With Doug Keller

The Therapeutic Wisdom of Yoga Marma: The Intersection of Tantra and Fascia, Meditation and Asana

www.doyoga.com/arlington3.pdf

Samkhya PhilosophyCriticism of the Vedic Religion: Analytic Philosophy and Mental Discipline seeking

liberation of the soul from suffering

Hatha Yoga — texts emerge from 11th century onward

PatanjaliBefore 400 AD

Patanjali emphasized as fundamental in Modern Yoga philosophy

Bhagavad-Gita200-400 AD

Mahabharata400BC-400 AD

Buddha560 BC

Buddhism

Mystical Philosophy of Brahman: Shifts in Vedic thinking and introduction of yoga techniques

around 700 BC to early centuries AD

Upanishads: Vedanta Advaita Vedanta Shankaracharya 600 AD

Neo-Vedanta: blending Vedanta, Samkhya, Bhagavad-Gita & Patanjali and aligning with Modern Hinduism

Tantra texts first emerging around the same time as Patanjali

Tantra reaches its zenith influence at 1000 AD

1st period 1800 BC to 700 BCEmphasis upon yajna/ritual

sacrifice for both gods (natural forces) and ancestors

The VedasVedic Religion of Brahman: written record begins 1800 BC

The Classical Period The Tantric Period Modern YogaThe Vedic Period2000 BC (written Vedas) — 100 BC 100 BC — 500 AD

Samkhya, Buddhism and Patanjali: Yoga as Meditation

500 AD — 13th Century and onwardAdvaita Vedanta, Tantra and Hatha Yoga

500 AD

19th Century onwardPopularization of Vedantic

philosophy as ‘Neo-Vedanta’ and the appearance of Hatha

Yoga as ‘Postural Yoga’1800 AD100 BC

Pre-Vedic

2000 BC

Tantra: An Introduction‘Tantra’ includes a wide range of texts and traditions — and not only ‘Hinduism’/brahmanism, but also Buddhism and Jainism

• Within the ‘Hindu’ realm, Tantra is theistic, with a supreme Deity — usually Shiva (sometimes Vishnu or the Goddess)

Although there are texts on Tantra, the texts are not enough; • A defining characteristic of Tantra is that it relies on initiation (diksha) by an

acharya or Guru. Initiation and oral guidance leads you into the deeper practices.

• Tantra can be either dualistic or non-dualistic. • Kashmir Shaivism is non-dual, with the goal of ‘becoming’ Shiva• Shaiva Siddhanta in South India: the goal is to become equal to Shiva, but not to

‘become’ Shiva

Tantra: can be used to mean an individual text or system within ‘Tantra’• ‘Tantra’ can also mean specific practices taught within a system• Practices such as puja are tantric, and became popular and were adopted

by many traditions, even outside of ‘Tantra’ — so all of the spiritual paths after this period had an element of tantra in their practices

• This is why it’s so often hard to arrive at a ‘definition’ of tantra: ‘tantra’ is defined by its practices, which are widely shared on a popular level.

The Meaning Of Tantra And Its Terminology

Agama — the term ‘Agama’ is often synonymous with tantra, especially when applied to texts

The Traditions Or Systems Of Tantra Are Divided Into Two Basic Types • The Mantra Marga (path of mantra); has come to be applied to Shaivite

traditions, with goal of not just liberation, but also acquisition of power or siddhi within this world — and siddhis are a common feature of tantra• The Mantra Marga is open to householders and ‘everyone’ (male), with

initiation• The Ati Marga is reserved for brahmin ascetics seeking liberation only

• The Ati Marga is the origin of many of the practices and terms used, including those used by Hatha Yoga

Paths Of Tantra

The Mantra Marga Form Of Tantra Is The Best Known The Mantra Marga derives from the pre-Tantric Pasupata tradition — a path for

• This means that the ‘Tantra’ of the Mantra Marga originated in the brahmanical tradition, and esp. among male brahmin ascetics

