Purna Yoga™
What is Purna Yoga™?
In a world in which new yoga styles appear every day, confusing new practitioners and somewhat distorting the true essence of this fine art and science, I am glad to introduce you to the yoga of evolution.
In the words of my teacher and co-founder of Purna Yoga™, Aadil Palkhivala:
"Purna Yoga is an evolving system that distills and integrates the vastness of yoga into an invaluable set of tools for healing, fulfilling one's dharma (life's purpose), and transformation. It offers wisdom and techniques for the union of the body and the mind with the Spirit. Using awareness, precision, and concentration, Purna Yoga practitioners evolve from their lower nature to their Divine Self. Purna Yoga is the art of loving oneself by living from the heart."
- from his book "Fire of Love".
How does this system work in practice? How do we bring all these magnificent concepts into day to day applications that will most certainly make our lives better? Through the four pillar of Purna Yoga™, which are:
Safety and Alignment based Asana and Pranayama
HeartfullTM Meditation
Applied Philosophy
Nutrition and Lifestyle
Asana and Pranayama
Asana is the physical practice of Yoga (what is mostly known to us in the west) and Pranayama is the use of breath for transformation.
For most of us, our connection with our true selves, our spirit, really began when we started connecting and most of all feeling our bodies. In a world in which the head is revered and considered everything, where the left side (analytical) side of our brain is glorified, and where everything invites us to disconnect from the truth of our bodies, the practice of Asana and Pranayama is essential to start breaking this lifelong patterns. In Purna Yoga the asana has its lineage and comes directly from the experience and teaching of Aadil Palkhivala, world renowned Yoga Master, who studied with his Guruji BKS Iyengar since the age of 7. The teaching of Iyengar mixed with the personal journey of Aadil have created an amazing asana practice in which we use the body with respect and kindness as a tool to transform ourselves at a gross level.
When attending a Purna Yoga class the asana you will practice will be done in a safe, yet powerful and effective way. You will learn how to align your body properly to allow the free flow of energy, the benefits that each pose offers to your life, and splendid sequences like the world famous Hip Opening Series, Morning Series and Surya Namaskar which create powerful change.
Heartfull Meditation™
Heartfull Meditation™, created by Meditation Master and Purna Yoga co-founder, Savitri, is a set of specific techniques to bring deep transformation within yourself by allowing you to connect and discover your heart.
In this world, where all the time we hear sayings like "listen to your heart", "let your heart decide", "I love you with all my heart", have we really taken the time to know and experience this heart of ours? Usually, the answer will be "but how?", and as Purna Yoga™ is the Yoga of "how", Heartfull Meditation™ offers you simple yet powerful techniques that will allow you to connect with your inner light, your heart centre. As you develop this connection, the true purpose of yoga will start to show up, the deep transformation and changes in your everyday life. You heart speaks with kindness, not with violence. Your heart both gives and receives. Your heart does not expect, but loves unconditionally.
In Gabriel's classes you will have an opportunity to experience these techniques first hand.
Applied Philosophy
When I came in contact with Purna Yoga, I was a philosophy freak. As a former lawyer and highly analytical person, I enjoyed so much reading the new book on spirituality, exploring the different facets of spirituality through different authors and basically have a lot of intellectual fun as I could imagine the spiritual potential of the things I was reading.
Did that take me anywhere? Yes. It kept me inspired, it provided wider concepts to contemplate, it opened my mind to new truths and ways of seeing life. Did it effectively transform my life? No.
The beauty of this petal of Purna Yoga is that we take the ancient yogic philosophy together with the work of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, and we apply directly what is suggested. Endless philosophical discussions were over. I was invited to look at my life, take those valuable teachings and start, without delay, to use them in my physical practice and life.
If you, as most of us, are a mental person and need to understand the reasons behind the things we do, then philosophy comes and takes a very important role. Thus, your mind begins to understand the deeper truths of our practice and is kindly invited to join the body, the spirit and our actions in unison.
Nutrition and Lifestyle
In my personal journey, these was one of the aspects that most profoundly transformed my life. Because, as Sri Aurobindo said, "All Life is Yoga", and our yoga practice, in reality, only begins when we step out of our favorite yoga studio and start living our lives, interacting with people and facing our own flaws.
Am I, with others, as kind as I am to my body? Am I, through my deep sense of respect towards my body, feeding myself the highest quality food I can find? Am I only thinking about getting good "deals" and in the process neglect what my life truly deserved and needed? These are all questions I had to start pondering, and painfully I had to admit that my yoga life and aspiration on a mental level was quite far from how I was actually living my life.
Through the lifelong research of the founders of Purna Yoga™, we have been offered tips that dramatically improve our lives. You will find out more about this in my classes, workshops, retreats or private teaching.