Hatha Yoga

Those unfamiliar with yoga may think of it as an Indian style get-fit class. But yoga is much more than that. It works on all aspects of health to encourage a strong body. A sharp mind and a reduction in the effects of stress.

Hatha yoga is a general terms that refers to the practice of yoga postures. It teaches technique to improve physical control of your body through postures and breathing techniques. These are designed to increase your level of energy or life-force. it releases tension and endows one with renewed energy, far too many 20th century people, yoga teachers included, have come to look upon the venerable Indian physical science as solely an exercise for health and vitality of mind and body. It is that, but it is also much more. Hatha yoga practices are more spiritual than physical, more subtle than gross, more a means of understanding than an exotic way to relieve stress or limber up the body.

Yoga was designed in a way to gain conscious control of our life energies, a way to go within, to harmonize the external so the innermost Self could be encountered. For the yogis who developed yoga, it was about states of consciousness, about living a divine life, and it was a preparation for meditation.

While you perform the asanas, concentrate on feeling the energies within the nerve currents. Sensitize yourself to knowing when the body has been in each position long enough to tune the nerve currents involved. Then shift smoothly into the next asana. It's like a dance, a deliberate, fluid dance. During all postures, inhale using the diaphragm, not the chest muscles. Do not stretch unduly or force the body. Relax into the poses. Don't worry if you can't perform them all perfectly. In time, you will find the body becoming more flexible and supple. Free the mind of thoughts and tensions. You will be more aware, more alive, more serene.

While there are many more complex hatha yoga routines, these twenty-four asanas provide a balanced system for daily use. For the simple purpose of quieting the mind in preparation for meditation, this is all you will ever need. For best results, hatha yoga should be taught personally by a qualified teacher. These instructions and videos are meant only as a rudimentary aid. For more elaborate regimens, inquire at a recognized school specializing in hatha yoga.  Most beginners' hatha classes concentrate on gentle poses and include a relaxation-session.

As I already brought out the scene of hatha yoga has a spiritual purpose - to balance physical and physic energies in preparation for meditation. It is not only meant to make us young, beautiful or creative, but to aid us in quieting the mind, body and emotions that we may awaken enlightened consciousness and know the Self within.

Diet, Weight and Yoga

Today’s society is much faster paced that ever before.  People have more stress problems which lead to more health problems, mental and physical.  There are more concerns with toxicity in the food we eat and the air we breathe.  Millions of Americans today live a sedentary lifestyle, which is associated with obesity.  The body, the cavities of our soul, was not meant to deteriorate in such a way that leads to disease.

Nature has bestowed upon us this body, a very fine and clever instrument to rely upon for our physical and spiritual evolution. Yoga is all embracing; it is concerned with life.  It tells us categorically how to keep close to nature.  We have been living almost in an unnatural world,  but the world has been made so unnatural, harmful and artificial by ourselves. Our food habits, breathing, our way of living and thinking has become unnatural.   

There is a growing trend to practicing Yoga for many different reasons, which include attaining the yoga body or physique, relaxation and peace of mind, or to prevent injury and ailments.  Americans mainly practice Hatha Yoga, which focuses on postures and stretching the body.  

Yoga, which is derived from the sacred Sanskrit language of India, meaning 'union' or 'to yoke or harness'.  Yoga is a way or path to transcendence and liberation from the self and the ego by purifying the mind and body.  Practicing yoga leads to a union with the mind and body or the individual and universal consciousness.  In other words, yoga is the union with the Individual Self and the Universal Self.  Yoga predates all other religions and has influenced and inspired many other traditions and philosophies.  Yoga is better understood as a union of the physical, physiological, mental, emotional, and intellectual bodies, which leads to a purposeful and balanced life.  

There is simply no other discipline quite like yoga because it utilized the body, mind and spirit, all in one practice.  Yoga is indeed a spiritual path that is based on ancient sacred philosophy, but one does not need to make an ethical decision when practicing yoga, rather finding your own path is wholly accepted.  The holistic benefits of yoga are suitable for the young or old, sick or well, with any religious background.  The secrets of yoga are inwardness, concentration, and purification of mind and body with cleansing thoughts and food. Indian philosophy states that within man is the spirit that is the center of everything. 

Meditation

One can create a sense of calm within the mind through meditation.  For thousand of years, one of its use has been as a way of achieving spititual enlightenment.  All religions practise some form of meditation. However, in modern times, within western culture, many people are more concerned with the enhancement to lifestyle and health which can come with practising meditation on a regular basis than its more spititual benefits.

Meditation has the effect of gradually slowing respiration and decreasing the heart rate, thus lowering blood pressure.  Because it creats a state of deep relaxation, meditation has several health benefits including strengthening the immune system and improving circulation, as well as increasing perceptual ability and decreasing anxiety. Today health professionals are recommending meditation for a variety of reasons. Meditation help the healthy to stay that way. 

The relationship between meditation and helath has been highlighted in recent decades by studies initiated by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.  The Maharishi (great saint) came to the public's attention in the 1960s as Guru to The Beatles and since that time millions of people have learnt Transcendental Meditation (TM), the form of yoga that he advocates.  TM involves a secret personal mantra - a sacred word or syllable - that is given to each individual by their teacher (guru). This mantra is repeated while the person is in a deeply relaxed state. Meditation is self-help technique and there are dozens of tapes and books outlining various meditations methods.

