What Is Yoga?
Yoga is usually freedom. It is love. Its pure, radiant, unobstructed delight. It
is pure consciousness, wide-awake and clear.
~ Richard Freeman, director of the Yoga Workshop, in Boulder, CO
Here in the United States, about the cusp of 2006, most people have heard the word “yoga. ” For many if not almost all, the word conjures images involving scantily-clad beings with increasing and twisting limbs: some sort of well-worn “scene” in fitness centres, retreat centres, and yoga exercise spaces throughout the country. Quite simply, it brings to mind the actual practice of asana ~ sequences of physical actions and postures ~ that, as it turns out, represent only a tiny slice of the whole “pie” that is the Yoga Tradition(s) of the larger world (universe, cosmos).
Now there’s nothing incorrect with the practice of asana (I do it myself, and discover it quite wonderful! ), but it might be useful to have the ability to place this particular aspect of yoga exercise onto its larger “map” ~ to have a sense from the tradition(s) from which it occurs and to which it earnings, and to understand asana to become just one of many possible entry-points into this vast as well as beautiful territory. So a few explore…
The word Yoga arises from the Sanskrit word Yuj (literally, “to yoke”) and it is generally translated as “union” or “integration” — in order to yoke, attach, join, or even unite. The “union” seen here is that of the individual heart with the cosmos, the Substantial; of the small “self” involving ego/individual identity with the much larger “Self” or “Spirit” 2 we’ll all apart. But you may be asking yourself what does this mean? And how do we have it there?! It is in the search to answer these questions about how the various Yoga traditions get arisen.
Perhaps the broadest categorization within the world of Yoga is usually along the lines of the great spiritual practices of the world, and in particular, their very own mystical wings/branches: Those in these traditions who discover as “mystics” are seeking pilates, or direct (unmediated) association, with the Divine. Examples of Pilates at this level include Buddhist Yoga (e. g. typically the “six Yogas of Naropa”); Taoist Yoga (commonly referred to as Qigong ~ the basis for all of your martial & healing artistry with origins in China); and the Yogas associated with the alleged “Hindu” traditions of Indian.
The practice of asana, as it’s best known within this country, falls into the final of these categories: the Indio Yoga traditions. But this particular tradition itself has several aspects. One way of taking a look at it is through the lens associated with “The Six Yoga Techniques, ” which can be understood because of six different doorways, entry-points, portals, or vehicles in which a practitioner might technique, engage with, and enter the location of Yoga.
The Six Yoga Systems
1 . Hatha Yoga is the category underneath which asana falls. One of many ways of translating the word “Hatha” is to break it straight into two parts: “ha”=sun along with “the”=moon. Sun and the celestial satellite, in this context, refer to both opposite currents that control all processes in our entire body: the “masculine” and the “feminine, ” or ~ regarding subtle anatomy, the Pingala and the two nadis, or maybe channels of energy, whose association within the central channel on the Sushumna Nadi is ~ for those practising in this history, the very definition of Yoga.
In addition to being, in the way described earlier mentioned, a vehicle for the mystical association, the asanas ~ with a more mundane level ~ are great for improving health as well as strengthening the nervous system… and this also is understood to be the first plus a necessary step along this kind of path. Forms of Hatha Pilates being practised in the United States right now include Ashtanga Vinyasa, Iyengar, Kripalu, Bikrams, and Anusara (to name just a few! ).
2 . Raja (royal) Pilates is often referred to as the “crown of Hatha Yoga. inches What makes it the “crown” is its addition ~ to the physical practices regarding Hatha Yoga ~ of your kind of mental training meant to improve concentration to the point from which it flows into deep breathing and, finally, samadhi (which is, for this tradition, the greatest definition of Yoga). Raja Yoga exercises are known also as Ashtanga (eight-limbed) Yoga. These ten limbs include:
1 . Yamas, or Restraints (harmlessness, accuracy, non-stealing, control of senses)
2 . not Niyamas, or Disciplines (cleanliness, purification of body, brain and nervous system, study regarding metaphysical principles, contemplation with God)
3. Asanas as well as Postures
4. Pranayama, as well as Un-binding of breath in addition to life-currents
5. Pratyahara, as well as Turning the attention within, by means of reversing the flow with the energy of the sense areas
6. Dharana, or Amount
7. Dhyana, or Introspection, i. e. prolonged time periods of perfect concentration in addition to contemplation
8. Samadhi, as well as Mystical Union
The annotation of Raja Yoga is definitely contained, most famously, inside sage Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.
