Most of us look at a book with the question, 'What's in it for me?' Rarely do we ask, 'What qualities lie waiting to be developed, so that I can fulfil my potential?' Out of an authentic experience of the dimension of the soul, Heinz Grill describes principles and qualities that have a deep, universal truth, and shows readers how they can develop these qualities themselves with the help of yoga practice.
Using artistic photographs and poetic imagery, The Soul Dimension of Yoga describes almost forty different yoga poses in their inner essence or soul-meaning along with detailed instructions for their practice. Each pose is assigned to one of the seven so-called chakras or 'soul regions'
This book is a practical handbook for yoga, but it also holds a living, transformative substance for spiritual development. Dedicated study of the concepts presented here, and conscious practice of the exercises, fosters in readers a new depth of soul, a substance in the personality, and with time they come to radiate a silent wisdom and strength towards others.
Contents
Foreword
How to use this book
The Soul Dimension of Yoga
The practice of yoga and its meaning The three basic forces of the soul Where
is the home of the
soul?
Breathing and the life of the soul
The meaning of inhalation and exhalation
The difference between free breathing and guided breath Forming mental
pictures has an effect on
the breath
The different regions of the soul-life Mladhara-cakra and the earth element
Svadhi'hana-cakra and
the water element Ma~ipra-cakra and the air element Anahata-cakra and the
warmth element
Vicuddha-cakra, and learning to differentiate between a consciousness free
from the body and a
consciousness bound to the body
Ajna-cakra and the development of a freely creating power of thou
Sahasrara-cakra and the experiencing of soul content
Attention, Concentration and Relationship A practical example for attention
The beginning of a path of consciousness to develop the soul
The different energies in yoga, three different radiations of the aura
Different demands in the exercises
Rhythmically building up an exercise and developing yoga out of the social
context
An exercise does not lead to escape from the world Rhythmically building up
an exercise in three
phases
Inner calm and relaxation
The development of the soul-life takes place in three steps
Shaping life with content - anahata-cakra
Exercises for experiencing the spine pictorially -
parcva pariv (R)tta triko~asana
The tip-toe pose - pada gu'hasana
The tree - ta asana
The St Andrew's cross - saodhisthana
The shoulderstand - sarva gasana
The development of expansiveness - ma~ipra-cakra A basic exercise for
expansiveness: vihayas -
free space The plough - halasana
The head to knee pose - paccimottanasana
The bow - dhanurasana The camel - u'rasana The triangle - triko~asana
The lying triangle - anantasana
Openness through developing mental pictures, releasing the old and beginning
anew - vicuddha-cakra
The wings - pak'ati
The yoga gesture - yoga mudra
The fish - matsyasana
The half moon - anjaneyasana
The head to knee pose in half lotus -
eka pada padma paccimottanasana
Water and the movement of gathering - svadhi'hana-cakra
A soul exercise
The standing head to knee pose - uttanasana
The locust - calabhasana
The wide stretch and forward-bending variations -
ko~asana, eka pada paccimottanasana
Developing a power of consciousness free from projection -
ajna-cakra
A basic exercise for developing the mid-point in the head The sitting twist -
ardha matsyendrasana
The headstand - c/r'asana
The cobra - bhuja gasana
Encouraging primordial strength and developing a freely available
decisiveness - mladhara-cakra
The earth - bhmi
The leg pose - utthita eka pada hastasana The inclined plane - prvottanasana
The peacock pose -
mayrasana
The development of complete freedom from the body -
sahasrara-cakra
The fire of lengthening - d/rghasana
The lotus - padmasana
The half diamond - supta vajrasana
The scorpion - v (R)ccikasana The horse - vatayanasana The crow - kakasana
The scales - tulada~ asana
The dove - kapotasana
A methodical sequence with which to construct a practice session
The sun prayer - srya namaskara
A meditation on the three circles
Author's notes
Translator's notes from the text General notes on the translation Recommended
literature
About Heinz Grill
Heinz Grill is a spiritual teacher and researcher, lecturer, mountaineer, healing practitioner, and author of around 150 books on topics including yoga, the development of the consciousness, medicine and health, nutrition, architecture and mountaineering. Born in Bavaria in 1960, he established his first yoga school and began training yoga teachers in 1989. He moved to Italy in 1999 where he has set up the so-called "Sun Oasis", a centre where spiritual thoughts are fostered and can radiate out to society. Over the years, more than 100 000 people have participated in his teaching.
Whilst his fields of activity are many and varied, the essence of all Heinz Grill's work is to bring alive those deep spiritual truths of existence which have lasting validity. His teaching and his books enable others to develop their own inner feeling for these truths, and to give them expression in their chosen field of work or life. His aim is to enrich the visible forms of society with inner, invisible spiritual content. Thus, the practice of yoga too is seen not merely as a means towards personal well-being, but as a vehicle for giving profound spiritual principles an outer, physical expression.
Heinz Grill's ideas have a huge power to inspire people. This is because his words, whether written or spoken, always carry within them not just factual information, but an invisible aliveness which gives them a genuine authenticity. He is authentic not only in the sense that he knows what he is teaching, but in the sense that what he is teaching carries in it a truth that is universally valid. Thus, those reading or hearing his words have the sense "I always knew that, but I could not have put it into words myself". His words carry within them a substance which directly awakens the soul, triggering in his audience an inner development to new realisation and maturity.
