Understanding the YogaSkills Method and Kemetic Yoga:  Melding Practice and Philosophy

By, Yirser Ra Hotep, A.M./MSW, E-RYT, Master Kemetic Yoga Instructor

There are two basic aspects to my practice of Yoga.  One is what I call the YogaSkills Method or YSM.  The other is Kemetic Yoga. 

YogaSkills Method is my understanding of the nature, purpose and way of Yoga philosophy, theory and practice.  I believe that YSM encompasses the best of what Yoga has to offer and is based upon the ancient intent of Yoga as a system of spiritual transcendence.  Transcendence simply means becoming aware of your true nature and achieving your true potential as a spiritual being.  This same concept is at the heart of Kemetic (ancient Egyptian) spiritual science that was at the core of their ancient culture that allowed them to create a civilization that is unsurpassed today in many ways.  

YogaSkills Method has 10 basic components in relationship to the practice of Yoga.  They are:

1. The purpose of Yoga movements and postures not primarily for the body but to benefit the development of the mind. 
2. Yoga movements and postures place primary emphasis on the control of the breath in order to move and circulate life force.
3. In the same way that we have a physical body that has a specific anatomy and physiology and that operates in a specific manner; we also have a spiritual or energetic body that has a specific anatomy and physiology and operates on the circulation of life force.  This life force is something we are born with and is replenished from a substance in the air that the Indians call Prana and the sages of ancient Kemet (Egypt) called Ankh.  This substance is the force called vital in Latin and that God breathed into the clay after forming it into the shape of a human being.  The Chinese call this substance is called Chi. In Japan it is called Ki. 
4. The physical body has a corresponding subtle body or bio-energetic body (non-physical, invisible and energy based).  The major energy structures in the physical body i.e., the nerve plexus and endocrine glands correspond to the major energy structures in the bio-energetic body, commonly called the Chakras in India or Karkar (energy circles) in the Kemetic language.  In the same way that the physical body operates due to the operation of organs circulation of blood through blood vessels, nerve impulses through nerve endings and chemical messages via the endocrine system; the bio-energetic body operates through the generation and movement of energy via the chakras/Karkars and the numerous energy vessels or channels.
5. In the same way that Yoga postures are supposed to be done in a manner that is in harmony with the physical anatomy and physiology of the body, YSM demands that they also be performed in a such a manner as to be in harmony with the exact way that energy moves and operates in the bio-energetic body. 
6. Therefore YogaSkills Method recognizes that each inhalation of the breath should cause energy to rise up the energy channel that corresponds to the spine and connects to the energy center (chakra/Karkar) at the crown of the head.  Each exhalation should send energy through the energy channels that corresponds to the arms and legs into the hands and feet.  In this manner the entire being is inundated (flooded) with life force in the same way that the land of Kemet (Egypt) was inundated annually with the flood waters of the Nile river (properly called Hapi) that deposited fertile soil from the deepest heart of Africa. 
7. Under YSM we utilize a technique called Rule of Four Breathing and Geometric progression.  This means that 4 steps characterize each breath: inhale, pause, exhale, and pause.  Each pose is divided into steps that correspond with this breathing pattern. 
8. By performing our Yoga postures in this manner we are developing specific mental skills that should transfer into our everyday life and provide us with the ability to manifest what we seek to accomplish in life. 
9. Some of the mental skills we develop are concentration, focus, patience, self-love, critical thinking, discrimination, independence, withdrawal, etc. 

10.We also develop our psychic abilities such as pre-cognition, telepathy and clairvoyance.  

Kemetic Yoga refers to the entire spiritual system of self-development created by the sages of ancient Egypt.  It is a worldview that recognizes the nature of reality and our place in the universe.  Kemetic Yoga is the understanding of our connection to the spirits of our ancestors and the true nature of Divine Universal Forces (Deities properly called Neteru).  From this perspective we recognize that there is an omnipotent and unknowable creative mind called Neter from which all in the universe comes from.  Religious minds attempt to call this unknowable Mind a being (named God) and give it a human personality (based upon a European male). 

The Sacred Feminine:  The Goddess Maat = Universal Harmony, Balance, Order, Justice and Unity

Our ancestors in ancient Kemet simply accepted that this force is beyond our human ability to fully grasp and were content with this acknowledgement of human limitation.  At the same time they recognized that this universal force manifested itself in a myriad of ways.  These manifestations of Neter (where we get the word nature) are the forces of nature.  These are galaxies, constellations, stars, planets and the elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water.  They are those ascended spiritual beings that lived in physical form thousands or even millions of years ago in epochs when the possibility of human potential was much greater and they were able to reach tremendous heights of spiritual consciousness and power far beyond our current ability to comprehend. 

These are the Neteru (Divine Forces).  Allegorical stories were created to convey the underlying truths that these forces represent and these allegories gave rise to myths and legends. Ausar, Auset, Heru, Tehuti, Set, Sekhmet, Selkhet, Min, Ra, Shu, Geb, Nut, Nebthet, HetHeru, Imhotep, etc., are legendary beings that became the archetype examples of how we should pattern our lives. 

Kemetic Yoga emerges from this cosmological foundation and an understanding of the Seven Laws of Ancient Kemet as enunciated by the Great Sage Tehuti or Thoth:

1. The Principle of Mentalism:  The All is Mind, All is Mind
2. The Principle of Correspondence:  As Above, So Below
3. The Principle of Vibration:  All things vibrate and are in motion
4. The Principle of Polarity:  Differences are illusions and only a matter of degree
5. The Principle of Gender:  Everything has it's masculine and feminine aspects
6. The Principle of Rhythm:  All things rise and all things fall
7. The Principle of Causation:  All things have a cause, All Causes have an effect