The notes below are designed to give prospective readers an idea of what to expect from the book, and to aid in making a decision on whether to buy it.
This is an exceptional book. It’s a series of 15 newsletters, each with a section on philosophy, posture, diet, meditation, and other tips. If I were to recommend only one semi-advanced book on yoga this would be it. It integrates Jesus and Christianity very well into yoga given Walters’ Christian nature.
Philosophy
Raja yoga is royal yoga. Walters guru was Yogananda. He recommends “Autobiography of a Yogi.”
Yoga increases the flow by removing nerve blocks. Yoga is focused on prana.
All you want is to ‘improve.’
Kriya is action intended to awaken the spine and head.
Man must receive enlightenment, he cannot manufacture it. Yoga just opens the window.
Be open to receiving.
All must be directed from your center (not externally).
Chitta are the feelings we get from vibrations.
Vritti are the vortices interrupting Asmirath’s flow.
Yoga neutralizes the ego.
There are many types of yoga. Bhakti is devotion; karma is hard work; gyana is study.
Devine attunement can occur in many ways, but we only need one.
Paramguru (guru’s guru).
Repeat “I am not body. I am sprit, ever blissful, ever free.”
Do not underestimate your own ability to change.
Awareness is critical. We cannot have awareness on the negative but hope for the positive. We must align our awareness and hopes.
The nervous system is magnetic.
If you expect to be lucky, you will be lucky more often.
We all need to live more in the spine.
The spine is linked with mental states.
Sit and inhale and exhale, it clears the mind.
Only when loved can you be in harmony.
Each chakra has a different sound: 1st = bumble-bee, 2nd = flute, 3rd = strings; 4th = bells; 5th = wind; 6th = AUM.
You = spirit and immortal (Atmas). Sun = spiritual, Moon = ego. Good charts with horoscopes overlaid with chakras on p. 396. Not sure I fully understand it.
Kriya Yoga is the need to learn more.
The bible talks about the spine and chakras: Zechariah 4:2,3; Revelations 22:1, 2. 3rd eye discussed as Christ’s center in Matthew 6:22.
Keeping a sense of wonder is important.
All is linked and all is a part of a whole, similar to how the waves are a part of the ocean.
Nothing is closer or further from the divine, despite how it appears.
Do not divide into dualities. It is all one.
Ego is the barrier.
What we are all seeking is already within us.
One must learn to be positive in the right ways about the right things.
Energy
Long discussion of Yamas in Chapter 4 to direct energy uses.
Individual pleasure does not have a goal of unity and is negative.
Lower sexual energy to raise brain energy.
In yoga always direct energy UP.
We attract energy based upon our beliefs.
Finding our root beliefs is not easy.
Strongly affirming positive quality can cause you to change.
Subconscious picks up on conscious but must be firm to program one another.
We are all made of energy linked to consciousness and matter.
The greater the flow of energy, the greater the magnetic field.
Do not use magnetism with negative thoughts.
Manstrue native is infinite light. A ray of positive energy from the top of the brain and a pole of negative energy from the bottom of the spine. Bring energy up via the inhale and down via the exhale (apana via pingala).
Selfish and unkind thoughts increases apana and make kundalini curl tighter. Use Namas and Niyamas to uncurl.
More spiritual chakras are higher.
Focus on the higher chakras to increase the energy through the magnetic enters.
Kundalini trees. Samskaras are subtle tendencies or seeds of karma. Samskar = vortex of energy.
3 Gunas (apsects): Sattwa (spitualizing), Rajas (energizing), and Tamas (inertial).
Tat = Father = God
AUM = holy ghost. Cosmic waves and vibrations.
Soul is the individualized spirit that merges with the infinite.
Tips
Don’t over do it. Be careful.
Always send energy UP the spine.
Sexual energy can be transmuted into spinal energy.
Stay seated for as long as you can.
If the flow is disturbed the breath is disturbed.
