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Yoga
A Wisdom Archive on Yoga
Yoga
The ancient Yogis recognised long ago that in order to accomplish the highest stage of yoga, which is the realisation of the self, or God consciousness, a healthy physical body is essential. For when we are sick, our attention is seldom free enough to contemplate the larger reality, or to muster the energy for practice.
The masters of yoga also teach us that personal growth is possible only when we fully accept our embodiment and when we truly understand that the body is not merely skin and bones but a finely balanced system of energies.
The roots of Yoga can be traced back roughly 5,000 years to the Indus Valley civilization, where seals depicting people performing asanas (yoga postures) were used in trade along the river.
The word Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word "Yuj" meaning to yoke, join or unite. It is the union of all aspects of an individual: body, mind and soul. Hence, Yoga reunites all opposites - mind and body, stillness and movement, masculine and feminine, sun and moon - in order to bring reconciliation between them.
Yoga is one of the six branches in Indian philosophy and is referred to throughout the Vedas – the ancient scriptures of India. There is a legend that says that the knowledge of Yoga was first offered by Lord Shiva to his wife Parvati and from there passed on to the world. According to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the ultimate aim of Yoga is to reach "Kaivalya" (freedom). This is the experience of one's innermost being or "soul" (the Purusa). When this level of awareness is achieved, one becomes free of the chains of cause and effect (Karma) which bound us to continual reincarnation. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is a 2200 year old classical piece of Yoga Philosophy. Hear, Patanjali describe 8 disciplines of yoga which must be practiced and refined in order to perceive the true self- the ultimate goal of Yoga:
Niyama - Principles of self conduct: purity, contentment, study of self, surrender.
Asana - practice of the postures.
Pranayama - Breath control.
Pratyahara - withdrawal and control of the senses.
Dharana - concentration.
Dhyana - meditation.
Samadhi - higher consciousness.
Yoga And Soul
Physical reality is only a fraction of all that is! In your search for happiness, you have been running away from the `Self', which is the real source of joy. Many a time, you find yourself stressed and ailing because you don't know your inner being, the Self.
This inner being , the Self, is our awareness. It is energy. It is the energy of Divine Love.
All evolution and the manifestation of material energy are guided by the supreme energy of Divine Love. Normally, you do not know how powerful and thoughtful this unknown energy is. The silent working of awareness is so automatic, minute, dynamic, and precious that we take it for granted. After Self-realisation, this energy appears to us as silent throbbing vibrations flowing through our being, and you automatically come to know all there is to know and thus be ‘Self Aware’!
But we have been unable to achieve Self-realisation because we cannot fix our attention on something that lacks form (abstract being). Instead, our attention wanders outside on forms.
Spiritual yogic practices and systems deal with regulations and exercises, which help you (i.e. the sleeping soul) to wake up, discriminate between the real and the unreal, gradually leading your mind to firmly stabilise and merge in the soul…thus "internalising the soul’s attention"…on itself…in lieu of expending energy on outer forms. Once fully awakened, the Energy (soul) realises Itself, and is freed automatically from the pangs of birth and death.
Yoga: The Beginning Stage of Yoga
When you first begin to practice yoga, the mind, like a child runs in different directions. For a while you may be able to stabilise your mind but the thoughts invariably get scattered.
It is at this stage that you have to exercise conscious control and practice the art of 'pratyahaar'. There are some practitioners who can control and bring the mind quickly to focus without much effort due to an inner state of calmness.
Once the mind is stabilised, it helps to fix one's attention and brings much peace. Even if the attention span is short, it at least helps control the mind and arrest its restlessness and constant thought-flux.
Yoga: The Advanced Stage of Yoga
"True happiness can be achieved only through a state of nothingness."
The supreme aim of all yogic exercises is to elevate the soul to higher levels of consciousness by strengthening the mental faculties.
Once the mind is strengthened and concentrated, it is easy to make it delve on itself and dissociate from ephemeral and perishable objects of the world and the senses.
At this stage, external objects and sensory inputs do not make any impressions or leave any residues in the lake of the mind. The waters of this lake become calm and placid.
The mind, thus, is totally focused on itself, one-pointed and impervious to external sensations.
