ParaYoga is dedicated to understand, share, make available and illuminate the deepest potential of Yoga.
More Americans are practicing the physical aspect of Yoga than ever before, however it’s been so hybridized in its American incarnation that most of us now equate Yoga with exercise. There are many approaches to choose from. Some stress attention to detail and physical alignment. Other styles emphasize continuous, intense, and vigorous linking of postures.There is the “power” approach, where the body and mind are challenged to their limits. Other styles explore a soft and fluid, or a kind of inner “listening” approach. Some approaches use Asana to relax the body, others use it as a method to prepare for meditation or contemplation. And still others have merged an aerobic model of exercise to it and set it to music. Each and all styles, if done skillfully, offer benefits. In fact, many teachers in the ParaYoga Certification Pragram have already been certified in many of these other styles. ParaYoga is giving them the additional tools and knowledge to apply their teaching skills in a more comprehensive and affective way.
ParaYoga honors all approaches while at the same time reaching back to the masterful teachings that are its authentic source and its most powerful expression. Potentially Asana is more than a way to undo or release stress or focus the mind. In ParaYoga, the aim of Asana is more than improved health, flexibility and strength. It is used as a technique to balance the main forces that sustain mind and the body.
Asanas are used to transform the physical body, as well as, to unblock or remove the obstructions to healthy or balanced energy flow. This Tantric approach to Asana, is drawn from the ancient wisdom that suggests that the quality of your energy determines your experience of life. Their explorations and experiences revealed to them that there were no energies or forces in the world that were not in the body, and none in the body that were not in the world. Thus, the central teaching on the Tradition: master the life forces in your body, then you can master the forces in the world and, as a result, master your experience of and circumstances in the world.
Why Master Your Life Force?Tantra is based on the concept of “Shakti” (power or capacity) or the one underlying Reality. Its nature is limitless power, wisdom, will. The world as we know is the expression of this life force, intelligence, and love. The world is born from and maintained by this one singular force.
The Tantrics’ experience led them to realize that the more in touch with this force they were, the more magical and sacred life was, the more capable they, as individuals became. Yoga in its ultimate expression is more that just a way of reaching an awareness of the Eternal, it is about creating a Heaven on Earth. The Tantrics believe that through the right internal energetic alchemy this profound vision necessarily unfolds. If that’s not your experience of the world, it just means that your energetic mix has not been fully refined and developed. The goal and work of Parayoga is to perfect this mixture of mind, body, breath, and energy.
For more on Tantra and ParaYoga's source, click here