Dorje Yoga is a complete system of Yoga that develops strength, flexibility, and clarity, thus empowering each practitioner with the tools for living in balance. It teaches a powerful and systematic method of Yoga practice interwoven with Āyurveda’s capacity to impart equilibrium. The basis for this approach is awareness through education. The three core principles which provide the foundation:
Sequences informed by modern principles of kinesiology and ancient understanding of energetic zones called marmāṇi.
Balancing individual constitutions through physical and energetic practices.
Advancing the sequence according to the elements that comprise the body.
Dorje Yoga is an evolutionary practice that unites the practitioner’s body, mind, and spirit. The school empowers practitioners to ignite their latent energetic potential for radical transformative purposes. The many facets of Yoga are taught as tools for reaching a balanced state of being within which individuals may experience the contentment and abiding necessary to recognize their divine nature. This realization reveals one’s lower and higher selves as united, forming a symbiotic relationship with their surrounding space. Modern science understands that the external environment is alive and filled with dormant energy. Through expanding one’s awareness, the practitioner unites with the pulsation of the ever-expanding space and learns to work with the inherent potential power.
The first principle in the process of Dorje Yoga recognizes that we are all situated within physical bodies that need tuning. The school teaches modern knowledge of kinesiology based on anatomy and physiology alongside ancient wisdom surrounding energetic zones throughout the body. This attentiveness ensures that practitioners stay injury-free and that energy moves optimally. An order of operations based on the ideal kinesiological movement of the body is followed in every class offered by a Dorje Yoga teacher. Below is a simple equation used to create balanced āsana (postural) sequencing:
The second principle recognizes that everyone has a unique constitution of being that requires attention to how the various tools of yoga might affect them. Thus, individual constitutions greatly benefit from the systematic practice of Yoga. A specific practice regimen and lifestyle may be determined by assessing the individual's attributes. Here are examples of predominating characteristics for three possible individual constitutions according to Āyurveda:
Vāta doṣa combines air and ether elements, and its energy naturally moves upward, creating clarity, lightness, and sensitivity. Vata-predominant people tend toward hyperactivity and ungroundedness, so Dorje Yoga focuses on postures and breathing that are grounding and stabilizing.
Kapha doṣa combines water and earth elements, and its energy tends to move downward, creating stability and inertia. Kapha-predominant people tend toward heaviness and melancholy and benefit from postures and breathing that are performed more quickly and produce a lightening effect.
Pitta doṣa combines fire and water elements, and its energy tends to move upward, similar to vata, but due to its watery nature can spread like wildfire. Pitta-predominant tend toward aggression and criticism of themselves and others and benefit from mindful movement and breathing with closed eyes that support cooling the body and mind.
Finally, the third principle of Dorje Yoga, which makes each practice unique, is its method of balancing the seven elements of earth, water, fire, air, ether, space, and time. Dorje Yoga always begins practice with āsana to connect the practitioner to the earth element, the physical embodiment which is the vehicle of this life. Like the order of operations of kinesiology, there is also an order of operations concerning the anatomy of the subtle body, which progresses according to the pañcakośa from a previous article. As an example, breathing practices, often referenced as prāṇāyāma, always follow āsana. Āsana influences the gross body, and prāṇayāma begins to move the practitioner more inward toward their subtle body. The equation for the use of different tools of yoga might look like this:
Dorje Yoga teachers are trained to impact the elements to ensure balance. Because the body is composed of a unique combination of these elements and their respective qualities, Yoga practice can be individually designed to meet a wide range of needs. The benefit of this method is the recognition of one’s divine nature as content and free. Because we are born into bodies and situations unique to each of us, we imagine ourselves as confined to our embodiment and environment. We unknowingly wrap ourselves as the silkworm threads itself into its capsule. The silkworm does this as an act of protection and binds tighter and tighter out of fear. It’s time to break out of that cocoon, and Dorje Yoga has the means.
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