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The genuine yoga practitioner uses the three environments to practice his posture in such a way as to attain access to the inner sanctum sanctorum within his body. The three environments are:

1)      The external environment

2)      The physiological environment

3)      The internal environment

1) The external environment is the place of practice. So if he is practicing the yoga posture in a yoga studio than this is the external environment.

Let us analyze the nature of this environment.

• The dimensions of this studio are the length, the width and the height of this studio.

• The periphery of the studio is made up of the walls of the studio and the ceiling and the floor. All that lies within this periphery is the contents of this environment.

• The contents of the studio can be classified as:

a)      Animate or Inanimate.

b)      Fixed or Mobile.

c)      Intelligent or unintelligent

d)      Grosse or Subtle

a) The objects that one may normally find in a yoga studio are yoga mats, bricks, chairs, ties, bolsters etc. These do not possess the ability to produce change within the atmosphere of the studio and so are considered inanimate. There are also other objects like the refrigerator, the air conditioner, the lighting, and of course the people in the studio. These objects are able to produce change and are hence called inanimate. The animate objects in the room are able to produce desirable arrangements within the room by displacing the contents in that room and producing the right kind of atmosphere for performing a particular function. If it were a dining room the tables would be arranged in a particular manner etc. The definition of an animate object is; “an animate object is one that possess a latent kinetic energy that when applied upon can create change in a given environment”. The energy in the lighting is the electricity that operates it and the energy in the people is the spirit of the person inhabiting that body.

b) The physical body is connected to the external environment at a given point of contact. This is a purely physical connection and is the source of the earth element. Hence if we are standing in tadasana than the earth element is in the feet. However, if we tend to lean on the wall, than we would be able to experience the earth element at the point of contact with the wall. This is sometimes necessary to distribute the earth element over to other regions of the body. Those parts of the body that maintain contact with the external environment are called fixed and those that are free to move are called mobile.

c) The intelligent objects in the room are the people, plants and other living beings that may be occupying the room at that time.

d) An object may be considered to be grosse if it is

The physiological environment constitutes the human body

Let us analyze the nature of this environment.

• The dimensions of the human body are Cephalo-caudal, Dorso-ventral and Lateral sides of the body.

• The skin is the periphery of the physiological environment and all that lies within this periphery is the contents of this environment.

• The contents of the human body can be classified as:

e)      Animate or Inanimate.

f)       Fixed or Mobile.

g)      Intelligent or unintelligent

h)      Grosse or Subtle

e)) The body is made up of bones, muscles, organs, tissue, etc. Some of these contents of the human body can be moved by the person practicing the posture while others cannot be moved. The bones are inanimate because they rely on the muscles, which are animate to produce movement in the body. So also the lungs are inanimate and the diaphragm is animate, the blood is inanimate and the heart is animate. This is very important because if we can regulate the animate contents of the body, than we will by default be able to influence the functions of the inanimate organs in the body some of which are extremely important for the healthy functioning of the organism.

The internal environment.

The internal environment constitutes the Subtle body

Let us analyze the nature of this environment.

• The subtle dimensions of the subtle body are the Pranamaya Kosya, the Manomaya Kosya and the Vijnyanamaya Kosya.

• The skin is the periphery of the physiological environment and all that lies within this periphery is the contents of this environment.

• The contents of the subtle body can be classified as:

As the practitioner learns to go deeper and deeper into the pose he begins to observe the finer details that come along with the posture. This constant fine tuning of the body while in the pose leads to a deeper understanding of the functioning of the mind and the interconnection between the two. This is an important step towards experiencing the inner environment. In much the same way that, in order to prepare the external environment to practice yoga, one must clear a space in the middle of the room and arrange the objects in a way that is conducive to conducting a yoga class, so also the yogi prepares the body which is a temple of the spirit by creating space wherein he rests as the indweller, unfettered and free from the bondage and stresses of human life. The path to the inner most sanctum sanctorum is littered with the garbage of greed, lust, pride, egoism and other such mental, emotional and social garbage. Through the practice of yoga asana the yogi is able to firstly purify the vessel which contains the spirit, which is his body, and then systematically go through the process of removing all other obstacles that arise as he learns to stay longer in the postures. It is very important for the yogi to build his practice around a strong foundation without which he will not be able to survive the journey to the depths of the soul

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Video: J. Krishnamurthy