Hatha yoga as a path to meditation. Raja yoga: a classic technique for beginners The essence of this direction in yoga

Raja Yoga is a system of self-improvement and self-education that allows you to take a positive look at life, others and yourself. Raja Yoga also teaches a person to live in harmony with himself, other people, nature and the Creator himself.

Raja Yoga is not a series of exercises designed to develop concentration or to calm the mind by completely stopping the flow of thoughts; to the so-called “meditation technique”, the positive consequences of which are quite fleeting. Then what is Raja Yoga? Raja Yoga is a whole philosophy of life, a personal moral code, the art of gaining freedom from stress and tension.

This holistic education, aimed at the comprehensive development of the individual, sets before a person such a high goal as achieving perfection, freedom from all negative and generating suffering. Raja Yoga also promotes complete cleansing, forms healthy image life, food culture and iron discipline.

Raja Yoga originated in India, and therefore there is an opinion that it is supposedly a kind of Hindu teaching. However, it cannot be classified as a religion in the generally accepted sense of the word. Rather, it is a spiritual science, the principles of which, like the principles of any science, are universal and can be applied everywhere. Although, of course, thanks to Raja Yoga, a person can also receive deep religious experiences in the sense that it helps our “I”, the soul, to feel a connection with the Almighty.

A global worldview is impossible until a person is convinced that all of humanity is a single family, that we are all souls, children of God, the Supreme Father, and therefore brothers. Representing a large family, people strive to help each other more and treat everyone with kindness and humility.

Principles for Teaching Moral Values

At one time, Isaac Newton formulated the Law of Action and Reaction. This law also applies to karma. In our life, whatever we do comes back to us. And it is always worth remembering this, especially before making a decision in a given situation, so that our actions do not come back to haunt us.

The inviolability of the law of karma presupposes the existence of such a phenomenon as reincarnation . The concept of reincarnation is based on the idea that we are all living, conscious entities, that our conscious nature is metaphysical in nature and fundamentally different from the material body. In other words: our soul continues to live after death, being reborn in a new one.

The problems and suffering that people face today are mainly the result of their ignorance of their true identity. Because of the mistaken belief that our body is closely intertwined with our spirit, concepts such as love or friendship lead to hatred, lust, greed, and pride. A person’s awareness of himself and his essence will help him overcome internal limitations.

We can say that moral education and the practice of Raja Yoga is a kind of training of consciousness. It cannot be effective until a person realizes that his true essence is consciousness and conscience. The principles of morality and meditation of Raja Yoga help a person expand the horizons of his thinking and look at things comprehensively.

Raja Yoga Meditation Technique

As with all Hindu practices, great emphasis is placed on breathing in Raja Yoga meditation. The ability to control it comes with experience. After meditation, you should feel tired when you come out of a state of complete relaxation.

Before you can learn to control your mind, you must learn to control your body. You need to sit or lie down (this is not important) in any position that is comfortable for you and observe the sensations. Remember and analyze any inconveniences. After the discomfort, a state of complete relaxation will come. Control the muscles of your limbs. Sit down and extend your arm to the side, at shoulder level, with your palm facing down. Look at your middle finger and don't let it move. Repeat for 1 minute.

The main breathing exercise is to hold it 4 times longer than inhale and 2 times longer than exhale. Then we perform an exercise to slow down our thoughts; we must try to clear our head and practically not think. Then comes the process of meditation itself, when you become completely focused and immersed in yourself.

The information was partially borrowed from the site.

Ajapa Japa - an unusual, non-linear method of meditation - allows you to short term calm the mind and make it under control. Translated from Sanskrit (the ancient language of the original sources of yoga), “ajapa japa” means “meditation without meditation”, or “mantra without mantra”. This is one of the simplest and at the same time extremely effective techniques meditations of classical ancient Raja yoga (“Tantra”), while being suitable for modern people. This is a full-fledged sadhana - that is, a holistic practice of yoga, which, according to the testimony of the Masters, can gradually lead to complete Self-realization. At the same time, it does not require any extra effort or preliminary development of concentration skills, and also has no contraindications or health restrictions. All that is required is to devote 10-30 minutes to it every day, and not lose awareness during the session. This is a great tool for real yoga.

