "victims" of enthusiasm for yoga. Thus, a thirty-year man was in need of operation after he had damaged his knee joint. A woman with wide experience of "classical" yoga damaged the neck after practicing yoga with a new "guru", another man damaged a nerve and lost sensitivity of the hip (though newspapers usually give not statistics, but «fried facts», obviously there's no smoke without fire - V. B.).
By some estimation, yoga in the USA is now most dynamically developing form of physical activity. According to the information received by «Yoga Journal», eighteen million persons are practicing it while in 1998 there were only seven. According to the American Association of Sports Goods Manufacturers these figures are somewhat more modest, and the statistics had grown up from 7,4 in 2001 to 9,7 million in 2006.
As experts mark, in most cases, yoga is more safe than other systems, however many people misunderstand it, transforming it into competitions, and absence of preliminary training (and necessary knowledge) leads to traumas. The situation is aggravated because of absence of standards in instructors training though now «Alliance of Yoga» has been organized which supports certain requirements to their training («Medical news»,09.01.2003).
The approach of a person of the western mentality to yoga contains a radical and rather dangerous error: speaking about asana performance or meditation, ancient texts do not mean the direct strong-willed control at all! The point is only creation and preservation of special conditions in the consciousness and body that starts self-adjustment (process of self-improvement) proceeding outside of sphere of perception and competence of intelligence. I find, cook, put in my mouth, chew and swallow some food (my conscious action), but it will be digested and assimilated independently (a completely unconscious action), and mechanisms immeasurably more ancient than ego-consciousness answer for this process. To make the process of digestion faultless, all what is needed: not to hinder it! The original yoga always was and remains art of an indirect adjustment, but in no way of direct one! I only create conditions that psychosomatics itself has led by itself to the order peculiar to it! This order (homeostasis) is latent, minimized, we "learn" about its presence only after the appearance of disorder. If the life of a subject is constructed so that the sum of daily burdens exceeds opportunities of restoration, in that case sooner or later destructive changes accumulate in organs and systems being shown in the beginning as functional disorders which in process of their development become chronic diseases.
The typical example of an illiterate behaviour is attempt of building of communism in Russia. «The social state which had been intended did not correspond to internal properties and potentialities of circumstances. There was no such state (though one believed that it should be as it was desired very much – V. В.) among possible ones, and that is the reason why one had slid off in another potentially existing one. One went in a room but got in another. In such cases it is necessary either to search for the ways of changing internal properties of a complex system (what has no prospects concerning the human body as it is a product of evolution – V. B.), or to refuse attempts of imposing on reality the things that are unusual to this system at all» («FoundationsofSynergetics», p. 133).
To similar attempts relates any «yogic dynamics» which are characterized by the fact that the time of being in asana is minimal, practically the pose is not fixed. To tell the truth, P. Jois, founder of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, says that in his "system" the exposure time of asana lasts some respiratory cycles, but videorecordings of his yoga practicing do not confirm that. For the least pauses dividing the continuous stream of movement in Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, Ukrainian "circles", etc., the process of self-adjustment (self-perfection) cannot go on as its main conditions are not followed: the full relaxation (includingsilence of mind) and the physical immobility. In classical yoga, the body simply carries out asanas, and the consciousness is practically switched off not participating in the process. The order (sequence) of poses (judging by primary sources, there were in the past hardly more than three tens poses) in the beginning has no special value as it is defined by initial physical data and state of health. Without difference, with what "material" we receive a relaxation, the desired psychophysical state arises securely and exactly in simple and accessible poses just as like in pauses between them. Superfluous complexity is not necessary at all; it is energy-consuming, unsafe, and not compatible with truly yogic state of consciousness.
Now some history. My personal acquaintance with yoga (not including an absolutely childish attempt of 1964) began in 1971, from book «Light on Yoga» (or «Yoga Dipika») by B.К.S. Iyengar. When this book had been brought from Moscow, it was really something! I remember a powerful pile of sheets of the typewritten translation and separately photos of asanas. We simply revelled in them: what can a person do with his body! Moreover, the main thing was a tremendous detailed elaboration, everything is planned for days, take it and use.
