What Is Yoga?
Yoga is freedom. It is love. It is natural, radiant, unobstructed joy. It
is pure awareness, wide-unsleeping and clean.
~ Richard Freeman, director of The Yoga Workshop, in Boulder, CO
Here within the United States, at the cusp of 2006, pretty much all of us has heard the word "yoga." For many if no longer maximum, the word conjures snap shots of scantily-clad beings with expanding and twisting limbs: a nicely-worn "scene" in fitness clubs, retreat centers, and yoga areas in the course of the country. In different phrases, it brings to thoughts the exercise of asana ~ sequences of physical moves and postures ~ which, because it turns out, constitute only a tiny slice of the complete "pie" that is the Yoga Tradition(s) of the bigger world (universe, cosmos). Now there is nothing incorrect with the exercise of asana (I do it myself, and find it pretty excellent!), but it might be beneficial as a way to place this unique thing of yoga onto its large "map" ~ to have a sense of the culture(s) from which it arises and to which it returns, and to understand asana to be simply one in every of many viable entry-factors into this widespread and beautiful territory. So let's explore ...
The phrase Yoga originates from the Sanskrit phrase Yuj (actually, "to yoke") and is generally translated as "union" or "integration" -- to yoke, attach, be a part of, or unite. The "union" cited here is that of the individual soul with the cosmos, the Supreme; of the small "self" of ego/person identity with the larger "Self" or "Spirit" of which we'll all a part. But what does this imply? And the way to we get there?! It is inside the quest to reply those questions that the numerous Yoga traditions have arisen.
Perhaps the broadest categorization in the global of Yoga is alongside the lines of the great religious traditions of the world, and mainly, their mystical wings/branches: Those within those traditions who become aware of as "mystics" are searching for yoga, or direct (unmediated) union, with the Divine. Examples of Yoga at this level consist of: Buddhist Yoga (e.G. The "six Yogas of Naropa"); Taoist Yoga (generally referred to as Qigong ~ the idea for all of the martial & healing arts with origins in China); and the Yogas associated with the so-called "Hindu" traditions of India.
The exercise of asana, because it's best regarded in this usa, falls into the final of those categories: the Hindu Yoga traditions. But this lifestyle itself has severa elements. One manner of searching at it is through the lens of "The Six Yoga Systems," which may be understood as six exceptional doorways, entry-points, portals, or motors through which a practitioner might technique, engage with, and enter the territory of Yoga.
The Six Yoga Systems
1.Hatha Yoga is the class below which asana falls. One manner of translating the phrase "Hatha" is to interrupt it into elements: "ha"=solar and "tha"=moon. Sun and moon, on this context, talk over with the two contrary currents that modify all tactics in our frame: the "masculine" and the "feminine," or ~ in terms of diffused anatomy, the pingala and the , the 2 nadis, or channels of power, whose union within the crucial channel of the shushumna nadi is ~ for those practicing in this lifestyle, the very definition of Yoga. Aside from being, inside the way defined above, a car for mystical union, the asanas ~ on a extra mundane level ~ are remarkable for enhancing health & strengthening the apprehensive device ... And this is understood to be the primary and a vital step along this path. Forms of Hatha Yoga being practiced within the United States these days include: Ashtanga Vinyasa, Iyengar, Kripalu, Bikrams, and Anusara (to call just a few!).
2.Raja (royal) Yoga is frequently known as the "crown of Hatha Yoga." What makes it the "crown" is its addition ~ to the bodily practices of Hatha Yoga ~ of a type of mental education supposed to enhance concentration to the point at which it flows into meditation and, finally, samadhi (which is, for this subculture, the final definition of Yoga). Raja Yoga is understood also as Ashtanga (eight-limbed) Yoga. These 8 limbs encompass:
1. Yamas, or Restraints (harmlessness, truthfulness, non-stealing, manipulate of senses)
2. Niyamas, or Disciplines (cleanliness, purification of frame, mind and frightened machine, take a look at of metaphysical concepts, contemplation on God)
3. Asanas or Postures
four. Pranayama, or Un-binding of breath and lifestyles-currents
5. Pratyahara, or Turning the attention within, with the aid of reversing the go with the flow of the energy of the feel organs
6. Dharana, or Concentration
7. Dhyana, or Meditation, i.E. Extended durations of best attention and contemplation
eight. Samadhi, or Mystical Union
The exposition of Raja Yoga is contained, maximum famously, within the sage Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.