This stage can be easily understood by imagining the case of salt water in a tumbler. The salt is fully dissolved in water and there are no undissolved particles left. But the solution is not uniform in its composition. Still, there is no proper mixing as one homogenous solution, as the water has not been stirred.
Yoga: Special Spiritual Benefits from Yoga
Practising yoga regularly imparts great benefits:
Basic spiritual benefits Improved Concentration Regulated Breath Clarity in Mind
Advanced spiritual benefits Thought Control (Clear and one-pointed thought) Mind Control (Firm Will power) Psychic control (like telepathy, clairvoyance etc.)
Ultimate spiritual benefit - The realisation that you and every other being in the universe are one! So you = me and me = you .
Healing of the body, psyche and soul is one of the basic directions in the yogic activity and serves the whole psychobiological and spiritual restoration. Purifying, healing and rejuvenating yogic exercises can restore health, life force, joy and also lengthen the life span. Laya Yoga practices serve liberation, salvation of the soul and its reconciliation with God.
Discover your breath - A major and important benefit you may notice with yoga practice is that you are more in touch with your breathing.
Yoga poses are practiced in harmony with the breath. One of the residues of this constant concentration on breath is that students tend to pay more attention to their breath outside of class. Most students' report they are surprised to learn that they find themselves holding their breath frequently during the day in response to stress. By learning to notice their breath holding they can begin to break the habit. When one breathes easily throughout the day, less tension will accumulate in the body.
Free your thoughts - One of the most important things you can learn from a yoga class is that your thoughts have the ability to affect your overall contentment and health. During the deep relaxation pose ( savasana ), one systematically relaxes every part of the body, even suggesting that the brain itself is 'relaxed'. During conscious relaxation, thoughts are experienced more as energy, which is associated with the brain than as the sum total of who we are. We have thoughts, but those thoughts no longer take over our bodies and minds at large - triggering tension, anxiety or other responses. Yoga teaches us that consciousness and thoughts are not the same thing.
During relaxation we are able to let the thoughts flow through us without dancing away with them to the past or the future. We remain conscious, allowing the thoughts to come through us, but we learn not to interact with them. We can say to ourselves, "Oh, there's another thought of dinner, or of person 'X' or of fear about tomorrow's meeting." Then we can let go of that thought and return to the relaxation at hand. This is a meditative practice, which gradually over time allows us to 'dis-identify' with our thoughts.
When thoughts are experienced just as thoughts, not as reality itself, then the path to freedom which yoga promises begins to unfold naturally. And that path is as sweet as a perfectly ripe mango.
Yoga: Therapeutic Yoga
The word "therapy" comes from the Greek word therapeuein , meaning to heal, to take care of. Yoga can be understood as a comprehensive approach to healing, for it goes to the root of all disease, which is our false relationship to life itself. We fall ill when our body-mind is out of balance, when the life force false or circulate freely in us. Ultimately, there can be no complete healing until we have restored our primal trust in life, which alone removes all those obstructions within us that tend to manifest as ill health.
Most of our diseases are symptoms of an underlying disease: our sense of being cut off from the sustaining power of life. We feel separate, isolated, alienated and also ill at ease. As we become aware of this feeling, which we share with billions of others, we experience the need for wholeness. We begin to understand that we are not really sealed off from life but are in fact interconnected with everything and everyone else. At times, this intellectual understanding may be confirmed and enriched by an actual experience of unity and wholeness.
The word 'Yoga' comes from the Sanskrit root 'Yuk' - meaning 'to join, to unite'. Yoga seeks to restore the condition of wholeness in which, even if we should experience a spell of misfortune and illness, we nevertheless feel restored to life and healed in our relationship to the larger Reality Yoga is radical spiritual therapy.
For millennia, yoga has had a close connection with Ayurveda , which is India's traditional medical and healing system. According to Ayurveda , which literally means "science of life", body and mind form an interactive system. This is also the viewpoint of yoga. Both schools of thought also insist that a healthy, wholesome life must be happy and morally sound. Moreover, the authorities of Ayurveda and yoga both recommend the cultivation of self-knowledge and serenity, which ensure our well-being.
