Contents

Preface to the 2nd English edition

The author’s translation of the books from Russian into English was made a long time ago when I was in India (2006) and Bali (2011) for publication on the American print-to-order service. Then the books appeared on the Amazon world trade network by my spiritual names Shanti Nathini and Atma Ananda among millions of books on this topic.

The very idea of the books on Yoga is connected with my research interests as a philosopher and orientalist, which extend to both theoretical and practical aspects of Oriental culture.

Unsurprisingly, the original Russian edition was much more successful in Russia itself. The very first Russian edition of “Disciple against Wall” was published in the Ritambhara publishing house in Moscow although I lived and worked abroad, communicating exclusively in English.

Over the years, my English skills improved, especially since I professionally worked on translations from English into Russian, which was my earnings in those years, and subsequently became the basis for admission to the Russian Translators’ Union.

Preparing the second English edition through the Russian Ridero system, of course, it would be worthwhile to make a new translation of this book. However, due to the lack of time and the large number of new projects, I leave everything as it was, correcting only few obvious mistakes.

I hope that the sophisticated reader will forgive the imperfection of my early translations, paying more attention to the content that concerns eternal questions, and perhaps enjoy the specifics of the Russian mentality when transferring knowledge from East to West.

Disciple against Wall

Recommendations

A new and dynamic book on Hatha Yoga that provides several important innovative approaches to this ancient discipline… The book will be useful to serious students and Yoga teachers both East and West in expanding their range of asana practices.

You appear to be a very informed and adept teacher and communicator. The information on Hatha Yoga in Russia was particularly interesting and helpful. A few comments from my side: First modern asana Yoga is not real Hatha Yoga which is mainly a Kundalini Tantric tradition. Second, Krishnamacharya is hardly known in India except through his asana guru disciples. He was a Bhakti of the Visishtadvaita (Ramanuja) line, which few of his followers seem to understand. He did not accept the Advaita Vedanta of Ramana Maharshi, Shankara, Shivananda, Yogananda, Vivekananda and most of the more spiritual Yoga gurus and great masters of modern India.

I do hope that the Russian Yoga goes more deeply into the greater Yoga tradition and the great spiritual gurus of Yoga than what is happening in the USA. I also hope that it looks at any Yoga therapy in a more traditional Ayurvedic light.

Dr. David Frawley (Pandit Vamadeva Shastri), Director of American Institute of Vedic Studies, USA, 2006

A prolific writer on the Science of Yoga and Spirituality… She has traveled extensively in India, studied and practiced yoga in many different traditions. The present book reflects her originality and creativity.

“Maria is a prolific writer on the Science of Yoga and Spirituality. She has traveled extensively in India, studied and practiced yoga in many different traditions. She therefore has a wide and comprehensive understanding on the subject. She has written many books and more than ten have already been published.

Her present book, “Hatha-Yoga Practice” reflects her originality and creativity. She has given a special touch of her own to the practice of asanas by making extensive and aesthetic use of walls, floors, natural environment to make the asana practices pleasant and enjoyable.”

Swami Dharmananda, Spiritual Counselor and Teacher, International Vishwaguru Yoga Institute, Rishikesh, India, 2006

Preface. Yoga in Russia

Contemporary Yoga is equal to asana for many westerners, which don’t discriminate between Yoga and Hatha Yoga and treat meditation as a separate subject. Modern Hatha Yoga is not the same everywhere; there are a lot of different schools based on several major traditions. Each school of Hatha Yoga finds the way for development in India and abroad including Russia. Practice of Yoga was prohibited in Soviet Union, though some people could learn asanas illegally, but during the last twenty years Yoga has been spreading all over the Russia very fast. Except of some articles on Yoga as a physical culture published in Soviet period, originally Yoga appeared in Russia thanks to self-developed Yoga-masters who learned asanas by themselves from books. They became first Yoga-teachers and their disciples taught Yoga in many cities like Moscow, Petersburg etc. As a result when the genuine Indian tradition came to Russia it found a paved way for itself but at the same time it was required to satisfy the special needs of Russian mentality, which was unusual for Indian yogis. In an extremely difficult period of political and economic change in the motherland serious character of Russians forced them to apply the highest results in asana-practice and the deepest studying of Yoga-philosophy, trying to discover the truest sense of human life. After reading the next pages Dr. Frawley wrote to me: “I do hope that the Russian Yoga goes more deeply into the greater Yoga tradition and the great spiritual gurus of Yoga than what is happening in the USA”.

