Re: what to engage in yoga - breath practices and mantra


Re Jennifer on tribe tantra
"What is a good form of yoga to get into for beginners? "

Hi Jennifer.
A simple and profound practice is "pranayama", or breath modulation.
It is used by yoga practitioners at all levels.
It requires no specific religious philosophy.

It is used for many purposes, such as psychological balance, energy balancing, mind-body co-ordination, physical workout warm-ups and warm-downs, kundalini yoga, and as a key practice in Buddhist yogas of primordial pure awareness, such as Great Perfection and Great Seal.

There are also Buddhist kung fu breath modulation practices for martial arts which are sophisticated and powerful.

There are many excellent books available on pranayama.
A basic and most useful pranayama practice is alternate nostril breathing, which is taught in many variations, among the Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists. In Sanskrit this is known as nadi shodhana pranayam.

As with most yoga practices, be careful regarding sensitive times such as pregnancy or illness and do not practice when the stomach is full.


A major source of teaching on pranayama is the 3H0 Sikhs and Yogi Bhajan, who brought a tremendous amount of this material to the West. Do a google search for "kundalini yoga" + pranayam + "yogi bhajan". You can get 3H0 books on kundalini yoga from Ravi Singh and Guru Rattan Khaur Khalsa.

I have and use many texts on tantra and yoga as practitioner and as guru, and pranayama is always of enormous importance in the different lineages, and in my own practice. I began doing pranayam in 1980, and on at least one occasion it has saved my life.

Another major and most useful kind of practice is Sanskrit recitation, or mantrayana.
You can find a basic description of the Vajrasattva mantra at my tribe home, under the picture for "Hundred Syllable Mantra".

The primary source for transmissions of this kind of yoga is the esoteric Buddhist tantra, known to the public under the name "Tibetan Buddhism."

I have completed ten thousand hours of mantra.

A most basic and openly available mantra for healing and developing inner spiritual connections is the Buddhist goddess mantra for Tara:

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE MA ME AYU PUNYA JNANA PUSTIM KURU SVAHA

This is for wisdom ( jnana ), long life ( ayu ), noble qualities ( punya ), and spiritual energy ( pustim ). This is a good mantra for protection, for removing obstacles, and cleansing the magnetic field.

A basic practice would be to recite this 100,000 times, and it works better with visualization, pure intention and so forth.

There are many Buddhist books and practice texts for Tara, for example from Snow Lion Publications, at
www.snowlionpub.com/

See the book
"Skillful Grace: Tara Practice for Our Time"

at Amazon
www.amazon.com/Skillful-G.../9627341614

If you can do some effective pranayama and some effective mantra then you are a functional yoga practitioner.
If you lack both pranayama and mantra, your practice will remain very very very limited.

Best,

Acarya KT

Sarva mangalam! Siddhi rastu!