Yoga- A Way to Attain Good Health and Spirituality

Yoga focuses on harmony between mind and body. Yoga derives its philosophy from Indian metaphysical beliefs. The word yoga comes from Sanskrit language and means union or merger. The ultimate aim of this philosophy is to strike a balance between mind and body and attain self-enlightenment. To achieve this, yoga uses movement, breath, posture, relaxation and meditation in order to establish a healthy, lively and balanced approach to life.

Yoga and Postures:

Yoga is all about Yoga poses and postures. There are umpteen numbers of Yoga poses and postures. These Yoga poses or Yoga Asana have evolved over thousands of years. As Yoga originated in India, most of the Yoga poses were developed by sages and ascetics. There are many important things which need to be kept in mind while trying and executing Yoga postures and positions. At the time of starting Yoga one should very well know his/her body limits. One should listen to his body, especially in the beginning.

The simple rule is to start with a teacher. You may also take help of some good books on Yoga for learning Yoga poses or Yoga Asanas. Videos are also of great help to help you learn Yoga poses. 

Yoga and its Types:

The prominent Yoga types or Yoga styles are Bhakti Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Purna Yoga and Raja Yoga. Though all the above Yoga styles are popular among the Yoga followers but the Kundalini Yoga type is most sought after in the west. It is interesting to note that different Yoga types have their unique virtues. Some Yoga styles are useful for physical strength whereas some are useful for increasing mental prowess.

Bhakti Yoga emphasizes love and devotion whereas Hatha Yoga is an easy Yoga style and most popular in the US. Jnana Yoga highlights the use of the mind to surpass the mind i.e. to discern the mind. Karma Yoga lays emphasis on selfless action and service. Kundalini Yoga uses sexual experience as a means to enlightenment and knowledge. In the Mantra Yoga meditation one has to chant a word or a phrase until he/she transcends mind and emotions. Purna Yoga lays more emphasis on the importance of Karma in day today life. Raja Yoga provides solution for complete and holistic healing. 

Yoga and its 8 Limbs:

Compiled by Maharishi Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras, the Eight Limbs of Yoga are a progressive series of steps or disciplines which purify the body and mind, ultimately leading the Yogi (one who practices Yoga) to enlightenment. While the physical part of yoga is certainly of significance, it is only one of the eight conventional limbs of Yoga practice, all of which have meditation of God as their rationale. These are the eight limbs of the complete yoga system as they are found in the famous Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

• Yama - Moral observances for interactions with others
• Niyama - Moral observances for interactions with yourself
• Asana - Postures
• Pranayama - Breathing
• Pratyahara - Sensory inhibition
• Dharana - Focus
• Dhyana - Meditation
• Samadhi - Blissful absorption of one's individual consciousness in the essence of God.

Yoga and its Benefits:

The benefits of Yoga are numerous. In terms of energy Yoga is like a universe in itself. Some of the important Yoga benefits include anti-ageing, balance and flexibility of body, increase in knowledge and wealth, improvement in mental health and development of personal and social values. This is not the end of story; Yoga also helps in improving strength, sexual life and reducing weight. Yoga makes you feel good. Yoga is relaxing. It's energizing. It's strengthening.

Summary:

The driving force of yoga is aimed at the monumental, life-changing discovery of whom and what you actually are. This is precisely how yoga works, how it makes you feel good. Yoga helps you experience the truth. The truth- which, you discover is goodness. The implications of knowing the truth is massive. Thus Yoga gives you the strength to unravel the truth with which you will begin to live with security, confidence and inner psychological peace. Such great are the benefits and properties of Yoga. Yoga changes your life.

Yoga - Lots Of Benefits Under One Name!!!!!!!!!!!

As one practices Yoga, positive effects of Yoga begin to show. The sense of feeling good envelops around the individual. This feeling is so natural and so genuine that it goes entirely in an individual's life. In this way it helps clarify deepest cravings, motivations and aspirations, thereby restoring confidence, hope, meaning and rationale to life. We all like feeling good, peace of mind, being joyful, peaceful, animated and calm.

