MORE IN YOGA

A multifaceted tradition encompassing everything from mantra repetition to the physical practice of asanas to the study of sacred texts such as The Bhagavad Gita, yoga has no single goal. However all ancient forms developed to help liberate the individual from the snares of samsara, or worldly existence. As yoga scholar Georg Feuerstein puts it, the purpose of yoga is "to help the spiritual practitioner to transcend the ego-personality or ‘lower' self, so that he or she may realize the ‘higher' Reality, whether it is conceived as the transcendental Self or as the Divine (God or Goddess)."

The Sanskrit word yoga has several connotations, but it is often translated as meaning "union." Though yoga is associated in most Westerners' minds with Hinduism, Buddhism shares the same ancient teachings and lineage of yoga masters and has evolved its own structures of yogic practice.

Within the yoga tradition, there are different approaches to achieving yoga's awakening. Jnana yoga prescribes wisdom, in the form of distinguishing what is "real" and unchanging from what is "unreal" and transitory, as the path to liberation. Mantra yoga focuses on sound and vibration as the means to elevating one's consciousness. Hatha yoga, aka sun-moon yoga, aka forceful yoga, involves physical practices such as pranayama (breath control) and asanas (physical postures) that are designed to cleanse, purify, and strengthen the spiritual aspirant's body and mind as preparation for freeing kundalini energy and experiencing the more profound reality. Karma yoga consists of devoting oneself entirely to selfless action in the service of others. Other branches include bhakti yoga, tantra yoga, and raja yoga. The branches are not necessarily distinct; a hatha yogi may as likely be doing karma yoga as well as mantra yoga.

The Bhagavad Gita is considered by many to be the oldest yoga scripture. It describes the nature of reality and various types of yoga. Writings and commentaries on yoga are vast. The Upanishads, the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika have been critical in the development of yoga in India.

Many types of yoga have come to the West, but hatha yoga is the most prominent of them. Nowadays, there are numerous schools of hatha yoga, reflecting the different ways that modern yogis interpret, adapt, and explain yoga's practices and teachings: These include Kundalini, Ashtanga, Anusara, Iyengar, Bikram, Integral, and Jivamukti. More recent contemporary adaptations have sought to incorporate yoga into physical workouts or dance routines; needless to say, some of these versions do not retain or even acknowledge the same goal as the Eastern traditions.

Context

Yoga's history stretches back to some five thousand years ago in India. The ancient yogis investigated the fundamentals of existence through the lens of body, breath, and mind. The teachings about such subjects were handed down from a teacher, or guru, to a student, and so on, in a line that extends back from modernity to ancient times.

Yoga is also considered one of six classical Indic schools of thought (or "darshanas") in and of itself. The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, written between the 1st century and 3rd century A.D., is the scriptural foundation of this school. This seminal text codified longstanding oral teachings about the practice, philosophy, and effects of yoga, into eight "limbs," or practices: asana (the physical postures), pranayama (breath control), yama (ethical precepts of how we should act in relation to other people), niyama (the personal disciplines that we need to follow, such as studying sacred texts), pratyahara (the withdrawal of the senses that occurs when we concentrate on something), dharana (focusing our attention), dhyana (a meditative focus on an object of concentration), and samadhi (the state that occurs when the "fluctuations" of our own individual mind come to an end). The physical postures prepare us for meditation, allowing us to concentrate deeply and without distraction.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, yoga was brought to the West by teachers including Swami Vivekananda and Paramahansa Yogananda. In the 1930s, Sri Krishnamacharya, the official Mysore Palace Yoga teacher, trained three of the most influential yoga teachers in the West: B.K.S. Iyengar, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, and Indra Devi. These three introduced Americans to various forms of hatha yoga starting in the late 1940s. A second wave of teachers, including Swami Satchidananda and Swami Muktananda came to the West in the mid- and late 1960s after immigration laws were eased to permit Indians to settle in America.

The contemporary American medical community has acknowledged the heath benefits of various yoga practices; research has shown that meditation, for instance, lowers cortisol levels, and scientists are studying yoga's benefits for patients with heart disease or for women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy.

Whatever branch of yoga one decides to explore, the yoga texts emphasize that it is essential to have a teacher. There are some yogic practices, such as pranayama, that can be dangerous if not done correctly. And the instruction of a teacher allows us to progress much more quickly on the path.

Resources

The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, translation by Georg Feuerstein

The Shambhala Encyclopedia of Yoga, by Georg Feuerstein

The Bhagavad Gita, translation by Barbara Stoler Miller

Light on Yoga, by B.K.S. Iyengar

The Heart of Yoga, by T.K.V. Desikachar

Yoga Mala, by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois

Wikipedia - Yoga

Gaiam - Yoga