• Thus the Mantra Marga brings in ideas from the orthodox brahmanical practices, including yoga

One of the most important contributions of these schools: development of sophisticated ideas of the yogic body or subtle body — chakras, nadis

A More Exact Definition Of Tantra“A Tantra is a body of teachings,

• Which prescribes rules (vidhi) and prohibitions (niṣedha) for the worship of God,

• These rules are taught after initiation ceremonies granted by a teacher, acharya or guru, according to one’s interest in and eligibility for attaining higher or lower aims of human existence;

• it is his [God’s] decree/injunction/command (ājñā).” [This means that one has to follow it as God’s command once you accept or believe in it]

— Sārdhatriśatikālottaravṛtti (c.10th cent.)

Āgama [another word for the teachings of Tantra] has the function of • generating a continuous flow of consistent vikalpas.

Further Definition Of Tantric Teaching As ‘Āgama’

Vikalpas are conceptual thoughts ideas• A single thought or Vikalpa generates a thought that is related to it — producing

streams of thought — • The Agamas promote consistent thought patterns aligned with the teachings; • This is also understood as a purification of the mind / aligning your mind with the

teachings, enabling you to understand them.The person who gives you the agama is the acharya: you can’t just read the text on your own and understand its meaning

This continuum of thoughts is Sattarka — ‘True-Judgement’ • ‘Tarka’ is a kind of judgement, an awareness of what ‘level’ you have attained,

and whether there is farther to go “This is bhavana” — insight meditation, creative meditation/contemplation

• Bhavana is capable of making you fully experience something nonexistent — you can visualize it and actualize it, as if it were present or actually there.

• The process is to ‘project’ into your body entities (eg. chakras), opening you to a real experience through the projection of something that is not ‘literally’ there.

• You can even change your experience of something that does exist — something you know but don’t fully understand — and realize its deeper or full significance. • This idea becomes popular ; our ordinary experience, which we experience as

binding or limiting, becomes liberative once it is more deeply understood.

This āgama is not an arbitrary imposition from the outside. Everyone has ‘Prasiddhi’ — intuitive, preconceptual notions of the world: Prasiddhi is our ‘instinctive’ or a priori knowledge of how to do things without having ‘learned’ it. Every creature is born with these Prasiddhi

• prasiddhi: deep-rooted firmness of a cognition or belief; not arrived at by reasoning, but precedes both reasoning and perception; enables us to connect external perceptions and internal feelings

Abhinava aligns prasiddhi with āgama or true knowledge through reflection• āgama leads us to “firm reflective awareness” of what we intuitively know. It is a process

of recognition — of ‘knowing again,’ but this time fully grasping or understanding

This Brings Us To A Recognition Or Full, Liberating Awareness Of What We Already ‘Instinctively’ Know

11

The Step By Step Process In The Shaiva Mantra Marga

Ṣaḍaṅgayoga: a six-fold system: most popular, used in the tattva-jaya — conquest of the reality levels: visionary ascent through tattva levels (35 or 36) or through the 6 ontologies — retracing 6 paths to arrive at Shiva

• Some ṣaḍaṅga practices and terminology survive into haṭhayoga (e.g. pūraka, kumbhaka, recaka).

Most popular 2 forms: Bhuvanas (path of the worlds) and Tattvas• Tattvas are the 25 of Samkhya, with 11 superadded at the top: the 11 negotiate the

move from Purusha (the self) to Shiva• These traditions are not so interested in self-realization, which is the level of

Purusha, which is low level; • they want God-realization, with extra levels involved, moving between objectivity

and subjectivity, realizing the other in the self, and the self in the other, and then balancing them, and then being only pure subjectivity

Ṣaḍaṅgayoga

Yoga Nidra Is A Simpler Application In Hatha Yoga, In Which The Tantric Process Of Ṣaḍaṅgayoga From The Mantra Marga Is Put

To Use

The ‘Bhuta Shuddhi’ using the elements is the form of dhāraṇā that brings stabilization, bringing you to the place of ‘Ether’ — the realm of sound and listening — where the Bija Mantras of the Mantra Marga become effective

• earth/solidity • water/liquidity • fire/visible light• air/tangibility• ether/audibility or sound

‘Purification’ (Shuddhi) is not cleansing or penance to eliminate the ‘impure’

• Purification is the release of energy from matter, to realize/experience its essential nature as energy or consciousness in its expansive form — whereas we are accustomed to its contracted form.