The benefits of Yoga are numerous. In terms of energy Yoga is like a universe in itself. Some of the important Yoga benefits include anti-ageing, balance and flexibility of body, increase in knowledge and wealth, improvement in mental health and development of personal and social values. This is not the end of story; Yoga also helps in improving strength, sexual life and reducing weight. Yoga makes you feel good. Yoga is relaxing. It's energizing. It's strengthening.

Different Benefits of Yoga:

Listed below are few benefits of practicing yoga. As yoga has such a power that listing benefits never ends!!

1. Anti-Ageing- Yoga helps in slowing down the aging process by providing elasticity to the spine, firming up the skin, removing tension from the body, strengthening the abdominal muscles, eliminating the likelihood of a double chin, improving the quality of loose arm muscles, correcting poor posture and so on. Thus, of the numerous benefits of Yoga, anti-ageing is an important one.
2. Balance- Yoga helps in creating balance and harmony in body. Yoga creates symmetry throughout your body, making you strong and flexible and balanced. Yoga also teaches to balance the mental urge to push, control, and be assertive with the impulse to yield, submit and be passive. Thus Yoga helps in attaining a balanced attitudinal equilibrium.
3. Flexibility: Flexibility and Yoga go together. With increased flexibility many tensions and conflicts are erased on their own. The more flexible a body the better it is for that individual. It saves your body from unnecessary torture and pain.
4. Self-Awareness: Yoga helps an individual not only to realize his own self but also understand other issues around him/her. Yogic theory and practice lead to increased self-knowledge. Yogic practices like breathing and posture exercises help in attaining and maintaining health, physical and mental, and relaxation.
5. Massaging of ALL Organs of the Body – Yoga is perhaps the only form of activity which massages all the internal glands and organs of the body in a thorough manner, including those – such as the prostate - that hardly get externally stimulated during our entire lifetime. Yoga acts in a wholesome manner on the various body parts. This stimulation and massage of the organs in turn benefits us by keeping away disease and providing a forewarning at the first possible instance of a likely onset of disease or disorder.

6. Complete Detoxification – By gently stretching muscles and joints as well as massaging the various organs, yoga ensures the optimum blood supply to various parts of the body. This helps in the flushing out of toxins from every nook and cranny as well as providing nourishment up to the last point. This leads to benefits such as delayed ageing, energy and a remarkable zest for life.
7. Stress Reduction- Physical activity is good for relieving stress, and this is particularly true of yoga. Because of the concentration required, your daily troubles, both large and small, seem to melt away during the time you are doing yoga. This provides a much-needed break from your stressors, as well as helping put things into perspective. The emphasis yoga places on being in the moment can also help relieve stress.
8. Suffer less from illness and unpleasant symptoms- The energizing, relaxing and balancing effect of yoga all serve to boost the autoimmune system, helping it to prevent and fight illness and disease. The list of illnesses acknowledged by the medical profession as 'psychosomatic' grows every year. The peace of mind which yoga brings serves to heal and prevent these illnesses and symptoms.
9. Weight Loss- Another great benefit of Yoga is its ability to reduce weight. Through different asanas of Yoga we can easily reduce extra fat from our body.
10. Heals many Diseases- Yoga also possesses the magic power of healing. Yoga has been used for healing disorders such as acid stomach, asthma, bronchitis, cancer, constipation, heart disorders, hypertension, insomnia, menstrual disorders, obesity, sinus and a number of other diseases. Studies have proved that people who regularly practice Yoga have reduced anxiety, are more resistant to stress, have lower blood pressure, efficient heart function and overall improved physical fitness.

