My name is Alexander OpenYoga (aka #AlexOpenYoga). This is my biography.
I was born in Russia in 1989. My mother was a school teacher. My father was an artist. I started to practice and study yoga in 2005. In the same year I started to study astronomy at Saint-Petersburg State University. In school I participated in different Astronomical Olympic Games. In 11th grade I won the 1st place in my city of Saint-Petersburg and the 4th place in All-Russian Astronomical Olympic Games. Gradually my interest in astronomy transformed into yoga. The science of exploring stars and galaxies turned into the science of self-exploration. Today I teach yoga at International Open Yoga University (IOYU). A little further on I will tell you about the project Asanas in Ancient Manuscripts, your opportunity to participate in it and open yoga university in general.
I want my post to be interesting and engaging. Therefore do not just read it but participate already while you read it.
Now, could you share something about yourself. Write in the commentary below what your name is and where you were born. Thus all steemians will know each other better.
Astronomy helped me understand better the connection between exact sciences, e.g. mathematics, physics etc. with yoga. A lot of things that are considered mysteries in yoga are very well explained by science. Nevertheless yoga is much higher than our present day science. Math and yoga both have a list of axioms from which all further statements can be derived. Yoga, on the other hand, helped me go deeper in understanding of our Universe and our place in it. A very old yoga scripture, Yajur Veda, says: ”You are a Universe within the Universe”. So by studying stars, planets and galaxies you get to know your Higher Self better and vice versa.
Do or did you study somewhere? What do you think were the lessons that student life taught you? How do you think our education may help in our yoga practice and vice versa? How do you think creative professions like art, theater, writing etc. are connected to yoga? Do not hesitate to drop a line in the commentary.
I found out about yoga in 2005. I was searching for health and fitness. From then on it became a part of my essence. I’m a vegetarian since 2006. Then I entered International Open Yoga University and finished a 4 year yoga teacher training plan. While I studied I found that health is only a side effect of yoga. And that its goal is much higher than health. It gives you keys to open the door to your True Self. Also yoga gives us the ultimate spiritual perfection. I cannot say I have achieved a lot but with your help I promise to try hard as I might. Also I will try to help you grow as a personality.
How would you rate yourself in your yoga development?
A. I learned about yoga recently. I don’t know anything. But I would like to.
B. I practice for a couple of months. I practice on and off. Sometimes I want to but at times I do not.
C. My practice is rather steady and I want to go deeper.
D. I practice yoga for myself for many years. But I do not teach.
E. I teach yoga for (so many) years or months. And what have you achieved? Number of youtube subscribers, number of students etc.
F. I'm just a steemian and I like to learn new things about new people.
Describe in the commentary your view on your personal yoga practice based on the above mentioned variants (A,B,C,D,E,F) or your own variant. It is optional. If you think it is too personal then you may write what you think necessary.
I think in less than ten years yoga, English as the International language, mathematical precision, modern science, vedic ancient wisdom, cutting edge modern technology, perfect logic and pure unconditional love will merge into One Single Whole. And thus yoga will dwell in the hearts of every living creature. The science of yoga perfectly combines in itself modern trends for libertarianism because one of its primary goals is moksha or absolute freedom.
Thirty years ago no one knew what the Internet is. Now it is our everyday reality. Today crypto is the buzz word. No one knows what this is. But the idea of the Internet of money seems promising. I have no idea what will come of it. The same thing with yoga. Everyone heard about it but hardly anyone delves deep enough to explore its every nook and corner.
Yoga is the next buzz word and it makes people even more free than the Internet, free money, free communication etc. Yoga gives keys not just to freedom from something but keys to absolute freedom. If you feel like you are shackled by something you know perfectly well what I'm talking about. Do not hesitate to start learning yoga even if you are a newbie. Our university provides free online yoga courses at yogaopenyoga.com. There you can find courses which you can pass at your own pace. You begin from the very basics like "what is yoga", "how do I practice", "where do I begin". Further step by step you will be able to study popular as well as rare kinds of yoga, for example, hatha or static yoga, kriya or dynamic yoga, nyasa or yoga of touch, rita-yoga or yoga of universal law of harmony, profound yoga axiomatics, dhyana-yoga or elaborate description of meditation techniques , laya-yoga, kundalini-yoga, artha-yoga, nidra-yoga, yantra-yoga, nada-yoga or the yoga of mystic sounds and the list goes on. A little later I will tell you more.
