THE FIVE KOSAS, PROTECTING THE ATMAN

　　ASANAS:

　　It is important that the place of meditation and the time for meditation be conducive to inner peace and tranquility. The place and time should be free from external disturbance and distraction. A secluded room set aside for meditation is recommended. The auspicious time for meditation is brahama muhurtha, 4.00 to 6.00a.m., when Nature is in a most peaceful state. A person who meditates should be mentally and physically relaxed and comfortable. He may sit on a chair or on any comfortable seat if his seating helps concentrate on meditation. However, yoga recommends that a yogi sit upright on the floor with the head, neck and torso on a vertical line, perpendicular to the ground. The positioning of the legs and feet play a major role in most of the asanas. There are a number of ways one can position the legs and feet while sitting on the floor during meditation. Many yogic poses/postures (yogasanas) have come down to us from the ancient Hindu traditions. These asanas were used by the ancients for physical and mental health. Yoga system recommends some of them as useful postures for the different steps, such as pranayama, pratyahara and meditation of Astanga Yoga. Sidhasana, Padmasana, Svastikasana, Vajrsana and Sukhasana are five of these recommended asnas.

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　　A brief description of these asanas is given below.

　　Sidhasana:

　　In this posture, both legs are bent at the knee, left heel left near the perineum resting against the right thigh, and the right heel over the left ankle keeping the right heel against the pubic bone. The arms are stretched in front, and placed on the respective knees with the palm facing upwards in cin-mudra (see the mudras).

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　　Padmasana:

　　For padmasana one sits with both the legs bent at the knee, placing the right foot at the root of the left thigh with the heel near the navel, and the left foot at the root of the right thigh with the heel near the navel. The arms are stretched in front placing the back of the hand on the respective knee with the palm facing upwards.

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　　Svastikasana:

　　In svastikasana, the left foot is placed near the right thigh muscle, and the right foot is placed in the space between the left and right calf muscles. The hand is placed on the knees in jnana mudra or cin-mudra.

　　Vajrasana:

　　Vajrasana is practiced with the legs folded at the knees and the feet stretched backwards, and the big toes are crossed, keeping the knees together but the heels apart. The buttock is lowered and placed between the feet. The hands are placed on the respective knees with the palms facing downwards.

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　　Sukhasana:

　　In Sukhasana the left foot is folded under the right thigh, the right foot under the left thigh, with the hands on the lap with the palms facing upwards and the right palm on the left (bhairava mudra). This is the easy meditation pose, ideal for beginners.

　　Savasana:

　　(This is not a meditation pose. But it is practiced after the pranayama session at the beginning of meditation) In this asana the yogi lies on his back without a pillow, with the hands a little away from the thigh and with the palm turned upwards. The heels are kept together, but the toes are apart.

　　For more details on ‘Asanas’ please refer to B.K.S Iyengar‘s, Light on Yoga (1997) New Delhi, HarperCollins

　　Mudras and Banda

　　The yogasanas are techniques that help the process of vitalizing the gross body and subtle body, the physical and mental powers of the individual through pranayama, through the intake, storing and circulation of the vital air (prana); they help also the process of the withdrawal of the senses from external objects (pratyahara) that facilitates concentration in meditation.

　　Mudra means a symbolic gesture. Mudras in yogic asanas symbolically evoke the inner mood of the yogi in a particular asana. They also facilitate the withdrawal of the senses from objects that distract one’s attention. Two mudras, usually used in asanas, helping respectively the pranayama and pratyahara are Jnana mudra and Cin-mudra.

　　Jnana and Cin-mudras:

　　Cin-Mudra

　　Cin-Mudra is the psychic gesture of consiousness. It is performed the same way as the Jnana Mudra; the only difference is that the palms of both hands face upward while resting on the knees. In some pranayamas, which use the right hand to close and open the nostrils, only the left hand remains free for cin-Mudra.

　　Bhairava/bhairavi-mudra:

　　Bhairava/Bhairavi-mudra is keeping the hands on the lap, placing the dorsal right hand on the left palm (bhairava mudra), or the dorsal left hand on the right palm (bairavi mudra). Both palms face upwards in both the madras.

　　Banda is the contracting or tightening of the various parts of the body in the practice of yogic techniques. They also facilitate the circulation of different vital airs and the purification of the gross and subtle body of the yogi.

　　Three important bandhas are, mula bandha, uddiyani bandha, and jalandhara bandha. In mula bandha the muscles of the region of perineum are contracted and drawn upward. It facilitates the prana-apana vayu’s entrance into the susumna nadi. This bandha is used in the Sidhasana. Uddiyana bandha is practiced by emptying all the air from the lungs forcefully through the mouth and then contracting the abdominal muscles, drawing them upwards and back towards the spine; the muscles are slowly released, keeping the air outside as long a possible. This bandha can be practiced also in the standing posture.

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　　Jaladhara bandha is practiced while the breath is retained in the lungs during the interval of inhalation and exhalation, by pressing the chin against the chest. This bandha is practiced in the sidhasana, padmasana and svastikasana. The bandhas are used with pranayama; they are also practiced without any connection with pranayama.

　　Pranayama

　　In the Hindu thought, which holds on to Vedic cosmology, prana is the cosmic vitalizing principle which is ever pervasive in the whole universe. From the scientific standpoint, prana may be considered the origin of fundamental forces and all forms of energies in the universe. No matter particle and no energy quanta can exist without motion. And no motion, no work, is possible without prana. At the atomic level, prana can be considered the energy that makes the electrons move in an atom. It is energy at its most fundamental level.

　　Prana as the subtle energy enters the human body either through or without a medium. It is convenient to collect prana through inhaling air, but it is possible to imbibe and assimilate prana without the medium of the inhaling air. Besides, prana constitutes the second sheath (kosa) of human being protecting the self by its intrinsic energies.

　　Pranayama is the process of controlling prana, and it is used in Yoga as a separate practice to help the yogi clear and cleanse the mind and body in preparation for meditation, and to help him in focusing the mind in the practice of asanas (yogic postures) maximizing the benefit of the practice. Prana is controlled by regulating the inhaling and exhaling of air. Air is a gross body, and it enters the human body through the gross bodies of the respiratory system, such as, nose, wind pipe and lungs. There are three stages in pranayama, namely, inhalation (puraka), exhalation (recaka) and retention (kumbaka). Pranayama can be practiced with retention of air (kumbaka sahita) or without the retention of air (kumbaka rahita).

　　The most commonly used forms of pranayama used in meditation are Ujjayi, Dirgha Pranayama and Nadi Sodhini. In the ujjayi the practitioner takes a long deep breath through the nostrils and contracts the back of the throat, creating a hissing sound and sending out the air in the same way. In the dirgha pranayama (complete or three part breathing), the practitioner uses diaphragmatic belly breathing, completely filling and emptying the lungs, and retaining the breath in between. In the nadi-sodhini (channel cleansing) the right hand is held up with the thumb near the right nostril and the ring finger on the side of the left nostril; the thumb and ring finger are used to open and close the respective nostrils for inhalation and exhalation.