Send energy to the throat.
Yoga is a spiritual development.
Inhale when come up, exhale when go down. Always inhale with the nose which filters.
Heat is a symptom prana is blocked. Spicy foods, alcohol, creates too much heat.
Breath = Prana = energy (all same). Breathing moves floating. Ribs move then the top of the chest of free emotion. Exhale the mental world.
Do not breathe too strong. If nervous or upset we tend to breathe too lightly.
Exhale – surrender of conscious mind.
Longer breath gives a longer life. Alternate nostrils. Left side used more during the day. Right side used more during the night. Anger flares the nostrils.
Breath controls the nervous system by calming it and creating harmony.
Universal consciousness is obtained by restricting individual consciousness.
Anger creates heat.
Long hair increases energy to the brain.
Postures/Asana
Child’s pose: a gentile inversion.
Cobra: “I rise to meet all obstacles”
Tree: become more centered in your sprit not the ego (leg like half lotus). “I am calm.” Hands above heads in tree creates an aura of light to protect you.
Chadrasana: hands high above head “Strength and courage fill my cells.”
Padahastasana: “What is in this world can hold me.”
Trikonasa: “Energy and Joy flood my body. Joy descends upon me.”
Pachimotanasana: tones nervous and digestive systems. “I am safe. All good things come to me and give me peace.”
Dhanurasana: “I recall my scattered forces to recharge my spine.”
Janushirasa: “Waves of harmony flow up my spine.”
V balance pose: “Within my every breath is infinite power.”
Backbend: “I am free. I am free.”
Sethu Bandhasana (Bridge): “I offer every thought as a bridge to divine grace.”
Halasana: “New consciousness now floods my brain.”
Inversions are done at the end because the spine is free to flow and it decreases the sagging of the abdomen. It flushes and stimulates the brain.
Saravangasna (shoulder stand): “God’s peace now floods my being.” Make sure there is no bend in the pelvis but the bend is in the neck. It should help to resolve headaches.
Karnapirasa (ear closure pose): “My boat of life floats lightly on the tides of peace.”
Chakrasana: “I am awake! Energetic, enthusiastic, recharged.”
Simhasana (Lion): “I purify my thoughts, my speech, my every action.” Lion can help sore throat.
Pavanamuktasana (wind freeing): “I release my spinal energy to rise in light.”
Vajrasana (firm seat on knees): “In stillness I touch my inner strength.” Helps with the stability of the mind.
Sasamgasuna (Hare pose—bent over, grab feet over head): “I am the master of my energy and of myself.”
Supta Vajarasana: “Energetic movement or unmoving peace. The choice is mine.”
Viparita Karani (simple inversion): “Awake, my sleeping powers, awake.”
Sirshasana (headstand): “I am he! I am he! Blissful spirit. I am he.” It centers energy in the frontal lobe. It also helps to decrease headaches.
Savasana: “I surrender and give all to the hands of peace”
Siddhasana (like lotus but flex feet on top and don’t bind): “I set ablaze a fire of inner joy.” Gentiles stay between the heels for men. Sitting for 20 minutes makes you more clam.
Padmasana: “I sit serene, uplifted in thy light.”
Supta Vajrasan (Camel): “With calm faith, I open to thy light.”
Ardha Salabhasa (1/2 locus): “I soar upwards on the wings of joy.”
Ardha Matsyendrasana (1/2 spinal twist): “I radiate love and goodwill to soul friends everywhere.”
Karshana Dhanurasa (pulling bow): “With shafts of will I will practice the heart of union.”
Garudasana (Eagle): “At the center of life’s storms I will stand serene.”
Parvatasana (Lotus with hands up): “My thoughts and energy rise up to touch the skies.”
Shalabasana (full locust): “I soar upward on the wings of joy.” Energy from the legs to the base of the spine.
Matsyasana (Fish—can you float on water with it?): “My soul floats on waves of cosmic light.” Dares your energy to the eyebrows.
