ficient techniques of liberation from these programs. Nevertheless such
techniques as reframing (described below) appeared later, thanks to the
methods of Erickson’s hypnosis, Neuro-linguistic programming, but
most of them don’t deprogram the super-consciousness, but reprogram
it, i.e. replace some programs by others, more efficient for a person.
Also note that the possibility itself to deprogram and reprogram the
super-consciousness results in creating new philosophic and ethic ques-
tions of whether one value system (with its programs) is better than
another. The most attention to deprogramming is paid by the followers
of «rebel» Zen and of the similar systems. It’s interesting to notice that
the transact analysis itself together with other systems, practicing in-
side deprogramming, appeared in the second half of XX century, when
the society was eagerly reviewing its old values, actually deprogram-
ming its collective superconsciousness». On the other hand it was the
time when the public first learned about ideas and practical results of
cybernetics, which provoked the wish to describe human’s psyche in
the same terms. «The consciousness and the body are parts of the same
cybernetic machine». The cybernetic system appeals by its seeming sim-
plicity. We can accept it or not, but we can’t deny that in desidentifica-
tion with one’s behaviour patterns it’s more helpful than all philosophic
arguments of humanitarian psychological schools.
Let’s take a look at some techniques of inside deprogramming,
used in different esoteric systems.
«Inside hunting» is a technique given by C. Castaneda. It implies
the conscious «tracing down» of your stereotypic acts, that are obstacles
to your development, and their eventual removal. The same goals have
exercises like «Changing of one’s appearance», «Breaking the regime»,
Destructuralisation of ego», described by the same author.
«Reframing», a technique used in NLP, clearly has mystic roots. It
is based on searching for situations, where the superconscious program
wasn’t correct and following it in an absurd way. Realizing this situa-
tion, a person can get a catharsis discharge of the program.
Achieving inner integrity
The highest phase of self-transformation in most of occult systems
is the achieving of inner integrity, which presumes the synthesis of
various parts of human’s psyche (subpersonalities). In fact the detec-
tion of non-integrity of human’s personality is one of the most curious
discoveries, done almost at the same time by mystics and psychologists.
The category of subpersonality itself, broadly used in Gestalt-psychol-
ogy, psychosynthesis and later appeared in role theory of Mead, was
first introduced by Gurdjieff, although the existence of subpersonalities
was already described by Patanjali.
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4.4. Created minds (I suppose he speaks about subpersonalities) arise from
egoism alone.
4.5. There being difference of interest, one mind is the director of many
minds.
4.6. Of these, the mind born of concentrated insight is free from the impres-
sions (he is speaking about forming the stable basic personality on the base
of Inside Observer)
Yoga-Sutra
Subpersonalities are stable structures, partly having consciousness,
emotions, desires and other features, so to say expressing different fac-
ets of human’s personality. Gurdjieff was comparing human’s psyche
with the battlefield where different parts fight for control over human’s
behaviour. If there is no «Master», i.e. person’s real «I», which can be
crystallized from the contains of his psyche by a hard inside work, this
fight never ends. It can be easily seen when a person is doubting, trying
to decide between two alternatives. These doubts are in fact the fight of
his two or more subpersonalities, having different opinions. Depending
on which one will win, a person takes this or another decision. Another
clear example of subpersonalities is the inside dialogue — a talk of sub-
personalities. Gurdjieff didn’t know about the ideas of cybernetics, so he
described this process in mechanic terms — although in his description
we can easily see that human’s psyche can be programmed. The main
task of his system can be defined by the following: «A person must stop
being a machine and try to become a Human». From this task he devel-
oped different precise techniques of work with subpersonalities.
In the work with subpersonalities we can define two goals. A mi-
nimum task is to achieve a coherent state of psyche, i.e. a state when
there is no fight between different subpersonalities — they all cooperate
for the same goal. For this we can use various techniques of the inside
treaties, we can use the six-step model of the inside treaty proposed by
NLP. The more complicated task is to integrate all subpersonalities, i.e.
to achieve an integral state of consciousness. A person who achieved
this state can be himself in any situation, having no need — neither in-
side, nor outside, — to play any roles. Techniques that help to achieve
this state are described in works of Roberto Assaggioli and his followers
(for example, D. Rainwater). Some techniques were described by Osho,
including meditations «Funny faces» and «Looking in the mirror» can
be used to actualise your subpersonalities.
