In Yoga of the Spiritual Heart, during the practice of Hatha Yoga, the physical asanas combine with advaita, the vision based on non-duality. The asanas are performed while holding the inner spiritual attitudes recommended in traditional texts of Tantra and Shaivism including Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, Spanda Karika, Shiva Sutra , etc.

The practice of hatha yoga is geared towards getting intimate inner knowledge of the physical body and of its bio-energies and, therefore, the state of meditation and contemplation is necessary and indispensable.

In the Yoga of the Spiritual Heart, the role of the hatha yoga is to create conditions for relaxation and for opening up to realize the "transfiguration" of the body itself.

The hatha yoga practice should always bring relaxation and happiness, rather than effort or strain. Even if, by itself, it cannot help us accede to the ultimate spiritual “realization” (moksha), hatha yoga can give us a more adequate “starting point".

Hatha yoga – The Music of Life

The physical body is a complex instrument capable of expressing our existence in the physical world. By our asanas practice, we make it vibrate in various ways, the same way we would use a musical instrument.

Practicing hatha yoga is comparable to creating music and harmony out of life’s energies.
It is important, in the Yoga of the Spiritual Heart, to express this harmony in our daily life as well. This is how we learn to bring grace, awareness and simplicity to our gestures.

Thus, the Pure Presence, the Heart is expressed naturally and free of limitations through who we are.

Natural Yoga of the Heart

The Yoga of the Spiritual Heart is a natural yoga, a free expression of energies, while everything is done "straight from the heart", “with all our heart”.

The difference between the natural yoga based on the free flow of energies and the yoga practiced mechanically while the only goal is to push the energy in certain directions is similar to the difference between Heart and mind. When yoga is practiced mechanically, our starting point is based in the individual will and mind. That is why, during our courses, we do not "teach the asanas”. We learn together meditative attitudes meant to develop our inner sense of freedom. These attitudes are supported and favored by the body postures, mudras, bandhas, etc.

However, the awareness of the Spiritual Heart, of the ultimate underlying background of Stillness and the attitude of surrender, as well, do enhance our ability to harmoniously express our personality in our daily life. Other effects are the improvement of the ability to focus, of discernment and even of our dynamism.

Sacredness and Devotion through Hatha Yoga

The asana is a samyama - an intimate identification, while the mind’s filters are off, with the body, the energies, the sensations, the breath, the mind.

By sublimating of energies (of sensations and emotions in particular), in the spanda, we discover again the sacred and devotional aspects of hatha yoga. The asana has a devotional aspect as well, because it opens us up to our inner guide that is exactly this tremor - vibration, the spanda. It leads us to who we really are.

The happiness of practicing Hridaya Yoga

As far as the work with energies goes, there is an intimate relation between our being and the universe. Our being:

a) receives energies

b) transforms energies

c) gives off energy.

We are not only the physical body and the body does not belong to us ultimately. In the Yoga of the Spiritual Heart, we learn to be aware and to amplify the joy resulting from the energy exchanges refined by our centering into the Heart and by the presence of our spiritual aspiration and of the Sacred Tremor of the Heart.

We cannot find your ultimate happiness by moving or pushing the energy through the body, nadis or chakras. We do find it though by perceiving our true nature. This deep understanding can be expressed by the physical body when we allow the energies to freely flow through it.

Joy, Relaxation, Openness and Surrender are to Be Developed during Asanas Practice

The Spiritual Heart expresses its radiant power of love and happiness in every asana.

We do not focus our attention on performing a spectacular or an artistic pose, but rather on awakening and expressing the inner happiness of the Heart and we use our bodies to allow this happiness to radiate through it. This removes our tensions, strains, the stress, etc.

 When the physical body is positioned in an asana and there are no tensions or unnecessary muscle contractions, we perceive a real "blossoming" of the free flow of energies. The adequate conditions are thus set up for experiencing the Spiritual Heart’s pure vibration, the spanda.

There is an essential difference between a sensorial, emotional or mental stimulus and the spiritual fervor, the Sacred Tremor. But the Open Attention, the attention free of judgments will ultimately sublimate our emotions.