That is why you should not be surprised that in a very short historical period in Russia a lot of Yoga-centers were established, many professional Yoga-teachers appeared among Russians, and Yoga have already become the important part of daily life for the majority of educated people and students of institutes. Book-shops are full of translated literature on different Yoga-traditions, and some years ago first Russian Yoga Magazine started to be published four times a year. Also even ordinary people can practice simple Yoga in any fitness-club, where the main aim is the restoration of health and emotional stability after a hard working day. During the recent years Yoga has become a special subject of studying in philosophical departments of state universities, and students are allowed to maintain a diploma-work in Yoga as a science. Russian indologists translated from Sanskrit into Russian many classical texts on Yoga such as Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad-Gita, Yoga Upanishads, Hatha Yoga Pradipika etc., and now anybody can read these books in his mother tongue. Definitely Yoga in Russia is the vast area for scientific research, and in this article we’ll try to reflect on the destiny of the most famous Indian Yoga-schools after their contact with distinctive Russian culture.

Iyengar Yoga

It is well-known that Yoga became widely popular in Western countries after the famous yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar visited Europe in the middle of XX century, and according to general opinion till the present time Iyengar Yoga is the most attractive stile of practice for people in the entire world. Certainly Russia didn’t become an exception: B.K.S. Iyengar came to Moscow at the end of October in 1989 to participate in the First Russian Yoga Conference, and he stayed there for about ten days. Obviously practical teaching was the most important part of his work, including two mega-classes for the whole crowd of concerned people. First of all yogacharya asked them to remove socks and denude knees, but just after Soviet period it was completely unusual and even such simple action made a splash. All people tried to perform asanas with great enthusiasm, and of course they asked many very different questions. However there were too many new terms in teacher’s answers, and interpreting was not good enough for proper understanding of direct sense. Anyway, Iyengar’s visit produced inexhaustible inspiration for self-practice, and people continued to learn Iyengar Yoga themselves at home during the next several years.

In 1992 B.K.S. Iyengar gave an official permission to establish the first Yoga center in Russia, and in spite of some problems Moscow Iyengar Yoga Center was opened just one year later. Now, after almost 15 years full of innumerable and indescribable difficulties and advances this center has several Yoga-halls in the city and about twenty professional Yoga-teachers. It’s difficult to count, but it’s possible that more than several thousand people became permanent students of Iyengar Yoga and it’s not the final result: every day the administrators answer endless phone-calls. New Iyengar Yoga centers were established in Petersburg and other Russian cities, and they are developing successfully, as well as some groups in Ukraine and Moldova. The first Russian translation of the book Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar appeared in 1993 and was reprinted many times though later all other books by the same author were published in Russian. Also you can find alternative editions on Iyengar Yoga, for instance this my book is dedicated to technical explanation how to master asanas with the support of wall, basically according to main principles of using props intrinsic to Iyengar Yoga. But it’s necessary to emphasize that I don’t follow them strictly. It’s just an example, because there is a choice in literature on this topic.