The Ajapa Japa technique is based on the principle of Kriya Yoga - “concentration is not required, it comes automatically.” In this “roundabout” way we can come to the states of Pratyahara - (“turning off” attention from the senses), Dharana (concentration) and even Dhyana (stable concentration), and from there it’s not far from Samadhi! Anyone who has been looking for a short and simple path to yoga can rejoice - this is it. It is clear that this technique does not replace the practice of asanas - but in terms of choosing meditation for daily training, it should be given preference. In fact, this is the most effective of the simple practices of Raja Yoga (along with, perhaps, Brahmari, Akashi Mudra and Tratak).

When applied to practice, this technique includes pranayama (special breathing), mantra, and rotation of consciousness throughout the body - that is, visualization. During the implementation, the most important thing, as in Yoga Nidra, is not to fall asleep, to be present in the process as much as possible. The technique does not require “concentration” or “immersion” in any areas or mental centers of the body. On the contrary, throughout the practice the consciousness is as if “outside”, as if involved in Samsara. It's a circuitous one at that shortcut to success in meditation - a real paradox of Raja Yoga.

There are several levels of comprehension in this practice - from preliminary to advanced. Higher levels are described quite fully in the book by S.S. Saraswati “Tantric Meditations”, and today we will look at the simplest of them, the initial level.

Preliminary technique:

1. Sitting in any comfortable position, we observe our calm, natural breathing. 1-3 minutes;
2. We imagine a channel or tube connecting the navel and throat along the front of the torso. As you inhale, imagine how prana (breathing energy) rises through this tube from the navel to the throat - and with exhalation it descends back to the navel (into the stomach). The more vividly you can imagine this process, the better. You can imagine how the water level in a transparent tube rises, or imagine that you are inhaling through your navel and pulling the air up, and then exhaling the air down and again through the navel. Whatever visualization you do, with practice it will become effective.
3. 5-15 minutes a day is enough, but with full attention: we are not distracted by extraneous thoughts! This happens - we gently but persistently return attention to the process of breathing along the navel-throat “channel”. We practice this preliminary method for several days.

Basic technique (entry level):

1. We sit in any comfortable meditative position, preferably Padmasana (“lotus position”);
2. Let’s prepare: sit down as comfortably as possible; close our eyes; straighten your back; relax physically and mentally; we feel peace and tranquility. 1-3 minutes;
3. We observe breathing as in the previous (preliminary) version: from the navel to the throat as you inhale and down from the throat to the navel as you exhale. We listen to the breath, feel the breath, track it mentally - as if traveling after the air (and vital energy - prana) up and down the front side of the body.
4. We connect the So-Ham mantra. This mantra imitates the sound of breathing: if you listen, you can hear “S-s-o” as you inhale, and “h-h-a-a-m” as you exhale. The esoteric meaning of the mantra: “So” is the “Highest,” God, and “Ham” is “I am”: thus, “I am That,” the Supreme, “I am one with God.” As you inhale, mentally recite the mantra “So,” and as you exhale, “Ham.” At the same time, as if we “put” the mantra into the breath, we feel that the mantra rises and falls in the body. At first, this will most likely be only at the level of imagination, but then the real process will begin. This is real Pranayama - control of prana, vital energy.