• This applies to emotion as well

The Meaning of ‘Purification’

This ‘release’ or expansion of energy brings stabilization — steadiness or dhairya

The Process Of Yoga Nidra1. Focus on the Breath: ‘Hamsa’ as the natural, spontaneous sound/mantra of the breath;

the mind is dissolved into the breath as the breath merges into the body2. Bhuta Shuddhi — the ‘purification of the elements’ — proceeding with awareness/

imagination through the experience of the elements in the body, from the most concrete (earth) to the most subtle (ether / Akasha)

3. Marma: deeper body awareness through Marma: bringing awareness to specific points to experience space/spaciousness in those points

4. Nada: the use of bija mantras (particularly in the areas of the chakras) along with this awareness.

5. Settle awareness in the space between the eyebrows: this is ‘Khechari’ — the place of consciousness — Turya — beyond the Deep Sleep State. • “Shiva’s place is between the brows. There the mind dissolves. That state is known as turya. There,

time is not. Practice Khechari until the Yoga sleep arrives. Time never exists for one in the Yoga sleep.”

The Three Stages Of Practice Bring You To The Point Of ‘Union’ Or ‘Arpana’ Through The Spontaneous Force Of The Kundalini

The three stages of practice:1. Shuddhi: purification of the gross, subtle and psychic elements or tattvas

• Purification is the release of energy from matter, to realize/experience its essential nature as energy or consciousness in its expansive form — whereas we are accustomed to its contracted form.

2. Sthiti: illumination through concentration — achieved through this purification3. Arpana: unification with the higher force within oneself

— A Form of Tantric Yoga That Influences Kuṇḍalinī Yoga: A meditation system based on a series of four cakras leading to four progressively higher meditative trances

1. piṇḍastha in the navel or mūlādhāra, 2. padastha in the heart, 3. rūpastha between the eyebrows, 4. rūpātīta at the crown of the head or beyond.

Kaula Or Śākta Yoga

Sources of Concentration on the Chakras

The Chakras are evocative:

The descriptions of them involves archetypal images and sounds representing manifestations of primordial energy or Shakti of each element — and beyond the elements of the tattvas:

The energy of each chakra is represented in many archetypal images that express the qualities of its energy.The purpose is to help focus on that energy as a means to take us deeper into meditation, step-by-step.The energies of the first five chakras are each associated with one of the five elements. The chakras are the playground of these energies, giving rise to our experience of the world through the senses, as well as shaping that experience with the subtle emotional qualities or ‘Rasas’ (literally “flavors”) that color our experience.

Chakras and the Nadis:❖ Specific nadis were associated with

the function of specific chakras, and the experiences associated with each.

❖ ‘Blockage’ of these nadis were associated with blockage or limitation in the functioning and ‘opening’ of these chakras.

❖ The nadis become unblocked through cleansing techniques, asana and pranayama;

❖ then the kundalini functions spontaneously to ‘open’ the chakras.

The Role of Marma

Marma provides the physical and mental points of contact with the matrix of Prana— arguably through the medium of the fascia

DefinitionsDefinition: Literally means ‘sensitive,’ ‘vital point’ and also ‘hidden.’ Marma points provide the places of connection between mind, body and consciousness.A ‘Marma’ is defined as an area where five types of tissue meet — muscle, blood vessels, tendons, bones and joint (tissues) — and sometimes nerves are mentioned

• Marmas are not themselves distinct anatomical structures — they are areas where consciousness interfaces with the body and coordinates its functions

• Marma is more of an area than a single point — and often includes smaller marmas and acts as its coordinating center.

