Ashtanga Yoga

Ashtanga Yoga Postures – are they really yoga?

By: Yogacharya


I did a Google Search for “ashtanga yoga postures” today, just to see what will come up.  All ten first-page results gave me exactly what I didn’t want … It gave me websites about the wrong ashtanga yoga.

There’s more than one Ashtanga yoga?

No, not really … but in recent times the word “ashtanga” has been attached to a dynamic system of yoga-based exercises … and it’s become so popular that it has literally taken over the word ashtanga yoga as its own, leaving many practitioners of the traditional system of ashtanga yoga baffled and dismayed.

To them, yoga is a sacred, disciplined, eight-limbed science for personal development and inner transformation … a system that includes much more than what is utilized in the newer, fitness centered pop-ashtanga version.


To learn more about the 8 parts of yoga, Click Here ...


How Strong Are Your 8 Limbs?

You may have heard about the first 2 limbs of yoga, the yamas and niyamas … those pesky morals and ethics that the yogis always seem to keep harping on. Really though, we all know how to be a good person, so what’s the big deal?

Unless you’re from Mars, then you know about the third limb … asana. That’s the cream of yoga for us body obsessed Westerners … and of course, who wouldn’t want to look as young as Madonna in their 50s?

The fourth limb you probably know too. It’s that monotonous breathing they call pranayama (like that exotic word is supposed to make it more interesting?).  I already ready know how to breathe, don’t you?

But after that, things start to get vague for most of us.  

Can you even name limbs five through eight? Don’t feel bad if you can’t, even most yoga teachers today don’t have much to say about them, let alone teach about them. Which is why modern yoga really is more like “yoga preschool” than “yoga college.”

It’s in the last four stages is where yoga really begins. That’s what all the classic literature on yoga says and any real Guru (not the kind with a fake beard and moustache) would agree.
What’s the point of the first four limbs then?

We all know the saying, “you need to crawl before you can walk.”  The first four limbs are “yoga crawling” so to speak … preparation for the higher stages. But one of the biggest yoga delusions people have is thinking that, because they can contort their body into all sorts of extreme positions, they are “advanced” in yoga.

The ashtanga yoga postures are indeed great tools for improving and maintaining our physical health. They even help ground us a lot on the mental and emotional levels too. But transforming from someone who is deeply attached to their possessions, emotional dramas and relationships in this world, into someone who is able to detach from all these things and experience the real joy of being part of this miracle of life, requires a journey to the higher yoga mountain peak.

If we don’t want to go there, then perhaps our yoga teachers haven’t done a good enough job to inspire us … to let us know what we’re missing, and why we need to set our sites a little higher. If we don’t outgrow our attachment to the Ashtanga yoga poses, then we’ll be stuck in that land of preparation forever. The question is, what exactly are we preparing for?

For online lessons in Traditional Ashtanga Yoga, Click Here ...

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Yogacharya is the Director of International Yogalayam, Editor of The Yoga News, and creator of The Yoga Tutor, a step-by-step online yoga training website.

For your FREE TRIAL of The Yoga Tutor, visit www.theyogatutor.com

© Copyright – Yogacharya. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. You may freely republish this article, provided the text, author credit, the active links and this copyright notice remain intact.

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TAGS: Ashtanga Yoga Postures, Astanga Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga Poses, 8 Limbs of Yoga

The Future Of Yoga

woman doing yoga looking at computer

                                                                                         

The Future of Yoga is Online ...

By: Yogacharya


Doing yoga at home is not just for yoga teachers and hard-core yogis. It’s what we should all be striving to do, in my opinion. Now, with the internet, it’s easier than ever … but it can be potentially dangerous too!

The internet didn’t exist though, when I first started yoga. Perhaps that was a good thing. The only real option (to me at least) was going to India … the source, which is exactly what I did, spending years in yoga ashrams and studying with various yoga teachers along the way.

But still, I felt like something was missing.  It wasn’t until I found Swami Gitananda’s “Yoga Step By Step” correspondence course that the “yoga lightbulb(s) finally came on. Yeah, I know … but this was no ordinary yoga book. It was a yoga masterpiece, and my understanding of yoga has never been the same since.

That program really taught me what yoga was all about … and it demonstrated to me that, when done skilfully, yoga can indeed be taught in this medium … and taught very effectively.


To find out how yoga can learn yoga online, Click Here ...