Sequence of practice:

• The first week we practice like this: “So” on the inhale, “Ham” on the exhale. It turns out “So-Ham”. Before the next “So-Ham” we mentally put a comma, there is a slight pause.
• The second week we begin awareness with an exhalation: we observe the “Ham-So” movement. There is a greater “raising” of energy. There is a short pause between “Ham-So” and the next “Ham-So”.
• During the third week, refining and leveling our breathing, we mentally “connect” the end of the inhalation – “So” – to the exhalation – “Ham” – and observe a solid flow – “Soham”. There is no pause between inhalation and exhalation; there is a short pause between exhalation and the next inhalation. Breathing is comfortable, natural, slow. Please note: inhalation and exhalation merge, but the next inhalation is separated by a pause.
• The fourth week we “connect” the exhalation to the next inhalation so that we get a completely continuous flow: “Sohamsohamsoham...” The breathing is so smooth that there is no boundary between inhalation and exhalation, exhalation and inhalation - the visualization of the breath flow is continuous.

Concentration on the breathing process, visualization of the flow of prana and repetition of the mantra should be relaxed. If you “concentrate” so much that sweat appears on your forehead, you are doing the technique incorrectly. If the mind is distracted by extraneous thoughts, simply note this to yourself, without reproaching yourself, and gently return your attention to the breathing process and visualization.

There should be no violence against oneself, either in terms of breathing control or in terms of “control” of consciousness. We are not trying to ride the wild horse of our mind - we are dangling a carrot in front of its nose in the form of this technique. We do not conquer the mind “head-on” - but, as it were, lure it into a trap.

Cruising between several points we have established (breathing-mantra-visualization), the mind does not get bored and does not protest - therefore it does not cause us any special problems. And single-point concentration (Dhyana) occurs without much hassle. This is most often more effective than trying to master one-pointed concentration directly (by imagining a chosen image or focusing your gaze on one point).

Ajapa Japa meditation effectively calms, relieves stress, anger, emotional tension, helps with insomnia, teaches concentration, and also, with regular practice, develops purity and strength of mind, clearing the recesses of the subconscious.
If during practice you observe vivid “pictures”, images or memories come to you - don’t worry, this is normal. Try not to be too distracted by this, do not follow these thoughts or images, desires, etc. Do not get emotionally involved, no matter what your imagination or memory draws (unpleasant situations from the past may also “pop up”). This is how the subconscious is cleansed. Simply observing everything that comes, without getting involved, we carry out the process of integration (dissolution) of these psycho-energetic knots (“samskars” in yoga terminology), which gradually prevent us from becoming more harmonious. If such a “throwing out” of dirt from the subconscious does not occur, then don’t worry, the process happens differently for everyone.

Try this unusual and “non-linear” meditation “Ajapa-japa” - it is possible that it may become your favorite technique!

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Raja Yoga- This yoga education of consciousness. A person who practically studies this yoga, acquires true knowledge of his own, and with it, extraordinary inner strengths and the ability to influence other people. Raja Yoga in relation to the mental world of man, to his self-awareness, is the same as Hatha Yoga in relation to the physical world. Hatha Yoga this is a gymnastic technology for the comprehensive improvement of the body and consciousness, that is, that set of tools through the use of which a conscious being moves along the Path of awareness. Raja Yoga- yoga of overcoming the mind, i.e. illusory, incorrect self-awareness of a person, this is the yoga of acquiring control over consciousness. Raja Yoga teaches a person, first of all, what constitutes the basis of the entire philosophy of the world - self-knowledge. How Hatha Yoga look at physical body as imperfect and in need of change for the better, just as Raja Yoga considers the human mental apparatus not at all as ideal, but in need of change for the better and improvement.

Task Raja Yoga- this is a setting of the mind, consciousness, similar voice production from singers. Ordinary Western thought does not understand at all the need to establish consciousness, believing, in general, that ordinary consciousness is quite sufficient for a person, that he cannot have another consciousness. Raja Yoga finds that even a very strong mind, like a strong voice, needs correct positioning, increasing his strength and ability tenfold and multiplying his productivity, making him sound better and reproduce better and distribute the relationships of ideas differently, covering more material at a time.

