One of the many subsets of the 5000 year old system used to increase the well being of the mind, body and spirit, is known as Hatha Yoga.

In Hatha Yoga participants combine a series of stretching exercises referred to as asanas, specialized breathing techniques and mental concentration. In fact, the famous Lotus position is one of the many asanas used in Hatha Yoga.

The goal of the using Hatha Yoga, and most certainly the other forms of Yoga as well, is to fuse and blend the human spirit with the spirit of the Universe. In so doing the person practicing Yoga increases their physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health along the way. It is the practice of living as one with the surrounding environment and the world as a whole.

One of the main focuses of Hatha Yoga, unlike some of the other subsets of Yoga, is that Hatha Yoga is predominately practiced to prepare the body so that the spirit can accomplish its mission. What many people don’t understand is that when there is an unhealthy and unfit body, it is very difficult for the spirit to accomplish its tasks. Therefore in Hatha Yoga the goal is to encourage the body to move toward a level of health and well-being which will then act as a launching pad for the spirit to move onto its work.

The word asanas literally means “comfortable or stable positions”. There are multiple asanas and they are practiced with two objectives in mind. One is to condition the body to enable it to hold a particular asana for an extended period of time. When the body is in this resting form the mind is able to move into a meditative state allowing the spirit to also move along its path. The second reason that asanas are used is to bring about increased physical well being, mental alertness and spiritual health. The asanas open the body up to receive, release or otherwise balance the energy inside with that of the outside Universe.

Rachel Dayer runs and operates http://www.mustask.com, a health related portal.

Continuing the Paths of Yoga, I’m delivering to you the practical side of this mysticism that thousands of people around the world use to achieve spiritual growth, and body purification. According to yoga experts, its early practice reduces the risk of developing most of the common illnesses. And according to Yogis, masters of Yoga, its exercises can deepen your meditation.

Practicing physical yoga is not difficult, and it can be done by anybody including babies, children, teens, and adults; one just needs to perform different asanas which are defined as bodily poses. In a great scale, there are dozens of easy positions that students must learn, and there are others quite singular that need a little touch of flexibility. Also, there are a kind of prescribed asanas for each specific body constitution, so that students reduce all risk of injures.

The most popular styles of yoga are Hatha Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, and Kundalini Yoga, but there’re other styles of Yoga taught and practiced today.

Below is a short guide of the most common disciplines derived from Hindu Yogis. Remember, first thing to do is to ask for your physician’s advice before getting involved into any exercise activity.

Hatha Yoga:

Hatha yoga is basically the type of yoga that requires asceticism, physical and breathing techniques to reach a certain pure and spiritual level. If it’s your first time hearing the word “asceticism”, don’t worry because it is a state of abstinent, a condition we all can achieve in life. Now, the goal of Hatha Yoga is to condition the body in a way that any perfomer can reach in meditation.

Vinyasa Yoga:

Vinyasa is exactly a breath-synchronized movement in yoga which means that all poses or asanas will flow from one to another and being coordinated with breathing for a transformative and balancing effect. According to its series of postures called Sun Salutation, this style of yoga tends to be more dynamic making it popular also by its balance on awareness and alignment, as for strength and flexibility.

Ashtanga Yoga:

Ashtanga, which means “8 limbs” in Sanskrit, is a rhythmically fast, intense set of yoga practice always performed in the same order.Ashtanga Yoga is physically demanding and it is meant for people seeking body strength, flexibility and workout including challenging series of postures with Ujjayi Breathing and vinyasas. In yoga terminology, this is called “flow”.

This process leads to an intense internal heat and a prolific sweat that purifies muscles and organs. The result is improved circulation, a light and strong body, and a calm mind.

Iyengar Yoga:

Iyengar Yoga focuses on alignment. In yoga, alignment describes the correct way in which the body should be stationed in order to obtain the maximum benefits of the pose. Iyengar Yoga works like this: Performers hold a posture for a longer time than the other Yogas, and repeat it several times. Its practice builds strong legs, and improves circulation, coordination and balance.

