Complex "Surya Namaskar" - Salutation to the Sun (part 1)
This complex, amazing in its effect on the body and psyche, is an integral part of any yoga practice. Different yoga schools may have slightly different performance. Swami Satyananda Saraswati…

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Ashtanga yoga with Lino Miele
July 7-9, I was fortunate enough to participate in the practice of Ashtanga Yoga, in Haapsalu, at a summer camp with Lino Miele. I would like to share some impressions.…

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Oh teacher
I was recently invited again to Radio 4 in the morning air - to talk a little about yoga and about our upcoming yoga camp in Spain. Before turning on…

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About consciousness. About personal choice. About a female subject. About Tantra and family relationships.

About consciousness
What is primary, being, or consciousness

This eternal philosophical question is directly related to our life. Being is the conditions in which we live. Being includes everything – the place of residence, the surrounding material environment, finances, the people around us. Any observant person can easily notice that among the materially wealthy people, not all people with good inner qualities are far from being. We can say the same about unsecured people. One can cite as an example the life of a criminal in prison – the prison itself will not teach the criminal the true human qualities. The life of a thief in the wild can, in fact, differ little from the life of a criminal in prison. The scenery may be different – he may have a good house, a servant and security, but it will be just a well-decorated prison, because the consciousness of such people, both in the wild and in the prison, will be the same. And in the wild and in prison, the main motivating qualities of the behavior of such a person will be fear for his life and desire for power. After thinking about this, we can conclude that refutes the assertion of one of the classics of Marxism-Leninism that being determines consciousness.

Does being determine consciousness? Indeed, from the example given above, it can be seen that people living in both good and bad material conditions can have a similar type of consciousness. At the same time, both conscious and unconscious people can be among very well-off people, as well as among those who live, according to generally accepted standards, in deep poverty.

Nevertheless, it is true that it is consciousness that determines being. But being is not in the generally accepted sense. For most people, being is only our way of life, those material and social conditions in which we live.

For a conscious person, being is his attitude towards life. A conscious person understands that life is fluid and changeable. Everything in our life is impermanent, today we are rich, and tomorrow we are poor, today we are healthy, and tomorrow – no. A conscious person in both wealth and poverty finds a source for self-development, because he is observant, he knows about the laws that govern life. A conscious person has wisdom, and this wisdom helps him to survive hard times and not be blinded by glory and wealth. Wisdom and observation help to pass through fire, and water and copper pipes. Therefore, an unconscious person who does not have wisdom is much more vulnerable than a conscious person.

About personal choice
So what is the fundamental difference between a conscious person and an unconscious? This difference lies in a fundamental life approach, in a person’s life personal choice. And more precisely, in what is the MOTIVATION of a person’s personal choice.

In fact, all people can be divided into two categories. The first category is those who, when making decisions, are based on personal gain. This approach is typical of most people and is personal, selfish (the ego is our personality). The second category is people with knowledge of the laws of life. Therefore, in their decisions they are disinterested and motivated by the appropriateness of their action precisely in these prevailing conditions.

An unconscious person is constantly suffering, both being poor and being rich. The reason for his suffering is his life approach. His egoism does not give him satisfaction, he constantly needs something, so such a person constantly torments himself as well as others.

A conscious person has a completely different approach to life. He understands that everything in this world is interconnected, harmonious, and subject to the action of world laws. If the act is selfish, then sooner or later the corresponding result of such an act will appear. If the act is disinterested, then sooner or later a good result of such an act will appear. At the same time, one must understand that a selfish act may look like a specious one, and a really good act may look like a selfish one. But this is a topic for another conversation.

Complex "Surya Namaskar" - Salutation to the Sun (part 4)
Muscles and skeleton: Surya Namaskar trains all the major muscles and joints of the body. The muscles contract and stretch, and all the contaminated, stagnant blood goes to the lungs…

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About the Vedas. About future
About the Vedas. About future. As I wrote earlier, the Vedas describe the laws and rules of human life and society. These rules are based on the laws of the…

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Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga (part 3)
Practice Format According to tradition, two forms of training are used in Ashtanga yoga: Ice class and Mysore class. An ice class is a lesson that is held at the…

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