The first thing it states Raja Yoga- this is that a person does not know himself at all, that he has a completely false, distorted idea of ​​himself. Misunderstanding of oneself is a person’s main obstacle on his path, the main reason for his weakness. Imagine a person who does not know his body, its members, their number and relative position, does not know that he has two arms, two legs, one head, etc. - this will be an exact copy of our attitude towards our mental world. The human psyche, from the point of view Raja Yoga is a system of curved and darkened glasses (filters), through which consciousness receives an image that is completely inconsistent with reality. The main imperfection of the psyche is that it forces a person to consider real what it considers real.

New self-knowledge is achieved in Raja Yoga by studying the principles of the human psychic world and prolonged exercises of consciousness. The study of the principles of mental life shows a person that four states of consciousness are possible for him. In Indian psychology they are called:

• deep dream;
• dreaming sleep;
• waking state;
• turiya, or state of enlightenment.

In esoteric teachings, these states of consciousness are defined somewhat differently, but the number four remains unchanged, and their mutual relationships are also close to the above diagram. This is followed by the study of mental functions - thinking, feelings, sensations, etc., both individually and in their relationships, the study of dreams, the study of semi-conscious and unconscious mental processes, the study of illusions and self-deceptions, the study of different forms self-hypnosis and self-hypnosis - with the aim of freeing oneself from them.

One of the first practical tasks that faces a person who begins to study Raja Yoga, is the achievement of the ability to stop the flow of thoughts, the ability not to think, i.e. completely restrain the mind at will, give complete rest to the mental apparatus. This ability to stop thoughts is considered a necessary condition for awakening certain powers and abilities dormant in a person. The ability not to think is a necessary condition for the subordination of unconscious mental processes to the will. Only by mastering the ability to stop the train of his thoughts can a person come closer to hearing the thoughts of other people, to hear all the voices that continuously sound in nature, the voices of his small lives. own body, the voices of great lives into which he himself enters. Only by knowing how to create a passive state of his mind can a person hope to hear the voice of silence, which is the only one capable of revealing to a person the truths and secrets hidden from him.

Having learned not to think at will, a person gets the opportunity to reduce the useless and unnecessary waste of mental energy spent on unnecessary thinking. Unnecessary thinking- one of the main evils of our inner life. How often it happens that some thought enters the mind, and the mind, not having the strength to throw it away, turns it over again and again an infinite number of times, just as a stream turns over a stone lying at the bottom. This happens especially often when a person is excited, worried or offended, when he is afraid of something, suspects something, and the like. People do not know what a huge amount of energy is spent on this unnecessary turning in the mind of the same thoughts, the same words. People do not know that a person, without noticing it, within the space of an hour or two can repeat a thousand times some stupid phrase or passage of a poem that struck his mind for no reason.

When a student learns not to think, he is taught to think - to think exactly about what he wants to think about, and not about what comes to his mind. This is a method of concentration. Complete concentration of the mind on one object and the ability not to think about anything else at this time, not to be distracted by random associations, gives a person enormous strength. He can then force himself not only not to think, but also not to feel, not to hear, not to see what is happening around him; may not experience discomfort - neither heat, nor cold, nor suffering; can, with one effort of the mind, make himself insensitive to any, even the most severe pain. This explains the theory that Hatha Yoga is easier to learn using methods Raja Yoga.

Once we become aware of our spiritual needs, we realize that they have nothing to do with the East or the West. For this reason yoga has become very popular all over the world. In Centers and Ashrams Raja Yoga courses are conducted based on detailed study sutras Patanjali Maharishi, which gave Raja Yoga its current form. Studying these texts reveals our tendency to repeat certain behaviors that reinforce our deeply ingrained habits. At the same time, they point us to the possibility of change. IN Raja Yoga this process is called sublimation - we can sublimate our thoughts and actions into new uniform. We do not become inactive, but achieve a better and more peaceful life through new thoughts and actions. If we feel psychologically trapped in a dark corner, there is no need to be upset. Raja Yoga gives hope and strength.