Yoga Mudra: “I am Thine, receive me.” Increases your humility. Ego is the back of the head and needs to be released.
Nauli (stomach isolation): hands on thighs on their respective sides. Push stomach from left to the right. Too much can give too high of BP.
Mayurasana (Peacock)
Kechari Mudra: where tongue is soft and on the palate. Increases energy and lowers hunger.
Surya Bedha Pranayama: Inhale right, retain, AUM, exhale left. Repeat. Increases heat.
Kapalabhati: strengthens the diaphragm
Mudras: increases the flow of energy in a plane.
Inversions: help respiration and the sinuses especially headaches. Inversions also increases energy to bait inner harmony and joy.
Neti: also helps respiration.
Ha: focuses on upward on the left. It’s solar, health, courage, inhale, and laughter.
Tha: a downward motion with lunar and discovery on the right. Exhales explores this.
Sitkari—take tongue to teeth when breathing.
Things to be aware of
Yoga neutralizes waves of the lower mind. Inhale 12, hold 12, exhale 12. “Thy light flows into me and I am filled with peace.”
Must release tension without releasing prana. When happy, you see the light and sit up. Down motions directs the energy to be disrupted. Direct the energy to the brain.
The spine is the holy river of life.
Yoga is deep relaxation not strain.
Observe others’ postures.
Feel the insides of the muscles and the tensions and vibrations.
Draw a circle around you and say “AUM, tat sat.”
The goal of all postures is ease or Sahaja.
We are always in divine union even without meditation.
Flow occurs in real life from the peach within.
Capture your own body rhythms.
The goal of breathing is breathlessness because of total calm and relaxation.
The breath removes carbon and increases because of more broken down tissue.
Personalize the routine to what you need and what you enjoy (not always the same).
Sleeping and diet:
Chant AUM, peace, peace, peace.
Avoid food, especially high carb foods. Eat warm foods if you must eat.
Ghee (clarified butter) = cooling properties.
Chronic fatigue comes from being spread too thin and scattered energy. Solutions are to think of others; breathe.
Dhanurasana, Janushriasana, and chakrasanas.
Rajasic foods, such as meat, eggs, garlic, and onion, activate the body.
Fasting is used to cure disease and kechari mudra (tongue to Uvula) can cure hunger.
Brain avoids the ego driven subconscious and increases the superconscious to link with others.
Look into the eyes of anyone with a strong, vibrant personality. Blinking = restlessness, eyes pressed inwards from the side is a sign of worry.
Yogilanda said he saw cancer in cows and pigs because they did not eat clean. Eating fruits and nuts are best.
Eat small portions often. Weight driven by past life karmas. Shoulder stand stimulates the thyroid and may help with weight. Sprouts have lots of protein.
Buddha taught moderation in all things.
Raw food is better.
Egg whites and wine irritate the sexual nerve (raw foods are best, especially fruit).
3 types of food: Savic (fruit); Rajasic (meat/grain); Tamsic (horseradish and pungent foods)
Sattwic foods are spiritual foods.
Yogis do not eat for a long time because it draws prana away from the sun and the cosmic energy and air.
Swallowing the tongue quells hunger.
Must be ready to receive natures’ energy.
Love is vibrations. Food fills based upon the love with which it was cooked.
Traditionally do not eat until 9am. A big meal at noon and 7pm-ish. Do not drink (even water) 4 hours after a meal.
I have scanned pages 174-176, 250-252, and p. 314 under the health page. It lists some asanas and foods that one may or may not find helpful. This is not health advice. Talk to your doctor.
Skin is a sign of your health. Rub it.
If you are poised by a cobra you can drink the nectar from its tail as an antivenom. Also you can draw a Pentecost near where the pain stops in your arm or leg and then draw more connected until you reach the site of the bite. Do not lift rusty nail you use to draw and do not break skin. Wearing gemstones can also help if right ones. (I have no idea if this works).