The process does not necessarily occur instantly, but if we dwell in the void, in non-reactivity, the sublimation occurs. Then it is no longer an individualized energy, but the pure happiness of the existence, ecstasy, ananda .

Yoga - Celebration and Surrender

The postures in the Yoga of the Spiritual Heart reflect a positive life affirming attitude. They allow us to entirely open our Hearts and celebrate life. The asana becomes a process of transformation and of spiritual healing, a process of the revelation of the divine nature, not just an "energizing and healthy" exercise.

We start and end the yoga practice reminding ourselves that yoga is ultimately a spiritual art, and that the revelations which we may experience, cannot derive only from our personal effort alone, but primarily from that capacity of surrender or letting go of our individual limitations.

While practicing asanas, we need to remember our divine nature and the reason for our yoga practice.

The Witness Consciousness in Hatha Yoga

This type of hatha yoga introduced the attitude of Witness Consciousness. However, there is a hidden secret about that attitude. The harmony of the asana spontaneously induces an intuition of the consciousness of the divine self. And mutually, our own intuitive knowledge of our divine nature, the detachment from the physical body, makes the energy flow more freely, so that the spiritual effervescence, the Sacred Tremor of the Heart may awake more easily. Through hatha yoga we aspire toward that complete freedom and happiness of the Pure Existence, of the “I am”.

In essence, hatha yoga creates a greater fluidity of the energies in our being. If the attitude is correct, in addition to flexibility and relaxation, we will feel more balanced and free. In general, the energy, the prana , can be increased a lot through yoga practice. Pranayama, the breath control, is another method of increasing the awareness of our energies.

However, even if the vital energy is very strong, it is also essential to have the discernment to express it in an adequate manner. Therefore, in the Yoga of the Spiritual Heart, the practice also aims at a wise usage of this energy. In this case, the amplification of the energy is accompanied by the development of the capacity of witnessing these energies, of the Open Attention. It results in increased clarity and capacity of Centering into the Spiritual Heart. This attitude favors creativity, the ability to get closer, with all our heart, to life areas that inspire us. The life force contains our beauty and creativity.

The Hatha yoga session is seen as a whole, as a unique dance, as a communion with the life itself, as an expression of a unique impetus for celebration and revelation of our divine nature, of the Spiritual Heart.

Starting and Maintaining the Yoga Pose

a) Body’s sense of limits dissolves through relaxation

In the Yoga of the Spiritual Heart we consider that, if the pain appears during the asana performance, the yoga disappears. The path towards removing the corporeal limits does not go through enduring pain.

Any potential strain is naturally followed by a denial, a refusal. But the posture causes inherent tension, that tension must be accepted, with detachment. We do not deny it, we do not repress it, but we allow the asana to dissipate it by virtue of the harmonious energies to which the asana per se attunes us. It is important to remember to not make a goal out of the appearance of the yoga posture, but rather to let the body get by itself into the final position, while the muscles and ligaments relax.

The asanas practiced in this manner catalyze healing and spiritual transformation. They are opportunities to reshape the soul and mind, to release the subconscious egotistic tendencies and tensions in an unconditional way, through deconditioning and the attitude of happiness and surrender.

b) During Asanas, the Attention Radiates from Inside, from the Spiritual Heart, toward Outside

However, there are countless asanas which require some effort which cannot be avoided. It is still important to not focus on the tensions arising during the performance of the asanas or on the difficulties of breathing associated with that effort, but to focus on that background of stillness radiating from the Heart. In this manner, we do not forget about our divine nature, about who we really are.  

That is why during the practice of the asanas, the attention radiates outwards, from the Spiritual Heart towards the outside world. It is in this peace full of happiness that our tensions gradually dissolve and disappear.

c) The Transformation does not follow a Personal effort, but it rather follows our inherent tendency to expand and transcend our limits.

The stillness of the Heart is still going to “tell us" how far we can go while we bend or stretch during a particular posture. Therefore, the progress is not the result of a personal effort, but it essentially follows our inherent tendency to go beyond our limits. This natural tendency is spontaneously generated by the intuitive knowledge of our true nature. 

