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Purna Yoga teaches the mind, the body and the emotions how to be at home with the spirit.

In This Issue
Mula Bandha
Breath and the Mind
Massaging Before Meditating
Why Suffer?
Sweeteners
News from Yoga Centers, The Home of Purna Yoga
Quick Links
December 2007
Dear students and friends on the path of yoga, Mirra and Aadil, the owners of Yoga Centers

 
After presenting at the Omega Conference and giving workshops in Boca Raton in Florida, and then giving a weeklong Teacher Training course in Hawaii, it is good to be back home for the holidays.  Mirra has been busy bringing more Light into her classes and the earth.   See you in class.
 
Blessing for the Holidays.
In Joy and Peace,
Mirra and Aadil
Founders of Purna Yoga
Asana
 Mula Bandha 
Mirra and Aadil, the owners of Yoga Centers
Those who do asana are often told to lift the mula bandha.  But it's not enough to lift it-that merely feeds the ego by making you feel more powerful and centered.  The ego's story is energized.  However, when you lift this energy and bring it to your heart center, it's a whole different story.  As you lift the vital energy, you are putting it into the Pillar of Light, and giving it to the heart center.  Then the mula bandha is fed by the Pillar of Light, and the very core of your body gets lifted.
 
-Mirra
Pranayama
 Breath and the Mind prana

Pranayama, aside from revitalizing the body, also helps the mind acquire immense powers.  Even a brain that is stale and rusted from lack of use can be revitalized with pranayama.  It can learn to think calmly and concentrate clearly.  This is because the mind is fed with prana, the all-pervading life force.  Sri Aurobindo used to do pranayama for four or five hours at a time in his early days of yoga.  He said that, immediately after his practice, four or five hundred lines of poetry would come rushing to him in a torrent.  The mind has to be clear and still to enter the other dimensions and pull out from them the beauty that lies waiting there.  Prana is the key.
 
-Aadil
Meditation
Mirra and Aadil, the owners of Yoga Centers Massaging Before Meditating 

Throughout the day, we withdraw our Light body and create energetic blockages in our bodies, and this denies the free flowing of the soul throughout the body.  So, before beginning your meditation practice, massage your feet and legs just to bring circulation and awareness into them, especially if you are practicing at night.  This will also help ground and focus your mind.  Also massage your toes one at a time.  Pull out blockages and free the Light body to allow your soul to live more fully and deeply in your physical form.  Massage the center of your instep by rubbing it with your thumb in a circular motion, clockwise.  This will get your energy flowing and increase your ability to connect with the world.  These meditations are all about bringing Light into your body, and if your body is tense and exhausted, you will block the arrival of Light.  So, also massage your hands, fingers, thumbs, and the center of your palms, in the same way as you massaged your feet.  Massaging your hands enables you to better connect with others.  Also massage your shoulders and arms so you feel more relaxed and more aware of your body.  As you become more aware of your body, it will be easier for you to go into your heart chakra, the place where your soul lives.  As you massage yourself, say, "I offer all blockages to the Light to be healed."  The Light (the true you) will understand what to do-the  mind's only job is to state its intention clearly.
 
-Mirra
Applied Philosophy
Mirra and Aadil, the owners of Yoga Centers Why Suffer?

Suffering is completely unnecessary.  Suffering only comes because of our unwillingness to grow.  It only enters because we are not on the path.  Suffering has been glorified by religion because it keeps people downtrodden and easily controlled.  In yoga, suffering is considered an aberration.  In Savitri, Sri Aurobindo writes, "Where ignorance is, there suffering too must come."  And later on he writes, "Pain is the signature of the Ignorance."  People who are on the path of yoga and who are constantly aware will find suffering for its own sake to become unnecessary.
 
-Aadil
Nutrition and Lifestyle
Mirra and Aadil, the owners of Yoga Centers Sweeteners

Some of the most dangerous things to put into your body are artificial sweeteners such as Splenda, Aspartame (also known as Nutrisweet or Equal), and Saccharin.  Though old packages had warnings, new packages do not.  Recently we had an infestation of moisture ants that poured into our home from cracks in the floor.  We sprinkled the cracks with Equal.  The ants ate the stuff and never came back.  So, if you have any Equal in your home, it makes an excellent insecticide.  For human consumption, healthy sweeteners include Sunny Dew or Sunectar (Sunrider* products), organic maple syrup, organic rice syrup, and organic jaggery (organic cane juice dried in the sun). 
 
-Aadil
 
* For more information about Sunrider, email Sara 
News from Yoga Centers 

New Babysitting Co-op is forming!  We are creating a babysitting co-op during the Monday 10:00 am, and the Thursday 9:30 am classes.  Email [email protected]for more information. 

The Jan-April 2008 newsletter and schedule of workshops, classes, and events is coming out in a few weeks!  Look for it in your mail box near the end of the month.