What is Himalayan Yoga?

[Guest guest]

I could not find anything of substance about it on the internet.

Certain people and places claim to teach it. Is it just a clever buz

word? Is it just a marketing ploy used to snare unwary muppies, or

is there really something to Himalayan Yoga?

[Guest guest]

Hi Rudran2,

 

I don't really know what you mean by "Himalayan Yoga." These days it

seems everyone is marketing their own particular style of teaching

hatha yoga under some flashy moniker. Unfortunately, to my mind, some

teachers have appropriated traditional names for their own use,

ashtanga, for instance. But this is my own pet peeve.

 

Himalayan yoga could be a newly coined brand name, in which case I

know absolutely nothing about it, or you, or whomever it was that

mentioned it to you, could be referring to yoga as taught at the

Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy in Honesdale, PA,

or its brother organization (Ican't recall the name) started by Swami

Veda Bharati, after Swami Rama left his body.

 

The program of hatha yoga taught at the institute is really Raja Yoga

as taught by Swami Rama (also known, primarily in India, as Bhole

Baba), and is an authentic system of practice. Teachers of this

program belong to the Himalayan Institute Teachers Association.

 

Swami Veda, when he started his own organization, seems to have kept

pretty much the same structure of training and organization as at the

Institute, and as I think on it, it is just possible that he is

calling his program Himalayan Yoga, and his certifying body the

Himalayan Yoga Teachers Association. I'm not sure about this, it's

been a long time since I checked to see what he's been up to, so I've

forgotten.

 

In any case, yoga as taught by Swamiji (Rama) at the institute is a

complete system of practice begining with asana, and including all

the rungs of classical ashtanga yoga. The hatha training is

specifically designed to purify the sheaths and prepare one for the

higher practices of yoga taught in the tradition.

 

The Himalayan Institute can be found on the web, and Swami Veda has a

center in Minnesota, and in Rishikesh. He has (or at least had) two

websites, that I think you can find by searching his name.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Chris

 

, "rudran2" <stechiekov> wrote:

> I could not find anything of substance about it on the internet.

> Certain people and places claim to teach it. Is it just a clever

buz

> word? Is it just a marketing ploy used to snare unwary muppies, or

> is there really something to Himalayan Yoga?