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Advanced Yoga Practices
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Lesson 402 - About that word "Advanced"  (Audio)

From: Yogani
Date: May 14, 2010

New Visitors: It is recommended you read from the beginning of the archive, as previous lessons are prerequisite to this one. The first lesson is, "Why This Discussion?"


Q: When I first heard about Advanced Yoga Practices, I wasn't sure if it would be for me, because I was a beginner. I was happy to find that AYP starts at the beginning, and makes it easy for anyone to become an advanced yogi if they stick with it. My question is, given the ease for beginners, why is this system called "Advanced?"

A: The "Advanced" in Advanced Yoga Practices refers to the modern phenomenon of packaging complex technology in ways that make it easy for anyone to use. The more advanced it is, the easier and more accessible it is, and more powerful, like the graphical user interface (GUI) computers and powerful cell phones (a computer in your pocket) we have nowadays. These are advanced because we can easily perform sophisticated functions with them. Likewise, AYP is advanced with its self-paced integration of powerful practices that can be easily applied within a modern lifestyle. As many have found, the results in purification and opening can be remarkable for the little we do in applying these methods.

It boils down to how we access underlying principles and natural laws how we activate the laws of nature for our benefit. Whether we are talking about information technology, aviation, medical biology, physics, or the inner mechanisms of human spiritual transformation, it is always about finding the key control levers that simplify the human interface, while optimizing the end result. This is the challenge science has always faced in bringing new technologies into the mainstream how to create those simple levers that can enable anyone to use radio waves, drive a car, fly an airplane, heal a disease, process millions of lines of information or become enlightened.

Of course, in the field of yoga and spiritual practices, nothing is new. Spiritual practices have been around for thousands of years. But have they been easy to use, and universally effective? Obviously not, or the world would have become a much friendlier place long ago. In this scientific age, we have an opportunity. We have a chance to systematize the application of spiritual practices in ways that will put the power of the inner processes of human spiritual transformation in everyone's hands, just the way many other technologies have been made accessible to people everywhere. This is the primary objective of AYP to help empower everyone with a simple practice interface, with easy control levers that can be used to cultivate the process of human spiritual transformation. With that, everyone, according to their own desire, will be in a position to unfold their destiny in abiding inner silence, ecstatic bliss, and outpouring divine love.

So when you see the word "Advanced" in Advanced Yoga Practices, think easy and powerful (including for beginners), rather than complicated and inaccessible. That is the meaning of the word.

The guru is in you.

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Note: For detailed instructions on building a balanced daily practice routine with self-pacing, see the Eight Limbs of Yoga Book, and AYP Plus.

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