Read Online Yoga Beyond Belief: Insights to Awaken and Deepen Your Practice by Ganga White - Free Book Online Page A

subtle energies and strange forces, and I didn’t think that the principles I had learned in sports applied here. Warming up was considered “stretching out” before getting into deeper poses. We rested and cooled down after each position. The major emphasis was “to attain the asana and get the benefits.” After a few years of practicing this way, I started to have back pains, neck pains, and eventually serious injuries. It took some time to analyze what was wrong and begin to correct it.
    As we have seen, the syllable
Ha
in
Hatha
means sun, which implies masculine energy and symbolizes heating, expansion, and strength;
Tha
means moon, which refers to feminine energy and symbolizes cooling, contraction, and flexibility. It is vitally important to bring these principles into balance. Too much flexibility and cooling can be as problematic as too much strength. Flexibility without strength leads to fragility. Strength without flexibility leads to rigidity. As you practice, become attuned to the relationship of these principles and aware of which principle needs emphasis. Women tend to need to work a little harder on strength, men on flexibility, but the balance of the two changes in each person each day. If I have been doing a lot of hiking and strenuous physical activities, then I usually have a softer practice with more flexibility work to restore equilibrium. When I have beensedentary, my practice is more vigorous and dynamic. Don’t hold your poses too rigidly, with too much
Ha
, or too passively with too much
Tha
. Watching the interaction of strength and flexibility is one of the things that holds my interest and keeps my practice fresh.

Heating and Cooling
    Watching the principles of sun and moon also teaches us to balance heating and cooling. My first teacher somehow omitted this important concept. He either did not know about it or, perhaps, being from the hot climate of India where properly warming the muscles is less critical, he overlooked it. On many days rather than warming up, we would start our practice by simply stretching cold muscles until they loosened, and then we would move on to stronger work. We were told to rest after every posture, which cooled us down again. When I began to see the problems caused by practicing cold and moving hard muscles too quickly, I learned to warm up properly and to stay warm, and soon discovered that it took less time to loosen warm muscles.
    Warm muscles stretch farther and easier with increased circulation, greater strength, and less risk of injury. Don’t confuse stretching with warming up. A warm-up is one of the basic stages of any standard physical workout, yet many yoga students do not include it. Exactly what it sounds like, a warm-up is an activity to get the body warm and soft, with increased circulation. Move carefully into postures while you are cold. Avoid going to your normal maximum until the body complies easily. Slowly increase your movements as the muscles become warm and pliable. I generally do not recommend resting between poses either, except in instances where a short rest is needed after an intense pose or in specific cases such as hypertension, illness, or old age. Many poses may be used to warm up, but Sun Salutations or a series of standing positions are often the best. Ease into them, staying well short of your maximum edges or going only to your minimum edge—where you firstfeel stiffness or resistance. With each successive repetition, with each breath, you will slowly and effortlessly move deeper and more fully into the posture. Finally, make sure you stay warm during the practice until you begin the cool-down phase. You will have more energy, increased benefits, and greater enjoyment.
    Physically generated heat can also purify and detoxify our bodies. The skin is the largest organ of elimination. When we get hot during practice, the increased circulation filters more blood through our organs and the increased heat also allows detoxifying