Himalayan Yoga Tradition

The Himalayas have been home to sages for thousands of years. Since the Vedic Era, these sages have passed on yogic teachings to their students, and when these students themselves became sages with this knowledge, they have passed them on to their own students in an unbroken lineage. 1200 years ago, Shankaracharya organized his teachings into the "five centers of the Himalayan Tradition." As one of these five, our tradition is the "Bharati" lineage, connected to the Shankaracharyas and the Shringei Seat. Bha means "light of knowledge," and rati means "lover who is dissolved in it." Therefore, Bharati means "one who is a lover of knowledge and who melts completely in its light." The Himalayan Tradition's methods and philosophy have stood the test of time. Generations have followed its path, and a vast body of knowledge has been accumulated.

Students can study the Tradition's texts and read the experiences of the great masters of the past. The Himalayan Tradition is not one in which a teacher declares himself a Guru and students are obligated to follow him unquestioningly. Instead, teachings come from Tradition, and the student looks to it to support and derive meaning from their teacher's teachings. The primary purpose of Tradition is to awaken the divine fire within every human being, and the goal of every student is to become a Master of the Tradition by discovering their true self. It is the teacher's responsibility to selflessly assist the student on their path to ultimate enlightenment, with the Guru's Grace. The transmission of knowledge occurs experientially through energetic pulses.

The Himalayan Tradition of Yoga Meditation blends the wisdom of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, the philosophy and practices of Tantra, and the specific verbal expositions of Yoga Masters and sages, known and unknown.

Tradition is not the mental union of three unrelated elements, but a system in which all inseparable parts of a whole are integrated.

All of the fundamental principles and practices found in known meditation systems are present in the Himalayan Tradition, and these systems are largely derived from it. For example: Vipassana emphasizes breath awareness, Transcendental Meditation focuses on repeating a mantra, and Hatha practitioners pay particular attention to posture. However, a Himalayan meditator learns to sit correctly, relax completely, breathe correctly, and then integrate breath awareness with the mantra.

When a person reaches the end of any part of the Himalayan system, continuity exists within the system as a whole. This can be explained as follows: It is rare for a student to master all the contents of the Himalayan System; however, they may master one or two and be sent to teach. They can attract developing students and allow them to benefit from their own understanding of the system. In this way, many different schools of meditation have emerged from the central school. When students reach the final stage in one subsystem, they move on to another aspect of the Himalayan system. This is called the separation and fusion of meditation systems.