Talk to your doctor. I seriously doubt all of this!
Physical exertion, tension, and emotion all get carbon into the body. So do carbohydrates. Avoid whenever possible.
Avoid tea and coffee as they wear out the heart.
Milk and mushed bananas can help digestion.
Orange juice or lemon juice with garlic can reduce rheumatism and gout.
A pea sized piece of cayenne and ginger mixed with a hint of white pepper into hot water and spooned in helps lower mucus.
Meditation
All religions give inner peace.
Have space for meditation and ideally face east or north.
Concentrate on the space between the eyes.
Avoid activity that draws energy downwards. You want the energy to go up.
Need to be devotional.
Awareness increases in an inversely proportional manner to one’s identification with matter or form.
Chanting increases meditation’s effect—see page 183.
Visualize fire, earth, air, water, and inner soul. Not the body but soul.
Meditate that you are a rock and be steadfast.
Enjoy yourself and not outward things.
Be one with all elements.
Believe and have affirmations. Yogilanda has cosmic chants which help with vibrations. Also Japa-focused chants.
Sincerity is critical.
We are already in divine truth.
Concentration is the key to success.
Breath is the focus because it is the major obstacle.
Do not breathe in Samadhi because the energy comes from medulla oblongata (ajna chakra). Let the breath be natural.
Chant “Hong” on the inhale. “Sau” on the exhale.
Concentrate on the top of the nose at the third eye (per Krisna in Ghagavad Gita, not at tip of nose).
Surround yourself with divine light, but only when needed.
Read Autobiography of a Yogi by Yogilanda.
The more you give, the more you receive a vortex of magnetism.
All is born in God’s magnetism.
Inhale: “Hong.” Exhale “Sau.” Bring awareness of when breath enters the start of the nose.
Become the breath not the body.
When you need help and good company “Sat-Sang.”
Guru is the lighthouse. Magnetic, not intellectual. Sit quietly and absorb the vibrations.
Avatar is divine incarnation linked with cosmic consciousness.
Absorption does not strain.
Rub head with almond oil.
The answers to everything already exist in other planes. We just discover them.
God is love, peace, and joy.
Meditation must be filled with love.
Meditation occurs at the heart center of the spine flower with petals downwards and then turns the petals upwards and lets the energy flow to the eyebrows.
Concentrate on the guru or Jesus. You should become their magnetism.
Gaze at the sunset and meditate on the rising sun.
Kundalini destroys the nervous system if not inspired by devotional aspiration.
You want to invoke Kundalini slowly, like riding a horse.
It must be devotional and magnetic. Kundalini is female. Needs devotion, surrender, service, and humility at the heart’s center.
Our magnetic nature increases with age.
Power is God’s, not ours.
“Thine is the Kingdom of power, and the glory forever.”
Feeling with reason goes up. Feeling alone goes down and guided by Maya (illusion and selfish desire).
Rare is the wise sage who sees God in everything, and everything in God.
Learn to be impersonal not only with others but with yourself. Understand you are an instrument of the divine. Of yourself you are nothing. Of yourself you can do nothing.
The goal of all spiritual striving is to be more the little self in the infinite self.
Define realization is attained by awakening smriti, divine memory.
Plant a seed and leave it alone when meditating
Start digging a hole and do a bit every day and you will get there, but don’t always question.
There is a difference between productive doubts and existential doubts that don’t do any good.
Don’t use drugs. They don’t get you there. They get you to a false place.
Are you becoming more kind? More calm? More self-loving? Then it’s working!
Be patient. Your investments will pay off.
Compare yourself to your previous self NOT others. God speaks to each person differently.
Some see light (in which case go into the center of it), some hear astral music or better yet chakras own music (ideally highest ones), or tears from love spilling out, or an inner calmness. Others have tastes or smells. God speaks to each person differently!
You must be steady with a steady breath.
Are you happier? Calmer? It’s working!