Asana actually means ‘standing still’, so this is what you do in the poses, both physically and mentally. But equally important is to find the stillness between the poses. This is what ‘New Methods Based on Old Concepts’ refers to, this stillness between the poses. It allows the energy that has been generated to come into a balanced state. This is called Sattva, and it should be the goal of every yoga practice. With continuous practice (consistency is more important than daily), this harmony of energy carries over into your everyday life. This energy or Prana is within all of us and is what Tai Chi practitioners and acupuncturists also tap into.
For the past 8 years I've been teaching Raja Yoga to non-native English speakers at a university in Seoul. Most of my students, none of whom use English as their first language, come away with a much deeper knowledge of yoga that most mainstream yoga practitioners, students, and even many instructors lack. This is supported in the student’s own words, demonstrated by the links on the Testimonial page. Since even non-native English speakers can begin to grasp these concepts in less than 20 hours of class time, it should be even easier to understand if English is your first language.
Seismic Yoga is based on a university-level Raja Yoga course developed and fine-tuned over the past 8 years. The course has benefited 100s of S. Korean university students by using Yoga as a tool to transform their lives. It is simple but not easy, yet they can grasp these profound concepts in less than 20 hours of class time. In a 2nd language no less! The classes are held in a classroom, not in a studio/gym. Students are not graded on their physical abilities, just their overall understanding of the material. The emphasis is on the concepts and vocabulary as well as the Asanas.
The Raja Yoga I teach is energy-based and emphasizes the poses done within the context of all 8 limbs of Yoga, with the main emphasis on the first 3 branches: the Yamas, Niyamas and Asanas. Like I tell my students: '"You don't have to change, because Yoga will change you!"
The outcomes of this traditional Yoga style are very different as they produce life-altering changes in many students: