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Revista Yoga Rahasya, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2003. Pág. 52-59

Publicación oficial de Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, Pune, India

Light on Yoga Research Trust, Mumbai, India.

Artículo escrito por Herta Rogg (http://www.yogacenter.com.mx/maestro_herta.html)

Geographically, Mesoamerica includes Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua. When we talk about the pre-Hispanic cultures we are referring to the cultures that existed before the arrival of the Spanish conquerors. In Mexico, the Olmec culture, from which the Mayan, Toltec and Aztec cultures eventually developed, existed already in the year 4500 B.C.

Very often is thought that the yogic postures are exclusive to the Mayan Culture. They are found in all pre-Hispanic cultures. The Mayans simply expressed themselves more than any other culture in pictorial art forms such as sculptures, pottery, clay figurines, paintings and hieroglyphs in codices as well as in the form of murals in temples, tombs, stele and pyramids.

Mesoamerica has been inhabited since 12000 B.C. One of the most commonly accepted theory on the provenance of its inhabitants is that they had migrated from Asia over the Strait of Bering down all the way from Alaska to the southern tip of Chile. When Christopher Columbus landed in 1492 on this part of the world, he was convinced he had found a new route to India and therefore called the inhabitants of the American continent “indians”.

Ketsalkoatl was the central figure of the Mesoamerican cultures, an avatar, who reappeared on four occasions in different incarnations, being symbolized and worshipped has The Feathered Serpent, emblem of the transcendence of mental states and the liberation of the spirit. He descended on earth to guide the evolution of man, and his last birth took place in the year 947 B.C. near Tepoztlan, Mexico (Amatlan of Ketsalkoatl), where I happen to reside nowadays.

http://www.turismoenmexico.com.mx/morelos/amatlan-de-quetzalcoatl/

Having lived myself in Mexico for 33 years and having been a student of Iyengar Yoga for over 20 years and a teacher of this method for the last 13 years, I have been startled over and over again by sculptures of pre-Hispanic origin in yoga postures. However, during my research for this article, nowhere in the archives of the Institute of Antropology did I find any reference to the world yoga. The figures are being describes as dancers, contortionists and shamans, and the practices of these cultures, which we as students of yoga clearly identify as yogic postures, are mostly mentioned in texts on medicinal procedures.

Eventually, I met Frank Díaz (http://frank-diaz.info/) the author of the forthcoming book Kinam (http://frank-diaz.info/kinam.html) the only investigation by an anthropologist on yoga in pre-Hispanic contex that I have been able to encounter. Frank used to study Iyengar yoga with Eduardo Pimentel in Cuba and was more than happy to put his preliminary manuscript at my disposal in an act of gratitude and reverence towards Guruji. The following writing is exclusively based on his research.

It is fascinating to discover in all of these cultures, descriptions of practices well known to the student of yoga, such as purification and breathing techniques, medittion, ethical guidelines, vows of renunciation, vigils, the four elements, dances, as well as static and dynamic postures.

Time as a function of God

The Mesoamericans were great astrologers and used the concept of zero in mathematics. The pre-Hispanic calendar is the most exact calendar which has ever been invented in human history. “As opposed to nowadays, the people of ancient Mexico conceived time as something mysterious, something that was being born inside us.  And as this interior world was by definition divine, time for them was a function of God.” (Frank Díaz, Sacred Thirteen) 

The Four elements

The four elements were connected to the four cardinal points:

• Earth is the South wind which attracts, concentrates and reduces the static balance.
• Water is the West wind which flows, connects and neutralizes.
• Air is the North wind which penetrates.
• Fire is the East wind which vitalizes, metabolizes and sublimates with a dynamic balance.

The four vehicles of consciousness

The four vehicles of consciousness of the human being were

• Tonaka, the physical body, also called Yo´kayotl, the material form
• Sewalli, the shadow, or Tlakaipotoktli, smoke of the body. This is the vehicle of the instincts and animalisic passions, and the impulses for reproduction and survival. It is perceived like a whitish cloud around the physical body.
• Iyo, breath, the vehicle of emotions.
• Yolia, vital force, also called Tona, voice, often being translated as soul, but the real meaning of the word Yolia is splendor, being seen by the seers as a luminous egg (aura) around the head and at times around the whole body.
• Nawalli, double, is the vehicle of consciousness that remains in an embryonic state in most of us, except for the shamans. It is the capacity of being able to reproduce oneself, creating visual replicas of the physical body, at times even in the form of an animal.