Over the years, I have experimented with various “non-traditional” yoga teachings methods of my own. Ever since the early days of the internet, I’ve known that this would eventually become the next yoga frontier. Now, after many versions and variations, I have some solid training programs online that seem to be doing a good job teaching people how to practice yoga at home.

There’s no substitute to yoga instruction live and in person, which is why I will always teach yoga classes. But I know that there are also many limitations to this modern way of teaching, which is why I have created more comprehensive yoga training programs online.


To learn more about Yogacharya's comprehensive online yoga programs, Click Here ...


The internet is an important tool for the future of yoga, one that only a very few teachers have realized so far.  The zillion yoga websites out there today haven’t gotten it yet.  But some yoga teachers are honing their web development skills and recognizing the power that cyberspace has for spreading the transformative power of yoga around the globe. When more enlightened folks start to clue in to this potential, the future of yoga online looks very enlightening indeed.

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Yogacharya is the Director of International Yogalayam, Editor of The Yoga News, and creator of The Yoga Tutor, a step-by-step online yoga training website.

For your FREE TRIAL of The Yoga Tutor, visit www.theyogatutor.com

© Copyright – Yogacharya. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. You may freely republish this article, provided the text, author credit, the active links and this copyright notice remain intact.

----------------------------
TAGS: Yoga at Home, Yoga Home Study, Yoga Online, Online Yoga

Yoga Posture

Yoga: Pose With Confidence and Style

What first comes to your mind when you hear the word Yoga? You would probably imagine a Yoga guru showing a group of people how to properly meditate with slow dance-like movements. Yoga exercises are basically that, plus much more benefits.

The most important skill that you need to practice if you’re thinking of practicing Yoga is mastery of different Yoga postures. Yoga is all about postures. In fact, it’s been believed that every Yoga posture is attributed to cure a certain disease.

Unconvinced? Try asking any Yoga teacher or practitioner and surely, he will attest to it. He might even offer to teach you how it’s done or give you proofs on how Yoga has cured a lot of diseases.

Testimonies on the various benefits of yoga are believable. A newbie can easily confirm how Yoga has improved the health of several Yoga practitioners. That is why, Yoga is considered to be one of the most popular forms of exercise.

There are actually several ways on how to practice Yoga, but all of them share a lot of similarities. For instance, good posture is very important in Yoga meditation. To be able to breathe properly and meditate deeper, a Yoga student must learn how draw his spine into the straightest possible line.

Most of the Yoga movements require a student to sit on the floor without any backrest. He must learn how to align his spinal cord and be comfortable to be able to go through a meditative state.

However, chairs can become props for some Yoga postures. Usually, chairs are used to support your lower legs while you are lying on a mat. Chairs with a good lumbar support are also useful for seated Yoga postures.

There are still a lot of Yoga postures you can try – too many to mention them all here. You might want to enroll yourself in a Yoga class if you’re interested with this form of exercise. For starters, standing Yoga postures are the most common.

The most basic type of standing Yoga posture is what we call the tree balance. This posture involves lifting up the balls of your feet and rocking your weight onto your heels. Then try lifting your arms and make both of your palms meet on top of your head. Of course, throughout the exercise, you would have to maintain a straight back.

This tree balance posture is said to strengthen your thighs, ankles, spine and calves. It also stretches your inner thighs and groins, and your chest and shoulders, in addition to improving your sense of balance.

The snake is an example of a floor Yoga pose. This is done by lying flat on the stomach with the hands on the shoulders. Lift your arms up and push your pelvis down. Your back should form an arch and try to focus your eyes as if they’re part of the arch. Like with other Yoga poses, you would have to keep the shoulders down.

At first, you might find it difficult to perfectly align your whole body, not to mention painful at times. However, with constant practice, you’ll soon be able to perform these postures effortlessly.

But performing these postures is not enough. You would need to be able to remain there for at least thirty seconds. In this way, you’ll learn how to balance your body. Breathing awareness is an important part of maintaining these postures.

Always take your time. Try to put away all the worldly distractions. Focus inward instead and perpetuate a positive attitude. Your innate ability to heal will then be activated. Yoga postures are slow and versatile enough to help different people relax their bodies, clear their minds and enlighten their spirits.

Slowly, you’ll notice some improvements with your body. Yoga enthusiasts also believe that you could be mentally stronger just by regularly doing Yoga. There will be no instant benefits, though. Don’t be in a hurry, besides patience is one of the virtues you’ll learn from Yoga.

