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(published online: yogaservice.de, 15 May 2011)
Good yoga is yoga that works. Reinhard Gammenthaler of Switzerland was looking hard until he felt something good. He found original Hatha-Yoga and committed himself fully to its practice some 30 years ago. We met with Reinhard and talked about his practice, Africa, and sexuality.
Already in school Reinhard Gammenthaler resisted the way of the middle-class – he ran away and travelled in the 1960s and 70s along the hippie trail to popular spots in Asia and South America. Having lived through excessive drug abuse and on several occasions having had a close encounter with death, he eventually discovered yoga and his guru Dhirendra Brahmachari. Ever since those days he got by with temporary employment in order to have more time to practice in his attic in Bern. Following the advice of his guru he focused on his self-practice for decades before giving in to requests of friends encouraging him to begin teaching yoga to the general public in 2001. He recently published his book Kundalini Yoga Parampara, in which he describes the teachings of Dhirendra and his experiences – thank goodness, as the two books that Dhirendra wrote himself – Yogic Sukshma Vyayama and Yogasana Vijnana – can meanwhile only be found on the antiquarian market, at collector’s prices.
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YS: |
Was it difficult to write the book? |
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RG: |
No, not at all. These books, similar to the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, are very easily structured, like this: if you do this then you will achieve that. The book contains the entire shastra (teachings of yoga), detailed explanations on subjects ranging from correct nutrition and cleansing exercises to pranayama, just as I learnt it from my guru. |
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YS: |
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, written in medieval India, conveys a style of practice with partly radical techniques. Some experts consider these no longer timely. What’s your take on this? |
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RG: |
Yoga doesn’t change. Of course, one no longer practices in solitude in a remote mountain cave. But one can rent a cave in a New York skyscraper and practice there. Besides that, one begins slowly. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika is the basis for ashtanga, i.e. the eight-limbed path. This path begins with yama and niyama, the principles for a certain lifestyle that for the beginner in actual fact are the first steps. However, very few people today practice this. Among these principles we also find shauca – cleanliness and the purificatory practices. The ancient yogis didn’t just refer to external cleansing in the form of bathing and showering, they also advocated internal purification, for instance the washing of the intestines, and mental purification of thoughts in order to help the transformation into a better human being. However, the most important are the dietary changes. |
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YS: |
To eat vegan for example? |
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RG: |
No, lactro-vegetarian. Veganism and Yoga don’t work well together, it is even detrimental. As clearly recommended by many of the fundamental texts of the Hatha-Yoga tradition, I drink a lot of milk. Butter and ghee are suitable, and so are sugar and honey, all food items that vegans refuse to take. Vegetables are good, but only as long as they don’t drive. Onion and garlic shouldn’t be touched. Besides, no cigarettes, no alcohol, no drugs, and best also no remedies either. If somebody takes up the yoga practice, learns all the cleansing exercises and generally lives harmoniously, then this person will soon not be in need of any medicine anyhow. |
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YS: |
That means you haven’t seen a doctor in a while? |
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RG: |
Last time 3 years ago when I needed a yellow fever vaccination in order to get my visa for Nigeria. |
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YS: |
Nigeria? What did you do in Africa? |
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RG: |
Yes, well… that’s a long story. I began with yoga in 1978, and it was sort of a reversal. I was 25 or 26 years old at the time, smoked a lot of weed, took psychedelic drugs and was in a shamanic way looking for this knowledge that becomes accessible in expanded states of consciousness. But smoking dope impurifies the body quite a bit, which also has mental repercussions. I was quite confused at times and was dealing with fears that in the case of potheads often have a paranoid flavour to them: You constantly feel under surveillance. That is upsetting, and as a counter measure one smokes another joint – the usual vicious circle, just like with any other drug. I know people who are really into Ayahuasca and say that it brought them onto a good path. It is my belief however that at the end of the day all drugs have negative consequences. In those days I crossed path with a charismatic man who urged me to discontinue my bad habits. I will never forget this man… |
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YS: |
This transition from drugs and parties to a disciplined regimen of practice, was that not very difficult? |
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RG: |
