We exist in four spheres...Anatomical (Physical body), Physiological (Emotions), Mental (Thoughts) and Intellectual (Wisdom). The practice of Hatha (implies pair of opposites) Yoga (to Yoke from the Sanskrit word Yuj) is essentially to find equanimity in all these spheres and move from a state of duality to one of union.
"Centering Exercises"(a term used by my late mother Poonam but she refers to different exercises - Star, Light and Power) in the context of Yoga Practice, I believe, consist of finding balance in each of the four spheres mentioned above. These include (i) Asana practice linked with the breath which integrates the left and right sides of the body, front and back, upper and lower, outer and inner. (ii) Self Study or becoming a witness to our emotions moving from sympathetic (fight or flight) to parasympathetic (calm) nervous responses and; (iii) Patanjali's yoga sutras: Pratyahara (sense withdrawal), Dharana (attention), and Dhyana (meditation). Ashtanga yoga utilizes a three pronged approach as well "Tristana" alignment between breath, posture, gaze to achieve steadiness.
From the diaries of my late mother Poonam, these centering practices help us "to recover our own consciousness", surrender our ego and find limitless, unconditional love. I believe she was referring to accessing our inner wisdom or our "Higher Self" - a place where we experience "Sachitananda" the trinity of Truth, Awareness and Bliss...one which is permanent, immutable and constant like the Dhruv Tara (Pole Star).
It is accessing and being connected to this Higher Self that allows us to transcend dualistic thinking - good and evil, positive and negative, love and pain etc. She wrote in her diary "nothing is destroyed" "love conquers all pain, darkness, unhappiness, despair". Isolation, loneliness, insecurity on the other hand represent a lack of connection to our Higher Self.
My mother believed that "we choose our lives in order to transcend our own negativity, unhappiness, situations that are challenging for us, in order to "Learn" from them. That we must actively work on making our choices". She wrote that a "lot of our pain arises from dualistic thinking and evil is good flowing backwards..energy is one".
My interpretation of her belief in the context of transcending dualistic thinking is that one must experience darkness in order to appreciate light and experience states of depression and mania, of swinging from one extreme of being a victim to another of being empowered, in order to channel our energy towards the center - our Higher Self - the seat of Sachitananda.
And it is this Higher Self or Soul or "Jivatman" that must then find Union with the Divinity or Ultimate Reality or "Brahman".
I think I now understand what my mother was talking about in her diaries when she said that "Reality is beyond Duality" (Personally, I think she was enlightened)!
For my mother, divinity represented a place of "real love unending" and Meher Baba (http://www.meherbabainformation.org) was that "love", the whole that was always there, leaves nobody, and is the unity of all divinity (ie religious Godheads), representing Oneness of all. She was following the Yoga of devotion or "Bhakti Yoga", one of the doctrines (the other two being Jnana Yoga - Yoga of Knowledge and Karma Yoga - Yoga of Action) explained in the Bhagavad Gita.
For myself, I am drawn to the principles of "Tantra" (mentioned in Yoga Practice 103) as a means of transcending dualistic thinking. Practically that would mean using "centering exercises" to connect to my Higher Self which would then allow me to actively channel the energy (kundalini) positively and connect to the divinity that is embodied in life and live in abundance.
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