In this fashion, the “weight” of our focus does not go to our effort, but on the Spiritual Heart and its inherent peace, openness and happiness.

d) The balance between effort and relaxation

The relaxation and the surrender are not synonymous with passivity or inertia. The practice of asanas is designed to establish a balance between effort and relaxation while we let go of the personal egotistic consciousness. The asanas will be performed with joy rather than with obsession for the perfect performance or with an aggressive attitude towards our body. Our positive intention and attitude give fluidity and spiritual direction to the energy.

Technical Rigor - a Simple Framework for Expressing of the Spiritual Art which is Hridaya Yoga

By performing various asanas, we glorify the spirit, our divine nature. We consider therefore that, more important than the flexibility of the student, is his ability to attune to the essential vibration, to the Sacred Tremor of the Heart, the spanda. That is why, the role of the yoga teacher is primarily to awaken the love, the beauty, the confidence, the freedom, the creativity in the students, instead of focusing on their limitations and mistakes.

While practicing almost any asana, we eventually feel that we reached our physical limits of our flexibility, duration of performance, etc. If we let these limits stop us, if we focus mainly on them, we will forget the omnipotence and the infinite quality of our divine nature. An exaggerated critical attitude causes contraction, fear, it prevents the student from opening up towards the infinite.

By amplifying the creativity and the freedom, we intend to make a true spiritual art out of practicing the Yoga of the Spiritual Heart. The technical rigor and the precision of our methods form just the framework, the starting base through which we allow the free expression of our spiritual inspirations. When it is practiced correctly, the practice of Hridaya Yoga opens us towards life, towards the spirit and thus it eliminates our fears, conflicts, and repressions.

Each of us has something unique and valuable to offer. Both during the meditation and the asanas, the most profound dimensions of our being, are offered to Spirit, to the Spiritual Heart, to the Infinite.

The Inherent Creativity of the Asanas Practice

The Yoga of the Spiritual Heart avoids dry mechanical workout and practice. In fact, it actually endeavors to wake up in students their qualities and creativity through the happiness, the love and the clarity generated by the Open Attention engaged as an inner attitude during the practice of asanas.

The session of hatha yoga - including the group practice - in class/workshop and the individual practice as well - is not rigidly planned. It is more of a heartfelt creative act, a heartfelt endeavor, a true celebration of life. By opening up towards the subtle phenomena and transition that may occur, the personality and the consciousness strictly related to the body gradually dissolve giving way to a transpersonal peace and inspiration.

The Way in Which our Personality is Reflected in Hatha Yoga

There are countless activities and attitudes through which our personality reflects itself. The way we eat, dress or talk reveals dimensions of our personality. This principle is even more obvious when it comes to the yoga practice.

It is therefore important to understand and to be aware of the way in which we “reflect” ourselves in asanas or in the meditation posture.

Our transformation begins with the very attitude we have when we start a posture. On the other hand, if we infuse elegance, harmony, surrender, refinement into the practice, Yoga becomes a way of generating such qualities in our whole life.

The Role of the Physical Body

In the Yoga of the Spiritual Heart the physical body is seen as a divine instrument designed to be used for enabling us to experience the ecstasy of recognizing and glorifying the Infinite One, of the advaita, in the domain of multiplicity, in samsara.

The physical body is a majestic manifestation of the spirit, not just a mass of dense matter. And in a similar manner, our thoughts, desires, passions and emotions are not obstacles in the way of spiritual awakening, to be repressed or eliminated. Rather than that, they are tools for expanding the individual consciousness and even for transcending it.

Our physical body and subtle energies represent divine gifts meant to help us discover the most profound sense of our freedom.