Yoga is also associated with spiritual growth. Yoga does not only improve physical health but also draws the Yoga student closer to his spiritual side. Every Yoga posture relates to a specific spiritual aspect also. Yoga is based on a perfect understanding of how a human spirit relates to his body.

Yoga Meditation

Staying Healthy Through Yoga Meditation

Working a nine to five job can be stressful. This is because not everyone goes home on the dot when deadlines have to be met which may make the employee stay until the early hours of the morning then just go home for a quick shower and report back to the office.

Doctors recommend at least 8 hours of sleep everyday to avoid signs of exhaustion or fatigue. A vacation also sounds good to be able to recharge the old batteries but since the person cannot do this every time, a better solution needs to be found. A good way to relieve stress for those who don’t want to exert too much effort is yoga.

What is yoga? This is one of the many low impact exercises which is designed to help strengthen both the mind and the body. While some think that it is just sitting down in a lotus position, there is more to it than that which is probably why this has been practiced for more than 5000 years.

Yoga meditation allows the person to relax. After closing one’s eyes, the individual can listen to the silence and escape to that special place. For a few minutes, it allows the participant to forget about the problems in life and then wake up feeling rested.

The exercise itself takes discipline and practice especially if there are distractions around when there are a lot of people in the room. The individual should pretend no one else is there to be to take advantage of what this exercise has to offer.

Yoga has evolved through the years and there are many forms to choose from. A beginner can enroll in a gym to learn the basic moves from an instructor and then continue to do this with a group or at home.

The key to yoga meditation is breathing. Everyone does it differently but once the person is able to get in tune with it, the rest will become easy. The best way to achieve this is by drawing the spine to a straight position and keeping it there the whole time.

Those who are not used to maintaining a lotus position on the floor can still practice this by sitting on a straight back chair. This should be done until the individual is ready to participate by doing it on the floor.

Another technique to practice yoga meditation will be to lie down on the mat and put the legs on top of the chair. The spine should be flat the whole time so the person’s breathing will not be disrupted.

The person does not have to say anything throughout the yoga meditation. The instructor will take care of everything by playing a CD of relaxing music playing or the sound of water flowing down coming from the speakers.

The only thing the individual should focus on is the air being inhaled and exhaled. This should not be forced but rather letting it just flow freely in and out while being stationary in that position.

As the person gets up and does the other positions, the participant should not forget to concentrate on the breathing. This is because yoga meditation does not only give the individual inner peace but also a positive personality development.

Anyone can learn yoga and be able to master meditation. All the person has to do is find a gym that offers such classes so one can easily sign up and see what this has to offer. It will be a good idea to wear loose clothing and bring a mat so that one can sit comfortably throughout the entire session.

If the individual does not have time to go to the gym regularly, there are DVD’s available in the market so this can be practiced in the comforts of one’s home.

Those who want to try something else can try Bikram or Yoga Booty which cater to those in the advanced classes.

Sometimes going on a vacation may seem the best to be way to relax but if the cost of air travel and the planning is a hassle, there is no harm in sitting on a mat and doing some yoga meditation.

Naked Yoga

 

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Baring it All with Naked Yoga

As its name implies, naked yoga is practicing yoga without any clothes on. This routine has greatly becoming a popular form of yoga, especially in western communities that are emphasizing the benefits of getting into one’s total self by shedding off material attachment and disguises and appearing in a group of people comfortably and proudly of one’s totality. A lot of naked yoga practitioners do their exercises at home, but lately, more and more people are engaging in naked yoga classes.

In the past two decades a plethora of old yoga traditions have been introduced to the mainstream. The renaissance of age-old yoga practices has been a very welcome phenomenon among yoga enthusiasts and among the wide array of ancient yoga practices that has been revived was naked yoga or nudist yoga despite the relatively queasy disposition of the present generation.

Naked yoga was introduced in the Western world around the 1960s when it has been integrated into wellness programs of progressive centers such all over the US like the Esalen Institute based in California. In fact, naked yoga has been featured in some films back then such as Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (1968), The Harrad Experiment, and the appropriately titled Naked Yoga (1974). However, the practice was rather sparse back then.

