Hatha yoga

What many in the West think of as yoga is hatha yoga, which is a system of physical practices that allows the control of breath and bodily functions. This form of yoga is only one of many yogas taught in the East.

When practiced as an end in itself, hatha yoga can actually be a distraction from the path of God-realization, or union with God. But the ascended master Chananda, chief of the Indian Council, recommends hatha yoga as

... an appropriate sequence of the exercise of the physical body for the interaction with the spiritual bodies and the chakras....

It is not a physical exercise for the exercise of the physical body. It is divine movement for the release of light that is even locked in your physical cells and atoms, in your very physical heart. Releasing that light transmutes toxins, fatigue and opposition to your victory. And therefore, not endless hours but a period of meditation and concentration combined with these yoga postures daily will reap much good. It will give you a surcease from the stress of bearing the burden of world karma and the burden of that certain type of chaotic energy which is uniquely Western in its vibration, emanating from the mass consciousness of uncontrolled feeling bodies and the wanton and reckless misuse of the mental body.

This path is something that you can take up and yet not be deterred from your regular activity of service. We desire to see one-pointedness and discipline rise from the base of the physical pyramid and ascend to the crown. Many of you have pursued the discipline from spiritual levels, drawing forth the light of the mighty I AM Presence down into the heart and into the lower vehicles. And this is as it should be, as the path of the Father is the descending light and the path of the Mother is the ascending light. Thus, we build from that foundation.

The ascended masters on hatha yoga

Saint Germain:

I say, keep on keeping on. For the angels watch over you, the adepts come nigh, the recording angels report to the Keeper of the Scrolls. And I watch and wait also. We are ready to transfer to you blessings and initiations and an impetus for greater life within your temple. I ask you, then, to study all that you know about what the adepts have taught, to do some form of yoga, some form of meditation and to do so with the idea of entering in to new octaves of consciousness. Yes, the continent of the mind is open to you, but you will not enter in save you have the qualifications.

Jesus:

Prayer, fasting, meditation on the Presence—physical exercise, yoga, breathing in fresh air and sunshine, et cetera—and, above all, harmony in the feeling world, high-mindedness, proper rest and a wholesome diet will complement your application of the Word for maximum acceleration of the divine memory of the Mind of God within your etheric body and its anchoring in the physical cells of the brain and central nervous system. Observing the above steps will contribute that needed balance that makes you both peaceful and energetic, confident of your path and person, and a cheerful example spreading joy and enthusiasm to all! Such as these breathe the air of holy purpose and accomplish it!

Portia:

Therefore, beloved, have a sense of co-measurement that [the advent of] full Christhood in you should make you at that level of the unascended Masters of the Far East. Understand that though that Christ Mind may occupy and serve through you, its full occupancy in your temple does require the greater strength of the Holy Spirit anchored in the physical form, atoms, cells and chakras.

Know, then, beloved, that the physical fitness of this body, the correct exercise and yoga of your choice, which means a physical devotion to your own I AM Presence, is essential as a part and parcel of any diet. Know, then, that the wholesomeness of life, the morality, the conservation of the life-force, that which is kind and pure and loving, uplifting, all of these things contribute to a health that does become even a wholeness [a holiness] and a vessel for the Holy Spirit.

The God of Gold:

If you can think of a mighty rod of power—the upper portion of the rod being that of Alpha, the lower portion of the rod being that of Omega, and the center of the rod being at that point between the etheric octave above and the physical octave below (that is, the center of the rod therefore being the point of the heart)—you may visualize, therefore, the hand of Elohim seizing this rod, now turning it. And as it is turned directly in place, the poles are reversed.

And lo, in the twinkling of an eye, the etheric octave is on earth and the physical octave now occupies the place previously occupied by the etheric band. The lower ascends for transmutation; the higher descends for assimilation. And thus the balance occurs by the power of Alpha and Omega, which is repeated in your own electrode of authority, which is the spinal altar of your own Kundalini fire.

And thus you see, when you pursue those postures of the divine yoga and you do the headstand, you are, beloved ones, imitating this reversal of the rod and therefore drawing the etheric body down and giving the opportunity for the physical body to be charged by the higher light. And the shoulder stand will suffice, for not so many in the West can, without danger, pursue that headstand.

Beloved ones of light, realize the great power even when you hang upside down from your modern instruments of exercise. It is the same principle—being upside down draws the power of attainment of the sacred fire and the etheric body into the earth. And thus, this is the meaning of the twinkling of the eye of God. I give you an exercise for visualization, for alchemy and for the physical exercise of your bodies.

Paul the Venetian:

Thus, beauty and mathematics, proportion and the golden ratio serve to enhance the message of the Word itself. Thus, we sought and ever seek in our retreat to bring to life the ancient records of akasha of the great souls who have ensouled a living flame. We study the geometry of virtue as it can be seen in the etheric plane. We study the dimensions of the aura and how the vibrations of light and their harmony enable the individual to carry greater and greater light.

We would transfer to our teachers in our schools here some understanding of the necessity for grace and line and movement, which brings us to the subject—whether of yoga or ballet or the dance or marching—of the natural grace of the soul that ought to be expressed in the body form for the release of fohat, for the release of the sacred fire breath. Patterns of sound and music outpictured become the means for the opening of the heart chakra, the lessening of tension and therefore the increase of love and appreciation for life.

Cyclopea:

Remember, we have approved and advocated various systems of yoga for the maintenance of the rhythm of the flow of life. When these are combined with the four-point breathing exercise and the visualization of the threefold flame for the light to flow in the chakras, the rhythm of yoga, the rhythm of the dynamic decree, right diet, exercise, and a facing of the sun once a day for ten minutes as you give the call to Helios and Vesta (taking care not to expose the eyes to the direct glare of the sun) will give you the contact to a mighty reservoir of light in the heart of Helios and Vesta that is the balancing action for this solar system.

Djwal Kul:

Those who are students of the ascended masters need not practice the traditional forms of yoga to attain the immortal reunion. Nevertheless, they will find in these sciences the presaging of the higher way of fulfillment through the energies of the Holy Spirit invoked as the fires of transmutation and liberation. When your aura becomes filled with the fire of God through daily invocations made in the name of the I AM Presence, fiats of the Word, and decrees of definition, there is a pressure that is brought to bear upon the soul and consciousness whereby its true identity, its individuality, is literally catapulted into the Holy of Holies, the secret place of the Most High God that is the I AM Presence.

See also

Yoga

Sources

Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, The Masters and the Spiritual Path, chapter 1, “The Highest Yoga.”