health and wellness

What Is Yoga?

To understand yoga, one must first realize that it is a sort of journey, if you will, as it is not a quick fix at all. In fact, it requires one to develop discipline, and there is hard work involved especially for beginners. The word yoga means “union” in Sanskrit - a language of ancient India where yoga originated well over 3000 years ago, and it is considered to be the oldest physical discipline in existence. Yoga, is a spiritual practice or discipline that helps the individual to unify ones body, mind, and soul. Yoga can be more accurately referenced to its Sanskrit word “asana”.  Asana, however, is only one part of the eight limbs of yoga.

Many people mistakenly think that yoga is just stretching. While stretching is certainly involved, yoga focuses on harmony between mind, body, and self-enlightenment which is attained through poses, breathing, postural alignment, relaxation and meditation in order to establish wellness, happiness, and a balanced approach to every area of life. If you stay with yoga long enough, you can discover a “spiritual awakening” or better put, “enlightenment”. You will find out that who you are, is not just a body, and not just the conversations in your mind. Yoga will open windows to things you have never experience before as it will take you beyond the mundane survival level and into a whole new appreciation of life.

While there are said to be four main paths (Margas) to yoga, its ultimate aim is to guide you through a spiritual healing or higher experience that it will literally change your life, your thought process, your attitude, your outlook and your awareness. Through steady practice, you will manifest less self-importance, less material attachment, a much higher level of happiness, and will evolve into a less judgemental state. It is the fundamental path in alleviating chronic daily stress, and to which leads to a longer, more meaningful, and healthier journey through life. You will gain profound wisdom and learn how your conscious and unconscious mind can either support or harm you. Ultimately, yoga is about transformation and is studied both on a physical and mental level uniting the individual with the supreme.

The Four Main Paths

• Jnana Marga - The path of Knowledge in which one learns to discriminate between what is real and what is illusory.
•  Karma Marga - The path of selfless work, and emphasizes spiritual practice to help the individual toward union.
• Bhakti Marga - The path of devotion to god, and encompasses chanting, spiritual reading practices, and worship.
• Yoga Marga - The path of control of the mind where all the activities of the mind and consciousness are studied and brought under control.

Others, highly recognized, have come to include the path of yoga and are:

• Raja Yoga - Involves mastery of the mind and senses in Samadhi; essentially the advanced aspects of Patanjali’s astanga yoga.
• Hatha Yoga - The yoga of the will which involves cultivating ones energy to arouse Kundalini primarily by means of asana and pranayama.
• Mantra Yoga - Involves reciting sacred syllables to reach perfection.
• Laya Yoga - Involves absorption in god to experience ultimate bliss.

references:
Sri Swami Rama (2008) The royal path: Practical lessons on yoga. Himalayan Institute Press; New Ed edition.
Zen Buddhism: A History (India and China) By Heinrich Dumoulin, James W. Heisig, Paul F. Knitter