In the US, a sizeable population of both men and women has rediscovered yoga as a great activity to relax the mind and find inner peace. The number of people who practice naked yoga has been increasing steadily throughout the years, resulting into the proliferation of many naked yoga classes, where people are free to shed off their clothes and be one with their selves and among other practitioners.

By 1998, a group known as “Midnight Yoga for Men” has been instituted in New York by American yogi known as Jayadev, involving participants who practiced the yoga style called sadhus in the buff. This instigated the proliferation of emulators. A lot of this exclusively male naked yoga gathering has been very much linked to the gay community, however, they were often not formed intentionally that way. Other cities followed suit such as in San Francisco, led bay George Monty Davis, and in Chester and Basking Ridge, New Jersey led by Ernesto Bustamante.

The principles of naked yoga can be traced back to the ancient form of yoga known as Tantra. Like the other types of yoga, Tantra aims to promote total health improvement, including one’s most innate and instinctive energies. In Tantra, practitioners may also be naked as the exercises focuses primarily on the sensual and sexual nature of each person, without necessarily doing the sexual act.

It can be expected that the people of today may find being naked amongst others, especially strangers, a violating activity. But this does not mean they could not practice naked yoga. They can take personal lessons with yoga instructors they trust or they can follow naked yoga videos that are becoming quite widely available. This allows people to practice naked yoga in the privacy of their home.

Several variations of naked yoga are also becoming in-demand. A lot of naked enthusiasts have been suggested to practice the exercise on the beach to shoot two birds with one stone by practicing yoga and being able to get a good tan as well. However, this is not yet a very widespread practice as permissions are needed to be able to do naked yoga on the beach.




Perhaps the most accepted variation of naked yoga is couples’ naked yoga. This form of naked yoga is deemed to increase intimacy among couples. It has widely been practiced as a way to help couples enhance their sexual compatibility.

Being in the nude, a lot of naked yoga sessions aim at enhancing one’s sexual facilities. This makes naked yoga a very good practice for couples, especially for those who find their sexual compatibility lacking. Not only does naked yoga help enhance people’s libidos, they also help couples to get to know each other more than ever. It helps couples discover parts of their sex lives that do not focus so much on the intercourse, but more on intimacy and togetherness.

If you want to stay fit and at the same time be totally comfortable about yourself, then perhaps naked yoga is a good activity for you. To know more about naked yoga, check out the various websites dedicated to this noble art.

Source: Software Bronze Club

Hatha Yoga

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Getting To Know Hatha Yoga

Yoga has it beginnings in ancient India but this discipline has invaded the whole world due to the benefits it offers to people who take up yoga. A survey shows that there are more than sixteen million people who practice yoga in the United States alone.

There are various types of yoga and each type has its own methods and purposes. One type of yoga is the Hatha Yoga which literally means sun and moon, coming from two Sanskrit words Ha which means sun and Tha which means moon.

Hatha Yoga, which was first introduced in the 15th century by Yogi Swatmarama, was meant to help yoga practitioners start off with purifying their bodies before proceeding to a higher level of meditation. It is said that Hatha Yoga is similar to Raja Yoga which follows the principle of yama which refers to moral self discipline or control. However, there are sectors who believe that Hatha Yoga has its origins as early as the 10th century.

American yoga followers usually practice the Hatha Yoga to improve their physical and mental health. Most of the Western practitioners of the Hatha Yoga focus on the asanas or yoga poses and exercises but it is really a unified yoga discipline veering not only on the physical but also in Pranayama which consists of breathing and meditation techniques.

Both Hatha Yoga and Raja Yogi are known as Ashtanga Yoga because it follows the eight limbs which include the asana or the poses including the Lotus pose, easy pose, pelvic pose and easy pose. Some sectors however do not consider Hatha Yoga as Ashtanga Yoga since they believe it follows the six limbs.

The literal meaning of Hatha Yoga refers to the use of opposite forces or energies much like the sun and moon or the more familiar concept of yin and yang. This yoga discipline aims to achieve a balance between the physical and the mental powers of a person to achieve a higher level of existence. The body and mind is prepared for a higher level through the execution of the asanas.

Hatha Yoga makes use of Yama or moral control, the Asanas or the poses, Pranayama, Niyama, specific exercises known as Mudra which aims to improve the breathing technique and Nadanusandhana. All the six limbs work together to help the practitioner achieve a higher level of Kundalini or concentration and meditation.