Breaking habits is very difficult, even to stop smoking cigarettes was an ordeal. But I knew why. I was not well. My father had suffered from psoriasis. Doctors prescribed a veritable cocktail of drugs, among them Cortison. His heart got weaker and weaker and one day he just dropped dead. When I first felt itchiness in the area of my neck I knew that I had inherited the disease. Going to the doctor was not an option for me. I tried many things – from Zen to Vipassana and from Rosicrucianism to anthroposophy. I eventually became a vegetarian. That was an important decision for me, because it brought different people into my life. Then I began practicing yoga, but at first with bad books. I didn’t notice any effects. As a pothead I was used to expecting a certain effect, but nothing happened when I did the exercises. Then, in 1980, I discovered the books of my guru Dhirendra Brahmachari in a bookstore. I hardly had any money in those days and the books were very pricey. But I liked the man a lot – he looked like a real yogi to me, like someone who was living what he was teaching. The instructions were clear and made sense. I eventually bought the books and began practicing in the way outlined there. It felt very good. From the moment I got the books my life generally changed in a good way. I was granted a scholarship that I had applied for and was now able to practice two hours daily. The psoriasis was taken care of very quickly – practices like the headstand have helped a lot in the recovery process. Back then I was doing it for two to three minutes only. But it is part of my daily routine until the present day – 30 to 45 minutes, followed by the same amount of time in the corpse pose. |
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YS: |
We can see here a couple of neti pots for nasal cleansing and a bunch of cotton strings for sutra neti – these are purification techniques that you teach in your workshops. You also master khecari mudra, a technique in which one moves the tongue behind the uvula and brings it up into the nasal cavity. How long does it take to learn this? |
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RG: |
That’s a very delicate affair. One has to very carefully cut the frenulum of tongue, but of course not entirely and not all at once. The frenulum is an important tendon that is responsible for keeping the tongue in its place. It prevents it from being swallowed and acts as a steering device for the tongue. One doesn’t begin the process with the cutting but with cleansing of the tongue. The next step is to milk the tongue: you grab your tongue with a cotton cloth and move it from one corner of the mouth to the other. The cloth gives you the necessary grip to perform this sideward movement. Doing that on a daily basis you will see that the lower incisor teeth will automatically begin to cut the frenulum in the right spot. Typically, that will take a few weeks of daily practice. Once the teeth begin cutting the frenulum you start to use a small knife. But be careful, only cut a very tiny little bit. One has to cut little by little, very slowly. The whole process is described in great detail in my book. Until today it is part of my daily morning routine to clean the tongue and the palate carefully with a toothbrush, and to milk my tongue. It’s very good for oral hygiene, invigorates the teeth, and changes the salivation. In the past I have done sutra neti on a daily basis. The strings do not only clean the nasal cavity, they also stimulate the ends of nerves that analogously to Ida and Pingala (main energy pathways) are rooted in the coccyx. The friction awakens the root chakra. When done properly one can stimulate the exact same point with khechari mudra. The practice of sutra neti therefore becomes obsolete in this case. |
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YS: |
It is interesting that a life-threatening skin condition brought you to yoga – and today your entire skin is covered with tattoos. When did you have the tattoos done? |
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RG: |
In 1991, after a crisis. It was after my return from India. They were done over a period of ten years. I had read that tattoos are considered something like an initiation in many primitive cultures. By opening the skin the force of the tattoo enters the body and triggers a similar power inside the human being. The same thing is happening through yoga. I also had the feeling that many tattoo artists who were leading a life of sex, drugs & rock’n’roll were much more genuine than many esoteric people I knew. It almost felt like they were practicing a form of yoga as well. Tattoos are something very archaic – besides cave-painting the oldest art form of humanity. I began with Kali and Shiva on my shoulders and Kundalini on my stomach. I wanted to be really connected with these forces of nature. For ten years nothing much moved on in my life, always the same nightshift at the post office, the trips to India, the yoga practice – the only thing that changed were my tattoos. |
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YS: |
The crisis that you mention was triggered by your guru. He had you practice alone in a remote and deserted ashram at 2000 meters altitude, allowed you a mere three hours of sleep per night, prescribed a most simple diet, and instructed you to wash yourself under the open sky with ash and water in freezing temperatures to the point where your skin became cracky. Four months later he came by and asked whether you could hold your breath for three hours. You were totally devitalized and could hold your breath just over 30 seconds. When he then commented that you were probably not ready you became furious, tore apart his book in front of his eyes, and left. Nevertheless you continued to practice according to Dhirendra’s system. How did you gather the strength to do that? |
