Notes on Yoga

Srinivasan [Iyengar]
Introduction
I have been practising yoga for several
decades and had interacted with some
masters too.
This short note collects some of the subtle
points in Yoga Practice that are not
usually mentioned in several books or
articles on yoga.
I hope these notes would be of use to any
serious student of yoga.
yoga asanas and endocrine glands and the
hormones.


Some asanas directly influence the
functioning of certain glands and can
affect the levels of hormones produced from
these glands.
1 Badha-konasana is sometimes called
'Cobbler's pose';it acts on pancreas and
may directly influence your blood glucose
level. Check your blood glucose level at
least once a day when you practice this
asana. Keep a chart on this measurement.
Note that you may see the effect only after
long practice of this asana over several
months.
2 Sethu-bandha asana [bridge pose] This is
a powerful asana which acts on your


throat.If you have problems with thyroid
gland [hypo or hyper] check carefully
through standard tests [like T3,T4,TSH
levels].The effect may be seen only after a
few months of practice...Do not assume that
the yoga practice will bring the thyroid
level in proper balance. Make the tests to
find this thyroid level. Since thyroid
influences your metabolism strongly, be
careful in finding the level frequently.
Any sudden increase or decrease in weight
over a month may indicate that your thyroid
glands are affected and would require
examination by a medical professional or
doctor.


3 Several asanas influence your digestive
system and can have a significant influence
on your appetite and also bowel movements.
Check carefully for any variation you
observe ,as well as abdominal muscle
cramps and other discomfort because your
tummy muscles do not relax easily.
It is important that you do relaxing poses
like savasana and supta-badha-kona asana
for sufficient time after yoga prcatice.
Yoga asanas and eyes
When you do inversion poses, make sure your
eyes are not affected. If you experience
eye irritation or see blood-shot eyes or
copious tears from the eyes [which may run


into your nose and exit through nostrils ]
or other eye discomfort, stop the asanas
immediately. If you have had retinal
detachment or eye surgery, avoid totally
the inversion asanas and head stand or
savanga asana.
Yoga practice may change the requirement of
your glasses if you wear spectacles. It is
essential that you have eye examination by
an opthalmologist at least once in six
months.
Yoga asanas and the bone structure
Yoga asanas improve your posture and
correct the skeleton structure. At the same
time , it is important to observe correct


alignment to get proper benefits and avoid
any possible injury to bones and bone
muscles. An experienced yoga instructor
must be able to guide you. But remember
when you practice at home, be careful about
posture and alignment.
Many students of yoga come to yoga when
they suffer from back pain or beginning
stages of arthritis.Yoga can prevent or
partially cure arthritis when practiced
under expert guidance...there are excellent
books on this topic. Millions of sufferers
have benefited from gentle yoga, including
the elderly , but you need training with a
yoga expert, not just any instructor of


yoga.
Yoga and the sexual appetite
Yoga directly affects your sexual appetite
[or 'hunger' if you wish to call ]. While
gentle style of yoga may not have much
influence, regular intense yoga would
increase your sexual appetite much. Poses
like viparita karani or sarvangasana are
meant for controlling the sexual urges in
experienced yoga practitioners. But
remember, if you do these poses and other
poses for only a short time, the sexual
appetites would be stimulated as your
general health and virility improves. One
way to keep this


urge under control is to perform 'leg on
the wall' pose for a long time--say, 10 to
15 minutes every day.
For serious sex -oriented problem [high or
low sexual urges],consult with a yoga
expert and take proper advice. Books are of
very little help, since many Indian texts
on yoga avoid this topic or discuss in
very general terms.
Ancient yogis had excellent knowledge on
this topic. Unfortunately they did not
write much about them.
In those days, they performed yoga asanas
for long times--sometimes 1 to 4 hours in
certain poses. [ Imagine a yogi doing 'tree


pose' ['vriksha asana'] or inverted pose
['viparita karani' or its modified forms]
for one to two hours! We are physically
inadequate for doing these for long times.]
We practice only for a few minutes in
modern times!! So, we cannot easily
understand or appreciate what they wrote in
standard texts of ancient times.
Furthermore ancient yogis practiced from
young age under the direct supervision of a
master in an ashram atmosphere. Note that
the young yogis used to wake up at 4 AM and
practice regularly with diet control under
rigorous conditions.!!
Let me emphasize that ancient yogis


practiced yoga asanas for long duration and
for specific physical and mental [and
spiritual] effects. Modern practice is
highly abbreviated and is a limited form
of hatha yoga!
I hope that these notes are of some help to
serious students of yoga.!
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