Yoga is defined as a form of exercise by a series of different poses and breathing exercises. Yoga is done by slow and fluid motions. This exercise is not fast paced or a series of strenuous movements. Yoga is also found to be relaxing and to heighten your mental senses. It is found to be a very beneficial to your health.
When you are teaching a Yoga class, you may wish to introduce this elucidating Vedic concept during the beginning of a session, so that your students will be able to practice witnessing the thoughts and emotions that arise during asana practice.
Yoga is a lifestyle, which can enrich a practitioner’s life far beyond the physical practice time spent in classes. Yoga promotes a peaceful co-existence with everything. This Yogic mindset creates a setting of living in harmony, in order to get better along with one’s self, as well as with others. Within the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, yama is a vital part of a complete life. The yamas teach us principles and values, which lay the foundations of social behavior. These guidelines of social behavior are the first limb of Patanjali’s Raja Yoga. The yamas are a reference for living a lifestyle that is in complete harmony with the world around us.
The ideal Yoga practice is a delicate balance between science and art, creating a union between mind, body, and spirit. The practitioner uses the body and breath to nurture an awareness of individual and unified focus. The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali describes the foundations and framework of Yoga philosophy from before 200 A.D. The sacred text offers a description of the innermost workings of the mind and provides an eight-part practice for controlling mental restlessness and cultivating unshakeable peace.
Have you been familiar with yoga? Well I have heard from a lot of people that yoga has its own way of making the body function at its optimum state. The health and fitness benefits of yoga have long been reported by experts and via scientific research. But first I’d prefer to give you short details pertaining to yoga. Yoga comes from a Sanskrit word which means “union” taking place between the mind, body and spirit. It originated in India where there is a physical and mental discipline together with meditative practices of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Give yoga a try and learn what it can do for your body, your mind, and your soul.
Unwanted thoughts, behaviors, habits, feelings, phobias and situational reactions are programmed deep within the Manomaya Kosa (mental layer). This deep seeded programming creates inner conflicts and mental agitation that is harmful to overall health.
A keenly developed sense of viveka allows a Yoga practitioner to discern between the preyas and shreyas. In Yogic philosophy, the preyas refer to actions and thoughts that are enticing and pleasurable in the short term, but are harmful in the long run. Shreyas, on the other hand, are actions and thoughts that are filled with nobility and divinity. Some of the virtues of the shreyas are compassion, love, sacrifice, and dharmic livelihood. Shreyas enhance spiritual growth.
Contemporary Yogic philosophy is the more subtle and deeper contemplation of the integration of Yoga’s wisdom and practices into daily…
Prana can be defined as the life-infusing substratum of all reality. Prana is also the energy we feel within and around us. There is a…
Some traditional Yoga teacher training courses have the Bhagavad Gita (Song of The Blessed Lord) as part of the program. This seems practical within Raja, Jnana, Bhakti, and Karma Yoga. However, the deeper aspects of this scripture may be lost on instructor candidates who pursue Yogic knowledge only for physical mastery. Therefore, today’s interns learning how to become a Hatha Yoga instructor may not be reading ancient texts to expand their knowledge.