It is this discipline that pioneered the use of “Props” such as yoga blankets, cushions, belts, and benches used to bring the body into alignment and to provide support and diminish the risk of injures.

Kundalini Yoga:

This type of yoga uses a system of meditative techniques and movements related to the concept of intensified life-energy-pranotthana-. Typically, Kundalini Yoga teachers use fast-paced and repetitive movements often coordinated with in-calls and response chanting.

The emphasis in Kundalini is on the breath in conjunction with physical movements which also gives special consideration to the role of the spine and the endocrine system due to the freeing of energy in the lower body and allowing it to move upwards.

Bikram Yoga:

Known as “Hot Yoga”, this discipline is designed for a sequence of 26 asana yoga postures and 2 breathing exercises that are performed in a heated room between 95 – 100 degrees Fahrenheit (35 – 40 degrees Celsius).

As I have seen, this type of yoga demands the repetition and holding of each posture for a certain time accompanied by the “breath of fire” to warm and stretch muscles whilst oxygenating each organ an fiber for a healthy temple (body).

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The great sage Patanjali in his work Yogasutra codified all yogic knowledge and practices which prevailed in ancient India in the form of aphorisms. He defined Yoga in a simple way as – controlling of thoughts arising in the mind(I.2). The nature or work of mind is to think or desire always. As waves are generated along the seashore, so thoughts are generated in the mind incessantly. In order to fulfill these desires man acts relentlessly. When thoughts are controlled or prevented, the outwardly moving mind turns inwards. The sphere of the activities of mind contracts and mind comes to the center. At the center of mind lies the true self or soul(atman).

True self or soul is the source of life and consciousness in all living beings. In fact soul, life and consciousness are one and the same and constitute the only truth in the whole universe. The Upanishads which contain the spiritual cream of Indian Philosophy, describe that soul(atman) is Brahman, the ultimate Reality. World is not different from being, being is not different from Atman and Atman is not different from Brahman.

When thoughts in the mind are controlled, Yogasutra describes – the the seer rests in his true self(I.3). When all thoughts cease to exist, mind becomes pure conscious. As water is purified through filtration, so mind is purified by controlling thoughts. The pure conscious mind is the true self of a being. So through the practice of Yoga one regains one’s true self and nothing else.

Everything has a true self or true nature. The nature of sugar is to give sweetness, the nature of water is to give coolness and the nature of fire is to give heat. When a piece of gold is purified bu burning, it does not change over to any other thing, but becomes pure gold. Only a pure gold is appreciated and is more valuable. Similarly when the mind attains purity, it does not change over to any other thing or merge with something. When mind is pure conscious, it is pure bliss. The real nature of a being is its blissful state. In order to achieve this blissful state people of all religions wander here and there in search of God.

Religious people concieve of a God who is a divine being residing in heaven. This concept and imagination is only the reflection of true self. Heaven is the heart of a being and God is the true self. It is the true self or soul that impells an individual to seek for God. After long searches here and there, one returns to one’s true self and realises Gog within.

So the aim of Yoga is to realise this true self or God. Such a God is only real and existent. He gives life and consciousness to all beings. All worlds, all beings and all souls are one and the same. This is the ultimate Truth or Reality.

The author Premansu Chand is an Indian who practices Patanjali Yoga in its purest form. He has published his first book “Quest for Truth: the spiritual and yogic way” recently. More information relating to spiritualism and yoga can be received from this book.

Every process of Yoga… neigh meditation that frees us from the clutches of attachment… bondage or Moha, whatever we may call it… Is the right process on the path of gaining Enlightenment.

