Spirit Meets Science Through Yoga

Christina Sarich, Contributing Writer
Waking Times

Yogic saints and sages as diverse as Matsyendranatha, Svatmarama, Patanjali, Sri Aurobindo, Sri Ramakrishna, and the more contemporary Paramahansa Yogananda, as well as others have long pointed to the effects of yoga on consciousness and biology. Is it possible that science is finally catching up to the memory of what we, as a collective, have long known to be true?

The science of yoga has been proven in countless peer-reviewed, scientific journals, in higher institutions from Harvard to Stanford to MIT and Berkeley, but as quantum physics catches up to ancient wisdom, we may finally have a union of science and spirituality. The metaphoric language of texts like the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads or the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, even, had to explain concepts to a mind that could not fully appreciate its own power, so colorful language was often used to get scientific points across.

For many ancient yogis, concepts like an astral body or an experience of complete Oneness as it is gained by permeating the pineal gland with Shakti Kundalini energy and its subsequent effulgence of the amrit of life – or melatonin, there was no possible way to transfer such incredible wisdom without a first hand experience. A guru tried to instill practices in a sadhak or student such that one day she would understand that they were made of energy and not skin and grey matter. The guru hoped that the sadhak would realize that consciousness is the seat of all experience.

If we look at just some of the recent developments in science, biology and other previously deemed ‘seperate’ arms of study, we can see that ancient yogic wisdom is faintly gaining a stronghold through our evolution of understanding in these fields:

• The two-slit experiment is a great way to understand how consciousness creates reality and not mind. You can check out this Youtube video for a simple explanation, fit for those with even the smallest amount of scientific understanding.
• The Dalai Lama XIV, himself, speaks of this interesting juxtaposition of science and spirituality in his book, The Universe in a Single Atom. He says, “What we do and think in our own lives, then, becomes of extreme importance as it effects everything we’re connected to.”
• Dr. Masuro Emoto shows without doubt, that consciousness, or thought, affects everything, and in his experiments, consciousness definitely changes water. Just viewing some of his images will surely convince even the most cynical among us.
• There are conversations on TED talks about how kundalini energy, a specific branch of yoga, but also a force for enlightenment that all cultures throughout history have been aware of, is an incredible force for joining the mundane with the divine.
• Look at electromagnetic discharge imagery, and see how Kirlian photography is proving that everything with a life force emits energy.
• Aura photography is proving that we exist as consciousness beyond the walls of our skin, a point that ancient yogis tried to teach repeatedly.
• Even Einstein pointed to the notion that the Universe had no time or space – that these were constructs of the Observer’s Mind, or if you like, the Mind of God. He called it the uncertainty principal or Observer’s Effect.
• Barbara Brennan famous author and healer has tried to convince us that matter is completely mutable according to energy or vibration.
• The Sri Yantra has stood as a test of the divine ratio – a physical representation of perfect creation or the divine ratio as 3.14 or Phi. This has long been an instrument of healing in ancient yogic meditations.

No matter what field you turn to, science, biology, music, spirituality, etc., they are all pointing to a unified TRUTH. Yoga has been trying to teach you this reality for centuries.

About the Author

Christina Sarich is a musician, yogi, humanitarian and freelance writer who channels many hours of studying Lao Tzu, Paramahansa Yogananda, Rob Brezny,  Miles Davis, and Tom Robbins into interesting tidbits to help you Wake up Your Sleepy Little Head, and See the Big Picture. Her blog is Yoga for the New World.

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