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RG: |
The role of a guru is not to make your practice easy – to the contrary. They make it more difficult in order for you to grow. After this incident I flew to Thailand with the intention of partying. Once there I quickly realized that wasn’t in the mood for party, so I just practiced yoga on the beach. Back in Bern I made the mistake to smoke a joint. I thought that Shiva wasn’t just the God of the yogis but also of the stoners. I then had another silly idea: to buy twelve kilograms of hashish in Peshawar in Afganistan. I got busted at the airport in Islamabad and was headed for certain death penalty. I was imprisoned for twelve days until the day of the hearing. I prayed like I never before prayed in my life: that I would never ever touch drugs again in this life, neither Aspirin nor hashish nor anything else. |
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YS: |
You were miraculously released and flown out of Pakistan the following morning. You had a vivid vision of your guru and felt that he played a major role in this miraculous turn of events. Did you meet him again after this? |
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RG: |
Yes, one year later, in 1993, I headed back to Pakistan to prove to myself that I could move around there freely. From Pakistan I went to India where I met my guru again. I noticed that he liked my tattoos, he considered it a symbol of my devotion. For the first time he seemed to be content with me. It was very nice. We drove together once more to the ashram in Mantalai (Jammu & Kashmir) where he did a puja for me. One year later he crashed in his two-seater. |
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YS: |
He was flying himself? |
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RG: |
Yes, he was able to handle all sorts of vehicles. He was a great car driver and owned three airplanes. But he was always dressed in traditional Indian fashion with dhoti and sandals. He had hinted at the plane crash more than ten years prior to the event, in a newspaper interview. Many of his devotees thought the way he died was uncanny and began looking for another guru. I am still hooked and remain his disciple to the present day. I consider myself a lucky beggar. Many are travelling to India desperately looking for a guru, but not finding one. Eventually they give in and come back to a regular life with good wine and all that. |
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YS: |
You wanted to tell us what brought you to Nigeria… |
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RG: |
My guru recommended I travel to Africa to learn there about kundalini. That was in 1981… |
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YS: |
... You already owned his books for two years at that time, but hadn’t met him in person… |
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RG: |
... Yes, but he was part of my life. In dreams he taught me things that were not written in the books. He was able to guide me from the inside, despite the fact that I was living in Switzerland and he in India. Through this trip to Africa I gained a lot of understanding. We are creating the external reality from the inside out. Each chakra corresponds to a continent – Africa corresponds to the Muladhara Chakra. That is that place where kundalini is lying asleep, the transition into the unconscious. If one knows about these things and is in Africa, you cannot help but noticing that the African customs and religions are intimately linked to the unconscious. Dreams play a large role, as do masks. They are able to go into states of trance by dancing and moving their pelvises. That’s their talent, because they are much closer to this energy than we are. After my first trip to Africa I took the vow to hold on to my semen forever. I have lived without women and sex for 25 years. Hatha-Yoga does not condemn sexuality – it is divine. But it’s about the control of this force. As a young man I was obsessed with sexuality, without having the slightest control over it. |
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YS: |
So the Catholic clergy is not that far off after all? |
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RG: |
The sexual force cannot simply be suppressed. This force is huge. It is the fundamental force in us – the force that brought us into life and existence, it is the fundamental force in the universe. If you suppress it as do the priests in the Vatican it becomes a demonic force. This force needs to be sublimed, and that is only possible with perfect control, but not with rational consciousness. Yoga works via the hypothalamus and the connected functions of the vegetative nervous system, via the metabolism, via the various glands. At some point of the practice bodily control emerges. The body has its own consciousness just like animals do. An animal just feels itself as animal, not as rational consciousness. Yoga awakens this bodily consciousness. The body likes energy, the body is afraid of death. The body is reluctant to disintegrate into a stinking mass, I am convinced of that. The body would like to exist into eternity, because it is simply just energy. |
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YS: |
Thank you very much for this conversation. |
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