Most Yoga practitioners strive to follow moral discipline or yama to live a virtuous life. According to the yoga discipline, a person can live a virtuous life by following the ten moral restraints primarily the ahimsa or veering away from causing harm to all living creations.

The other yamas include Satya or the ability to stick to the truth, Asteya which prohibits a person from stealing or incurring debt, Brachmacharya which requires celibacy for singles and faithfulness for those who are married, Kshma which refers to the virtue of patience, Dhriti or the principle of commitment, Daya which prohibits cruelty to all beings, Arjava or the promotion of honesty, Mitahara or keeping a moderate food intake and Shaucha or purity in thoughts and words.

Yoga has been referred to as physical yoga because of the use of poses or exercises to achieve unity in body and mind. Some people equate yoga with Hinduism maybe because it started in ancient India but it should not really be identified or attached to any religion because it is a universal science that aims to achieve spiritual balance.

Hatha yoga is a very significant discipline that helps a yoga practitioner to achieve unity of body and mind in order for him to be elevated to spiritual perfection. While different yoga pose can also develop muscles and body form, they are however primarily aimed to achieve a balance in the body systems and internal organs.

Some people take up Hatha yoga to heal their physical and emotional illnesses. With constant execution of the asanas, the human body ultimately develops into a stable and enduring vessel for the human spirit.

Yoga disciples continue to execute the asanas not only to gain physical but also mental balance. The discipline one can gain from yoga will go a long way in helping the person lead a disciplined, happy and peaceful life.

Source: Software Bronze Club

Yoga Meditation

 

Staying Healthy Through Yoga Meditation

Working a nine to five job can be stressful. This is because not everyone goes home on the dot when deadlines have to be met which may make the employee stay until the early hours of the morning then just go home for a quick shower and report back to the office.

Doctors recommend at least 8 hours of sleep everyday to avoid signs of exhaustion or fatigue. A vacation also sounds good to be able to recharge the old batteries but since the person cannot do this every time, a better solution needs to be found. A good way to relieve stress for those who don’t want to exert too much effort is yoga.

What is yoga? This is one of the many low impact exercises which is designed to help strengthen both the mind and the body. While some think that it is just sitting down in a lotus position, there is more to it than that which is probably why this has been practiced for more than 5000 years.

Yoga meditation allows the person to relax. After closing one’s eyes, the individual can listen to the silence and escape to that special place. For a few minutes, it allows the participant to forget about the problems in life and then wake up feeling rested.

The exercise itself takes discipline and practice especially if there are distractions around when there are a lot of people in the room. The individual should pretend no one else is there to be to take advantage of what this exercise has to offer.

Yoga has evolved through the years and there are many forms to choose from. A beginner can enroll in a gym to learn the basic moves from an instructor and then continue to do this with a group or at home.

The key to yoga meditation is breathing. Everyone does it differently but once the person is able to get in tune with it, the rest will become easy. The best way to achieve this is by drawing the spine to a straight position and keeping it there the whole time.

Those who are not used to maintaining a lotus position on the floor can still practice this by sitting on a straight back chair. This should be done until the individual is ready to participate by doing it on the floor.

Another technique to practice yoga meditation will be to lie down on the mat and put the legs on top of the chair. The spine should be flat the whole time so the person’s breathing will not be disrupted.

The person does not have to say anything throughout the yoga meditation. The instructor will take care of everything by playing a CD of relaxing music playing or the sound of water flowing down coming from the speakers.

The only thing the individual should focus on is the air being inhaled and exhaled. This should not be forced but rather letting it just flow freely in and out while being stationary in that position.

As the person gets up and does the other positions, the participant should not forget to concentrate on the breathing. This is because yoga meditation does not only give the individual inner peace but also a positive personality development.

Anyone can learn yoga and be able to master meditation. All the person has to do is find a gym that offers such classes so one can easily sign up and see what this has to offer. It will be a good idea to wear loose clothing and bring a mat so that one can sit comfortably throughout the entire session.

If the individual does not have time to go to the gym regularly, there are DVD’s available in the market so this can be practiced in the comforts of one’s home.

Those who want to try something else can try Bikram or Yoga Booty which cater to those in the advanced classes.

Sometimes going on a vacation may seem the best to be way to relax but if the cost of air travel and the planning is a hassle, there is no harm in sitting on a mat and doing some yoga meditation.

Source: Software Bronze Club