What is Laya Yoga?

Laya-Yoga makes meditative "absorption" or "dissolution"(laya) its focus.  The world laya is derived from the root li, meaing "to become dissolved" or "vanish" but also to "to cling" and "to remain sticking."  This dual connotation of the verbal root li is preserved in the word laya.  The laya-yogins seek to meditatively dissolve themselves by clinging solely to the transcendental Self.  They endeavor to transcend all memory traces and sensory experiences by dissolving the microcosm, the mind, into the transcendental Being-Consciousness-Bliss.  Their goal is to progressively dismantle their inner universe by way of intense contemplation, until only the singular transcendental Reality, the Self, remains.

The laya-yogins are concerned with transcending karmic patterns within their own mind to the point at which their inner cosmos becomes dissolved.  In this endeavor they utilize many practices and concepts from Tantra-Yoga, which also can be found in hatha-Yoga, especially the model of the subtle body with its psychoenergetic centers and currents.  Central to Laya-Yoga moreover, is the important notion of Kundalini-shakti, the serpent power, which represents the universal life force as manifested in the human body.  The arousal and manipulation of this tremendous force also is the principal objective of the hatha-yogin.  In fact, Laya-Yoga can be understood as the higher, meditative phase of Hatha-Yoga.

Reprinted with Permission
Georg Feuerstein
Yoga Research and Education Center
http://www.yrec.org
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