Archive for the ‘Yoga Styles’ Category

By Patresia Adams

Yoga is an ancient practice that originated from India. There are several branches and types of exercises that are performed under yoga. Kundalini yoga is a well-known branch of yoga that brings enormous health benefits. Kundalini is a Sanskrit word that means ‘uncoiled’. There is an instinctive force or energy that lies dormant as a sleeping serpent coiled at the base of our spine. A set of advanced yoga exercises under the Kundalini yoga discipline, awakens or uncoils our latent creative energy.

Kundalini is a spiritual type of yoga. It is more than the mere physical performance of poses. It contains rigorous practice of breath controlling techniques; physical exercises, meditation, and chanting “shlokas”. By doing so, we release the coiled force and draw it up through the body awakening each of the seven vital points (also known as chakras) in a body. Complete illumination occurs when this energy reaches the Crown Chakra. Complete illumination brings inner knowledge, a deeper awareness of our creative abilities and hidden potential. We become conscious of about infinite truths of the universe and our body attains maturation.

Kundalini yoga can be practiced by people of al ages. It helps you meet the challenges presented by the hectic schedule of daily life. Its practice harmonizes the glandular system, strengthens the nervous system, purifies bloodstream, expands the capacity of the lungs and maintains balance between the mind, body and spirit. In this way you become your own masters and not influenced by your feelings and thoughts. You develop a better comprehension and have the choice and the wisdom to act.

A scheduled practice of Kundalini yoga enhances vitality, prevent back aches, decrease stress and maintain youthfulness by improving spine suppleness. You feel joy, knowledge and love in their purest form. Allow Kundalini yoga, the yoga of awareness help you realize your full potential and carve a healthy future for yourself.

Divine Wellness is an interactive and leading health portal that provides instructions and advice related to Kundalini yoga, Ayurveda and alternative medicine treatment.

Visit our website for more information on Kundalini Yoga and Yoga.

Patresia Adams is a healthcare consultant working with Divine Wellness. This interactive health and wellness portal offers Live online yoga classes through high-definition video conferencing.

By Clyde Granger

The Yogas other than Hatha are mainly meditative and more directly aimed at Yoga as end-goal and union.

Jnana Yoga: Union by knowledge; this is the path of spiritual wisdom and knowledge, in which the intellect penetrates the veils of ignorance that prevent man from seeing his True Self (Atman). The disciplines of this path are those of study and meditation.  To some degree Vedanta Yoga and Jnana are one in the same.

Bhakti Yoga: Union by love and devotion; the favorite Yoga of Indian masses. This is Yoga of strongly-focused love, devotion and worship, at its finest in love of the One. Its disciplines are those of rites and the singing of songs of praise.

Karma Yoga: Union by action and service; this is the path of selfless action and service, without of the fruits of action.

Mantra Yoga: Union by voice and sound; the practice of Mantra Yoga influences consciousness through repeating certain syllables, words or phrases. A form of Mantra Yoga is the Transcendental Meditation, which is widely practiced in the West. Rhytmic repetition of mantras is called japa. The most highly-regarded mantras are ‘OM’ and ‘OM MANE PADME HUM’.

Yantra Yoga: Union by vision and form; Yantra Yoga employs sight and form. The visualization may be with the inner eye. A yantra is a design with power to influence consciousness; it can be an objective picture, an inner visualization, or the design of a temple.

Laya and Kundalini Yoga: Union by arousal of latent psychic nerve-force. These combine many of the techniques of Hatha Yoga, especially prolonged breath suspension and a stable posture, with intense meditative concentration, so as to awaken the psychic nerve-force latent in the body, symbolized as serpent power (Kundalini), which is coiled below the base of the spine. The force is taken up the spine, passing through several power centers (chakras), until it reaches a chakra in the crown of the head, when intuitive enlightenment (Samadhi) is triggered. The disciplines are severe, best practiced with a teacher.

Tantric Yoga: Union by harnessing sexual energy; ‘tantric’ is applied to distinguish physiological systems. The control of the sexual energies has a prominent part, and the union of male and female has a ritualistic role. Tantric Yoga of all the yogas guards its teachings and techniques most closely.

Hatha Yoga: Union by bodily mastery (principally of breath); central to all Hatha Yoga disciplines is the regulation of breath, the harmonizing of its positive (sun) and negative (moon) or male and female currents. Hatha Yoga is the most widely practiced in the West, and its best-known feature is posturing. Hatha has practical benefits to the health of the nervous system, glands, and vital organs. It’s a purifying preparation for Raja Yoga, which is work upon consciousness itself. Hatha Yoga is the most practical of yogas, works upon the body, purifying it, and through the body upon the mind. It’s the Yoga of physical well-being.

Raja Yoga: Union by mental mastery; Raja Yoga is considered royal because the Yogi who practices this yoga thereby becomes ruler over his mind. Raja Yoga works upon the mind, refining and perfecting it, and through the mind upon the body. It’s the Yoga of consciousness, the highest form of Yoga.