What is your present occupation and what do you see yourself in 10 years in your work, education, career and yoga? You may write facts that seem relevant to you.
I had never lived in any English speaking country but in 2006 I decided to study English through books, movies and television. I understood that if I study English I will know much more about yoga. Actually I would love to get in touch with English native speakers to gain from them proper English. I have had my ups and downs. I am not perfect. And I appreciate those who help me become better. Sometimes I had gained a lot . Sometimes I had everything lost. Reflecting on these tribulations I understood that if I do not posses much money and property I feel much more comfortable. So from then on I do and teach yoga not for the sake of money but rather to alleviate the suffering of poor living beings. Maybe this will sound rather strange but I see myself as your servant. I think serving others especially yoga teachers and living beings in general is what I think I will do best.
My biggest joy in life when people by my activity become happy. If you attain prosperity in your yoga career, if top yoga journals feature your photo on their covers this will be my biggest happiness. If yoga helps you stay fit and healthy this will be even greater. But yoga is not about money and health. It goes much deeper. It is an ancient science teaching us how to achieve absolute freedom. And it gives us the way to the Ocean of Ultimate Bliss and Unconditional Love.
What do you think you do best in life? What professional skills do you posses? Do not hesitate to write them down in the table below however ordinary they seem. You are not ordinary. If you show the least interest in yoga it is enough for you to be a unique star that will shine in sky of freedom. If you think it is necessary you may mention what you dislike the most.
Asanas in ancient manuscripts is a new and ambitious project. It is based on the work that a team of more than 200 scholars did some ten years ago. They have cataloged 800 asanas from more than 180 different ancient texts. Also we will try to use a lot of new material that is yet to be published. You can read about it a little lower. It will help solve a lot of problems that modern yoga has.
But first a little bit of history. Hatha yoga came to the west about a hundred years ago. A few Indians brought it to the west. Practice of static yoga poses or asanas is an integral part of it. Almost all yoga encyclopedias in the west have 100-150 different asanas. And almost none of them contain information where these asanas originated. What is the source of each and every asana? No-one can clearly say. Some name 3 or 4 treatises written in late Middle Ages. In most of them there is a very limited number of asanas. The history of each asana is shrouded in the mist of history. Because the exact history and source of each asana are virtually unknown today there is a lot of confusion about them. These are the points that were caused by this mist of history.
People actually practice whatever is said to them without knowing what they do. People are afraid of questioning thinking they will meddle in some ancient secret. We encourage questioning. We love when people get to know themselves better by their own efforts. Yoga teachers provide only direction signs. People do the walking down the yoga road themselves.
These problems should be solved. People should know exactly in what treatise or manuscript a particular asana is described. People will see for themselves how a particular practice coincides with or differs from the one described in ancient manuscripts. The problem of how to call a particular asana will be solved once and for all. Is it not interesting to practice new asanas after all?
As I said, a few years ago a team of some 200 scientists supported by several top yoga organizations made literally a breakthrough in understanding of ancient classical yoga. A new groundbreaking project was initiated to meticulously analyze and catalog the description of all available asanas as they are mentioned in ancient yoga texts. Taking into consideration other similar projects, as of today about 180 different authentic yoga texts were perused and more than 800 asanas were found. Until today most of these poses have been unknown in the west.
For example, there is one text, which most scholars of Oriental Studies consider to be written before the 14th century. In other words it is probably older than the three classical texts that are mostly known in the West. Some indologists say it was written by Matsyendra Himself the spiritual master of the author of Gheranda-Samhita that we all know. And it contains a description of gridhrasana or vulture pose and of yakshasana or pose of a treasure guarding spirit. One ancient scripture Brihan-Naradiya-Purana describes Kunjarasana or elephant pose. There are a lot of different opinions about this text. Some scholars say certain portions of this text were written before the 9th century.
