Get ready for the International Yoga Day
As we are just a night away from International Yoga day, it is time to brush up our basics on yoga. Yoga is defined as a Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, a part of which, including breath control, simple meditation, and the adoption of specific bodily postures, is widely practised for health and relaxation.
There are various paths of yoga that are often practised, albeit leading towards the same goal. Each one is a specialised branch of one comprehensive system. As described by the Self Realisation Fellowship established by Paramahansa Yogananda, there are six main paths:
Hatha Yoga: a system of physical postures, or asanas, whose higher purpose is to purify the body, giving one awareness and control over its internal states and rendering it fit for meditation
Karma Yoga: selfless service to others as part of one's larger self, without attachment to the results, and the performance of all actions with the consciousness of god as the doer.
Mantra Yoga: centring the consciousness within through japa, or the repetition of certain universal root-word sounds representing a particular aspect of spirit
Bhakti Yoga: all-surrendering devotion through which one strives to see and love the divinity in every creature and in everything, thus maintaining an unceasing worship
Jnana (Gyana) Yoga: the path of wisdom, which emphasises the application of discriminative intelligence to achieve spiritual liberation
Raja Yoga: the royal or highest path of yoga, immortalised by Bhagavan Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita and formally systematised in the second century B.C. by the Indian sage Patanjali, which combines the essence of all the other paths. At the heart of the Raja Yoga system, balancing and unifying these various approaches, is the practice of definite, scientific methods of meditation that enables one to perceive, from the very beginning of one's efforts, glimpses of the ultimate goal—conscious union with the inexhaustibly blissful spirit.
It was in the late 19th century when yoga was introduced to the Western hemisphere from its Indian roots, and since then it has undergone various adaptations. Today, yoga is practised for five main reasons:
Yoga for physical fitness and health maintenance: fitness training is the most popular way that yoga is practised today. People who usually practice yoga only for physical fitness target mainly their physical bodies, although after long-term practice they also are able to feel the spiritual aspects of it.
Yoga as a sport: This approach to yoga is especially prominent in some Latin American countries. It is also widely controversial. Its practitioners, many of whom are excellent athletes, master hundreds of extremely difficult yoga postures to perfection and demonstrate their skills and beautiful physiques in international competitions. But this new sport, which also can be regarded as an art form, has drawn much criticism from the ranks of more traditional yoga practitioners.
Yoga as therapy: Yoga as therapy attempts to restore health or full physical and mental functions. Although the idea behind yoga therapy is old, its name is fairly new. Yoga therapy is, in fact, a whole new professional discipline, calling for far greater training and skill on the part of the teacher than is the case with ordinary yoga. Commonly, yoga is intended for those who don't suffer from disabilities or ailments requiring special attention. Yoga therapy, on the other hand, addresses these special needs. For example, yoga therapy may be able to help find relief from chronic back pain, asthma, rheumatism, and many other ailments.
Yoga as a lifestyle: This enters the proper domain of yoga. This helps to unlock the real benefits of yoga when you adopt it as a lifestyle. This means living yoga, and practising yoga every day, whether it's physical exercises or meditation. Above all, it means applying the wisdom of yoga to everyday life. Yoga has much to say about what and how you should eat, how you should sleep, how you should work, how you should relate to others, and so on. It offers a total system of conscious and skilful living.
Yoga as a spiritual discipline: Lifestyle yoga centres on healthy, wholesome, functional, and benevolent living. Yoga as a spiritual discipline adds to that the traditional ideal of enlightenment, i.e., discovering your spiritual nature.
In yoga, it is called the atman (pronounced aht-mahn) or purusha (poo-roo-shah).
According to yoga philosophy, the spirit is one and the same for everyone, all beings and all things. It's formless, immortal, superconscious, and unimaginably blissful. It is transcendental because it exists beyond the limited body and mind. You discover the spirit in the moment of your enlightenment. (as explained in dummies.com)
If you have been contemplating taking up the practice of yoga, this might be the perfect time to start. No matter what your initial aim for taking up this wholesome practice, you will clearly see its benefits in all aspects of your daily lives.
