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Sign Up to Learn SunyogaYoga means to unite and connect back to God, the Cosmic Consciousness. Yoga means joining in a way that will never allow separation. Our life source is Cosmic Energy (God), to which we are always connected so long as we live. From this standpoint, we are always in a stage of Yoga, union with the divine. This is also the philosophy of Sunyoga.Yog means “inner light,” which becomes one with universal light when ignited. The union of the inner self with the Cosmos or the heavenly father occurs when our internal vibration’s frequency matches the universal vibration’s frequency. Whatever exists in the macro cosmos also exists in the micro cosmos or individual self, which means that all the light of the Universe may also be found concealed in the physical body. Everything in the Universe is inside us; when self-realization happens, the secret of existence and Creation becomes evident. Self-realization is the ultimate solution to life’s problems. When we are one with the Universe, then we experience enlightenment.
In our lives, we are searching all directions cluelessly without guidance on where to go. Our awareness is limited and has become too narrow for us to feel the connection. The actual step to connect is very small. We must balance inside and outside so we can connect from the heart. All ego has to go.Through the practice of meditation, we can increase our consciousness and expand our awareness from the physical body to the five elements and to the Earth, the Sun, the galaxy, and the Universe. When we have expanded our awareness from our physical body all the way to the Universe, that is called Yoga. We have created a connection and united our Souls to the Supreme Soul. Yoga is the science of fostering the conditions for this connection to happen more and more often until it becomes permanent.There are different types of Yoga, each with different techniques that guide this connection. For a technique to be effective, it has to be developed by a saint that has reached full enlightenment himself/herself. Over time the purity of a method often gets polluted when people who have not complete knowledge interfere with and change the original technique. There is a great benefit to having a physically alive, fully enlightened guru that can guide us whenever we reach an obstacle that can potentially halt our progress. The meaning of Yoga is to connect to Cosmic Consciousness, and it takes much more than just focus on maintaining a healthy body (Hatha Yoga balancing the Earth Element) to reach there efficiently. A healthy body helps only to a very limited extent. Those forms of Yoga, which include meditation focusing on the third eye, can make the fastest progress. This is because when we focus on balancing a higher chakra (as Ajna Chakra for the third eye), the lower chakras will automatically follow, but the opposite is not true. Those yoga paths, including focusing on the third eye, are called Gyan Marg (The Knowledge Path), and Sunyoga is one of them. In Sunyoga, the Sun is used as a tool for us to make the connection to Cosmic Consciousness or Cosmic Energy.What is Sunyoga?
If we connect to the Sun, we can access Cosmic Energy through it. With this energy, we can balance any disturbance in our body, as it is the source of all life. Enabling this connection is easy. First, we need to create the right atmosphere to calm and focus our minds. With several steps, we remind ourselves to focus on gratitude and reverence, as well as enforce our goal and direction. By asking ourselves “Who am I?”, we set ourselves up to find the deepest wisdom possible.When we start the meditation, we open our eyes and look towards the Sun directly from the third eye. The eyes will be fully open to receive maximum sunlight, but the head is tilted down until no rays from the Sun are touching the retina. The Sun will not be visible with our physical eyes. All the time, it is crucial that we hold the intention to create and feel friendship with the Sun and free our minds from all expectations. Thus avoid getting distracted by our thoughts and instead surrender and fully immerse ourselves in the experience.