Typology of MarmasTypes of Marmas are defined by the predominant tissue in that area: so there are

• 11 muscle marmas — Mamsa• Promote power, strengthen Agni, store and release energy: Kapha-Pitta

• 41 blood vessel marmas — Sira• Control blood supply, blood flow and temperature: Pitta

• 27 tendon marmas — Snayu• Adaptability, speed and tensile strength: Vata-Kapha

• 8 bone marmas — Asthi• Protect pain-sensitive areas of the body, provide stability: Vata-Kapha

• 20 joint marmas — Sandhi• Are sensors in the joint, coordinating stability with movement and sensitivity; provide spacial

orientation (proprioception) as well as sensitivity to instability and distortion resulting in pain (nociception): susceptible to Vata (space), having Vata and Kapha qualities

FunctionThese vital points at the surface of the body are both control points and signals of blocks or dysfunction.They provide:

• Condensed information about physiology — especially in relation to pain, signaling fascial distortion producing chronic pain and affecting the function of muscles and joints

• Signals of accumulation in the process of disease (Samprapti — the process of birth and manifestation of disease)

• Communication with and stimulation to organ and inner system functions via the fascial matrix that holds them

• Signals the contents of consciousness and emotions — as places of tension or sensitivity, signaling emotional stress / what’s on your mind and how it’s affecting you

• Sensors for more subtle perception — the function of interoception expressed through the fascia (‘gut’ feelings, queasy stomach, heartache, etc.)

Types of Marma TherapyMarmas can be treated with or without touch

• Without touch, through pure attention or dharana• With touch:

• With attention, and with varying degrees of force• With the aid of the influence of additional substances — oils or

herbs, heat, light, metals or gemstones• Through vibration — mantra, music and chants — as well as light, heat

and aromas• Through Asana, pranayama and meditation

Asana and Marma TherapyAsana gives the marmas ‘room to breathe:’

• Asanas reconnect the marmas with the integrative, centered awareness of self• This enlivens their functions

• It is more accurate to say that asana ‘opens’ the marmas, enlivening and balancing their functions, rather than the chakras — though the chakras are related to and influenced by Marma.

• Asanas bring greater energy to marmas, opening their blocks, and support the reprocessing — on a mental as well as physical level — of the patterns of experience stored in the Marmas/tissues of the Marmas

• Asana clearly has an effect on the tone and quality of the fascial matrix, and especially acts on junction points — especially in joints — that are Marma

The Hierarchical Structure of MarmaFrom the Atman or ‘Self ’ proceed manifestations of the three Mahamarmas:

• Sthapani — Head — the forehead Marma or the ‘third eye’• Hridaya — Heart• Basti — Abdomen (lower belly, in the area of the bladder below the navel)

The Hierarchical Structure of MarmaThese three are supported by four principal Marmas ‘below’ them:

• Guda — the ‘root’ Marma at the anus• Nabhi — the navel• The ‘Neck’ marmas — Nila (base of

throat) and Manya (Sternocleidomastoid)• Adhipati — crown of the head

All of the other marmas are grouped around these seven major centers

The breath practice which accompanies this centering is the Hamsa mantra — centering awareness in the Self while connecting the marmas with the breath

Attention to the breath can be on even expansion of Hridaya and Basti on inhalation, and release on exhalation

Hamsa Mantra

The vital points (adhara / marma) connect to the energy body; they also serve as drishti

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika gives 16 vital points — Adhara: these are the links between the material body (sthula-sarira) and the subtle body/psychological-emotional body (suksma sarira

Adhara Or Marma Sthana

AngusthaBig toe

GulphaAnklesJangamadhya

Middle of tibia

JanuKnees

UruMiddle of thighs

SivaniPelvic Floor

LingaPubis

Deva MadhyaLower BellyNabhi

Navel

HridayaHeart

KanthaThroat

KurmaBase of Head

LalataPalate

NasikaPoint of Nose

BrumadhyaCenter of Eyebrows

BrahmarandraCrown of the

Head