In classical esoteric systems there also are methods that can be
interpreted as those of synthesising subpersonalities to achieve the in-
side integrity. First of all it’s the Tibetan method of merging with idams.
From the psychological point of view idams can be interpreted as per-
sonifications of different parts of human psyche, especially since in
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Meditations
Tibetan yoga tradition idams are openly declared «the fruit of the
mind». In this case the merging with idams can be viewed as a tech-
nique of a successive symbolic actualisation of subpersonalities, relating
to different layers of the unconscious, with the following synthesising
them. Tibetan sources consider that these practices should be done with
cautious, because, if a subpersonality is weaker by its energy potential
than the consciousness, the later can be dissolved in the subpersonality.
That’s why Tibetan teachers give their pupils a well-defined sequence
of idams for meditation.
Work with subtle bodies
As it was said in the chapter «Types of yoga exercises and their
mechanisms of influence» a meditation can be seen not only from psy-
chological, but also from the energy point of view. In this case medita-
tion is an exercise for the astral body (rarer for the mental body, such
meditations are scarce). Goals of these exercises include:
1. Involving in the energy circulation the idle part of the astral plane. This
goal is the same as the previously discussed widening of the consciousness
and cleansing of subconsciousness.
2. Searching for individual clues to work with energy.
3. Manipulation with chakras’ fields and with «energy bearing». Let’s take
a detailed look at it.
There are two extreme states of astral field of every chakra: the
extreme tightening and the extreme widening of the field.
For example, the state of extreme tightening in Anahata is achieved
by a meditation of «disidentifying oneself with emotional states of oth-
ers». At the energy level the practitioner «throws away» from his field
all the states that, despite being in his field, are not his own, being
something, he caught from outside: irritation, hurry, emotions of others
etc. Tightening of Ajna is a disidentification with all the roles we play,
getting rid of depersonification states. The Manipura tightening makes
you ready for the situation and able to count just on yourself, the Sva-
dhisthana — a clear feeling of your desires etc.
The contrary state — Anahata’s widening is feeling the state of
others — the empathy. The extreme widening of Anahata is a state
when you can feel the emotional state of any person (any place or egre-
gor) as your own. Widening of the field of upper chakras is creativity,
widening of Ajna is the capacity to read «the signs of the world», to
get information from different egregors; of Vishuddha — the capacity
to rely on other’s point of view like on your own, of Manipura — using
situations and resources of the world etc.
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Widened states are very important, because only in the widen
state chakras receive energy. A person, unable to widen the field of
some chakras (which means they are rigid), sooner or later gets them
empty.
One can’t constantly live in such extreme states — they can only
be achieved in meditation.
The essence of practicing wide-tightened states is to train oneself
to get extreme states and to widen the attainable scope of states in eve-
ry chakra. Such emotional-psychological flexibility helps to find and to
form a state of field, optimal for a current life situation.
Practice of meditation is building an hierarchy of states from
the extreme tightening to extreme widening of the astral field as well
as finding one’s own balanced state, and training oneself to take an
adequate state in every situation.
In addition to widening and tightening of fields, every chakra
can have a so called «energy bearing» — a specific state, a configura-
tion of the field, which has a certain influence on others. Some en-
ergy bearings are pathogenic, like the ones «provoking» people on
the negative attitude to you. An example of such energy bearing can
be a state «you want to fight with me?» viewed by people like a
challenge and sooner or later leading to a conflict. There are also
useful energy bearings, such as the state of «the boss», when a per-
son is viewed like someone important not only by his employees,
but even by those who don’t know him personally. Conventionally
energy bearings can be divided into giving, taking and neutral. The
last ones make it possible to stay unnoticed.
Every posture taken consciously is a siddha. The task of yoga on
the advanced levels (beyond the subject of this book), is forming of
capacities to achieve as wide repertory of energy bearings as possible.