Three. Bhakti Yoga is the Yoga of Devotion, of love for the Divine in its embodied forms. Radha and the alternative Gopis are ~ of their dating to Krishna ~ the archetypal, necessary Bhaktas, for it is through their love and devotion and satisfaction inside the presence of Krishna that they come to understand themselves as Divine. Selfless love, compassion, humility, and purity, at the side of this desire and serious aim to merge with God, are features which might be cultivated along this route. (Amachi, Shree Ma, and Karunamayi are 3 contemporary Teachers of this course.)
four.Jnana Yoga (the Yoga of Knowledge) is a Yoga that uses the mind as a device to remember the fact that our authentic Self is in the back of and beyond our mind. It is, in other words, a direction which makes use of the power of the mind to ~ in the long run ~ unfastened us from conceptual elaboration of every kind, and permit us to relax inside the space past all principles of thoughts. For the purpose of this kind of Self-discovery, Jnana Yoga probes the character of the Self thru the query "Who am I?" Thus Jnana Yoga is on occasion known as the Quest for the Self or the Inquiry into "who we're." (Shankara ~ a yogi "claimed" with the aid of the Buddhist in addition to the Hindu traditions ~ and, greater these days, Ramana Maharshi are famous practitioners of Jnana Yoga.)
5.Kriya Yoga is a yogic device covering a extensive variety of strategies, consisting of mantras and techniques of meditation for manipulate of the lifestyles-pressure (prana). The time period "Kriya" is frequently utilized in reference to (intended or spontaneous) movements which loose the frame and/or thoughts of obstructions. The purpose ~ as in all varieties of Yoga ~ is to unite with pure Awareness (God). Since natural Awareness is our authentic situation, it's also, within this machine, referred to as Self-consciousness. (Yogananda's Self-Realization Fellowship is one instance of a current agency committed to this form of practice.)
6.Karma Yoga is the Yoga of work/movement, of selfless provider. Practitioners of Karma Yoga engage entire-heartedly inside the "mundane" work of the world, for the advantage of all fellow human (and non-human) beings, and devote the fruits of their labors to the Divine. In this movement of letting pass of wish/worry round destiny results, attention is added increasingly absolutely into the present moment, which is the Heart of the Divine. And so in gifting away all fruits of exertions, the practitioner ~ ironically ~ receives, constantly, the finest of items, the greatest wealth: the treasure-residence known as Yoga, the radiant "aliveness" of the Present Moment.
Yet some other manner of dividing the Yogic pie (so scrumptious!) is into the two classes of (1) Yoga as course, which such as all the numerous sadhanas (techniques & practices), faculties & historical traditions; and (2) Yoga as fruition, which incorporates the diverse siddhis, accomplishments or end result, of practice, in addition to the ultimate "fruit" of Mystical Union itself ~ the very last intention ~ which, once received, transcends even the path/fruition polarity. At that point ~ the found out Masters inform us ~ one finds oneself in a place both new and quite acquainted ... A place eluded to, possibly, via the Sufi mystic/poet, Jelaluddin Rumi, in this poem of his:
Out past thoughts of right-doing and incorrect-doing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the sector is too full to speak about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
does not make any sense.
Hope this evaluation (my Karma Yoga for the day!) is beneficial and/or interesting to you ... And in case you'd want to research extra about those and other Yoga Traditions, one amazing resource is Georg Feuerstein's book The Yoga Tradition.
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