As students of the Yoga of the Spiritual Heart, we aspire with all our soul to develop and refine, in the most profound sense, all aspects of our being: the body, the mind, the intuition, the mental clarity, the purity of emotions, our most profound virtues inclusively.

a) The Ancestral Memory of the Body

Maintaining the awareness of the Spiritual Heart both during meditations and the practice of asanas fills us with pure energy, the energy of "BE-ing" which manifests itself in our physical body. In this manner, there is a condensation of the ongoing spiritual transformations in the physical body. Also, during meditation, when an expansion of consciousness occurs, the body is flooded with happiness and, deep down in its cells, it “memorizes” that beatific reality. The true memory, the "ancestral" memory resides in the whole being, not in the brain only.

b) A Key for the Stability of the Mind

The physical body is a sort of “stabilizer” of our emotions and thoughts. For example, even after a profound meditation, the mind can easily resume, in only a few minutes, its normal agitation and dynamism. This state of facts can be discouraging. So, we find ourselves wondering what to do. Our body is more stable than our thoughts.

Our body saves for a longer time the echoes of the stillness and happiness experienced during the meditation. Therefore, the body consciousness is very important. Also, when we become aware of the body, we become aware of its rhythms of life. And these rhythms are actually the rhythms of the living universe which cradles it. These rhythms are our life’s guidelines.

The Basic Attitudes Regarding the Physical Body

a) The Transfiguration of the Body

The hatha yoga creates a type of openness to the Spiritual Reality in the physical body as well. This spiritual openness can be felt in the physical body and can bring us countless revelations. That is why, in the Yoga of the Spiritual Heart we are not focused on changing our physical body. However, the transformations of the physical body do occur as effects of becoming free of attachments, of "complicity" with the physical body. To experience this state of transfiguration of the body we have to let go of the idea of a strictly material, solid, heavy body subject to inertia and we also have to be in state of profound relaxation of our body.

b) Physical Body Experienced as Infinite Space

The transfiguration of the body, during the practice of asanas, allows the body to be pure, light and bright. This is not a new idea. There are several simple methods which allow us to experience the dissolution of the boundaries of the body consciousness (it feels as if our body has lost its physical boundaries imposed by its shape and substance).

In ancient texts, such as Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, we find various ‘sutras’ which mention that the physical body can be experienced as vacuity or as infinite space. The same attitudes (of experiencing the dissolution of the physical boundaries) are recommended during our hatha yoga sessions. Thus, we can detach even from the memory of the shape of our physical body.

We reach this understanding through an adequate mental attitude and a deep relaxation. And we become aware during meditations or during hatha yoga sessions that the materiality and opacity of our body are nothing but the consequences of our strains, stresses and attachments.

c) The Emotional Tensions and the Physical Body

Usually, when tensions, worries and stresses become chronic, they will manifest as illnesses of the physical body.

Countless emotional tensions, conflicts and mental doubts somatize in our physical body. The intimacy with our own body is limited by our mental conflicts. Therefore, it is a matter of a mental, not physical attitude. There is no need of much intuition to read the suffering or fear on someone’s face. The inner tensions can generate many problems and diseases, from migraines to gastritis or even ulcer. But even if they haven’t got and will not ever get to express themselves in a chronic way in the physical body, the psychological pressures and the constant worries of every day life have unfortunate consequences on our physical body and on our energetic structures.

d) Detachment from the Physical Body

The easiest way to eliminate tensions is to sleep. The exceptional virtues of the sleep derive mainly from the detachment from the physical body. But the sleep is only a temporary oblivion, an escape into unconsciousness. However, it teaches us some fundamental things - to detach from the physical body and to become free of our total identification -which are of great importance for the revelation of the freedom and happiness or our divine nature.

As a general principle, a structure (the physical, mental or psychic body) can be in harmony with the Wholeness or Totality to the extent to which it is set free from identification with a reactive selfish personal consciousness. The understanding of this principle changes our "representation" regarding what hatha yoga is and it can radically improve our practice.

e) To Be Free not “from the Body”, but to Be Free "in the Body"

We consider that the tendency, as found in some ascetic trends, to negate the physical body has profound limitations, even if there are reasons underlying this tendency. We do not make a goal out of eliminating the body, but rather of eliminating the restrictive identification with it. In this manner, instead of somatizing the tensions in the physical body, we will somatize the spirit, the light which we bring all the way into the physical body. Thus, while practicing any asana, we get to feel the vibration of love, of happiness, of freedom. In this manner, we ‘incorporate” the divine qualities.