There is one class of texts called yamalas. Some scholars say they even predate another class of ancient treatises called tantras. And one particular yamala says that there is a pose called narasana and it has 16 varieties. This text also mentions mokshasana (liberation pose), maha-mayurasana (or great peacock pose), kSema-asana (tranquility pose). The text mentions dozens of other different poses. Some of them have descriptions some only names. The list of ancient literary sources with descriptions of asanas in them goes on and on and on. As I said there more than 180 texts (i.e. by 15-20 times more than has been known in the West until recently) and more than 800 asanas.
In addition to textual description different illustrations were cataloged. It is not clear how old are they. In some of them ascetics sitting upon tiger skins are depicted. Also, different dynamic exercises were cataloged. One Indian museum has about a hundred figurines of yogis performing different postures. One of them is called janvasana in which a yogi-ascetic uses a staff to prop himself. Also different murals were documented. One of them is of mayurasana or peacock pose. Some scholars date this particular mural to the beginning of the 16th century. In addition to innumerable hitherto unknown poses our understanding of the known poses was also considerably extended. Almost all known poses were found in dozens of different texts.
For instance, the description of pashchimottanasana or seated forward bend was found in 35 sources. Siddhasana with its different variations was found in more than 45 texts. About 90 different ways to perform padmasana or lotus pose were found. For example, hasta-padmasana, padma-dhyanasana, padma-prakashasana and the list of different kinds of lotus pose goes on and on. One museum in Jhaipur in India has a manuscript that contains the names of more that 500 asanas. But the description of most of them perhaps is irretrievably lost. There is also one interesting point that deserves our attention. Many poses that we know of look entirely different from what we have been used to so far. For example, Ushtrasana or camel pose is described thus in Gheranda-samhita and seven other scriptures “Lie on the ground face downwards, turn up the legs and place them towards the back, catch the legs with the hands, contract forcibly the mouth and the abdomen. This is called the Camel-posture”. Does not it look like bhekasana? Other 2 texts call ustrasana what we know as tadasana. So which pose is called ustrasana is not clear.
Ancient manuscripts often contain only names of asanas without describing them. E.g. mriga-asana or deer-pose, bhauma-asana or earthly-pose, akasha-asana or sky pose or ether-pose an so on.
Sometimes there are only images and figurines of asanas without any description.
Our (=your) Asanas in ancient manuscripts project will have an encyclopedia featuring a couple of hundreds of asanas. It will feature the known poses that you might find on all big web-sites but with descriptions gathered from old manuscripts. It will differ a lot from what you might find in different encyclopedias on different yoga portals. Old manuscripts describe a lot of interesting variations that until today have been unknown in the west. Also our (I so much want to say “your”) encyclopedia will contain dozens of until today unknown poses. Your suggestions on how to improve this project and how you see it are welcome.
First of all I want to proclaim that yoga belongs to all living creatures and it is not our project but yours. I want you to thrive and prosper in your yoga career with the help of Asanas in ancient manuscripts. It is an offering to the whole yoga community. One of the reasons because we do this project is because we want to help all yoga teachers to be successful and … be happy ;) Especially those who have just begun their yoga path.
Today we need volunteers in these areas
In fact, it doesn’t matter what skills you possess you are all welcome to participate. Above mentioned skills are just an outline. They are not that strict. All of them maybe utilized in spreading yoga. If you want to participate in the "Asanas in ancient manuscripts" project or you simply want to help revive ancient practices of yoga then please write your resume. Then send it to theemail addresses [email protected], In the subject of the letter in one sentence describe the way you chose to volunteer. In the letter you may describe fully how you want us to help you and how exactly you want to help us.
Do not to hesitate to share your thoughts and suggestions as well. You may volunteer in any way possible. After this if I find time you will receive further information on what to do next.
It goes without saying that participating in our project and discovering the mysteries of new unknown poses will be a major boost for your yoga career but always remember that yoga is not a business, this not even staying fit and healthy, it is not even a Hindu religion, yoga is the only way to discover your true self and achieve the purpose of life. It is the only way to the ocean of unalloyed happiness, absolute freedom and bliss that we crave after. Our life is very short. Do not waste a single moment of it. Right now the ancient science of yoga is standing at your door and knocking. Do not miss this opportunity. You will never have another chance. Will you open the door?