Swami Vishnu-Devananda laid a good foundation for our practice in the five famous principles of yoga:

Health is wealth. Peace of mind is happiness. Yoga shows the way through:

• Correct exercises - asanas;
• Correct breathing - pranayama;
• Correct relaxation is shavasana;
• Proper nutrition;
• Positive thinking and meditation - Vedanta and dhyana.

In ashrams we find the most blissful conditions: nature, yoga, healthy food, Fresh air. They serve as fountains of strength to continue the practice in everyday life. Follow asanas And pranayama. Learn to relax in a stressful situation through detachment. Change your diet very gradually, especially if you are just starting to practice. Positive thinking will lead to meditation. An excellent tool for meditation is the repetition of mantras, the use of sound vibrations that create, store and destroy everything in the universe. These sounds also live inside us, because our body and mind are part of an ever-changing nature. We merge with the eternal spirit, leaving behind all changing phenomena during practice. At this moment we go beyond the natural plane and dive into pure existence. This is our birthright and the goal of any yogi or spiritual person.

Practice, learn and deepen yoga classes. They are your faithful companion for life, even if at some point the body is unable to perform exercises due to illness. Fate has its own ways, anyone can get sick for karmic reasons. But no one can take away your inner values, through which you can tune in to the Divine Reality. Even if you feel like you are falling apart, just sit down and connect to your cosmic essence, the inner energy that is always present within you. It is simply hidden from us due to the constant abuse of the external senses.

Raja Yoga- This is an independent study of your psyche. I don't need to turn to another person to explain who I am. Instead, we look at ourselves and take the opportunity to cleanse ourselves without shame. When someone points out our shortcomings, we may feel ashamed that we have been exposed, exposed. Raja Yoga involves internal cleansing that is invisible to others. Practitioners with us may know about our purification, but will not comment on it.

Along with knowledge of the psyche, one should establish a connection with pure spirituality, with the divine. This is a much more personal question, here everyone is free to choose from many possibilities. A Christian can choose as an object of concentration Jesus, cross, Virgin Mary or baby Jesus, or recite prayers using the rosary. Like a bird resting on a branch, a person's mind needs a focal point during meditation, otherwise it risks falling into its old thoughts. You can choose a Buddhist, or Jewish, or Islamic sacred image.

If for some reason your soul does not belong to traditional religious forms, you can choose any Vedic image. To understand this issue, an introduction to Vedanta philosophy is necessary. Vedanta is the highest of the philosophical systems known to man, since it affirms the existence of a single reality. It speaks of an enduring reality, unchanging and present in all visible and invisible manifestations of nature, as well as in each of us. It is eternal and all-pervading.

To connect with cosmic energies through repetition mantra, you need to bring your body into an absolutely calm state. In addition to physical cleansing, we will also cleanse ourselves mentally. It's amazing to see everything that comes out of our mind: newspapers, television, professional growth, personal relationships, work, problems and worries about the future. We are overloaded and cannot find a single drop of peace in the computer that we carry in our heads. We need to constantly remove its contents in order to be able to perceive new information.

Removal of everything unnecessary occurs during meditation. We do not make a special choice, it happens on the basis of awareness. In Sanskrit it is called Vidya, the opposite of which is avidya, or ignorance. Awareness– this is not the type of knowledge that we are used to receiving from the outside, this is knowledge that comes from internal experience. This experience happens when we come into contact with something within us beyond the ordinary sensations of body and mind. A certain detachment arises, which does not come from idleness, laziness or intolerance, but from selfless love. The practitioner realizes that he is being carried by some great force, and it is this understanding that brings detachment. Everything up to this point can be achieved in modern yoga centers. This is where it starts true path Yogi, real practice, what happens in ashrams: deep meditation, chanting mantras, exposing yourself to the positivity of yoga during lectures, overcoming obstacles such as: I'm not sure if this is really possible for me. Satsang literally means Stay with Truth. After participating in satsang during classes at the ashram, personal practice proceeds with ease, with a new positive attitude and conviction to continue practicing in Everyday life.

