Background
Yoga is a practice for optimizing the health of the body and quieting the mind. It includes a variety of activities, including physical postures (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayama), meditation (dhyana), and lifestyle practices. Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word yuj, which means to yoke, join, or apply. Yoga is usually translated as union, for its methods and practices lead to a profound integration of body, mind, and spirit. The yogic ideal is to achieve complete freedom and authenticity by transcending the limiting structures of the ego-personality (the person we behave as on a normal day) and discovering the true spiritual Self within.
Types of Yoga
The yoga which Americans are most familiar, which consists of various postures and stretches designed to perfect the physical body, is known as hatha-yoga. A specialized extension of this kind of yoga, which involves the manipulation of the inner energy pathways of the body-mind complex is known as kundalini-yoga. Bhakti-yoga is the yoga of ecstatic religion devotion, while the path which focuses on the acquisition of higher spiritual knowledge is called jnana-yoga. The path of selfless action in the world which Krishna teaches to Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita is known as karma-yoga. Each of the different approaches to yoga practice has developed in order to suit the spiritual needs of individuals of different dispositions and capacities. LMU.EDU
Hatha Yoga Styles
More Americans are practicing the physical aspect of Yoga than ever before, however it’s been so hybridized in its American incarnation that most of us now equate Yoga with exercise. There are many approaches to choose from. Some stress attention to detail and physical alignment. Other styles emphasize continuous, intense, and vigorous linking of postures. There is the "power" approach, where the body and mind are challenged to their limits. Other styles explore a soft and fluid, or a kind of inner "listening" approach. Some approaches use Asana to relax the body, others use it as a method to prepare for meditation or contemplation. And still others have merged an aerobic model of exercise to it and set it to music. Each and all styles, if done skillfully, offer benefits. PARAYOGA.COM
View CLASS DESCRIPTIONS for yoga styles offered at Rise Yoga Studio. Visit our YOUTUBE CHANNEL for yoga videos and some fun stuff.
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