Yoga: Major Types of Asanas
There
are many different asana s (postures) in yoga, which you can practise
at any time of the day with excellent benefits. However, best results
can be obtained only by doing yoga under expert guidance. Here's a
listing of the commonly practised asanas:
Name in Sanskrit
Name in Sanskrit
English Equivalent
Ardha Chandrasana
Half Moon Pose
Garudasana
Eagle Pose
Tadasana
Mountain Pose
Utkatasana
Powerful Pose
Uttanasana
Standing Forward Bend
Utthita
Parsvakonasana
Extended
Lateral Angle Pose
Utthita
Trikonasana
Extended
Triangle Pose
Virabhadrasana I
Warrior I Pose
Virabhadrasana II
Warrior II Pose
Vrksasana
Tree Pose
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Downward Facing Dog Pose
Adho Mukha Vrksasana
Arm Balance
Ardha Sirsasana
Half Headstand Pose
Cat-Cow
Cat-Cow
Viparita Karani
Supported Inverted Pose
Bhujangasana
Cobra Pose
Lunge
Lunge
Setu Bandasana
Bridge Pose
Urdhva Mukha Svanasana
Upward Facing Dog Pose
Baddha Konasana
Bound Angle Pose
Bharadvajasana
Seated Side Twist
Dandasana
Staff Pose
Paripurna Navasana
Complete Boat Pose
Vajrasana
Thunder Bolt Pose
Anantasana
Lord Vishnu's Couch
Chaturanga Dandasana
Four-Limbed Staff Pose
Jathara Parivartanasana
Revolved Abdominal Pose
Plank
Plank
Shavasana
Corpse Pose
Supta Padangusthasana
Supine Big Toe Pose
What Is Yoga?
"The word ‘Yoga’ comes from a Sanskrit root ‘Yuj’ which means to join. In its spiritual sense it is that process by which the identity of the Jivatma and Paramatma is realised by the Yogins. The human soul is brought into conscious communion with God. Yoga is restraining the mental modifications. Yoga is that inhibition of the functions of the mind which leads to abidance of the spirit in his real nature. The inhibition of these functions of the mind is by Abhyasa and Vairagya” (Yoga Sutras).
Yoga is the Science that teaches the method of joining the human spirit with God. Yoga is the Divine Science which disentangles the Jiva from the phenomenal world of sense-objects and links him with the Ananta Ananda (Infinite Bliss), Parama Shanti (Supreme Peace), joy of an Akhanda character and Power that are inherent attributes of the Absolute. Yoga gives Mukti through Asamprajnata Samadhi by destroying all the Sankalpas of all antecedent mental functions. No Samadhi is possible without awakening the Kundalini. When the Yogi attains the highest stage, all his Karmas are burnt and he gets liberation from Samsara-Chakra. "
Excerpt from the book Kundalini Yoga by Sri Swami Sivananda.
A seeker asked, "What action shall I perform to attain God?" "If you wish to attain God" came the response, "there are two things you must know. The first is all efforts to attain God are of no avail."
"And the second?" the seeker asked.
"The second is that you must act as if you do not know the first!"
yoga: (Sanskrit) "Union." From yuj, "to yoke, harness, unite."
The philosophy, process, disciplines and practices whose purpose is the yoking of individual consciousness with transcendent or divine consciousness. One of the six darshanas, or systems of orthodox Hindu philosophy.
Yoga was codified by Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras (ca 200 bce) as the eight limbs (ashtanga) of raja yoga. It is essentially a one system, but historically, parts of raja yoga have been developed and emphasized as yogas in themselves.
Prominent among the many forms of yoga are
- hatha yoga (emphasizing bodily perfection in preparation for meditation),
- kriya yoga (emphasizing breath control), as well as
- karma yoga (selfless service) and
- bhakti yoga (devotional practices) which could be regarded as an expression of raja yoga's first two limbs (yama and niyama).
While in recent years the word "yoga" has been heard more in gyms than in religious discourse, "yoga" in its original sense has little to do with exercise. "Yoga" comes from the Sanskrit verb yuj, to yoke or unite. The goal of yoga is to unite oneself with God; the practice of yoga is the path we take to accomplish this.
