Heart Yoga: The Sacred Marriage of Yoga and Mysticism
Andrew Harvey
Language: English
Pages: 280
ISBN: 1556438974
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
***WINNER, 2010 Spirituality & Practice Best Spiritual Book Award – Yoga
In Heart Yoga, renowned spiritual writer and Sacred Activist Andrew Harvey and longtime yoga teacher Karuna Erickson present a vision of hatha yoga practice that links ancient spiritual traditions to contemporary life. Including excerpts of poetic sacred writing from mystical sages through the ages, the book reminds readers that the purpose of yoga is not to improve one's physical health or even to achieve peace of mind (although these results may be achieved along the way), but to reach a state of unity with the divine, the goal of mystics from all traditions. With detailed descriptions and photographs of fifty yoga poses and their alchemical effects on the body and consciousness, Heart Yoga presents yoga as a simple meditative practice that enables the practitioner to dwell in the heart and experience the bliss of union with the sacred power underlying all of life. The book explains how to prepare for Heart Yoga and describes the “Five Great Joys” that are part of the path. Included are the authors' own compelling stories of their individual journeys along the path of yoga: stories of suffering, transcendence, and joy that both inspire and enlighten.
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978-1-58394-291-8 1. Hatha yoga. 2. Mysticism. I. Erickson, Karuna. II. Title. BL1238.56.H38H37 2010 204′.36—dc22 2010001952 v3.1 To my beloved life-partner Paul, and to our inspiring children Amanda, Eli, and Mosang, with deep gratitude for your infinite kindness, compassion, wisdom, patience, and faith in me, as well as to my grandson and grandmother—my teachers of joy and delight. —Karuna To my beloved friend Ali MacGraw, for her passion, irreverence, courage, loyalty, loving defense of
diaphragm, which also rises. Your heart energy expands while your mind quiets. Notice the alignment between the floor of your pelvis and the crown of your head, and the subtle dialog between them. It is natural that the cross-legged sitting position is often chosen as a position for meditation, for the meditation on the Infinite that Patanjali said was essential to yoga (Yoga Sutras, II-47) can flow with ease in this position. It both incarnates and enshrines, in perfect balance, the marriage of
faster before it becomes still again. Feel how your tailbone and pubic bone are irresistibly drawn toward each other. Experience their longing to unite in the marriage bed between them. This mysterious bed, the perineum, domes up into your body as your pubic bone and tailbone vibrate toward each other. Root your awareness in this velvety marriage bed, and from there, spread its softly quivering energy evenly throughout your body. Glorious is the moment we sit in the palace, you and I Two forms,
energy may feel like a burst of primordial, solar energy within the body. It is from this sacred solar fire that sexuality, Tantric tenderness, and the kundalini energy arise. Bring this sensuously vibrating energy into the yoga practice of the Tantra of tenderness, suffusing all the poses with its awakened power. Hands and Knees Pose with Partner Remain in the Hands and Knees Pose, facing each other. Press the crown of your head into the crown of your partner’s head. Gently move your head up
develop fire in the heart, and beautiful meditations to inspire the heart’s passion for the Great Work, both inner and the outer.” —PAUL H. RAY, coauthor of The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World “In Heart Yoga, Andrew Harvey and Karuna Erickson deliver an eloquent ‘guidebook’ to understanding and navigating the current evolution of yoga. This book strikes a fine balance between the transcendent powers of yoga, while providing understandable, practical, and