The seven energy centers

The Iyoni, or magnetic centers of the human body, are represented with great detail in the hieroglyphs of the codices of Borgia, Fejervary and Laúd (names of the archeologists who discovered them) and are generally painted like disks with 8 limbs, similar to spiders, out of whose mouths appears a double tongue representing the two vital energies.

The energy centers are:

• Kolotl, scorpion (also Sipaktli, dragon and Koatl, serpent) corresponds to the area of the anus and the genitals and is associated with animalistic passions, vital force and creativity. Its dysfunction implies immediate death of the physical body.
• Iwitl, feather, corresponds to the area of the uterus, a clearly feminine center, the feather being a symbol for the pregnant woman.
• Pamitl, banner, coat of arms, bridge, is located at the navel. The banner and coat of arms are the emblems of the warriors, associated with the ego and the desire of conquest. In the Mesoamerican mythology, the navel is the axis of the world, the space where all forces meet; it is the center of equilibrium and the tree of knowledge.
• Shochitl, flower, located at the heart. It is the seat of deeper emotions such as love and altruism. An equivalent symbol for this energy center is the shell or a five pointed star.
• Topilli, stick, bow, flute, located at the throat. It represents the desire for spiritual transcendence and creates access to the world of dreams. On the other hand, the flute is a symbol for breath and words in all Mesoamerican cultures.
• Chalchiwitl, precious stone, located between the two eyes. It represents spiritual clarity.
• Tekpatl, knife of sacrifice, located at the tongue and the crown of the head. According to the Mixtec mythology, heaven rests upon earth on the edge of a knife.

Purification

Chipawa, transparency or purification practices, were used to purify the practitioner on a physical, emotional and mental level and to prepare him for meditation. These practices consisted of

• working with the seven centers of energy
• breathing techniques (I´iotl) to develop each of these centers of energy
• personal hygiene, such as steam baths (Temaskal) and hot-cold therapies (Itstik Tonia)
• general and therepeutic cleansing techniques with the use of medicinal herbs, vomitives, purgents and tonics
• fasting and well balanced eating habits
• vegetarian diet for priests
• abstinence from toxic food and substances which contaminate mind, body and emotions
• sexual hygiene on a physical, mental and emotional level.

Physical exercises

Ritual and sacred dances as well as physical exercises played an important role in their everyday life and consisted of

• static postures to access the lymphatic/glandular  system via the energy centers
• static postures with movement to strengthen osteo-muscular system
• dynamic exercises for physical balance
• marches as preparation for warriors
• manual gestures to transmit non audible messages, both in war and rituals.

Static Postures

Out of the great variety of static postures, the following ones clearly match the postures we are familiar with in yoga:

 The Breath

I´iotl, means breating, I´imati means to pay attention to the breath, and the result of I´imati is Yoli, vitality. The ancient texts clearly describe different breathing techniques. Its basic theory sustains that there are two main currents of energy which end in the mouth and that they are being subdivided in seven more currents, Iyowi, veins of air. Their role is to keep us alive and in contact with the world.

According to the Mesoamerican cultures, the basic element for proper breathing is an erect posture, Melawa, and a cross-legged position, Kutstinepanko.

 The components of the breath are:

• Ilteki, inhale
• Ilpitsa, exhale
• Temi, full, retention after inhale
• Kaktikak, empty, retention after exhale

Nawa, fluiditity, its the basic breath. Its two extremes are

• Ekapitsa, subtle breath, performed in a slow and silent way,
• I´iotik, accelerated breath, performed at increased speed and intensity

Other breathing techniques of the pre-Hispanic inhabitants of Mesoamerica were

• Ititl, abdominal breathing
• Tlaktli, thoracic breathing
• Kuaitl, cephalic breathing (throat and head breathing)
• Awiki, alternate breathing, where either nostril was closed off
• Ekachicina, sucking in air through the mouth with force and speed, until one becomes hyperventilated
• Kototska, fetal breathing, with the body in fetal position
• Pipiasketsa, exhaling through the mouth, by strongly and quickly contracting the abdominal muscles
• Tlatlapitsa, exhaling many times, by sucking the abdomen in and up
• Kuekuepka, turning the head from one side to the other, with a fan moving the air in front of the practitioner.

To be continued in Part II: http://yeitekpatl.julio-diana.com/?p=320 

More information in www.kinam.org/kinam

http://frank-diaz.info/kinam.html