Vows
The practice of meditations can be significantly enhanced by the
practice of vows. Almost in all esoteric traditions vows were the strong-
est instrument of psychological self-influence, used almost in all cul-
tures. However the greatest development this practice got in the Indi-
an tradition. Mahabharata and other mythological sources are rich in
describing huge spiritual achievements, thanks to vows. In the Chris-
tian tradition this practice was significantly primitivised, that’s why to
our time came the belief that vows aim at the development of the will.
However in the Eastern tradition vows are used for much deeper inside
work. By their action, vows can be divided into two groups.
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Meditations
Vows, limiting certain functions of a person, like brahmacharia1
(refusal from the sex life), the vow of silence, fasting and so on. Limit-
ing one of his natural functions, a person accumulates and enhances a
certain type of inner energy, which helps to actualise it and then to put
under the conscious control.
«As soon as you get an impulse to do something, stop».
Vidzhniana Bahirava Tantra
Vows, positively defining a person’s form of behaviour, helps to
accumulate energy, to actualise inside problems and to solve them. The
longer it lasts, the deeper inside problems get disclosed.
Work with mental body.
Djnana yoga
Our mental body contains the following.
1. Person’s life position is the deep disposition to oneself and
the world around, a person’s individual matrix, a prism, through which
he is looking at the world. It contains an emotional aspect and is a
bridge between the astral and mental bodies. Usually life position is not
realised, though it’s possible and even not very difficult to do. In most
cases the life position can be described by a short metaphor, like four
life positions by Berne: I’m OK—You’re OK; I’m not OK—You’re OK;
I’m OK—You’re not OK; I’m not OK—You’re not OK.
The life position, conscious or not, is going through the whole
person’s life, significantly predetermining it. An unfavourable, non-
harmonic life position can significantly worsen the quality of life and
to influence person’s self-realisation in social and spiritual spheres, and
even on his health. That’s why the task to actualise the life position and
to correct it, if needed, is so important.
The structural contain of the life position is the emotional filling
of notions. Take a vitally important notion, which is a mental structure
itself, and concentrate on it. You’ll finds out that many notions contain
an emotional element. Negative emotions about some notions make it
harder to contact with the respective object in the physical plane. For
example, the negative filling of the category «society» makes a person
socially less adaptive, and the one of the category «money» makes him
poor.
1 This definition is not exact, but widely known, for more details see chapter «Yoga and
sex».
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2. Person’s worldview is a more complicated construction. It’s
hard to be expressed by a simple metaphor. Greatest philosophers were
writing volumes, trying to describe their worldview, but for most of
people their worldview is unconscious and often contradictory. In this
case sooner or later these oppositions are realised in the physical plane.
The base for every worldview is person’s individual values —
certain objects, states and thesis, having for him an unconditional im-
portance. Values can be conscious and unconscious. If they are uncon-
scious, there can be a problem: a person who starts living in a system
of values, different from his own, imposed from outside (for example,
by a subculture in which he found himself), starts breaking down. Not
in metaphoric, but in the direct sense. That’s why actualisation of one’s
values and worldview is not a funny game, but a vital necessity on the
way of spiritual development.
From the worldview logically come senses. The worldview always
includes a sense-forming, value aspect, otherwise it’s not a worldview,
but a «knowledge about..».. Senses like values aren’t always realised by
a person. There can also be (and even quite often) a pseudo-worldview:
what a person thinks is his worldview, doesn’t really determine his life,
being just a system of rationalisation, directed to explain personal prob-
lems and the unwillingness to solve them. Analysing life of the great-
est thinkers of the past, we can see that they became «great», exactly
because they succeeded in reflection and in reconstruction of their own
worldview as well as in living according to it, i.e. in making it real.
An important task of djana yoga is to achieve a congruency of
one’s life and worldview.
3. Mode of thinking. An inner logic, which can differ from the
common «Aristotle’s» logic.
In last decades the science has proved, that a non-Aristotle’s log-
ics can exist, like the alternative geometry that differs from the common
Euclid geometry. The person’s way of thinking can be not harmonic
inside and be realised as some psychological and eventually physical
problems. By the way, some researches prove that mentally ill patients
have their own specific logic.
The work with mental body is based on the reflection of think-
ing, i.e. the capacity to see internal contradictions in one’s thinking, as
well as to track down the methodology of thinking, it’s style and the
style of thinking of others, to adjust one’s thinking according to a cer-
tain task.
