What is dharma yoga

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In , I discovered Sri Dharma Mittra when I saw a photograph of him doing a hands-free headstand on a manhole in the middle of the street. I was drawn to attempt the pose and was curious about the man in the picture and soon discovered that he taught in New York City. I found out Dharma taught a special three-hour class one Saturday a month. It helped me develop the benefits of consistent breathing and concentration during my yoga practice.

Dharma says to do ten minutes of savasana, or deep relaxation, every day to experience wonderful physical and mental benefits. He suggests we let our compassion extend beyond our immediate family and to all living creatures.

Dharma Yoga is classic Hatha-Raja yoga. Classes are well balanced, beginning with a vinyasa then a hatha style of practice with standing balancing postures, and floor postures. Classes start with a warm-up sequence called Shiva Namaskara vinyasa in style 3. This is followed by a series of main poses held for longer periods of time and they are more hatha in style. In Dharma yoga, the breath is not cued and students are encouraged to allow the breath to be natural.

We realise that in life we will fall and may hurt ourselves but we will get up again and be stronger and I will see that all of these yoga lessons are actually lessons for life and for ourselves. To learn an Asana, one may fall, but after 10, 20, or even times, an understanding of where the balance is will be cultivated. In life, we may fall but at some point we will find the balance.

Dharma views this as training for life. You may find yourself, for instance, in an Ashtanga class where even the little toe needs to be in perfect alignment, but Dharma will just mention the basic things and not all the time. The thinking is that in front of him you can do the deepest post because you are aligned with his energy. Dharma says copy the teacher physically, then mentally and then psychically. He likes to do the postures and tells students to copy him. As opposed to other yoga classes which tend to start us off with a nice calm modified downward dog, in a Dharma yoga class, the first pose after the warm-up could be Kapyasana with Dharma offering modifications for non-advanced students.

Dharma yoga is a practice which is not just a physical practice but rather a path to realisation. Dharma yoga is a complete practice because its base is Patanjali's Ashtanga 8 Limbs of Yoga , so during your hour practice you can have all the steps, from the first of the limbs, the Yamas ethical considerations to the last, Samadhi bliss.

Apparently, Dharma changes the sun salutations according to his mood and doesn't have a standard series in every lesson like Ashtanga or Bikram. We were also informed that at this point in time, he does not incorporate sun salutations into his lessons. The essence is still the same, of course.

He might be teaching a sun salutation but in reality he is transmitting to see if you are open; he is doing something much deeper at that moment. Dharma believes that every pose is an offering. Here is a video where he explains the true purpose of Asana. Traditionally in Pincha Mayurasana, the arms should be shoulder width apart and parallel from each other. Dharma suggests putting the hands together so that they meet, just as you would in headstand. He knows that most teachers teach the traditional way but he believes that with the hands together, one is able to stay in the pose for a longer time.

As Dharma believes that practice is also off the mat, Dharma yoga is a constant practice, so for someone it could mean getting on the mat every day, and for others it could mean practicing mindfulness and meditation every day with less of the physical side. Dharma stresses the importance of meditation. He suggests at least 10 minutes of meditation in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening before bed, every day. Meditation is also incorporated in an Asana lesson which could sometimes be slap bang in the middle of it.

Dharma uses asana as a tool so the inward awareness is present throughout the whole of the lesson, to reminds you that your mind is on the here and now. Dharma is not only interested in having people who know a lot of poses but he likes to have practitioners with awareness. Also, he is big on Chakra vibration cleansing.

Dharma meditation tips: Thinking of the breath is a nice easy and simple meditation technique. Concentration on the breath is the simplest meditation and another nice simple one is concentration on the light in Ajna Chakra between the eyebrows. The main thing is to keep it simple and to do it.

You can read more about Iyengar's Pranayama method here. Sri Dharma Mittra is a big advocate for veganism and vegetarianism. For many years, Dharma practiced, developed and mastered the Psychic Development Technique PDT which is a method of being able to protect oneself from psychic attacks, or less scarily negative energy, through meditation, helping to build a protective aura.