Natya Yoga

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Natya Yoga, popularly known as Dance Yoga, the all-inclusive spiritual path of action, is a combination of mainly Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga with many elements of Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga.

Those practising Natya Yoga believe that the fastest way to realize all the intricate aspects of Bhakti (e.g. different types of Lilas) is by enacting various devotional songs, which require one to master one's emotional states.

According to the Karma Yoga principles, the practitioner of Natya Yoga learns to do everything with a certain attitude that leads to the complete detachment from and control of one's physical, emotional and mental activities. One is expected to devote all one's actions to the Supreme as a sacrifice. The stage performaces are an opportunity for the dancer to remain indifferent to the spectators' reactions, which require a great deal of self-control. The dancer strives to learn to be guided in every smallest move by the various devas that are supposed to be established in various chakras.

Unlike the shamanistic dance practitioners, the Natya Yoga dancer must not let himself become possessed by the lower spirits. Natya Yoga involves far more than, for instance, Sufi whirling.

Those practising Natya Yoga are expected to perform 108 karanas, in addition to standard asanas and pranayamas, as well as meditation practises that involve various visualizations that lead to the "internalization" of the dance. In fact, the dancer learns the intimate links between the movements of the physical, emotional and mental bodies. The example of such links can be found in hastas and mudras that the dancer is supposed to master.

Nada Yoga, or the meditation on sound, is also part of it, as the practitioner of Natya Yoga learns to focus on certain sounds and teach his body to move according to them in order to achieve a certain state of consciousness. Therefore, the musical instruments used for the meditative dance in Natya Yoga are the ones that can produce the mystic sounds described in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.

According to Natya Shastra, Natya Yoga was initially practised by Narada and Gandharvas, especially by Apsaras. The birth of Bhakti Yoga greatly modified the Natya Yoga techniques. In the medieval times, Natya Yoga was practised by the devadasi's and some temple Brahmins. Many elements of Natya Yoga have been preserved in the orthodox Bharatanatyam and Odissi. The followers of the Siddhendra Yogi line of Kuchipudi practise it too. Natya Yoga is part of Integral Yoga, and is taught in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram through Odissi.

According to Balasaraswathi, "The greatest blessing of Bharatanatyam is its ability to control the mind. Most of us are incapable of single-minded contemplation even when actions are abandoned. On the other hand, in Bharatanatyam actions are not avoided; there is much to do but it is the harmony of various actions that results in the concentration we seek. The burden of action is forgotten in the pleasant charm of the art. The feet keeping to time, hands expressing gesture, the eye following the hand, the ear listening to the master’s music and the dancer’s own singing - by harmonizing these five elements the mind achieves concentration and attains clarity in the very richness of participation. The inner feeling of the dancer is the sixth sense, which harmonizes these five mental and mechanical elements to create the experience and enjoyment of beauty. It is the spark, which gives the dancer her sense of spiritual freedom in the midst of the constraints and discipline of the dance. The yogi achieves serenity through concentration that comes from discipline. The dance brings together her feet, hands, eyes, ears and singing into fusion which transforms the serenity of the yogi into a torrent of beauty. The spectator, who is absorbed in intently watching this, has his mind freed of distractions and feels a great sense of clarity. In their shared involvement, the dancer and the spectator are both released from the weight of the worldly life and experience the divine joy of the art with a sense of total freedom."