The type of energy we can extract directly from the Sun is of very high quality. This energy passes through the pineal gland and into the cerebellum. There is metabolized and separated into 5 elements: Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Space. These energies then continue to the cerebrum. From here the energies are distributed to each and every cell of our body, to each and every organ. By this, weak and damaged cells and organs that have an imbalance of the five elements can be balanced. Any disease can be healed. After looking at the Sun, we also need to stay a considerable time in a relaxing Savasana position to accommodate the energy distribution efficiently.The Sun Meditation is giving us a peak experience, but it is only the top of the Pyramid of Sunyoga. Much focus on Sunyoga is on building a strong foundation; Yama, Niyama, and Asana. Without foundation, the peak cannot reach high or be sustainable. Sunyoga advocates a way of living to increase our awareness until we get fully enlightened. First, we learn to meditate with the Sun. Then we go from being in a meditative state in our meditations to being in a meditative state in 100% of our lives. All the practical steps for what is needed to become fully enlightened are clearly explained in the Sunyoga courses, and it is only the student self that can limit progress. Once we are realized it will be natural for us to take full responsibility for the family and society.Sunyoga is not only about personal spiritual growth and overcoming difficulties but also about establishing peace, harmony, and brotherhood in the world. Practicing Sunyoga every day and with sincerity will help us reach self-realization, understand the cosmic law, and avail ourselves of this knowledge to solve any dimension of problems in life. Sunyoga basic principles
Before starting to practice Sunyoga, it is very important to follow certain principles to purify your mind and develop your power of concentration through the regular practice of meditation. These principles can be explained through the first three steps of the eight steps of Yoga, which are Yama, Nyama, and Asana.Uma Sankar Sunyogi explains Yama as the foundation of Yoga, the primary stage at which the beginner makes his or her life plan, that is, Who am I? What do I want, and why do I want it? What is the purpose of life? What is the relation between what I want and what I am doing now? It is the stage at which one turns inward to question the purpose, make a plan, and start preparing to carry it out. It is the stage at which the Sadhak (someone who follows a particular way of life designed to realize the goal of one’s ultimate ideal) begins to surrender to a higher ideal, to listen to one’s heart, and decide what one wants.
Ancient Sunyoga techniques
Sunyoga seems to have been common knowledge before its spiritual significance was undermined by subsequent belief systems. Manly P. Hall summarized well how the original religions looked upon the Sun in The Secret Teachings of All Ages:
on the majority of cases, the religions of antiquity agree that the material visible Sun was a reflector rather than the source of power. (…) This Sun reflected the light of the invisible spiritual Sun, which was the true source of life, light, and truth.”The Sunyoga technique was developed by Sunyogi Umasankar by the grace of Mahavatar Babaji. It is a reinvention and adaptation to modern culture and society. To worship the Sun is a natural progression for any culture that can acknowledge and value the Sun as the ultimate perceptible spiritual body serving as a gateway on our path towards enlightenment. This tendency stems from the fact that humans are intuitively inclined toward veneration of our Sun as the source of life. The effective teachings may shift according to changes in the language and symbolism of host cultures, as well as time and place. Such shifts can lead to misunderstanding. This is why we need enlightened gurus to watch over what is being taught, so we are not misled. Their right discernment can help us access real wisdom hidden within. Various forms of Sun Gazing or Sun worship have been known to be wide across all continents. If we go back somewhere between 15,000 to 40,000 years ago, humans did not practice any formal or explicit religion. Daily life and culture conformed to an intuitive pattern that was self-evident and undisputed. All our knowledge was incorporated into our life, and the sciences formed a single continuum. Everything was one science, one philosophy, or one religion. There was an appreciation of the Sun and an understanding that the Sun is the closest gateway to heaven and is the highest embodiment of heaven on the physical plane. We can say that it was a religion of the Sun, and the people called themselves the children of the Sun and lived in paradise.(Excerpts from Essence of Sunyoga)Sunyoga courses
Sunyoga has a total of seven levels of courses. It is necessary to remember that practice precedes theory for gaining understanding. There are also guidelines for teaching in Sunyoga. In general, the teacher should be well grounded in practical experience to inspire confidence in the student of the specific course level. The whole purpose of Sunyoga is to empower ourselves, to be able to trust our inner divine power and to become self-sustaining, with our own inner guru taking charge. Our inner guru will start to guide us more and more, while our outer gurus will be less and less influential.Sign Up to Learn SunyogaLevel I – Nursery course
The first level course is about bringing inner peace and health to the individual for a balanced life. Here we learn the basic tools for keeping ourselves healthy and having a happy life. In the course, we will be introduced to basic meditation techniques, be given instructions on how to eat healthily, do physical exercises with awareness of the breath (Yogasanas), and learn a few important acupressure points for health.
Prerequisites: None. Course duration: A single lecture/Satsang. Course target: Basic understanding of the benefits of Sunyoga. Recommended practice: Physical exercises for purification; Simple Ajna Chakra meditation.Contact Jonathan to find a course for you.