Talking of the historical development of Iyengar Yoga in Russia it’s necessary to notice the peculiar role of Faek Beria, the favorite disciple of B.K.S. Iyengar and the director of Paris Iyengar Yoga Center. First he went to Moscow from France in 1989 specifically to accompany his teacher, but Iyengar himself asked him to visit Russia from time to time and teach Yoga there. Faek Beria accepted the responsibility and for many years he became a guardian of Iyengar Yoga in Russia and the very favorite Yoga teacher. Just one month after the First Russian Yoga Conference he came back to Moscow to give some classes and support the interested people, who couldn’t imagine their life without Yoga. In 1990 Faek Beria came to Moscow again but except of a common class he took part in a TV-program for popularization of Iyengar Yoga in the entire Russia. Next time he visited Petersburg, and just one year later there was a permanent group of Yoga-practitioners which established new Petersburg Iyengar Yoga Center. Faek Beria’s seminars still attract a lot of Russian people almost every year. As a whole, you can see a good example of indirect way, by which sometimes Yoga goes from India through Europe to Russia.

Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga

Though Iyengar Yoga is without doubt recognized in Russia, we should emphasize that Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga is much more popular. The keeper of this Hatha Yoga style is Pattabhi Jois from Mysore, who is respected by practitioners, however Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga is taught by Russian Yoga-teachers in a different way. Basically the vinyasa (dynamic sequence of asanas) is accepted as a principle but the order of asanas complies with the so-called Free Flow, and each class is different from another one. In Moscow and Petersburg every beginner can choose one of such Yoga-teachers, who don’t claim that they teach Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, though their stile is very similar to this type of practice. Still there aren’t any Russian Yoga-teachers certificated by Pattabhi Jois himself, but it seems normal since the rules of the examinations are very exact including the request to come to South India for one month in the year during three years or longer. Of course, it’s not a simple task for Russians. At the same time you can find in Russia a few places where people practice classical Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga in groups. At least occasionally they give special lessons on First Sequence of asanas and anybody can receive direct experience of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga as such.

The Ashtanga Yoga Center is the most valid Russian organization where you can study traditional Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. It has branches both in Moscow and Petersburg and it is recognized by International Yoga Federation. In recent years many Yoga-teachers from this center have visited Mysore, practiced with Pattabhi Jois himself, and then they give daily classes separately for beginners and advanced practitioners. In addition they organize short intensive seminars on classical Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga not only in Russia but also in India: for instance, regular seminar will be held by Mikhail Konstantinov, the leader of Moscow Ashtanga Yoga Center, in Goa, where also Russian Yoga Center exists permanently. But other Yoga styles are also acceptable in the center, and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga doesn’t contradict to other noble traditions. For example, Bal Mukund Singh, the most famous disciple of Sri Dhirendra Brahmachari, was invited to Russia two years ago, and he held successful workshops both in Moscow and Petersburg.

The main principle of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga reads as follows: 99% practice +1% theory. Pattabhi Jois has written three books only. The most important of his treatises Yoga Mala was translated into Russian long time ago and published in the Ukraine. Besides people can find the description of this style in my own book Hatha Yoga Practice: Disciple among Teachers, published in Petersburg and reprinted in Moscow. In my work a separate chapter was dedicated to my own experience in Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, received in Mysore with two other famous teachers B.N.S. Iyengar and V. Sheshadri. In the supplement you can see the First Sequence of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga in pictures, which contains almost one hundred asanas. For future Ritambhara Publishing House, attached to Moscow Ashtanga Yoga Center, is preparing for publishing the first Russian translation of book Ashtanga Yoga written by a western Yoga-teacher Jon Scott. Some new articles on Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga appear periodically in Russian Yoga Magazine under the editorship of Mikhail Konstantinov, and the September, 2005 issue was dedicated to 90-th anniversary of Pattabhi Jois as the holder of traditional Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, who continues to teach and inspire disciples by his own example of Yoga-life. Mikhail Konstantinov, who is also a director of Ashtanga Yoga Centre, has been recognized as the first Russian certified Yoga teacher of this style. For sure, Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga will become more and more popular in Russia.

