Integral yoga helps self-discovery and improves concentration and sleep, helping to master violent emotions . Let’s find out better. 

>   The meaning of  integral yoga

>   Origins and philosophy  of  integral yoga

>   The practice

>   The benefits  of  integral yoga

>   The teachers and the schools

>   Curiosities about integral yoga

Meaning of integral Yoga

Integral yoga  ( purna -yoga )  is to be understood as the discovery of the self and the possibility of finding earthly transformation, according to the teaching of Sri Aurobindo. It is intended as an adventure of the conscience.

Origins and philosophy  of integral Yoga

According to Sri Aurobindo , man’s vocation consists in achieving communion with the divine power that acts in the cosmos, the  shakti  (from the Sanskrit “power, strength”, appellative of Parvati-Kali, wife of Shiva), through a transformation of conscience induced by its  integral yoga  ( purna-yoga ), which, unlike traditional yoga, seeks to integrate the divine also into everyday life and material life.

Practice

In the practice of integral yoga one can resort to classical disciplines if these are useful for the harmonization of being, starting from physical postures (asana) and continuing with breathing techniques (pranayama), concentration (dharana), repetition of the mantra (japa) and meditation (dhyana), although the practice of them totally depends on the individual nature of the practitioner and there is no valid discipline for everyone to follow.

According to Sri Aurobindo’s text The Synthesis of Yoga, Integral Yoga is based on the harmonization of different yogic branches that were previously disjointed:

• Hatha Yoga  – physical yoga; 
• Raja Yoga  – the yoga of the mind; 
• Karma Yoga  – the yoga of selfless action; 
• Bhakti Yoga  – the yoga of devotion; 
• Jnana Yoga – the yoga of knowledge;
• Tantra –  the discipline useful for entering into rapport with the Shakti, the Mother.

The benefits of integral Yoga

With integral yoga you learn to calm the mental, to improve concentration , to make natural aspects of living such as health, sleep, appetite, to dominate violent emotions, to make the true and profound spiritual aspect flourish.

Slowly we move around the world  with balance and harmony in all daily activities. You acquire  serenity, distension and relaxation, revitalizing at the same time on the energetic level. The flexibility of the body is joined by the elasticity of the mind.

The teachers and the schools

Sri Aurobindo  was born into a wealthy Bengali family and studied at the University of Cambridge, England, where he remained for 14 years. He was able to enter Cambirdge thanks to a scholarship in classical literature awarded to him by St. Paul’s School in London. In 1893 he returned to India, joined the nationalist movement. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1907, on suspicion of involvement in a bomb-making affair. 

In prison he received an inner order in the form of intuition, a simple and powerful command that materialized in his mind: “Go to Pondichéry”. Embarking on a false name aboard the Dupleix, he arrived in Pondichéry on April 4, 1910 and retired to an ashram  (hermitage), which became the fertile ground on which Sri Aurobindo lays the foundations of his integral yoga , surrounded by disciples united in one solid and united community.

In 1914 he met Blanche Rachel Mirra Alfassa for the first time, the future Mother , who had come to Pondichéry with her husband, the French philosopher Paul Richard. The latter convinces Sri Aurobindo to explain his thoughts and vision of him in writing. Thus were born, from 1914 to 1920, almost all the great works of Sri Aurobindo, including: Divine Life ,  Synthesis of Yoga , Human Cycle , Ideal of Human Unity . When the First World War broke out, the Richards were forced to leave Pondichéry. 

In Italy there are many schools that offer integral yoga and combine different styles and techniques to release emotional and mental tension. In reality, even a yoga teacher who does not profess to strictly teach integral yoga but perhaps a portion of it, if he really transmits the practice with intensity and awareness, will still be giving integral yoga to his students.

Curiosities about integral Yoga

Sri Aurobindo in “Synthesis of yoga” writes: “But if we want to take full advantage of the opportunity that this life offers us, if we want to respond adequately to the appeal received, not only by advancing a few steps, but by reaching the glimpsed goal, it is the integral gift of oneself is essential. The secret of success in yoga lies in considering it not as one of the goals to be pursued in life, but as life itself. “