Are Yoga and Meditation two different words with different meanings? No, the truth is not so… we need to understand that it is the path of yoga which shall lead us to gaining Enlightenment within this life. And what does yoga itself mean? The word yoga has been derived from the Hindi root yog and which in Hindi means synthesizing two things. In Hindi two plus two equal four… and the effort of our soul (the atman within) to merge with the super soul (the Parmatman, the Almighty God) is known as yoga.

Yoga in other words is the effort of every soul to merge with the Almighty God at the earliest. And for this to be achieved we need to follow a routine of yogic exercises and also meditate (perform yoga) on the Almighty God. This process of meditation can be best understood once we are able to understand the meaning of Meditation. Meditation in Hindi means yoga. Never otherwise or vice versa!

To be able to rightly perform Yoga (Meditation) we need to concentrate on the basic belief of life and that is… the basic building block of the total Cosmos is an atom. A cluster of atoms grouped together are called as molecules and a cluster of molecules is what the whole complex Cosmos comprises of. Truly speaking… the whole Cosmos is built up of clusters of atoms and molecules and there is nothing solid in the whole Cosmos. Everything in the Cosmos has a gaseous formation… a form of energy. As we have seen in the Star Trek serial during the deportation of human beings from one place to another… they get transformed into pure energy for a temporal phase.

This is the only vital truth of life we cannot get away with… seeing from the senses point of view… things appear to be gaseous and also solids but in the cosmic domain it is only the gaseous formation which holds good. Once we are clear with this issue in respect of every human being and every living being (Jiva as we call it in Hinduism) living on mother earth being gaseous formations… we need to understand that it is only after having gained control of the senses and the mind shall we be able to transcend the earthly plane and be able to truly visualize whatever was pictured in the telly serial Star Trek.

Performing Yoga (Meditation) is the process which enables us to cut across the shackles of the senses and the mind and to be able to come free of the senses and the mind… one needs to perform yoga (meditation) in a manner that the dross within our soul (atman) reduces at a faster pace. The complete dross having removed… one would have gained absolute control over the senses and the mind! This is the stage of Nirvikalpa Samadhi as we know it in Hinduism. The stage of Nothingness… it is when the senses and the mind have lost their entity and the purified soul engages itself in one to one dialogue with the Almighty God, the super soul.

Now… the question arises is how-to perform the Meditation (Yoga as we call it in Hinduism). And the meditation can best be performed by lying in Shavasana pose (the death pose) and following the path of Neti (not this… not this). And by doing this what are we trying to achieve? Is it possible to gain Enlightenment by this process? Yes! It is a foolproof process which shall gain us Enlightenment in the end.

What is the Shavasana pose? In yogic exercises the Shavasana pose carries the most importance for one on the path of gaining Enlightenment. It is this process of Shavasana in which one can lie down in the death pose and concentrate on the process of breathing. While lying down in the Shavasana pose as we gradually realize the ultimate truth of life that it is not the body which is inhaling the requisite essentiality (the pure air) but it is our soul (the real self within) the body which needs the pure oxygen… the body tends to lose its meaning.

We become more and more aware of the real truth within us and that truth is our soul (atman) which resides within our body. Slowly one more fundamental of life shall dawn upon us and that it… it is not the body which has taken the soul but it is vice versa which is the absolute truth. As we realize that our existence as a body is merely a covering… a garment for our real self… our Soul (Atman) within us… we would ultimately come to the conclusion that why not retain our true real self alone. What of the body then? Is it to be discarded? And if the body is discarded… the manifest self of us… our existence in this world would die!

Proceeding on the path of spirituality through logical conclusions as in the dialogues of Plato… cutting one untruth after another leads us towards higher planes of spirituality. Becoming freer from the clutches of the senses… we find a gradual change within our personality. The ultimate truth having dawned upon us that the present body is merely a garment for the inner real self of us… our desire of gaining Enlightenment within this life becomes stronger.

