INDRANI

🧘🏼‍♀️ On the relationship master-disciple 🔱

It can only be understood insofar as one keeps in mind the nature of this relationship. Abhinavagupta distinguishes humanity into two species: those who are embraced by grace and the others.

"The Supreme Lord who eternally projects the world in his energy, is grace, he causes the world to emanate and is free". [Trikahridaya]

Shiva, through the impetuous play of his freedom, first veils his own essence by concealing himself under the ever-renewed forms of his energy and, freely, becomes a limited and enslaved being; it is still he who, so freely, dispenses his grace and reveals himself in his true essence. Whether Shiva mystifies or bestows grace, his basic nature is only grace. He is therefore the only master, true Consciousness or absolute I. His Supreme energy - Grace - perpetually watches over all conscious subjects and constitutes the real relationship between master and disciple.

It is the same consciousness which questions as a disciple and which answers as a master: under the first aspect, imperfect consciousness without clarity, full of doubts and uncertainties (vikalpa), under the second, intense and lucid, it puts an end to all doubts. Thus the appearances of master and disciple in different bodies, because they are imaginary constructs, disappear when one and the same Liberating Knowledge illuminates both.

Shiva, the first of the guru, assumes the form of multiple masters: divinities, sages, super-men and women, nature. It does not matter that the lineage of masters extends infinitely in time, the guru is one; when he liberates his disciple, he liberates himself.

On the importance of RELAXATION 🌝

For many people, the term relaxation means "to relax", to take the time to do nothing. But that does not necessarily mean that we are relaxed. For example, when we watch a movie on television, our body may feel relaxed while our mind and nervous system will be very active. This “relaxed body, active mind” combination does not allow relaxation because it does not slow down our brain activity.

True relaxation, on the other hand, is deeply therapeutic. It involves muscle relaxation at the body level and less emotional calming or reactivity at the mind level. The level of our brain activity is, in fact, lower during relaxation than when awake and during sleep.

It is interesting to know that relaxation, which is composed of many physiological processes, reinforced in a reciprocal way, can be created by stimulating only one area of ​​the brain: the anterior hypothalamus. Stimulating this area of ​​the brain by practicing relaxation creates a new neural circuit. With regular practice, this new circuit will become stronger, more mature, and able to compete with more stress-sensitive neural circuits.

Relaxation allows you to:

🌜 Calm brain activity,
🌜 Slow down and make breathing deeper,
🌜 Reduce muscle tension,
🌜 Balance the nervous system by allowing the balance between the activity of the sympathetic nervous system and the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system.

The best sign of good relaxation is a feeling of deep mental peace and pure joy. Relaxation is the attentive surrender of the ego. By forgetting yourself, you truly discover yourself.

Taking a moment to relax once a day allows our nervous system to come back into balance, our body to relax while our mind is in a state of observation. This state is extremely useful because it allows us to react less intensely to our thoughts and emotions; and regain our emotional balance more quickly.

Vijnana Bhairava Ta**ra, verse 76: By setting one’s gaze on the space that appears variegated from the glow of the Sun or some other light, the essence of one’s true Self is revealed.

JANU SIRSASANA ✨ Head-to-Knee Forward Bend Pose
-Stretches the spine, shoulders, hamstrings, and groins
-Relaxes the mind and relieves anxiety
-Improves the flexibility of the lower back and the spine
-Reduces sciatica and menstrual symptoms
-Improves digestion
-Stimulates the liver and kidneys

"The unbounded Light of Consciousness contracts into finite embodied loci of awareness out of its own free will. When those finite subjects then identify with the limited and circumscribed cognitions and circumstances that make up this phase of their existence, instead of identifying with the transindividual overarching pulsation of pure Awareness that is their true nature, they experience what they call "suffering". To rectify this, some feel an inner urge to take up the path of spiritual wisdom and yogic practice, the purpose of which is to undermine their misidentification and directly reveal within the immediacy of awareness the fact that the divine powers of Consciousness, Bliss, Willing, Knowing, and Acting comprise the totality of individual experience as well - thereby triggering a recognition that one's real identity is that of the highest Divinity, the Whole in every part. This experiential insight is repeated and reinforced through various means until it becomes the non conceptual ground of every moment of experience, and one's contracted sense of self and separation from the Whole is finally annihilated in the incandescent radiance of the complete expansion into perfect wholeness. Then one's perception fully encompasses the reality of a universe dancing ecstatically in the animation of its completely perfect divinity." Christopher Wallis, Ta**ra Illuminated

CHAKRASANA ✨ the wheel pose
-Strengthens the back and increases the elasticity of the spine
-Expands the chest so the lungs get more oxygen
-Tones the digestive and reproductive organs
-Enhances the purification and circulation of blood
-Stimulates the endocrine glands
-Removes dullness from the body and mind
-Builds stamina

