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Thursday Satsang via Zoom– April 28, 2022

Lecture by Ashutosh Sharma on Hatha Yoga, Breath Awareness,

and a Loving Attitude Towards Oneself in our Yoga Practice and Our Life.

Introduction by Michael Smith

7:00 P.M. – 8:30 P.M. CDT

7:00 p.m.: Meditation with Swami Radha Bharati

7:30-8:30 p.m.: A Video with Ashutosh Sharma,

Introduction by Michael Smith

8:30 p.m.: Evening Prayers

…Ashutosh talks about his early training in a very strict, intense school of Hatha and his wonderment when he came to Swami Veda and found that none of his earlier training applied, and how he had to unlearn all the things that he was so confident about. Swami Veda taught him that by comparing himself with others and forcing the body into advanced poses, the entire purpose of Yoga, which is balance, harmony, peacefulness, and joy, is defeated.

There are sections in this talk where Ashutosh talks about certain technical aspects of teachings Hatha in the HYT — such as how to sequence asanas as part of a regular integrated Yoga practice, how to work with one’s physical limitations and one’s time constraints, the importance of breath-awareness, postural stability, the necessity to relax effort when doing asanas. But he also talked about certain marvelous things that are part of Prana-vidya Hatha Yoga – such as mindfulness of the subtle body and the after-effects of doing an asana, and how an entire shift of consciousness can occurwhile in centered relaxations in which one goes beyond identification with the body.

Ashutosh’s main theme, however, is about creating an attitude of self-acceptance and self-nurturance in one’s sadhana. And the most beautiful part of his talk is at the end where he talks about how Swami Veda taught him to be a “flower-picking” person rather than a “thorn-picking” person, and about his personal transformation due to Swamiji’s unconditional love.

Excerpt from the Summary of “Hatha Yoga as a Gateway to Meditation” by Ashutosh Sharma, HYT-TTP Seminar: November 7, 2021. The summary was written by Michael Smith.

Pandit Ashutosh Sharma is an expert hatha yoga instructor, who can teach both beginners and advanced students. From an early age, he studied asanas, pranayama, and subtle-body relaxation techniques. In 1992, he met Swami Rama, who sent him to Swami Veda Bharati to learn meditation and to intensify his practices. Since 1996, he has been travelling and teaching worldwide. He serves as a senior Hatha Instructor for the Himalayan Yoga Tradition – Teacher Training Program (HYT- TTP) and has trained hundreds of teachers all over the world in the Prana Vidya Hatha Yoga Style of the Himalayan Tradition.

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