3. Bhakti Yoga is a Yoga of Devotion, of affection for the Divine in its paint forms. Radha and the additional Gopis are ~ inside their relationship to Krishna ~ the archetypal, quintessential Bhaktas, for it is through their particular love and devotion and also delight in the presence of Krishna they come to know themselves since Divine. Selfless love, consideration, humility, purity, additionally desire and serious objective to merge with The almighty, are qualities that are harvested along this path. (Amachi, Shree Ma, and Karunamayi are three contemporary Instructors on this path. )
4. Jnana Yoga (the Yoga exercises of Knowledge) is a Yoga exercise that uses intelligence as a tool to understand which our true Self is guiding and beyond our imagination. It is, in other words, a course that uses the power of often the intellect to ~ finally ~ free us by conceptual elaboration of all varieties and allow us to relax from the space beyond all aspects of the mind. For the purpose of this Self-discovery, Jnana Yoga délicat the nature of the Self over the question “Who am I? micron Thus Jnana Yoga is usually called the Quest for the Do it yourself or the Inquiry into “who we are. ” (Shankara ~ a yogi “claimed” from the Buddhist as well as the Hindu cultures ~ and, more recently, Ramana Maharshi are two recognized practitioners of Jnana Yoga exercises. )
5. Kriya Yoga exercises is a yogic system gift wrapping a wide range of techniques, including mantras and techniques of deep breathing for control of the life force (prana). The term “Kriya” is frequently used in reference to (intended or perhaps spontaneous) actions that are free of charge to the body and/or mind regarding obstructions. The goal ~ as in all forms of Yoga exercises ~ is to unite together with pure Awareness (God). Due to the fact pure Awareness is all of our original condition, it is also, within this process, referred to as Self-awareness. (Yogananda’s Self-Realization Fellowship is one example of an up-to-date organization devoted to this form connected with the practice. )
6. Karma Yoga is the Yoga connected with the work/action, of the selfless provider. Practitioners of Karma Meditation engage whole-heartedly in the “mundane” work of the world, for the benefit of all fellow human (and nonhuman ) beings, in addition to devoting the fruits of their labours to the Divine. In this action of letting move of hope/fear around long-term outcomes, attention is delivered more and more completely into the current moment, which is the Heart in the Divine. And so in giving out all fruits of labour, the practitioner ~ paradoxically ~ receives, continuously, the very best of gifts, the greatest riches: the treasure-house called Yoga exercises, the radiant “aliveness” in the Present Moment.
Yet another means of dividing the Yogic curry (so delicious! ) will be into the two categories of (1) Yoga as a path, which will include all the various sadhanas (techniques & practices), educational facilities & historical traditions; in addition to (2) Yoga as fruition, which includes the various siddhis, success or fruits, of the train, as well as the ultimate “fruit” connected with Mystical Union itself ~ the final goal ~ which will once receive, transcends the rest of the path/fruition polarity. At that point ~ the realized Masters inform us ~ one finds oneself in a place both fresh and quite familiar… a location eluded to, perhaps, through the Sufi mystic/poet, Jelaluddin Rumi, in this poem of their:
Out beyond ideas associated with right-doing and wrong-doing,
there exists a field. I’ll meet you at that destination.
When the soul lies straight down in that grass,
the world is simply too full to talk about.
Ideas, dialect, even the phrase each other
does not make any sense.
With this overview (my Karma Yoga for the day! ) advantageous and/or interesting to you… And when you’d like to learn more about these along with other Yoga Traditions, one great reference is Georg Feuerstein’s guide The Yoga Tradition.
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