Yoga is a family of ancient spiritual practices that originated in India, where it remains a vibrant living tradition and is seen as a means to enlightenment. Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, and Raja Yoga are considered the four main yogas, but there are many other types. In the West, yoga has become associated with the asanas (postures) of Hatha Yoga, which are popular as fitness exercises. Yoga as a means to enlightenment is central to Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and has influenced other religious and spiritual pr ...
In Raja Yoga the goal is to quieten the mind through meditation where the attention is fixed on an object, mantra, or concept.
The aim of Raja yoga meditation is to successfully establish a mental link with the supreme source of all spiritual energy and power, the Supreme Soul, with the purpose of freeing the individual soul from sorrow, misery, pain, depression, fear, anxiety, illness, insecurity and phobias, and enabling the soul to once again experience constant peace, happiness, love and lasting health and prosperity.
Hatha Yoga deals with physical body and astral body purification and training. Its goal is to bring the physical body into a perfect state of health so the soul has an appropriate vehicle of expression to work through.
Hatha Yoga embraces many practices, including physical postures and breathing exercises ( pranayama ) , which also act upon the physical nervous system and etheric body. It helps bring the vital energies of the physical and etheric bodies under conscious control.
Proper breathing is the essence of yoga. The correct breathing technique is, when you inhale, bring the abdomen out; then breath out and take the abdomen in. This process should be as slow as it can be.
Chakras are energy centres which govern the subtle, psychosomatic aspects of our inner being. This Sanskrit term means wheel or disk, and when the chakras are awakened, they turn in a clockwise direction. The chakras open up like flowers and pour out their qualities re-establishing our inner balance and restoring our health and form.
Of the many chakras within the human body, seven have been identified as major. Chakras are first mentioned in the Vedas, ancient Hindu texts of knowledge.
Kundalini is derived from a Sanskrit word meaning either coiled up or coiling like a snake. It is a term in yoga, referring to a reservoir of psychic energy at the base of the spine. Kundalini is curled up in the back part of the root chakra in three and one-half turns.
"Kundalini is the energy of the Divine as it is experienced in the individual. Kundalini binds us when we project its energy into the world and yet, kundalini liberates us when we return this energy to its divine origin.
This video is a good attempt to get a feeling of the Kundalini rising:"
Kundalini Yoga concentrates on psychic centers or chakras in the body in order to generate a spiritual power, which is known as kundalini energy.
Kundalini is the potential form of prana or life force, lying dormant in our bodies. It is conceptualized as a coiled up serpent (literally, 'kundalini' in Sanskrit is 'coiled up') lying at the base of our spine, which can spring awake when activated by spiritual disciplines.
The desired purpose of each meditation technique is to channel our awareness into a more positive direction by totally transforming one's state of mind. To meditate is to turn inwards, to concentrate on the inner self.
There are many forms of meditation. While the forms of meditation vary, they all use concentration techniques, which help us to becoming a witness of our thoughts. Indulge in the articles on this site and you will find the path that is just right for you.
Sub topics
Meditation for beginners, Meditation Techniques, Meditation and Health, Meditation Obstacles, Benefits Of Meditation
Meditation and Concentration (Dhayana), Meditation and Relaxation, Meditation and Visualisation, Meditation and Stress
Mudras, the science of hand and finger postures, can help you to cure bodily ailments in a wonderful manner. It actually helps in balancing the five elements ( panch-tattvas ) in the human system to their optimal levels. The elements can even be increased or decreased to cure appropriate ailments. When the elements are completely balanced, the yoga (unison) of mind, body and soul with the Supreme Soul can be achieved!
Prana or ki is that life energy which keeps the body alive and healthy. In Greek it is called 'pneuma', in Polynesian 'mana', and in Hebrew 'ruah', which means 'breath of life'. The healer projects prana or life energy or 'the breath of life' to the patient, thereby, healing the patient. It is through this process that this so-called 'miraculous healing' is accomplished.
Basically, there are three major sources of prana: solar prana, air prana and ground prana. Certain areas or places tend to have more prana than others. Some of these highly energized areas tend to become healing centers.