The practice of various specific yoga postures generates a refined capacity of expression of the human spirit.

f) Nirmana Kaya or the Physical Body Completely Purified

The Mahayana Buddhist tradition introduced a concept which can help us understand even better the attitude about the physical body during asanas and meditations. This is nirmana kaya. (Buddhism includes the trikaya doctrine, about the three bodies of Buddha which express his nature – the dharma kaya, the sambhoga kaya and the nirmana kaya . These are the causal body, the astral body and the physical body of an enlightened being.)

Nirmana kaya designates a physical body of a liberated being. The followers of Buddhism strive, through various techniques, to reach the stage of a perfectly purified and alchemized physical body.
If it may be easier to imagine the perfectly pure subtle bodies of an enlightened being, we still might wonder what does that pure physical body look like?

Simply, this is a physical body with no trace of physical or mental tension, a physical body free of traumas’, fears’, prejudices’, suffering and inner strain. From this point of view, nirmana kaya (also called the original body) is like the physical body in the moment when we wake up or in the moment we were born in the physical world (the body of a new born child).

It comes with a sense of truth, of transparency, of clarity because it does not reject anything, it includes and embraces everything, like the white light which contains the whole spectrum of the rainbow.

g) Sama-Rasa

Another concept that inspires our practice in the Yoga of the Spiritual Heart is the sama-rasa meaning "balancing" or "even essence". This was a very important notion in the tradition of Siddha Yoga (between 8th and12th century A.D., this tradition was based on the life and teachings of certain perfect beings, mahasiddha; the aspirations in this tradition included perfection of the physical body and even the physical immortality.)

In fact, this very endeavor to “cultivate the latent potential of the physical body" caused hatha yoga to appear.) Therefore, hatha yoga was originally created to reveal and express our divine nature.

Sama-rasa expresses the process of opening towards the divine energies, at the level of the physical body as well. Sama-rasa is the condition of the human being where the physical body expresses, at its level, the divine perfection.

For this reason, in the Yoga of the Spiritual Heart, hatha yoga is the harmony between the human plane and the Divine.

h) The Return of the Energies to Their Source, by Acceptance and Openness

The consciousness of our divine nature, of the Spiritual Heart melts with love any tension and sets free from any contraction, at the organic level as well. Through the process of sublimation, the emotions, the tensions and all energies, in general, return to their source, in the original vibration, in the spanda.

In the Yoga of the Spiritual Heart, the practice of hatha yoga is designed to attain this spiritual transparency at all levels of being, including the physical one. The physical body is usually traumatized by our reactions, by the aggressiveness of our psyche. Now, through acceptance and openness, it expresses itself naturally.

i) A Glorious Body

The physical body perceived as such during asanas or during the meditation posture becomes an increasingly fluid and refined reality, which gradually induces us an experience of sui-generis "dematerialization".

Thus, the physical body becomes a "glorious body” when, due to the achieved energetic fluidity, we succeed to perceive not our body as, ordinarily, as a solid and resistant mass, but instead we perceive it as subtle radiating energy.

So, the body is no longer just a tool for attaining happiness and freedom, it also becomes freedom and happiness in itself.

j) Kaya Sthairyam – the Bodily Immobility – First Level of the Boundlessness

Additionally, after the gradually starting the asana, the immobility of the body (termed Kaya Sthairyam) represents the bodily expression of the stillness of the mind. During asanas, the immobility, the stillness free of any contractions combined with the open attention and lucidity allow us to open up to the pure "I Am".

The stillness announces the awareness of the everlasting present moment, of the Now set free from the distractions of the process of becoming. As the feeling of immobility gets more profound due to deep relaxation, the attachment to the physical body grows weaker and weaker, while the awareness of peace and of stillness becomes more obvious.

The attention moves from the body or energies to this stillness and silence. This trans-personal stillness which is beyond the mind, is the real source of our power. Our being loses its boundaries through the awareness of the Stillness.

k) The Continuous Awareness (of the Open Attention)

Therefore, the hatha yoga session should be seen as a whole, maintaining the state of the Open Attention, of the Present Moment, of the Now. Thus, starting and finishing an asana will no longer mark moments of interrupted awareness.

...read more - What is Hridaya, the Spiritual Heart