The main obstacle on the way to yourself is a lack of discipline. Having understood this, we try to gradually develop self-discipline. Swami Sivananda explains with many examples how this can be done: for example, with the help of mouna - silence or discipline of speech. This, however, does not mean silence when you are alone anyway. Mouna should be practiced while doing normal activities, without making a show of it with a sign on your chest: I am doing mouna. It consists of letting go of what is happening, we give free flow to the development of events. This does require a lot of self-discipline and is a time-proven way to develop true self-discipline.

What is usually understood as discipline is driven by strong egoistic motives, such as getting up in the morning because otherwise I might lose my job. Look after the car, otherwise I won’t be able to drive it properly. Support normal weight by eating moderately to look good and find a partner. This is all motivated discipline and has nothing to do with spiritual growth. Everyone does it. Self-discipline means internal renunciation of something, renunciation without any tangible result other than more high level control over the mind. This is a completely different motivation, much more difficult than discipline leading to a visible, concrete result. After all, you can live your life without asana, meditation, mauna etc. We somehow coped with the burden of life without them. Only if we ask ourselves very seriously how to overcome these difficulties will the motivation for real self-discipline emerge. Gradually the results come, and we are convinced of the need for such discipline - then everything becomes much simpler.

Mauna- a simple and effective medicine, even if you practice it for at least an hour a day. Swami Sivananda suggests practicing mouna on Saturday or Sunday when you are not working, otherwise you can lose your job very quickly. There are many small exercises to practice self-discipline. If you are used to putting sugar in your tea, stop this habit for a while without replacing the sugar with honey or other sweeteners. You will feel how your mind is accustomed to sugar - it will be happy only if it gets sugar. This means that our happiness depends on a spoonful of sugar. If you don't eat sugar anyway, you'll say: I'm already self-released, I don't need sugar. Then give up the habit of watching TV, listening to music, reading the newspaper or making phone calls in the evenings. All these exercises in our time are tapas, or asceticism. Replace your habits with yoga practice, meditation. Stop over-planning, which constantly keeps you busy with some kind of activity and does not allow you to just be with yourself. Whatever type of self-discipline you choose, after some time the mind realizes that someone is checking its movements and it does not like it at all.

Then the mind begins to behave supposedly very intelligently, but this is a purely instinctive reaction: the mind is intelligent, like a dog, cat, bird, instinctively knowing where to find food and shelter. We are speaking: Look what a smart animal!. But this is just an instinct that exists within us, and which manifests itself with all its tricks as soon as we begin to consciously curb our mind. Awareness of your instincts is part of self-knowledge; it allows you to gradually sublimate them without going to extremes, avoiding revolutionary sentiments, and maintaining inner peace. As soon as we go to extremes, a revolution breaks out within - and we have to start all over again. This happens when we are poorly informed and try to move forward quickly. In this case, a reverse reaction occurs, manifested in the form of some kind of addiction.

Tapas, or self-discipline, must be worked very carefully, according to one's abilities. It's just like taking a warm bath - you need to touch the water first before getting into the bath in case it turns out to be too hot. After checking the water temperature, you can add more hot or cold water. This applies to all ascetic exercises. Don’t give up all your habits at once: no alcohol, no meat, no fish, only salads, asanas for 2-3 hours every day, getting up at 5 am, meditation at 6, and then going to work. Soon your colleagues will ask:

What happened to you? You are so pale, you can barely breathe - what are you doing?

Oh I do yoga.

They will turn away from you with the thought: Well, here's another candy wrapper. He probably ended up in a cult. Then your colleague goes to the boss, and a month later you receive a friendly letter informing you that due to the development of the company, your position is being closed.

Please be very careful! Self-discipline should be practiced through one of the five senses: hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling or touching. Luckily there are only five of them, otherwise we would have more problems. Avoid extremes.