What is Neti? The path of Neti as practiced and followed by Maharishi Ramana! While lying down in the Shavasana pose is it not worthwhile to concentrate on the existence of God. We have come to a conclusion earlier that everything is gaseous in nature and what then? We would slowly realize that the only existence in this gaseous formation is of different souls and the Karta, Parmatman (as we call it in Hinduism) the Almighty God himself. There is nothing else apart from the souls, the Almighty God, the ether which comprises of the vast Cosmos.

Now if we desire to gain Enlightenment in this life… then we have to negate the existence of everything in our physical manifested world. The process of Neti (not this… Not this) is the process of negation as practiced and advocated by Maharishi Ramana… the one and the only path to cut across the shackles of the senses and the mind. It is only following the path of Neti while lying down in Shavasana pose that I realized God one-day. Having traversed the path… I can with hundred percent certainties say that the Shavasana pose and the process of Neti is the best form of Meditation one can ever imagine of.

Summarizing all… I can only quote of whatever I have personally experienced… I have nothing more to say!

May God bless all those on the path of Enlightenment!

Vijay Kumar… The Man who Realized God in 1993 explains role Yoga and Meditation play on path to Enlightenment. subscribe free Newsletter “Spiritual Secrets Unveiled” – Explore hidden cosmic truths- more here Yoga

Vijay Kumar started in search of God at the age of 13 years. It was in 1993 that he was graced with the vision of God, the Almighty. Since then the hidden truths of all Scriptures of all Religions of the World have become like ABCD to him. Providing Free Spiritual counseling to the World Community through the medium of internet through websites Meditation and Yoga and Meditation

Stretching and yoga aren’t just for people who can fold themselves up like pretzels, or movie stars who have nothing better to do with their days! It can be a beneficial practice to all who use it, and one doesn’t have to adopt the worldview of the swamis in order to reap benefits from it. The pace of our lives these days is crazy—some would argue destructive.

Yoga proponents say that learning the art form will not make you dull, but more magnetic, and show you the importance of slowing down. Yoga’s ‘inactivity’ can insert a moment to breathe in the midst of the hustle and bustle of life, can clear your mind, and re-energize you with just a few simple techniques.

The first lesson in any Yogic theory is how to relax. This doesn’t mean you flop on the sofa and become a couch potato; instead it is defined as ‘a conscious transfer of energy from one department of nature to another….’ Even if you do this for 5 minutes at a time over a beverage, you’re on your way to relaxing. It will increase your efficiency—try it and see!

Stretching involved in yoga can be very simple: lie on the floor without pillows. Remove your shoes and wear whatever is loose fitting and comfortable to you. Stretch your arms over your head while stretching your legs and feet. Close your eyes and let your head roll to one side.

Now release each part of your body and consciously permit each limb, each ‘section’ of your body, to meld in to the floor. Permit yourself to feel as if you are sinking and think of a peaceful scene. This will likely feel very odd to you the first time you do it, but the relaxation that you bring each part of your body will be refreshing!

Now we’ll work on stretching! Lie on the floor as you did for your full-body relaxation, only this time, interweave your fingers above your head. If you turn your palms upward, you’ll feel a bigger stretch along your ribs and spine. Stretch your arms as far above your head as possible, pointing your toes and pushing them towards the floor so you can feel every muscle between your head and feet.

Once you have stretched every part of your body, release! Now go back in to your full-body relaxation mode, remembering to start at the head and relax your way down to your toes.

Now work on the ‘complete breath’ that yoga teaches. Lying flat on the floor without pillows, place your hands gently on your diaphragm. Slowly exhale as much as you can. Very slowly begin to inhale through the mouth, evenly and without sudden stops. You will feel your diaphragm expand at this point—keep going. Now exhale through your mouth, using a slight force, expelling as much air as possible.

You have just completed your ‘complete breath’ in yogic teaching! If you build up the number of complete breaths per day, you’ll notice less tension, better rest, and a more relaxed you. Release the stress of your day and become who you were designed to be!
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