Now that you are ready to start working with Vishaad Yoga, here's what the finer details are.
In times gone past, in India the birthplace of Yoga, Yoga was NEVER intended to be a subject learned and then taught as a profession. It was a personal odyssey, embarked upon for ones own well being in whatever form it took. It was a clearly accepted pre requisite that only those who had attained a level of mastery, often after decades of practice, would then be blessed by their preceptor and given the right to go forth and heal the suffering of mankind. There were NO "Yoga teachers" - only Yogi's (masters) and Yogins (aspirants), nothing in between. One who was authorised to spread healing, had attained stability in the physical but also the mental and psychological disciplines and to hold out oneself falsely as a Yogi was so lacking in emotional integrity and obviously frighteningly detrimental to ones own Yoga practice, that it was inconceivable.
In the context of the 21st Century and the dynamism of the West, as well as the rising tide of physical disease, the appearance of Yoga teachers who have established physical stability is a welcome and vital development but it is perfectly possible to be physically healthy but still be mentally fragile, weak and conflicted. History is littered with examples of perfect physical specimens performing atrocities, as well as living lives filled with suffering - their own and that of those around them. Athletes and soldiers nay well have attained physical peaks but that is no indicator of happiness and mental equilibrium. Before shouldering the huge responsibility of the mental well being of one of our brothers and sisters, ones own mental bodies need first to have become stable (sthir) and contented (sukham) and this is a MUST.
Vishaad Yoga practices are practices with which one BECOMES mentally relaxed and harmonious and depending on your journey to date, it may take weeks or it may take months for you to start undoing the mental knots which cause you pain and suffering but it WILL take years before you can shoulder the karmas of another. As one BECOMES, one SEES the nature of the mind and its intricacies first hand and then one KNOWS, never in any other way. With most conventionl subjects, one KNOWS first, starts teaching second and may eventually BECOME at a later date.
It must be emphasised that until we explicitly, in writing, permit you to use these practices with others, YOU MUST NOT DO SO. The burden of Karma is very fine and precise and inescapable, so please respect these conditions, they are for everyones benefit and well being, most especially your own.
To re-iterate, let me clarify what Vishaad Yoga is NOT. Vishaad Yoga, unlike most physical aspects of Yoga,
is not something one can learn and then repeat to others.
it is not a body of knowledge that one can memorise and then teach to others.
it is not meant to be, indeed it can NOT be shared in training schools and classes and so we are NOT a training school, wishing to churn out teachers. If we can help but a handful of persons to BECOME mentally healthy, that will have been a success!
We have already worked with experienced Hatha Yogi's with decades of Asana practice whose journey
into the waterways of the Mind has found them floundering in emotional rapids and these do need to be traversed, sooner or later. Let us be your guides and companions into the darkest continent known to Man!
So if the words "Cura te Ipsum", or "Physician Heal thyself!" resonate with you, lets move forward.