INTRODUCTION

The yoga lexicon contains probably at least a dozen words that, to varying degrees of approximation, can be interpreted as various forms of meditation: pratyahara - distraction from the senses, identification with sensations, dharana - concentration and retention of attention, ekagrata - one-pointedness of consciousness, manana – reflection, taraka, vichara, etc. However, all these terms are not identical to the word “dhyana”, which, in fact, means meditation. All these are just preliminary practices, exercises, steps on the path to achieving dhyana - “yoga of the mind.”

Today they often try to identify meditation with autogenic training, the practice of various affirmations, trance states, etc. These techniques are also not meditation in the strict sense of the word, but they can become preparation for it. Or not.

Let's keep quiet, let's keep quiet

Meditation, dhyana is the achievement of inner silence, stopping the internal dialogue, silence of the mind, “chitta vritti nirodha” - stopping the vibrations of the mind, according to Patanjali. This is a state of direct experience of reality without “intermediary services” from the mind and senses. The state of meditation lies beyond the boundaries of our ordinary consciousness, beyond the boundaries of known sensations and concepts. Therefore, it is almost impossible to explain it, to describe it in words, just as it is impossible to explain, for example, to a blind person what the color red is. Meditation must be achieved, it must be lived, then the meaning of this word will become clear.

Meditation must blossom within us

The problem is that it is almost impossible to do this of your own free will. We can hold and control our breath. We can disidentify from our sensations, close our eyes, plug our ears, and not pay attention to smells and sounds. We can, if we try, keep all our attention on one chosen object, action or sensation. But we cannot order ourselves to meditate; neither violence nor effort will help here. Meditation occurs on its own when, as a result of practice, consciousness seems to slip into it. Meditation needs to be “grow” within yourself. She should bloom like a flower. The only way to achieve this is regular and conscientious practice.

In almost any spiritual tradition, meditation is the most important practice, no matter what it is called: Hindu jappa (mantra recitation), Christian prayer, Sufi dhikr, Zen zazen, etc. – all this, in essence, should be meditation. C. Castaneda also writes about stopping the internal dialogue - meditation practiced in the tradition of South American Indians. However, the path that is proposed for this is long and thorny. Almost all spiritual traditions require asceticism, hermitage and hours of daily exercise.

We'll go a different way

Hatha yoga offers a different path. She seems to be saying: “Guys, your idea that through meditation you can achieve and comprehend everything is wonderful! But the problem is that we cannot meditate. Because we cannot control our thoughts, our mind. The mind controls us." And hatha yoga offers its own way - influencing the activity of the mind through the body and its physiological mechanisms. As a result, the practice of hatha yoga achieves spontaneous holding of breath, without grueling exercises, and spontaneous stopping of internal dialogue. Hatha yoga reduces the time required to achieve meditation and increases the chances of success. And at the same time, it does not require leaving society.

Let's look at the "stages" of Patanjali's Raja Yoga. What does he recommend? Give up everything. Practice asceticism. Sit in an uncomfortable position. Sit still. Don't breathe! (one breath in 112 seconds!) Is it hard to sit cross-legged? Do not pay attention! Focus! Do not be distracted! Concentrate! Do this day after day, year after year, life after life, and someday, perhaps, you will achieve something! If you don’t achieve it in this incarnation, it doesn’t matter, you will achieve it in the next; you won’t achieve in the next one - well, you already understand: there is still a lot of interesting things ahead, there is no need to rush...

Compared to these steep steps, hatha yoga takes the practitioner to the foot of meditation in a comfortable elevator through a practice that is itself enjoyable. Not that this elevator is super-fast, but, nevertheless, the shastras - classical treatises - of yogis claim that perfection in practice is achieved in 12 years. Years, not incarnations!

Quality practice – quality result

It remains only to note that hatha yoga is not asanas. Asanas are only a small part of it. You won’t get far with asanas alone, especially if you practice them exclusively as physical exercise. But holistic, high-quality practice will definitely give high-quality results.