As we are just a night away from International Yoga day, it is time to brush up our basics on yoga. Yoga is defined as a Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, a part of which, including breath control, simple meditation, and the adoption of specific bodily postures, is widely practised for health...
As we are just a night away from International Yoga day, it is time to brush up our basics on yoga. Yoga is defined as a Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, a part of which, including breath control, simple meditation, and the adoption of specific bodily postures, is widely practised for health and relaxation.
There are various paths of yoga that are often practised, albeit leading towards the same goal. Each one is a specialised branch of one comprehensive system. As described by the Self Realisation Fellowship established by Paramahansa Yogananda, there are six main paths:
Hatha Yoga: a system of physical postures, or asanas, whose higher purpose is to purify the body, giving one awareness and control over its internal states and rendering it fit for meditation
Karma Yoga: selfless service to others as part of one's larger self, without attachment to the results, and the performance of all actions with the consciousness of god as the doer.
Mantra Yoga: centring the consciousness within through japa, or the repetition of certain universal root-word sounds representing a particular aspect of spirit
Bhakti Yoga: all-surrendering devotion through which one strives to see and love the divinity in every creature and in everything, thus maintaining an unceasing worship
Jnana (Gyana) Yoga: the path of wisdom, which emphasises the application of discriminative intelligence to achieve spiritual liberation
Raja Yoga: the royal or highest path of yoga, immortalised by Bhagavan Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita and formally systematised in the second century B.C. by the Indian sage Patanjali, which combines the essence of all the other paths. At the heart of the Raja Yoga system, balancing and unifying these various approaches, is the practice of definite, scientific methods of meditation that enables one to perceive, from the very beginning of one's efforts, glimpses of the ultimate goal—conscious union with the inexhaustibly blissful spirit.
It was in the late 19th century when yoga was introduced to the Western hemisphere from its Indian roots, and since then it has undergone various adaptations. Today, yoga is practised for five main reasons:
Yoga for physical fitness and health maintenance: fitness training is the most popular way that yoga is practised today. People who usually practice yoga only for physical fitness target mainly their physical bodies, although after long-term practice they also are able to feel the spiritual aspects of it.
Yoga as a sport: This approach to yoga is especially prominent in some Latin American countries. It is also widely controversial. Its practitioners, many of whom are excellent athletes, master hundreds of extremely difficult yoga postures to perfection and demonstrate their skills and beautiful physiques in international competitions. But this new sport, which also can be regarded as an art form, has drawn much criticism from the ranks of more traditional yoga practitioners.
Yoga as therapy: Yoga as therapy attempts to restore health or full physical and mental functions. Although the idea behind yoga therapy is old, its name is fairly new. Yoga therapy is, in fact, a whole new professional discipline, calling for far greater training and skill on the part of the teacher than is the case with ordinary yoga. Commonly, yoga is intended for those who don't suffer from disabilities or ailments requiring special attention. Yoga therapy, on the other hand, addresses these special needs. For example, yoga therapy may be able to help find relief from chronic back pain, asthma, rheumatism, and many other ailments.
Yoga as a lifestyle: This enters the proper domain of yoga. This helps to unlock the real benefits of yoga when you adopt it as a lifestyle. This means living yoga, and practising yoga every day, whether it's physical exercises or meditation. Above all, it means applying the wisdom of yoga to everyday life. Yoga has much to say about what and how you should eat, how you should sleep, how you should work, how you should relate to others, and so on. It offers a total system of conscious and skilful living.
Yoga as a spiritual discipline: Lifestyle yoga centres on healthy, wholesome, functional, and benevolent living. Yoga as a spiritual discipline adds to that the traditional ideal of enlightenment, i.e., discovering your spiritual nature.
In yoga, it is called the atman (pronounced aht-mahn) or purusha (poo-roo-shah).
According to yoga philosophy, the spirit is one and the same for everyone, all beings and all things. It's formless, immortal, superconscious, and unimaginably blissful. It is transcendental because it exists beyond the limited body and mind. You discover the spirit in the moment of your enlightenment. (as explained in dummies.com)
If you have been contemplating taking up the practice of yoga, this might be the perfect time to start. No matter what your initial aim for taking up this wholesome practice, you will clearly see its benefits in all aspects of your daily lives.
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