The Yoga of Kashmir is the concrete expression of the Shivaism, probably the oldest spiritual way practised in the Orient.
It originally came from the Indus Valley, around 8-9000 years ago.
It is said that the Tandava, the mystical dance of Shiva, was the only practice that yogi and yogini did at the origin of yoga. During this dance they used to stopping in some positions that were so incredibly beautiful, comfortable and free to become codified as the asanas of Hata Yoga.
Shivaism is a comprehensive way which embraces the human being in its wholeness. It trascends the dualistic concepts of pure and impure, right and wrong, good and evil, solving them in a non-duality of the immaculate consciusness, intimate substance of everything.
It doesn’t refuse the senses; on the contrary it considers them like agile horses to ride in order to get to the roots. Shivaism appreciates the pure beauty in all its manifestations and considers it the expression of the divine itself.
The Yoga of Kashmir proposes some practises which develop the silent and neutral listening of our body-mind system, where physical sensation, emotions and toughts deployee.
The accent put on the body allows to explore tensions, blocs, rigidity and fluid zones by caressing them with a conscious breathing in order to recognize them better and understand that inner part in that precise moment.
It's from this warm awareness that the the body starts opening up of in a never ending process which will lead to opening of the heart and the final reunification with our deep spatial nature.
The body slowly releases tensions, relax, become alive and vibrant. It finally recognizes the expansion and compression, the endless movements of life...
Besides these formal practises, this yoga of incomparable delicacy, suggests to explore every moment's life through the senses and to live the present; the present is everyhting we need to touch and deeply explore. Everythig that happens, every situation we encounter is an opportunity to discover something about ourselves. We just have to say YES to all the sensations and stop fighting against the life. In this way we will gain more space and more freedom in a neverending trip.
This is the Great Yoga.
"In stupor, anxiety, extreme feelings, at the edge of a precipice, running from the battlefield, in hunger or terror, or even when you sneeze, the essence of the spatiality of your own mind can be seized".
(Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, sloka 118)
The yoga of Kashmir proposes the exploration of the body through the senses for the joy to let it dissolve in the infinite space of the heart.
It’ s the end of ego, the dividing thought, and the rise of a spontaneous joy which radiates all the way.
Yoga practises are:
Tandava, the dance of Shiva
Yoga of touch (Kashmirian massage)
Visualization of Matsyendranath
Yoga of emotions
Dharana of Vijnana Bhairava Tantra
Micropractises of sensorial presence to the reality
"When you contemplate the luminous spatiality of your own body radiating in every direction, you free yourself from duality and you merge into space."
( Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, sloka 43 )
Tandava
Tandava, the mystical dance of Shiva is the spontaneous, slow and fluid deployee of body movements in the space...
Tandava
Yoga of touch
Visualizations
Vijnana Bhairava