Summary:

Yoga helps you experience the truth. The truth- which, you discover is goodness. The implications of knowing the truth is massive. Thus Yoga gives you the strength to unravel the truth with which you will begin to live with security, confidence and inner psychological peace. Such great are the benefits and properties of Yoga. Yoga changes your life.

Beginning Yoga- First step to attain total Fitness !!!

Beginning yoga is the first thing to get you started on the journey to the deep places of yoga. Most of those that have only been doing yoga for a few years will tell you that they are beginners because of how hard and intriquite it is.

Different aspects for beginning yoga:

If you are thinking about starting yoga, whether at home or in a class, you will need to consider some simple things to start with that you should be able to comprehend to the fullest and also be able to enjoy the benefits of. This will allow you to get the physical and emotional side along with the learning that you will also have.

The beginning yoga will begin with the simplest learning of what it is to do yoga. What does yoga mean? It is most commonly known to be a part of the Hindu religion, yoga is much older than that and is one of the oldest forms of discipline out there. The main idea is the breathing than is involved and the poses that will give you the calming and relaxing you need to become stable and get you into the right frame of mind for you to meditate deeply.

Beginning yoga will also go thought the many levels of the yoga itself and give you the ability to see the learning that those who do it will be getting at the height of the instructions. There are eight levels to yoga and are guides for living life to the fullest and with the most meaning behind it. You will find ethics and morals and these are necessary for a healthy person and bring one closer to the spiritual side of nature.

There are four main guides to the levels that are necessary for changing a personality and creating an awareness of the energy inside of us. You will also be able to master your own body and this will give you the ability to move into the second part of the levels that are directly related to the mind, senses, and conscious thought. The first of the four levels to this are know as the Yama, the Niyama, The Asana, and the Pranayama. The second part is the Pratyahara, the Dharana, the Dhyana, and the Samadhi. Each of these correlates to an awareness level.

Benefits of Beginning Yoga:

Beginning yoga or any kind of yoga will give you a healing and curing abilities and a mental and physical attributes for the body and mid. The physical attributes are giving you an ability to move around better and being more flexible. You will become stronger, more tone, and have larger muscles. You will have a better posture, relieve your back pain, make your spine stronger, and raise your stamina, giving you an elegance and balance etc. the mental attributes are getting rid of stress, making your body more aware of itself, calming the body and mind, having sharper focus, and giving the body a new start with the relief of stress and pain.

Guideline for Beginning Yoga:

Beginning yoga is a relatively inexpensive proposition. You need few props or other equipment. Dress comfortably and casually. You don't have to indulge in the latest fashions. Standard, loose gym wear is fine. The most important tool is a yoga mat. Get one that's inexpensive, strong and comfortable. You'll also want a mat that offers relaxation during meditation periods, stays soft enough to counter a hard floor, provides good sweat absorbance and is machine washable.

Make the most of your yoga experience. Start in a friendly class that brings you along at the right pace and teaches you the right fundamentals. Get going and stay motivated. Give yoga a proper chance to set in and show you what it can offer. Stick with it to reap the benefits of yoga over a long, healthy and peaceful lifetime.

Summary:

Beginning yoga really means learning about the ancient Hindu exercises that are almost older than the hills themselves. You would need to learn about breathing as well as the many different poses that will becalm you and also provide you with relaxation so that you can achieve stability in your being, and get into the proper frame of mind so as to be able to meditate deeply.

Yoga And Its Types Involve All Types For Complete Spirituality !!

Yoga is basically divided into eight types. In every type different styles of and paths of yoga are explained. The prominent yoga types are: Hatha yoga, Bhakti yoga, Karma yoga, Jnana yoga, Kundalini yoga, Raja yoga, Purna yoga and Mantra yoga. It is important to note that every type of yoga has its own unique qualities. Some yoga styles play an important role in improving physical health while some are useful in increasing mental ability.