Other Yoga Schools

Certainly all other schools of Hatha Yoga are well-known in Russia and gradually they find their followers, although they don’t become so popular as Iyengar Yoga and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. As you know, both these styles are raised to Sri Krishnamacharya, who was the guru of both B.K.S. Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois. Nevertheless he made his own son the successor and holder of his main tradition, and until now T.K.V. Desikachar is teaching Vini Yoga in Chennai. But this style didn’t spread too vast neither in India nor abroad. It is not famous in Russia also: only the Ukrainian master Andrey Lappa completed a full course of education in Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram under the guidance of Desikachar himself, but he integrated this knowledge into his own system and he never teaches Vini Yoga as such. Despite the failure of this branch, Russian yogis respect Sri Krishnamacharya as one of the main staffs of contemporary Hatha Yoga. Evidently his fame owes its existence to the fact that Sri Krishnamacharya studied philosophy in Benares University during as many as ten years. In his case the development of intelligence became the base for reconstruction of ancient yogic tradition and its adaptation to modern society.

Another great yogacharya of XX Century Swami Sivananda Saraswati also became a source of several Hatha-yogic schools, and his teaching got interesting ways of development in Russia. As you know, he established the Divine Life Society in Rishikesh, and his disciple’s activity created the biggest net of Sivananda-ashrams in the entire world, both in India and many Western countries. Of course, Sivananda Yoga is well-known to Russians from books, and yet there is no Yoga center where beginner could study only this style of practice, without any mixing with other traditions. It is the monastic character of this school that may be the reason for that, since Swami Sivananda was a sannyasin, but it’s almost impossible to found ashrams resembling Indian tradition in Russia. At the same time many Yoga-teachers accept the basic principles of Sivananda Yoga for holding classes in some fitness-clubs, where people need relaxation and restoration of emotional stability. The similar destiny overtook the teaching of Bihar School of Yoga, founded by Swami Satyananda Saraswati, the most famous disciple of Swami Sivananda Saraswati. Everybody in Russia knows such his techniques as Yoga Nidra, Swara Yoga etc, and Yoga-teachers put them into practice but still nobody teaches Satyananda Yoga systematically.

We could continue this overview with long enumeration of Indian yogacharyas who influenced the development of Russian Yoga in a varying degree at his personal visit or just owing to his books. Generally it can be said without exaggeration that Russian practitioners aspire to master Yoga under auspices of different Yoga-teachers because they are interested to understand Yoga as such, without isolation inside of one and only school. Though you can find plenty of Yoga centers and Yoga-teachers in Russia today, even now some people study Yoga by themselves from books and on their own experience, trusting their own intuition and understanding. Original yogis who live in small towns find essential support visiting seminars in the closest cities, where they are able to participate. Russian Yoga-teachers like to organize short intensive seminars with the filled daily program. Fruitful meetings with Indian yogacharyas also become part and parcel in Russian yogi’s lives, and international contacts can easily happen in the territory of their own country as well as in the motherland of Yoga itself. Progressively Russian practitioners believe that Yoga-practice is the best way to the ultimate Self-realization.

Introduction. Metaphorical DeadEnd

Wall seems to be a metaphorical deadend on the spiritual way; however, we can interpret this metaphor literally. When a disciple is forced to interact with himself, he finds himself in front of a blind wall without his teacher, besides the wall becomes the dependable means for reflection. Actually, there is nobody outside you, if your Self is all-inclusive. But while you don’t encounter the barrier, you generally perceive all to be outdoors, except yourself. Whenever you fall into a really deadlock condition, in the first instance you face yourself in the concrete. In the full glare into your depth an inner space arises inside and starts to expand inexorably, while the wall appears to be somewhere beneath, scarcely distinguishable from spiritual level.