Yoga Basics

THE ANCIENT SYSTEM OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE BODY AND THE MIND

In order to get rid off diseases, sufferings of old age and death yoga has been practiced by Indian yogis and saints. Yoga is no more confined to this ancient land. Some teachers have taken it around the globe and many countries have adopted it. Although yoga starts with physical exercises, but at an advanced stage it helps human being to realize the self. More rightly it has been described as an instrument for reaching the other shore of the stream of sorrow. When one reaches the final stage after mastering eight parts of yoga, he attains oneness with the lord.

The great sage Patanjali, famous for his Yoga Sutra, was born in 200 B.C. He systematized the science of yoga which till then was being handed down by word of mouth from one generation to another. Yoga was very much in vogue in India long before Patanjali’s life and work. Since time immemorial the relations of body and soul was being studied by saints. According to sage Patanjali both body and spirit play a vital role in the transformation of the finite into the infinite. Hence yoga, the oldest science, is the only key to unlock the mysteries of universal consciousness. Yoga teaches how to conquer suffering, disease and death. It gives the practical way to lead a better life through body postures, rhythmic breathing, concentration and meditation. It is the way to self realization.

Yoga is not simply a collection of complicated body postures, but a total living, an eternal source of scintillating health and happiness. A systematic and regular practice is bound to add not only years to one’s life, but impart a meaning full life to live and confer various boons on those who follow and practice it sincerely.

In fact, yoga is a science, art, religion and philosophy all in one. In ancient India all these branches of knowledge were one and inseparable. It is certainly a religion, but not in a narrow sense. It is based on certain values like sanctity and oneness of life, nonviolence, international human brotherhood, peace and co-existence. In fact yoga makes man worthy to be on the top of the ladder of success.

Yoga is for everyone, without any consideration of caste, creed, climate, country, sex or age. It aims not only at body or muscle building, but also at regulating and vitalizing the functioning of all our inner and vital organs, glands and mind. The most of our body ailments are connected with our mental ill health. To cure a person physical remedy alone is not sufficient. The mind is also required to be tuned. Yoga strikes a balance between these two. A permanent cure is not possible without taking into consideration the mind. Body and mind go together, but the influence of mind on body is far greater than of body on the mind. Asanas are physical exercises and yamas and niymas are mental. They precede the asanas. Yoga aspires for total health.

Yoga can give us what we want and more, but we should have the capacity to receive. It is a subtle science to be practiced regularly with a sense of purpose and dedication. There is little or nothing that can emulate the perfection of yoga. In fact it is a perfect science to keep the body in tune with mind.

In today’s world of stress and strain, it is difficult – if not impossible – to maintain an equipoise. It is here that yoga helps not only to develop a sound body and sound mind but also a peaceful life and understanding to realize the self. Yogic principles like asanas, pranayama, dhana etc. enable a person to lead a relaxed, balanced and happy life.

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What is Yoga

There is Karma yoga for a man of action. By following your duties selflessly, without any thought of gain or success, you can sublimate your soul. This requires perfect detachment from fruits of action. This is path of practical living, of selfless service, of self-negation, offering the acts and their fruits at the feet of the lord.

Then there is Bhakti yoga which is path of surrender through love and devotion. In this, devotee sees the God as the supreme expression and embodiment of love. Worships and rituals are the main features of this path. It is the easiest and hence the most popular.

Third, Jnana yoga is based on the conception of unreality of everything except God. This world of names, forms and colors is a sheer illusion. All appearances are deceptive. Only God is the ultimate realty. Jnana yoga or the path of wisdom is the most difficult because it requires tremendous moral and intellectual strength. Self-realization and communion with God, through the practice of Jnana yoga, demands persistent efforts and relentless search.

Fourth, Raja yoga or the royal path, deals with breath control, Yogasanas, Bandha and Mudras. Raja yoga is also known as Hatha yoga.

Yoga has been divided into eight parts or eight limbs (Astanga Yoga). They are Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharna, Dhyana and Samadhi. Asanas (Postures) and Pranayams are the sub-divisions of Hatha yoga or Raja Yoga. Pratyahara aims at the withdrawal of senses inward in order to still and steady the mind, in preparation to further and higher steps of Dharna (concentration) and Dhyana (meditation). Dharna leads to Dhyana, culminating in Samadhi, the ultimate goal of a sage.

The need of Yogis is far greater today than it has ever been. The curative, preventive and recuperative effects of yoga are well known from the ancient time. In this age of stress, strain and aimlessness, there is no better remedy than yoga. It cures various diseases, improves health and maintains it. There is hardly any muscle or gland which is beyond the reach of asanas. The asanas, coupled with rhythmic and swinging breathing, make a perfect tonic for all mental and physical weakness.

Today the medical science has also proved that without taking into consideration the mind it is well high impossible to affect a permanent cure. Ancient yogis of India could never have thought of body alone though the yoga may begin with body, but it never stops there. Yoga by relieving mental stress and strain liberates the vast sources of energy. The Pranayama helps considerably in control and reorientation of mental faculties. A regular practice of yoga is bound to give a new meaning and dimension to life, to make bodies better and minds at best.

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