Breathing, a Tetragrammaton (?) and God?
I am preparing the outline for a Yoga class and thinking of the breath-work to practice today, continuing the work done in the classes past. Breath-work is so neat! It is vital - what happens when it stops, for ever? - and it is so sweet, esp. when gasping after hard work, or a run, or a flight of stairs.
In the Yoga world, it is part of the Yoga practice, intrinsically tide to everything else. And it is a gateway calming the incessant mind, and its plans, and its review of the past, and its fears, precautions, mandates...agggghhhhh!!! "Shut up please!", I sometimes "yell" to myself (nobody else hears it...!), for those voices consume energy: they are exhausting!
Buy Yoga reminds me, reminds its practitioners, that thru the breath, we can calm the heart rate, and focus on the 'beats' and from there continue on to a soothing, calming moment in the daily routine and its "noise".
So in writing the outline, and taking a break for some coffee, the notification sound of incoming emails alerts me to an inbox that is clamoring to share its contents, and as I unwillingly (but automatically Pavlovian response-like open the Mail app, there is this headline from CAC - the Center for Action and Contemplation: Father Richard Rohr's daily email. Today it is all about...The Gate of Heaven is Everywhere...well, that is nice, and I think I have an idea of what that writing will be about...but in the next line..."Breathing Yahweh, Monday, October 6, 2014"...aaaahhhh?
...What is that all about?
Here is the link to it...link, click here...go ahead and take a look...but I want to bring out and munch on a couple of things. Fr. Richard uses the term "Tetragrammaton" for the name of God in Hebrew - YHVH - or Yahweh, and adds: it is the sacred Tetragrammaton YHVH (yod, he, vay, and he). I am told that those are the only consonants in the Hebrew alphabet that are not articulated with lips and tongue. Rather, they are breathed, with the tongue relaxed and lips apart. YHVH was considered a literally unspeakable word for Jews, and any attempt to know what they were talking about was “in vain.”
What's that phrase again..."there are no coincidences"...?
Here am I thinking of a short chat, maybe a minute or less, on the breath, its nature and its effects, and here comes in this "loaded tanker"...! So what do I do now with the diaphragm image from Kaminoff's web page?
Do I get into - and wade into - the tepid waters of "Yoga is, is not a religion" discussion? And how do I get out if I jump in? Whose toes will I step onto?
Father Richard comes in to the rescue:
"...formally the name of God was not, could not be spoken at all—only breathed. Many are convinced that its correct pronunciation is an attempt to replicate and imitate the very sound of inhalation and exhalation. Therefore, the one thing we do every moment of our lives is to speak the name of God. This makes the name of God our first and last word as we enter and leave the world."
Munch...
So, why did Patanjali write the Sutras with so much emphasis on..."mastery and integration of the activities of the mind"..."then the seer, the Self rests in its true nature"...and adds more, making a discipline of breathwork - Pranayama - an essential part of the Sutra's...? From the linked page comes the tie to Fr. Richard's "tetragrammaton" - "yod, he, vay, he":
"Fourth rung is Pranayama: The fourth of the eight rungs (2.29) of Yoga is Pranayama, which is regulating the breath so as to make it slow and subtle (2.50), leading to the experience of the steady flow of energy (prana), which is beyond or underneath exhalation, inhalation, and the transitions between them (2.51).
The fourth Pranayama: The three pranayamas are exhalation, inhalation, and the transition (2.50). However, the fourth pranayama is that continuous prana which surpasses, is beyond, or behind the others (2.51)."
"...exhale, transition, inhale, transition..."- that's what Mukunda Stiles taught! He emphasized the breath to be present, and to be present in the breath, esp. in the transitions!
Are things linking all around?...let me get back to my outline...
In the Yoga world, it is part of the Yoga practice, intrinsically tide to everything else. And it is a gateway calming the incessant mind, and its plans, and its review of the past, and its fears, precautions, mandates...agggghhhhh!!! "Shut up please!", I sometimes "yell" to myself (nobody else hears it...!), for those voices consume energy: they are exhausting!
Buy Yoga reminds me, reminds its practitioners, that thru the breath, we can calm the heart rate, and focus on the 'beats' and from there continue on to a soothing, calming moment in the daily routine and its "noise".
So in writing the outline, and taking a break for some coffee, the notification sound of incoming emails alerts me to an inbox that is clamoring to share its contents, and as I unwillingly (but automatically Pavlovian response-like open the Mail app, there is this headline from CAC - the Center for Action and Contemplation: Father Richard Rohr's daily email. Today it is all about...The Gate of Heaven is Everywhere...well, that is nice, and I think I have an idea of what that writing will be about...but in the next line..."Breathing Yahweh, Monday, October 6, 2014"...aaaahhhh?
...What is that all about?
Here is the link to it...link, click here...go ahead and take a look...but I want to bring out and munch on a couple of things. Fr. Richard uses the term "Tetragrammaton" for the name of God in Hebrew - YHVH - or Yahweh, and adds: it is the sacred Tetragrammaton YHVH (yod, he, vay, and he). I am told that those are the only consonants in the Hebrew alphabet that are not articulated with lips and tongue. Rather, they are breathed, with the tongue relaxed and lips apart. YHVH was considered a literally unspeakable word for Jews, and any attempt to know what they were talking about was “in vain.”
What's that phrase again..."there are no coincidences"...?
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| Illustration by Sharon Ellis from “Yoga Anatomy” by Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews |
Do I get into - and wade into - the tepid waters of "Yoga is, is not a religion" discussion? And how do I get out if I jump in? Whose toes will I step onto?
Father Richard comes in to the rescue:
"...formally the name of God was not, could not be spoken at all—only breathed. Many are convinced that its correct pronunciation is an attempt to replicate and imitate the very sound of inhalation and exhalation. Therefore, the one thing we do every moment of our lives is to speak the name of God. This makes the name of God our first and last word as we enter and leave the world."
Munch...
So, why did Patanjali write the Sutras with so much emphasis on..."mastery and integration of the activities of the mind"..."then the seer, the Self rests in its true nature"...and adds more, making a discipline of breathwork - Pranayama - an essential part of the Sutra's...? From the linked page comes the tie to Fr. Richard's "tetragrammaton" - "yod, he, vay, he":
"Fourth rung is Pranayama: The fourth of the eight rungs (2.29) of Yoga is Pranayama, which is regulating the breath so as to make it slow and subtle (2.50), leading to the experience of the steady flow of energy (prana), which is beyond or underneath exhalation, inhalation, and the transitions between them (2.51).
The fourth Pranayama: The three pranayamas are exhalation, inhalation, and the transition (2.50). However, the fourth pranayama is that continuous prana which surpasses, is beyond, or behind the others (2.51)."
"...exhale, transition, inhale, transition..."- that's what Mukunda Stiles taught! He emphasized the breath to be present, and to be present in the breath, esp. in the transitions!
Are things linking all around?...let me get back to my outline...
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