Extremity is similar to inspiration; and after a brief irresolution you ask an inevitable question: how to work with the wall which blocked your path? Hatha Yoga is profoundly symbolical like any practice rooted in mystical Tantrism. In order to get outside of the wall in the general sense, you should approach a real wall. And as a simplest solution you can practice Yoga with the support of a wall. Nevertheless the situation is not completed in the same way, since the wall extricates from a block to vertical, establish new dimension for life and practice. The first wall access is destined mainly for beginners, but with the further development of volume in the practice the wall offers plenty opportunities for advanced students. The wall is accustomed and becomes a small part of the life-structure, and then you are able to move it on your own will, disposing it at any angle.

At the very beginning the wall is perceived as an obstacle, but actually it becomes a turning point in your practice, permission to be directed upwards, to advance your mastery and personal energy. The wall is a great teacher, for every possible enlightenment starts from the proper work of your body. This body includes everything. So, if you know your own body through and through and you are able to control it, then there is nothing that does not correspond to your conscious decisions. Contemporary situation redoubles together with evolving of Hatha Yoga practice, which I denominated in one of my previous books as disciple among teachers. Everything is equal to nothing; and many of the Yoga-instructors are not different from the wall, which recovers your inner guru. But still, don’t worship it; apply the wall forbearingly, since it is nothing more than an external sign or marker on the way up.

Part I. Theory: Entrance to Vertical

The wall is a sort of vertical landing-strip, where you gather speed of Self-realization. Interaction with the wall acts as a psychological workshop in a greater measure, than mastering of physical form. However stop short of perversion: this is not Yoga with cold partner, but the practical way to become aware of your own body. First of all Hatha Yoga practice is the work with consciousness and energy, therefore you should not cherish illusions on importance of the body as such. Primarily the wall testifies physical disability in front of barrier, where you can understand and feel this disability. Any corporal-oriented training is intended to convert knowledge about your existence into experience of your objective reality. The question is how you are living currently — on the flat or on several levels of being?

The common man scurries between coming and going horizontal energy flows, produced by their scrappy thoughts, absurd impulsions, disorderly actions caused by other similar people. In the chaos he tries to pave wandering way to nowhere or just beyond the horizon on the same level of consciousness, merely marking the limit of perception. Do you embrace highest sky overhead and deepest earth underfoot? This question is far from lyrical. The development of energy structure supposes the vertical orientation of consciousness. More simply, in awaked state the bodily axis is positioned directly, and it consists from the links between conscious centers on different levels. In such a way Hatha Yogis work with charkas inside of Sushumna, while you can find alternative options for nurturance of realization in other traditions. But principally this is the vertical movement.

Volume Realization in Yoga Practice

Theoretically the wall sets up third-dimensional coordinates and forms volume awareness. Usually Hatha Yoga practice takes place on horizontal floor only. You fail to get rid of habitual stream of consciousness even during whole two hours, since you continue to take action on the same level. As you know, visual environment depends on state of consciousness, and if you start thinking more sublime, then the former world disperses and a new world concentrates around. Instead of elevation you strive to imitate an instructor’s posture, looking for other practitioners, and their shapes provoke a lot of extraneous whirls in mind. You are irreparably smeared-out “floor screen’, and there’s nothing to be done but to slide on surface, as if you would be like shadow, which is unable to observe improvement.

Access to the wall adds instantly a chance to correlate with vertical surface, especially when you stay face to face with it. You discover third coordinate axis that is the height, which hitherto was present somewhere in under-self only, but you never match up this line consciously. Nevertheless you always exist in the midst of vertical planes such as walls, trees, rocks etc.; just you constantly project them under your feet and skillfully skirt their imagery. Intentional inclusion of asanas on the wall into practice is not so much artificial means, as return to native habitat of human being. Appearance of summit and bottom out of eyeshot is similar to elementary enlightenment, but as you know any enlightenment is never ultimate. Just you start understanding the principle of gradual extension of consciousness, and then you learn to gain advantage in self-development.

As a preliminary let us mention a kind of such a curious flash at runtime of headstand, which was described with a real yogic humor by Essudian and Heich. The result of regular Shirshasana