Full Description
A step-by-step guide to a powerful yet simple practice to make every moment an act of meditation and connect to the joy within
• Details the simple practices of Rishi Yoga: easy physical movements, done slowly and with full awareness, combined with breathing exercises, sensory perception, concentration, and meditation
• Explains how the practices work progressively to allow you to tune in to your body and cellular memory, facilitate concentration, and cultivate self-awareness
• Reveals how to integrate Rishi Yoga into daily life to make every moment an act of meditation and access the peace and joy inherent within each of us
In this detailed guide, yoga and meditation teacher Pierre Bonnasse reveals the simple movement, breathing, and awareness techniques of the Rishi Yoga tradition, passed down through generations of yogis in the Himalayas. He shows how to integrate Rishi Yoga into daily life for discovering and recognizing the Universal Self, or Pure Awareness, and unveiling the peace and joy inherent in each of us.
The author begins by detailing the foundational practices of Rishi Yoga: easy physical movements, done slowly and with full awareness, combined with breathing exercises, sensory perception, and concentration. These moving-meditation exercises are physically simple enough to be performed seated, standing, or lying down and work progressively to allow you to tune in to your energetic body centers and cultivate a natural and effortless sense of self-awareness, which is the hallmark of Rishi Yoga, in every situation and at every moment. The author explores how Rishi Yoga trains us to become receptive to all levels of being--the physical body, emotional body, and subtle body--and enables access to tissue-level awareness and cellular memory. He also looks at this dynamic meditation's rapport with traditional forms of yoga, such as Raja Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Hatha Yoga, and Yoga Nidra, and with the philosophy of nonduality, Advaita Vedanta, and modern methods of mindfulness.
The author explains how, as Rishi Yoga advances you from personal awareness to a state of universal consciousness, it also becomes more and more integrated into the ordinary activities of daily life, making every moment--from the time you wake up to the time you fall asleep--an act of meditation, active perception, undivided attention, and expanded awareness. And once the practice of Rishi Yoga has permeated all facets of your waking life, it brings the realization that true happiness or Enlightenment is neither a state nor an experience to attain or acquire; it is an ever-present reality to be recognized behind every thought, emotion, speech, and action--the "ultimate Bliss" described by the ancient Indian scriptures.
Contents
PART I
BASICS
Practicing Rishi Yoga Meditation
General Instructions for Rishi Yoga Meditation
To Begin
Exercises for the Cranial Center
Exercises for the Cervical Center
Exercises for the Dorsal Center and the Arms
Exercises for the Lumbar Center
Exercises for the Sacral Center
Exercises for the Coccyx Center and the
Legs Exercises for the Spine (and All Centers)
Deep Relaxation and "Conscious Sleep" (Yoga Nidra)
Meditation in a Sitting Position
PART II
EXPLORATION
Complementary Practices
Awareness of Tissues and Cellular Memory
Hatha Yoga and Dynamic Meditation
Notes on Yoga Nidra
Therapeutic and Preventive Actions
Investigating the Structures of the Being
PART III
REFLECTION
Philosophical Perspectives
Different Approaches to Awareness
Yoga: Phenomenology and Full Awareness
An Approach to Indian Psychology
Self-Observation and Total Awarenss in Daily Life
Awareness Is Always on Vacation
Suggested Readings
Index