© Copyright 2010 – Clyde Granger / Aura Publications

By Elizabeth Henshall

Ashtanga Yoga or Restorative Yoga – how to make the choice

Ashtanga Yoga is very different to the gentle practice of Restorative Yoga. In fact Ashtanga Yoga is a lovely choice for people who are strong and healthy but it would not be a good choice for anyone who has been recently ill, is suffering from burnout or quite chronic stress related conditions such as high blood pressure, severe headaches or chronic fatigue syndrome. The more active forms of yoga such as Ashtanga, with its emphasis on building towards physical strength as well as flexibility, tend to move quickly with the breath of the person doing the practice and form very beautiful flows of movement which are followed carefully by the Ashtanga practitioner. At its best the student can mediate as they do the flow but they have to have good health and a strong body to do this. For those who know a little about yoga sequences like ‘The Salute to the Sun’ is a good example of an Ashtanga flow.

For the person who has been ill and wants to start on a self-help route to recovery and wellbeing this form of Yoga is not advisable. That person’s body needs to rest, refresh and restore itself quietly and gently while it heals. Restorative Yoga helps that happen by emphasising the unique needs of a body whose nervous system has been overloaded and whose immune system has started to break down under ongoing stress – or which is in pain following distress in their muscular or skeletal systems. A restorative yoga session will involve only 4 or 5 postures which will each be held for some minutes but there will never be any strain placed on the body because each pose is TOTALLY supported by soft props. The careful placing of these props means that the body is free to relax and release its own powerful healing system while the person is taken through the most essential postures for their needs. Bodies are clever and know very well when they find their very own balance point as all the systems find themselves supported enough to come down off ‘high alert’. As soon as your body experiences that degree of support it knows it can switch out of overdrive and it heaves a sigh of relief! Experienced Restorative Yoga teachers will take time to help students work out their own Restorative Body Map and show them how to constantly bring their bodies back to balance point and so to healing. A session would typically include a posture to help to gently open the chest and aid breathing, a quiet supported forward bend to ease the spine, a very gentle twist of the torso to ease the digestion and a very beautiful relaxation to help the body fully switch channels from the Sympathetic High-Alert Nervous System to the ParaSympathetic Calm-and-Centred Nervous System.

There is a great contrast in the two styles but underlying them both are age old principles of body care and the use of postures to work through all parts of the body so that health and wellbeing are promoted along with a calm, controlled mind. We just have to find the yoga approach that is right for us at any point in time.

Restorative Yoga Workshops and more information about how to use this form of self healing can be found on Restorative Yoga and Yin Yoga. The Fifty, Fit and Fabulous programme provides a step by step approach to wellbeing through holistic care and is outlined on these sites.

   By Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500

Within the Bhagavad-Gita, Karma Yoga is mentioned as a spiritual discipline, which is based upon giving and service without the desire for rewards. We might also say that Karma Yoga points us toward supreme consciousness through selfless service and actions of giving.

The concepts of Karma Yoga should not be so difficult to practice, yet many people who understand the principle, still struggle with giving. There are many reasons for this. Therefore, let us take a look at the reasons why Karma Yoga may be difficult, and some of the inner workings within this discipline.

1. “How can I give to someone who is selfish?” 

Some of us may have people around us, who would take everything we have, without acknowledging our actions of giving. These are difficult circumstances, but there are some solutions.

If your circle of friends is collectively selfish, you may be wasting your time, and it might be time to find new friends. When we are children, we might learn hard lessons about the children with whom we associate. We learn about being “guilty by association.”

If we are friendly with a band of thieves, we are presumed to be a thief as well. This is unfortunate, but if you constantly give to a person who does not appreciate your good intentions, you are likely wasting your time. Unless, you are a very forgiving person, it may be difficult to be a “fountain of unlimited giving.”

There are only a few souls, per century, who can manage to master the complete extinction of desire and suffering. To give is one thing; but to give everything you have is impossible for the vast majority of humanity.

Therefore, look inside of yourself and see what actions of giving you can live with. We know that giving is good, but we may not be one of the few enlightened souls of this century.

2. “When I give, how do I know it is going to a good cause?” 

The act of giving is in itself a good cause. We do not know how services and funds of a charity are distributed.  In fact, if you walk outside of any public place, where people are soliciting for a charity, you don’t know if those people are working for a legitimate charity.

However, your giving of funds should be done with the best of intentions and should make you feel better. This brings about states of happiness. When you perform selfless service for a good cause, you most likely know much more about the legitimacy of that particular cause.

In summary, the act of giving, or performing selfless service, such as we know in Karma Yoga, creates inner happiness. At the same time, giving without pursuing a reward always comes back to you – even if it was done in secret. If you are concerned with the legitimacy of a cause, you may want to inquire further so that your time and efforts are not wasted.

© Copyright 2009 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

Yoga Teacher Training

FREE Yoga Report. FREE Yoga Newsletter. FREE Yoga Videos. Free Podcasts. Bonus: Free Yoga e-Book, “Yoga in Practice.”

FREE CONTENT: If you are a Yoga Teacher, Yoga studio, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is, including the resource box above. Namaste, Paul