Other techniques of djana-yoga are beyond the tasks of this book.
180
YOGATHERAPY. SOME
PRINCIPLES OF BUILDING
THERAPEUTIC COMPLEXES
WARNING! This chapter is written for instructors, healers and advanced
practitioners. If you don’t understand something, never build your own
therapeutic complexes — consult a specialist.
Most of the yoga books say about therapeutic effect from asa-
nas, enlisting organs, which these poses influence and treat. How-
ever, if it’s easy to agree with the «influence», which is also easy to
check — it’s enough to take this pose and to see what you feel; it’s
more complicated with asana’s treating effect. Indeed every organ
can have absolutely different diseases with completely different rea-
sons and needing absolutely different approaches to the treatment.
That’s why such an approach is not professional. Yoga exercises are
really very strong medicaments, but like pills, they need to be used
right, moreover, being taken wrong, they can become harmful. To
understand principles of yoga-therapy let’s take a look at the meth-
odology, underlining it.
Counterbalancing
of branches of autonomic
nervous system (ANS)
According to contemporary science a normal functioning of hu-
man’s body is provided by his autonomic (vegetative) nervous system,
which contains the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. Curi-
ously this notion have a lot in common with the Indo-Tibetan medicine,
which acknowledged two basic principles of body’s functions: «heat»
and «cold».
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It’s very rare to see a person with balanced branches of ANS. Usu-
ally this balance is shifted to either side.
If it is disbalanced significantly without compensation, there can
be symptoms of illness and functional disorders. Sympatics can have
such diseases as hypertension, arteriosclerosis and coronary disease.
Parasympatics can typically have stomach and duodenum ulcers, bron-
chial asthma etc.
The contemporary medicine put the outward signs into special
tables (table of Wein).
It’s also possible to tell the ergo- and trophotropic activity by the
test of Luscher, often used in psychology.
Sympatics are recommended to do bending asanas like Pashi-
mottanasana and yoga-mudra. Exercises should be done with no hurry,
with Svadhisthana or Anahata set-up with the long fixation in the pos-
ture. It’s good to begin with such asanas as shavasana. Besides sympat-
ics are indicated to breathe through the left nostril (Chandra bhedana)
and to do Suria Namaskar complex.
To treat disorders related to the excessive parasympathetic activ-
ity, the best are anterior arching poses like Bhujangasana1. Exercises
should be done in the active pace. It’s good to practice Suria Namas-
kar with Manipura set-up, as well as small pranayamas and kumbhaka.
Sympathetic system is also toned by Suria bhedana (breathing through
the right nostril).
The principles of taking into account the factor of dominating ANS
branch in building therapeutic complexes are in more detail discussed
in the article of Sergey Agapkin «Building individual practice according
to principles of Indo-Tibetan medicine».
However the given scheme of dividing people into sympatics and
parasympatics is not unconditional. It’s noticed that sometimes a per-
son can have signs of both columns of Wein’s table, i.e. one person can
have signs of activated branches of both sympathetic and parasympa-
thetic systems. This observation comes along with the yogic concept of
depressed and excited chakras, as the energy reason of disease. Because
chakras correspond the knots of ANS, it’s possible to have one chakra
(and the respective ANS branch) depressed and another — excited.
1 According to research of the author using colour tests of Luscher, practice of Bhujan-
gasana increases the ration of vegetative tone in 1.5 times.
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Yogatherapy. Some principles of building therapeutic complexes
Evaluation of initial vegetative tone by Wein
Sympathicotomy
Vagotonia
Sign
(predominance
(predominance
of sympatics)
of parasympatics)
Complexion
Pale
Reddish
Vascular pattern
Not pronounced
Marble-like, acrocyanosis
Sebaceousness of skin
Reduced
High, acne
Sweating
Reduced
High, hyperhidrosis
Dermographism
Rose, white
Red, prominent
Chill
Absent
Typical
Fever within infections
Bias towards hypothermia
Usually not big, bias
towards mild pyrexia
Portability of stuffy spaces
Satisfactory
Bad
Syncope
Rare
Typical
Dizziness, vestibulopathy
Not typical
Typical
Appetite
High
Can be reduced
Body mass
Bias towards thinness
Possible bias toward