Types of yoga and its importance:-

1. Bhakti Yoga: Bhakti Yoga is a system of Yoga in which love and devotion are given emphasis. Some of the Bhakti Yoga traditions lay emphasis on love of God, love of God in man and surrender to God's will. Some people are naturally inclined by temperament to be devotional and to love God and God-as-the-world. In the Bhakti Yoga fold, maintenance of balance is recommended. Perhaps we all practice Bhakti Yoga in our day today life. Bhakti Yoga is reflected most in our prayer to the God.

2. Hatha Yoga: Hatha Yoga is said to be the basis of all Yoga systems. Hatha yoga is the physical part of Yoga practice. Hatha yoga lays emphasis on asanas, pranayama and dhyana (meditation). Another important facet of Yoga is that it aims at balancing different energy flows within the human body. Hatha Yoga exercises are intended to ease tense muscles, to tone up the internal organs, and to improve the body flexibility. When practiced in combination with breathing techniques, Hatha yoga postures 
stimulate circulation, digestion, nervous and endocrine systems of the body.

3. Jnana Yoga: Another popular Yoga type is the Jnana Yoga. Jnana Yoga emphasizes the use of the mind to surpass the mind i.e. to discern the mind. The aim of Jnana Yoga is to endeavor ceaselessly to explore knowledge and to know and understand. Jnana Yoga is eight-limbed, and its other seven limbs are detachment, self-discipline, longing for freedom, hearing the truth, reflection upon that truth, and meditation. Jnana Yoga aims at attaining liberation through knowledge and not by rituals and ceremonies.

4. Karma Yoga: Karma Yoga lays emphasis on selfless action and service. The underlying message of Karma Yoga is very clear- humans must always work in harmony with the great power that controls and runs the universe. With the eradication of compulsive or possessive desire, we are able to live in the present and at the same time can plan for the future.

5. Kundalini Yoga: Kundalini yoga is a physical and meditative discipline, comprising a set of techniques that use the mind, senses and body to create a communication between "mind" and "body". Kundalini yoga focuses on psycho-spiritual growth and the body's potential for maturation, giving special consideration to the role of the spine and the endocrine system in the understanding of yogic awakening.

6. Mantra Yoga: Mantras are words, phrases, or syllables which are chanted attentively and thoughtfully to attain certain goals. In the Mantra Yoga meditation one has to chant a word or a phrase until he/she transcends mind and emotions. In the process the super conscious is discovered and achieved. The rhythm and the meaning of mantras combine to conduct the mind safely back to the point of meditation- the higher consciousness or the specific spiritual focus. Different syllables, phrases and words posses their unique healing potential. Hence they are chanted at a specific time.

7. Purna Yoga: Purna yoga is also known as Integral yoga. The philosophy of Purna yoga is based on the recognition of importance of perfect integration of the human being with the divine consciousness at all levels of existence. This is a very difficult pathway of yoga and requires complete dedication and support of a guru. It is yoga of complete integration of the self through action, wisdom, peace and love. Integral yoga suggests that action alone is not possible to purify the soul that could lead the Sadhak on the path to salvation. Action, wisdom, love and knowledge have to be used as a means of self-purification of the soul.

8. Raja Yoga: An important branch of Yoga, Raja Yoga is a one stop solution for complete and holistic healing. Raja Yoga possesses the positive power of influencing the life of human beings. Raja Yoga synchronizes the physiological system as a whole as well as transforms all spheres (physical, mental, emotional, intellectual, occupational, social and spiritual) of human existence. Raja Yoga therapy is truly a holistic treatment as it heals the principal mechanisms and the control of the whole person. Raja Yoga helps an individual to mitigate emotional and mental conflicts. Raja Yoga also brings lasting peace and satisfaction in one's life. All these virtues make Raja Yoga a way of living.

Summary:

Yoga is one of the most popular and commonly participated in exercises out there, but not many people are actually aware of just how many different types of yoga there are to choose from. Each has its own features, qualities and advantages, and so in order to be able to determine which is going to work best for you.