What is Yoga? Is yoga truly good for you?

What is Yoga? Is yoga good for body? Methods of Yoga have its origin in the East, particularly India. India remains the sole power house of Yoga. It’s believed that, the enlightened masters of yester years created yogic techniques with guidance from the Gods themselves. Even though, volumes of books were written on the subject, until now, these techniques were guarded in secrecy and the knowledge was transferred across generation, only through word of mouth.

These yogic techniques were so powerful that there was a need for profound secrecy to prevent these techniques from falling into wrong hands, which could be catastrophic.

In the earlier days, a person seeking to learn Yoga had to enroll in an ashram, serve the Guru and the ashram on menial jobs for some time, even years, until his or her behavior instills trust in the Guru. Once the student comes out successful under this deep scrutiny, the student is introduced to the methods of meditation, yoga, and austerity.

However, today, we are lucky, that yogis have changed to be more flexible. Enlightened masters have realized that in the fast world, as it is today, an aspiring student wouldn’t have patience or time to learn yoga in this manner. Imagine, what would happen if Yoga is forgotten for the fact that there is little time. The world sure would loose a great spiritual science that had a positive effect on humankind. Considering the situation and its results, the yogis have developed fast modes of yoga suitable for the current conditions in the world. Are these forms of Yoga effective? Yes they are! We all know, it was carts yesterday, but planes today for travel. Likely, yoga used to be slow yesterday, but scientifically refined to be fast, yet result oriented, today.

Idea is to teach everyone a basic yoga and in case the aspiring student successfully crosses this stage, then reveal the deeper secrets Yoga to him or her. It's expected that the person reaching the second stage, will by then have his or her life disciplined to that extend that he or she will develop a natural instinct to safely guard the secrets of yoga imparted in the second stage.

What is Yoga?

Yoga means union. Union of mind and body! Predominantly, people believe that yoga is a form of exercise. Remember, Yoga is not physical exercise alone. It’s a combination of postures, breath control, and meditation. A package that provides peace of mind, further increases your memory, increases the strength of your internal organs, enhances flexibility, and may even make you an enlightened being.

Types of Yoga:

There are various types of yoga available from India. The most prevalent ones are:

1. Raja Yoga
This is a form on Yoga practiced and disseminated by Swami Vivekananda. Raja yoga consists of following disciplines. They are,

Yama - self-restraint

Niyama - religious observances - commitments to practice, such as study and devotion

Āsana - integration of mind and body through physical activity

Pranayama - regulation of breath leading to integration of mind and body

Pratyahara - withdrawal of the senses of perception from their objects

Dharana - concentration

Dhyana - meditation

Samadhi - superconscious state

2. Kriya Yoga
This form of yoga involves controlling your breath (pranayama) while holding different postures and circulating your concentration across the body. Kriya yoga, found by 2000 years old living master Babaji and was made famous by Swami Sri Sri Yogananada, a disciple in lineage with Babaji, in his book ”Autobiography of an Yogi”. This book is a must read for all those aspiring to meditate.

There is another form of Kriya, Sakthi Chalana Kriya as practiced and taught by Sri Sri Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev. This form of yoga once again, involves pranayama and holding different mudras.

3. Hatha Yoga
Hatha yoga is the preparatory yoga, to strengthen the body for long periods of meditation. Hatha yoga consists of holding various postures while manipulating the breathing. It strengthens the body from within and does lead to calm still mind to a certain extent. Hatha yoga if practiced with any of the above mentioned yoga form is beneficial.

Why Yoga?

Yoga leads a person towards self-realization, to become one with the ultimate truth, God.Apart from the that, yoga does give you peace, calm mind, clairvoyance, good luck, Sidhis- the powers to change one’s life around, attract goodness-including wealth, disease free body, pure soul and so on. The list is extremely long!

The result of yoga also include good health and sustaining youth. It will make you attractive thereby enhancing your looks. This is due to increased circulation, stronger heart and lungs, active glands, which are results of practicing yoga. Yoga acts individually on all the body parts, internal and external, creating a serene atmosphere around you. It also provides immense knowledge on various subtle subjects.

Just imagine, you at peace and endowed with all these supernatural powers. I am not exaggerating what yoga could do for you. Everything, I am quoting here, is backed with reports of experience provided by the Yogis through the generations. The book “Autobiography of a Yogi” is quite informative on this subject. There is an online version at Autobiography of a Yogi, click here. In case, you enjoyed reading it online, go ahead and purchase the book for your library, as a support to the noble cause.

Why, not Yoga?

Is yoga bad? Yoga is truly beneficial! However, if not practiced properly, exactly by the stipulated rules laid down for the practice, the practitioner may end up getting hurt mentally. It's an irreversible catastrophe and may even be terminal. Practitioner might go insane by practicing yoga haphazardly, for an example, by following some dumb book written by some mystery person, whose credibility remains unknown. I insist, one should never practice Yoga without having a proper guidance from an experienced living Guru, in person.

So, endowed with this knowledge. Go ahead and meditate!

You can take a look at the following for the classes available:
• Isha Yoga Meditation
• Kriya Yoga

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Welcome to the July 7, 2008 edition of muse on everything down here. I have listed few of the articles that were submitted to my Carnival Edition. Have a look!

VikramKir presents Loose Fat Fast. A workout schedule for an Endomorph. posted at Thoughtfully Vikram....

CG Walters presents Own Your Actions posted at Into the Mist, saying, "When we assess a value to another’s action, belief or behavior (i.e. to say it is good or bad, should be punished or rewarded), we are actually attempting to place on that person at least a portion of—if not the sole—responsibility for the actions or our thoughts that we have chosen to exercise toward that individual."

axel presents Spiritual Corruption posted at axel g.

Rhonda Jones presents Maybe It?s Best If Our Desktops Can?t Tell Us What They Think posted at The Independent Author, saying, "Thank you for considering my post for the Muse on Everything Down Here carnival. - Rhonda"

Michael Snyder presents The Los Lunas Decalogue Stone - How In The World Did The Ten Commandments Get To America Before Columbus Did? posted at Shattered Paradigm.

Mike King presents Promoting Employee Engagement in the Workplace posted at Learn This, saying, "There are a number of things that can help to get people more engaged with others and I wanted to outline some of the ones I’ve learned from my experience and what I’ve encountered reading and discussing the topic with others."

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