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46 - Sunday, June 10, 1990 - North Shore News

SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING

Hatha yoga a primer
for spiritual awakening

MOST WESTERNERS would hardly think of gaining ac-
cess to the spirit or a higher consciousness through the
body, but that is exactly the aim of Hatha yoga.

When westerners talk of yoga
they usually mean Hatha yoga, a
system of breathing and postures
designed to create flexibility, bring
the body into harmony and
prepare it for meditative practices.

North Vancouver resident and
long-time Hatha yoga _ teacher
Pegge Gabbott is living testimony
of the benefits of yoga. At 70, she
glows with physical and psychic
energy.

Since piquing her interest in yo-
ga with of all things ‘‘one of those
Del! books you pick up at the
checkout counter’? 18 or 19 years
ago, Gabbott has immersed herself
in the practices of yoga, the great
works of Hindu wisdom and has
travelled to India.

Yoga, she points out, is not a
religion, and can be practised by
Hindus, Christians, Muslims or
people of any other religious
background. Its roots, however,
are in the Hindu religion and ex-
tend back some 5,000 years.

Yoga is both an end-goal (yoga
or union) and a means to that
end-goal (yogic practices).

The purpose in yoga is union of
the self, or Atman, with God or
Brahman. Brahman is not the per-
sonalized father-figure God often
associated with Christianity but the
absolute, the One, the ultimate re-
ality, the universal spirit. Yoga
seeks to make Brahman and At-
man, the self beyond empirical
ego, one.

Gabbott notes, ‘tas my teacher
in India says, we are all God but
we don’t know it. Brahman and
Atman are just God and man. In
yoga you are trying to realize the
God within yourself.’’

Many people are familiar with
the meditation gesture that em-
bodies this goal in which the
thumb forms a circle with the in-
dex finger.

“The thumb (God) comes down
to touch man (index finger) in the

By BARBARA BLACK
News Reporter

union,’’ Gabbott explains. **And
the three other fingers symbolize
the three gunas,"’ or qualities of
nature: inertia (mass), energy (ac-
tivity) and expansion (intelligence).

Hatha yoga is one of many yo-
gas including yogas of knowledge;
love and devotion; action and ser-
vice; voice and sound; vision and
form; arousal of latent nerve-
force; physiological discipline; and
the yoga of mental mastery. Hatha
yoga is considered a preparation
for meditative yoga.

Many westerners practise Hatha
yoga merely for the health
benefits, and consequently
discover its spiritual benefits.

“*A lot of my students say ‘Since
I’ve come to yoga [ feel so much
more with it! I enjoy life more,’”’
says Gabbott.

Breath is very important in
Hatha yoga and, in fact, the word
Hatha can be broken down into
the two syHables Ha — meaning
positive, sun breath, right nostril
— and tha — meaning negative,
moon breath, left nostril. So when
one breathes, one is harmonizing
the negative with the positive.

Yogic breath control, or
pranayama, can boost vitality and

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presents the

ANNUAL COMMUNITY DAY

KING HEPTONE’S

KARNIYAL

~ Cates Park
~ North Vancouver

SATURDAY PROGRAM, JUNE 16TH

9:30 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
10:30 a.m.
41:00 a.m.

Parade assembly & judging at Dollar Shopping Centre.
Children’s costume & rides on decorated vehicies.
Parade starts at Sherwood Park School.

Parade Trophy Awards, introduction of dignitaries.

Stage show starts with the North Vancouver Youth
Band, plus more music, dancing, Troupedemotion and
others. Street Theatre. Master of Ceremonies

T.N. Joe Thorniey.
11:00 a.m.

ALL DAY
foods, beverages.

Children’s Paint-in starts.
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SUNDAY, JUNE 17th

9:00 a.m.
11:00 a.m.
12:00 noon
12:30 p.m.

Awards.

Great Land and Sea Race.

Deep Cove Yacht Race.
Water Ski Show, Wind Surf Race,

mountain bike demos.

5:00 p.m.

Close up daily (Clean Up)

FLEA MARKET — SATURDAY, JUNE 16
$40.00 per TABLE For more information, to reserve your table

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Marilyn Martin at 987-3276

lead to higher states of conscious-
ness. Prana is described as the
universal life force in every being
and ‘‘by breathing and controlling
the breath with the postures, so the
prana is brought into and cir-
culated in the body...The whole
body benefits from the intake of
oxygen,’ Gabbott says.

The problem is, she regrets, ‘“‘we
haven’t got time to take these deep
gorgeous breaths. There isn’t time
in this world.”

For Gabbott, yoga leads in-
evitably to the question ‘‘Who am
12", in vedic teaching (the scrip-
tural basis of Hinduism) the most
important subject of our whole ex-
istence.

‘“‘Who am I? This is in the an-
cient vedas teachings...know
thyself. Know what are you doing
here, why have you been put into
this world. Very often the answer
can come through yoga by being
totally aware of yourself and your
potential for living. How people
don’t realize!’ she exclaims sym-
pathetically.

“‘It’s (these questions) an appeal
to the person himself to realize his
potential. Through being able to
meditate and to realize that the
kingdom of heaven really is within
yourself, not anywhere else. So
that you’re able to ...roll with the
punches, so to speak,’’ she says
stroking her meditative-looking

NEWS PHOTO Siuart Davis
THE PRACTICE of Hatha Yoga can bring harmony to both mind and
body, often leading to increased self-awareness. Seventy-year-old Pegge
Gabbott has practised yoga techniques | for over 18 years and finds them
invigorating. Here she strikes the pigeon posture.

See Yoga

Siamese cat.
Page 47

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