Hatha Yoga Exercises or How to Bend your Body…
Last Saturday afternoon a yoga teacher, Mr. Narayana, came to the Retreat Centre with a number of his disciples to give us a demonstration of hatha yoga exercises. His yoga school is a voluntary organisation for the development of physical and psychic heath.
He first explained how he came to practice yoga, having been practicing for years medical hypnotism and how he experienced the invigorating influence of yoga practices. Then his disciples showed us a series of exercises in a silent, but very disciplined way, demonstrating their skill in mastering the body.
Afterwards Mr. Narayana himself demonstrated a number of advanced asanas with an extreme control over his body. He could bend it to most extraordinary positions, make his stomach withdraw to the spine, letting it rotate, showing different kinds of breathing. He then went into a lotus posture and a disciple gave him injection needles. He pierced them into his left arm and through his ear, explaining that he has control over pain in the different parts of his body. While his face was radiating with enthusiasm, some of the more sensitive group members had to look away…
I wonder if anybody feels inspired by such extreme exercises to practice them himself. I prefer to stay with my simple set of exercises, helping me to keep the body smooth and vital.