VIRABHADRASANA I ✨Warrior I Pose
-Strengthens the shoulders, arms, legs, ankles and back
-Opens the hips, chest and lungs
-Improves focus, balance and stability
-Energizes the entire body
-Removes stiffness in the shoulders, neck and hip joints
-Gives strength and elasticity to the back muscles
-Removes strain in the lower back.
-Releases stress in the shoulders
-Stretches the arms, legs, shoulders, neck, belly, groins and ankles

From the Shiva Sutras 3.16 (Lakshmanjoo)
when such a yogī acts in this way:
16. āsanasthaḥ sukhaṁ hrade nimajjati //
Seated in that real posture,
he effortlessly dives in the ocean of nectar.
Actually, the postures (āsanas) explained in the yogadarśana are not really āsanas at all. Śivayoga is the only posture that must be understood when you are seeking to understand the real posture for such a yogī. This real posture is the supreme energy of awareness. You are seated in that posture when you hold and possess the supreme energy of awareness. Then in each and every act of your life you are aware, you are seated in that posture. This is the real āsana. The physical postures called āsanas are not actually āsanas. These so-called āsanas are only imitations of the real āsana. They are only imagination. The real āsana actually exists when you are truly residing in the state of absolute awareness, the awareness of self.
The yogī who, leaving aside the effort of āsana (yogic exercises), prāṇāyāma (breathing exercises), dhyāna (contemplation), and dhāraṇā (meditation), simply remains in that posture with nothing left to do, aware of what he actually is. This is why the author has used the word sukham in the sūtra because “effortlessly” means that without exerting any effort in respect to breathing or yogic exercise, contemplation or meditation, he remains seated in that posture.
So in an internal, not external, way he perceives the reality of his embodiment of awareness18 and without any effort finally immerses himself in the ocean from which the universe rises and expands. He dives and enters for good in that ocean, which is filled with real nectar.
What does diving mean? In diving into the ocean of nectar, he lets the impressions of the body (deha), of the breath (prāṇa), of the eight constituents (puryaṣṭaka) and of the void (śūnya) sink into that ocean and he becomes one with that nectar. This is the real way of diving.
In Mṛityujita Ta**ra (Netra Ta**ra), it is said:
You do not have to concentrate above on sahasrārdha cakra or below on mūlādhāra cakra. You have not to concentrate on the tip of the nose, on the backside, or on the nostrils—breathing and exercising prāṇa and apāna.
Nor do you have to concentrate on someplace in your body or concentrate in a universal way. You do not have to put your concentration on ether nor do you have to concentrate downward.
You do not have to close your eyes. You do not have to open your eyes and keep your eyes wide open. You do not have to take any support in meditation, nor do you have to have absence of support.
You do not have to concentrate on your organic field, or on the universal elements, or on sensations of the five senses—sound (śabda), touch (sparśa), sight (rūpa), taste (rasa) and smell (gandha). You have to put all of these aside and enter into that universal being of awareness. This is what Śaivaite yogīs do successfully.
Actually, this state of the Śaivaite yogī is the real state of Śiva. This state is not revealed to others; it is revealed only to the revealers. (Netra Ta**ra 8.41–45)

SUPTA VAJRASANA ✨ Reclined Thunderbolt Pose
-Loosens up the legs and stretches the thigh muscles
-Massages the abdominal organs
-Improves digestive systems function
-Tones the spinal nerves and stretches the back muscles
-Stretches and helps to fill the lungs to its maximum capacity
-Regulates the functioning of the adrenal glands
-Relieves menstrual pain
🔔 If you feel any discomfort in your knees, place a pillow under your hips!

PURVOTTANASANA ✨ Upward Facing Plank Pose
-Opens the heart energy center
-Empowers love, warmth and joy
-Strengthens the arms and the legs
-Stretches the shoulders, spine, and front ankles
-Removes the problems of rounded shoulders
-Opens the chest and the lungs for an increased oxygen supply
-Strengthens the back and buttocks
-Stimulates the thyroid glands and abdominal organs
-Improves digestion

PARIVRTTA UTTANASANA ✨ Revolved Standing Forward Bend
-Energizes and stretches the spine
-Opens the shoulders and neck
-Strengthens and tones the obliques and abs
-Increase the flexibility in the spine and hips
-Increases flexibility in the calves and hamstrings
-Cleanses the internal organs
-Improves digestion as well as elimination of the wastes
-Stimulates the spleen, kidneys, lungs, heart and liver
-Relives the symptoms of fatigue, backache and menstrual discomfort

URDHVA MUKHA PASCHIMOTTANASANA ✨Upward facing stretch
-Relieves lower back pain ans strengthens the lower back
-Tones kidney and abdominal organs
-Stretches and lengthens the leg muscles
-Improves blood circulation
-Reduces belly fat
-Strengthens hip flexors
-Improves the digestion system
-Invigorates the nervous system