But except for it there was also yoga of «Indian Philosophy» by S. Radhakrishnan, of "Mahabharata" translated of by B. L. Smirnov, of «The Razor’s Edge» by I. A. Efremov, of «Living Ethics» by Rerich, some integrated yoga by Shri Аurobindo, Yoga Bhakti ofRamakrishna and Vivekananda. And all this, except for platitudes, in no way correlate with «Light on Yoga» by Iyengar! Besides it turned out very quickly that the author had shown what to do, how often, and in what sequence, but nowhere it was spoken how to make any asana so that I could personally make it! There was as much as necessary statements of this type: «Take the leg, bring it with an exhalation behind the head …, » etc. However, the leg did not wish to be turned there no matter what you do! The situation with the overwhelming majority of poses was not better; there were no explanations in essence which would clear up the situation in «Light on Yoga».
A question was arising: if one thing (philosophy) is outside of apparent connection with another (practice), why texts repeat persistently that Raja-Yoga is a comprehensive whole, and the sequence of mastering it should be observed steadily?
As a result I have decided to penetrate by all means into philosophy and simultaneously to practice «according to Iyengar», whose book seemed then to us the height of perfection. I persistently went deep into Radhakrishnan, «Lokajata Darshan», "Atmabodha", Upanishads («Old Indian Philosophy of New Time»,1963), found out at secondhand booksellers the books of "Mahabharata", comprehended scholasticism of uncountable Indian schools and sects. All of them praised to the skies yoga as the tool of self-actualization, salvation, intuitive knowledge, etc., not to mention technologies of asanas practicing and meditations (except for B. L. Smirnov's comments to his translations of "Mahabharata", but also there these data were minimal).
Melancholically, I even had tried to search for a grain of sense in «Living Ethics» by Rerichs, but came to grief. For all that I worked tough in the mornings «according to Iyengar», however if I had a splitting headache from philosophy then asanas failed in general! As a result my yoga practicing «according to Iyengar» during four years of study at the institute did not give any obvious positive, but infinite trivial traumas pushed me to serious reflection. Why is there no progress, despite of exclusive conscientiousness, and attempts to execute poses «as in the picture» overload the body invariably?
Once, waiting just another trauma and having temporarily lost an opportunity and desire to try, I have caught unusual inner rest during exercises, and reflected light of truth had penetrated into the consciousness saddened with fatal aspiration to another's flexibility. Then, I stopped to press on the form at all and understood soon that own efforts are not necessary at all, moreover they are a handicap. So the fundamental revaluation of value of flexibility factor in Hatha-Yoga began. It turned gradually out that only after achievement of full (muscular and mental) relaxation the body starts "to flow down" in itself to the absolute border of the form, where without a powerful dynamic warming-up it is impossible to get with any conscious effort. This specific "fluidity", that gives a spontaneous increase of flexibility, is directly proportional to the degree of clearness of consciousness from any mental activity and independent cogitative "trash".
Moreover, when years later I had read in a Russian translation of Sutras the 47th Shlok from Chapter II: «Asana is reached at the termination of effort or concentration on the infinite» («Yoga Sutras of Patanjali»), it did not become a revelation to me. Inasmuch as I had come to a similar conclusion long ago having felt it on my own back. Another thing was strange: why there is no one word on this subject in the same «Light on Yoga»? Why the world-famous yogic authority did not consider necessary at all to mention it? Nevertheless, it is already another history.
When I had compared results of the practice based on the full relaxation with that what turned out at the diligent pains in the usual state of consciousness, any doubts had disappeared. To provide the safety precautions in asanas I happened to penetrate into dissolution of sensations, and only then to examine approaches to the mental relaxation.
Thus, Sutras define yoga as a temporary inhibition of physical, mental, and emotional activity. «It is very important to keep the body in one position without effort as only easily executed asana gives a necessary concentration. The ideal position of the body is absence of any effort to maintain it», writes Vyasa. «Yogin carrying out an asana should remove a natural corporal strain» («Yoga. Immortality and freedom», p. 56).