With Doug Keller

The Therapeutic Wisdom of Yoga The Koshas, The Tantric Revolution, and Fascia

www.doyoga.com/dayton3.pdf

Intentionality

The deeper aspect of practice in connection with yoga is the cultivation of intentionality — the ability to move the body and especially to move ‘energy’ or ‘Prana’ intentionally, to overcome obstacles and to expand awareness.

• This has practical applications in working with pain syndromes, and intentionality provides the link between the different ‘layers’ of our being — described in the past as the ‘Koshas.’

The Koshas as Interrelated

It’s tempting to think of the Koshas as ‘Layers’ like the layers of an onion, or a Russian nesting doll; but the terms are experiential — how we experience our self (atman) as a functioning individual

— And of course these layers are interrelated

On a therapeutic level, the mutual influences between the Koshas are far more important for understanding health, and especially for understanding the problem of pain

When physical causes of pain cannot be found, patients are sometimes told that it’s “in the mind” (sometimes as if it’s imaginary); but the pain is real enough to the patient!

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The Involvement of the Mind and Intelligence — What Does the Pain Mean? And Much of the Pain Is — or Stems From — Fear

•Understanding pain has to include “the mind” in pain — •which includes beliefs and conditioning in addition to physical causes.

What a person believes that pain means, when it is not understood, adds to the severity of the pain.There is evidence that understanding pain reduces the threat of it

• Alters the person’s attitudes and beliefs about their own pain• Increases pain thresholds — reduces the suffering• And when combined with a self-care plan (physical therapy or

yoga) reduces pain and disability

4The Koshas in Perspective: the Problem of Pain

Multiple Factors Contribute to the Pain Experience

Direct trauma

Social/work environment

Hormones

Cultural factors

Pathology

Recreational and daily activities

Attitudes and beliefs

Motor control and movement patterns

Nutrition

Previous experiences

Emotional stateStructural Issues

Breathing patterns

Factors in pain

Annamaya Kosha Pranamaya Kosha

Manomaya KoshaVijnanamaya Kosha

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A Philosophical Shift in Yoga — On the Level of Vijnanamayakosha

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Tantra Is Also Going Beyond The ‘Purity’/Impurity Ethics Of The Brahmins

Brahmanism: the Ethics of PurityThe ‘Vedic’ thinking that guided the spirituality of yoga (distinct from Buddhism) evolved into ‘Brahmanism.’ It was rooted in an ‘Ethics of Purity’

— avoidance (and fear of contact with) all that is impure (and ultimately everything subject to change is impure)

This is also an ethics of community: priority is given to the clan or to the community — and what is ‘impure’ or to be feared is defined by the group

• ‘Purity’ is a guarantee of individual, social and metaphysical security (the fate of your soul, as against karma);

• ‘Impurity’ is a mechanism to stimulate the fear response; what we fear is socially defined, and is woven into and defined by our social and moral context — which tells us what is forbidden, what to avoid, and what will ‘contaminate’ you by contact with it

Tantra: the Ethics of the Hero — Who Overcomes Fear and Contraction by Overcoming the Duality of Purity/Impurity

Tantra is an Ethics of Autonomy — rejecting the socially defined duality between ‘pure’ and ‘impure’ by directly confronting one’s fears/contracted states based upon these ideas of duality. Bhairava/Bhairavi is the embodiment of our fears.

• The ‘Hero’s Heart’ is the place of intense feeling and consciousness — the place of the light of consciousness freed from mental agitation and (socially taught) thought-constructs that keep us in a state of contraction 8

The Only ‘Impurity’ Lies in Thought ConstructsThe idea of liberation in tantra is based on the understanding that thought constructs (as ‘impure’) are the cause of the contraction of consciousness via the fear that they inspireContraction results from the fear experienced by the individual who tries to protect his identity by continuously re-creating his limited, artificial identity. That contracted state of ‘I’ is the exact opposite of the expansion of consciousness and liberation. The Maharthamanjari enumerates 8 bondages cultivated by brahmanism that are opposed to the tantric ‘hero:’ • hate, doubt, fear, shame, disregard, family, caste, and the orthodox way of life

(as defined by brahmanism) • Liberation is described in terms of the ‘absence of fear’ (naiscintyam) — the

absence of these contractions — a sudden expansion of one’s own consciousness that brings realization of non-duality in all states and conditions. 9

Rejecting the Duality of Pure-ImpureThe Attitude of Tantra is that ‘Doership’ is not inherently impure; one’s ‘will’ is in essence divine (Shakti)• You can only get so far with self-effort; • and the experience you have through self-effort is contracted (sankocha) or limited by the feeling of

effort or struggle• You get beyond the limitations of Doership when you let go and participate in the process,

instead of trying to make it happen.• Right effort (‘Doing’) can then ‘expand’ into spontaneity (‘NonDoing’/Spontaneous Freedom

— Swatantrya)• Emotion as well as imagination are part of this participation, and are to be embraced and exploredDoership expands into NonDoership as a spontaneous unfolding — an experience of participation

• in the experience of participation in the process of spiritual unfolding, you are neither the ‘Doer’ nor the ‘NonDoer.’

