What is Yoga?
Post Views: 231 People generally used to believe yoga consisted solely of stretchingexercises, mantra repetition, and breathing techniques. Today we know thisisn’t entirely true. The development of yoga over the last 5,000 years hasaimed to help you cope with all of the physical, psychological, and spiritualtrials in the surrounding world. You can achieve perfect health only if allthe areas of your life are balanced. If you exercise with yoga, you can learnto create a balance between body, mind, and soul. Yoga gives you a calm,focused mind and a strong and flexible body. It also gives you a sense ofunity, harmony, satisfaction, and peace of mind. The mind is unpredictable and hard to master; it swings and dancesthrough new activities. It is good to control the mind. A controlled mindcreates happiness.—Buddha. Yoga types Tantra Yoga is the oldest path in yoga. Through tantric techniques, youcan gradually learn to sense, understand, and see energy. This path workswith the symbolic energy shakti (feminine energy) in order to evoke theKundalini-power (the primordial power) that is located at the bottom of thespine. Tantra Yoga embraces all other paths in yoga. It sometimes uses thebody to carry out different exercises and meditation. The purpose is topromote positive thoughts and become more conscious of sexual energy.Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti means emotional devotion towards the divine.Bhakti Yoga is the path of love and devotion. This devotion is expressed inprayers, rituals, and ceremonial worshipping. You give praise to the divinein all of nature’s creatures. This type of yoga focuses on worshipping thedivinity you find in your own heart and mind.Jnana Yoga. Jnana means wisdom and knowledge. This is theintellectual path in yoga. The goal here is to achieve a pure mind freed fromshallowness and vanity. In Jnana Yoga, you create balance through trying toseparate reality from illusion (maya) so that you can achieve clarity andstrength.Raja Yoga. Raja Yoga combines all branches of yoga, and it can includeKarma, Jnana, and Bhakti. Raja means “royal,” and Raja Yoga sees thebody as a “vehicle” for spiritual energy. Raja Yoga primarily focuses onmeditation and on consciously controlling the human mind. Raja Yogaarose due to the work of Patanjali and the text Yoga Sutras.Karma Yoga. Karma means action. This branch of yoga works onachieving balance through unselfish actions (primarily through some sort ofcommunity service). Karma is suitable for people who have a calm andpatient nature and who are interested in supporting and working with otherpeople.Hatha Yoga is often called “the path of the body” or “classical yoga.”Hatha Yoga is a sequence of asanas, or poses, that train the body, soul, andmind. Hatha means “power” and “strength,” but it also has a more esotericmeaning. In Sanskrit, ha means “solar” or masculine energy B.vinodhan,









