Foundations of Yoga

The Traditional Teachings of Sri Shyam Sundar Goswami

Basile P. Catoméris

• Publisher: Inner Traditions
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9781594774546
• eBook ISBN:
  9781594775116
• Topic: Sciences biologiques
• Subtopic: Sciences du sport et de l'exercice

A guide to the complete yogic teachings of Sri Shyam Sundar Goswami by his disciple and spiritual heir

• Shows how to enrich your physical Yoga practice by embracing and integrating Hatha Yoga’s metaphysical, spiritual, and psychological traditions

• Explores the energy-focusing movements known as mudras and purification methods that can boost metabolism, reinforce muscles, and facilitate advanced sexual practices

Foundations of Yoga presents the full and rigorous yogic training of traditional Hatha Yoga as taught by renowned Indian Yoga master the late Sri Shyam Sundar Goswami. Written by his disciple and spiritual heir, the book emphasizes metaphysical, spiritual, and psychological cultivation in addition to physical practice. It offers Yoga practitioners and teachers a way to enrich and advance their physical Yoga practice through a deeper understanding of physiology, psychology, philosophy, and spirituality centered on vedic and tantric principles.

Woven together with stories from Sri Shyam Sundar Goswami’s life, the book explains pratyâhâra (control of the senses), châranâ (yogic bodybuilding), mental concentration exercises, and the energy-focusing and purifying muscular-control movements known as mudras, including the metabolism-boosting mahamudra and advanced pelvic mudras and sexual practices to transcend the ego. The book explores methods of internal purification such as dhauti (cleansing of the stomach with air or water), vasti (intestinal cleansing), neti (nasal cleansing), trâtaka (visual concentration exercises), and kapâlabhâti (diaphragmatic hyperventilation) and shows how these purifications are necessary before beginning the advanced breathing practices of prânayâma to eradicate deep internal impurities and strengthen the immune system. Exploring the philosophy of Yoga, the book shares meditative exercises for introspection, expanding consciousness, and seeking your true divine nature.

As the teachings and life of Sri S. S. Goswami show, by strengthening the body, vital force, and mind, one can master all three for a long, healthy, harmonious life.

Table of contents

• Cover Image
• Title Page
• Epigraph
• Table of Contents
• Foreword: Gunnar Adler-Karlsson
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: At the Feet of the “Lion of Bengal”
• Chapter 1: Origins and Objectives of Yoga
• Chapter 2: Science and Spirituality
• Chapter 3: Yoga in Daily Life
• Chapter 4: Yama—Ethical Rules
• Chapter 5: Niyama—Self-Regulation
• Chapter 6: Āsanas—Postures
• Chapter 7: āranā—Yogic Bodybuilding
• Chapter 8: Yogic Sexual Mastery
• Chapter 9: Sat Karman—Purifications
• Chapter 10: Prānāyāma—Respiratory Control
• Chapter 11: Pratyāhāra—Control of the Senses
• Chapter 12: Stages of Concentration
• Conclusion
• Note on the Pronunciation of Transliterated Sanskrit Words
• Glossary
• Footnotes
• About the Author
• About Inner Traditions • Bear & Company
• Copyright & Permissions