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Bhavana — insight meditation, creative meditation/contemplation based on feeling awareness

• Bhavana is capable of leading you to experience something that does not physically ‘exist’ — but can be meaningfully experienced by a process of ‘projection’ into the body through concentrated, imaginative awareness.

• The process is to ‘project’ into your body entities (eg. chakras) and actualize them through awareness of their feeling-qualities or signs of their presence, opening you to a real experience through something that is not ‘literally’ there.

• You can even transform your experience of something that does exist — something you already know but don’t fully understand — by realizing its deeper or full significance. The experience of the body itself can be transformed through bhavana

• Our ordinary experience, which we experience as binding or limiting, becomes liberative once its full significance is grasped.

The Connection to Tantra: Bhavana

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Everyone has ‘Prasiddhi’ — preconceived notions of the world: Prasiddhi is our ‘instinctive’ or a priori knowledge of how to function without having ‘learned’ it. Every creature is born with these Prasiddhi

• prasiddhi: deep-rooted firmness of a cognition or belief; not arrived at by reasoning, but precedes both reasoning and perception; enables us to connect external perceptions and internal feelings

Reflection on our experience aligns prasiddhi with true knowledge or ‘āgama’• āgama: “most firm reflective awareness”; • the ability of consciousness to represent itself to itself, so that we can contemplate it to

come to better know its true reality as it is

This Brings Us To A Recognition Or Liberating Awareness Of What We Already ‘Instinctively’ Know

It Is ‘Liberating’ Because It Is Empowering

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Within The ‘Mantra Marga’ Of Shaiva Tantra:Ṣaḍaṅgayoga

Tantra Takes This Intentional Awareness Farther

The idea of a ‘six-limbed’ path of yoga goes back to the Maitri Upanishad (200 AD)

“This is called the six-limbed (ṣaḍaṅgā) yoga: prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhyāna, dhāraṇā, tarka, samādhi.”

Does not mention asana, or Yamas and Niyamas or behavioral norms; starts with pranayama and goes through forms of reflective, meditative or mental practice

‘Tarka’ — the final step before samadhi: often translated as ‘discrimination’ or ‘discriminative awareness’ — an intellectual insight; this involves self-awareness, the awareness that you are ‘not there yet’ and have farther to go!

Tantra Focuses on Types of Dharana in Ṣaḍaṅgayoga

The different formulations of ṣaḍaṅgayoga fall into two classes depending on how they teach dhāraṇā (stabilisation):

• stabilization of attention on the coarse elements (mahābhūta): • earth/solidity • water/liquidity • fire/visible light• air/tangibility• ether/audibility or sound

• stabilization of attention on four forms of the old Vedic pair of Agni (fire) and Soma (life giving, nourishing fluid) 14

Ṣaḍaṅgayoga: a six-fold system in tantra, used in the tattva-jaya — conquest of the reality levels: visionary ascent through tattva levels (35 or 36) to arrive at Shiva

• Some ṣaḍaṅga practices and terminology survive into haṭhayoga (e.g. pūraka, kumbhaka, recaka).

Bhuta Shuddhi Or Tattva Shuddhi: Stabilization by Concentration on the Elements

The three stages of practice:1. Shuddhi: purification of the gross, subtle and

psychic elements or tattvas:• This involved mental ascent through 36 tattvas, or reality levels.

These comprise commonly the the twenty-five of Sāṃkhya, ending with puruṣa, the limited self

2. Sthiti: illumination through concentration — achieved through this purification

3. Arpana: unification with the higher force within oneself

• there are a further 11 tattvas which negotiate the transition from the limited self to the freedom of the divine self

Though this practice of Ṣaḍaṅgayoga does not survive in its details, its trajectory is a key inspiration behind Yoga Nidra

Prana And Fascia

The experiential layers and functions of the Fascia are just such a journey through the elements in the experience of Yoga and Yoga Nidra

• earth/solidity • water/liquidity • fire/visible light• air/tangibility• ether/audibility or sound

EarthThe Structure of Fascia

The fibers of fascia are of two kinds — which are variations on the principle of earth — tensile strength, stability — which does not exclude flexibility:

• Collagen fibers — rigid, stable• Elastin fibers — flexible, supporting movement without ‘breaking’

Except for water in the ground substance, most of the constituents of fascia are produced, remodeled and maintained by the fibroblasts at the heart of the cells within the matrix

Fascia is an ‘extracellular matrix:’ It is made up of fibers that lie outside of the cells which produce those fibers

Fascia as a ‘Conscious’ Responsive MatrixThe fibroblasts are the principle of consciousness — i.e. responsiveness to stimulation — at the heart of this matrix

• They are responsive to biochemical stimulation — including pH levels and hormones (such as Human Growth Hormone produced during sleep — important for collagen production)

• And even more importantly, biomechanical stimulation through movement

• Regardless of how good the biochemical environment is (provided by diet, for example), fibroblasts will not produce an adequate fibrous matrix without adequate movement to stimulate the remodeling behavior of the fibroblasts.

The fibroblasts are equipped and designed to ‘sense’ mechanical stimulation, and constantly adapt to it

The Responsiveness of Fascia as a Principle of RenewalThe fascial web — particularly the structural support given by the production of collagen fibers — is enormously adaptable to demands placed upon it, especially in relation to gravity.

• If loaded properly, and especially repeatedly, the fascia is constantly remodeled to meet daily demands

WaterThe Role of Hydration in Tissue Renewal

Two thirds of fascial tissue is water.When stresses are put on the tissues by mechanical loading or stretching, a significant amount of water is squeezed out of the tissues.When released, the tissues are filled with new fluids from surrounding tissues (and arterioles)

• Connective tissues can miss adequate hydration which are not reached by everyday movements — [thus Feldenkreis attributed chronic pain to the lack of variety of movement — rather than simply to lack of movement!]

And it matters what kind of water is stored in the tissues

• In healthy fascia, the water in the ground substance is ‘bound’ water, which behaves like a liquid crystal

‘Smart’ WaterIt matters what kind of water is stored in the tissues• In healthy fascia, the water in the ground substance is ‘bound’ water : the ground

substance ‘binds’ the water within it, so that it behaves like a liquid crystal, which has higher elastic energy storage ability

Otherwise fascial tissues come to contain ‘bulk’ water

• Higher percentages of ‘bulk’ water within the ground substance has been associated with inflammatory conditions, edema (swelling from retention of water) and accumulation of free radicals and other waste products

Stimulation through ‘stretching’ not only rehydrates tissues that are not otherwise reached, but provides a ‘water renewal dynamic’ that replaces ‘bulk’ water with ‘smart’ water in the ground substance. Lack of movement works against this.

FireFascial Fitness / Pranic Fitness

The ‘springiness’ of healthy fascia reveals emerging understanding of the ability of fascia to store and release kinetic energy

Aging is usually associated with loss of elasticity and ‘bounce’ as well as a decrease in energy and vitality

• This is reflected in the fascial architecture: not only does the fascia become dehydrated and ‘sticky’ by lack of movement, but the fibers multiply and take on matted, irregular arrangements that inhibit movement

• Undulations in healthy fascia are arranged like ‘waves’ that maintain elasticity and ‘springiness;’ aging fibers become flattened and disorganized, inhibiting flow of energy through the nerves as well — promoting numbness, etc.

Rethinking Physical Yoga PracticeAll of this should challenge our idea of ‘stretching,’ especially in yoga: • We are not just ‘stretching’ tight muscles:• We are increasing the capacity of our fascial matrix to be a storehouse of energy

— a matrix of pranic energy and adaptable consciousness that is constantly transforming and reshaping our entire being according to our practice

In a practice, this becomes an intentionally guided process that is empowering

This empowerment is especially important in the face of pain. There is evidence that understanding pain reduces the threat of it

• Alters a person’s attitudes and beliefs about their own pain• Increases pain thresholds• And when combined with physiotherapy (or yoga) reduces pain and disability

AirOur Largest Sensory Organ

Andrew Taylor Still (founder of osteopathy) pointed out the presence of nerves in the fascia, and suggested that all fascial tissues should be treated as if dealing with “branch offices of the brain.”

The fascial web is our largest sensory organ in terms of overall surface area, which, in terms of the quantity and richness of nerve endings, can “match” our sense of sight, hearing, and any of our other sensory organs.

• The plantar fascia of the feet, for instance, has been found to regulate postural control in standing

All of this is reminiscent of Krishna proclaiming his cosmic body, in which he has ‘eyes in his feet, his hands’ etc.

EtherThe Fascia as our Inner Organ of ‘Listening’

Our body’s architecture devotes more than twice as many neurons for the ‘listening’ or ‘feeling’ aspect of communication with the body compared to the ‘talking’ or ‘instructional’ function of telling the body what to do.

As much as we tell students to ‘listen’ to their body, this is actually a capacity that can be lost — and also regained

• When fascia loses elasticity, the functioning of spindles that provide the ‘listening’ can be corrupted

• This may be a contributing factor in conditions such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and in chronic muscle stiffness, where a thickening of the fascia (in the endomyseum) has been shown to take place.

The Flow of Prana Is Facilitated by the Act of Listening

Then the flow of awareness can be more intentionally directed — in asana as well as pranayama

We don’t tell students to ‘listen to their bodies’ just to protect them from injury: the purpose is to reestablish the ability to listen, especially

as the practice reestablishes the physiological capacity for listening!