June 21st is International Yoga Day so I figured it would be a great time to talk a little bit about this wonderful system of Health and Spirituality.
Most of us Westerners practice Yoga for it’s physical health benefits, which are certainly plentiful. Some of these benefits can include:
-An increase in flexibility
-An improvement in respiration
-An increase in muscle strength and tone
-An increase in energy and vitality
-Improved circulation
-Improved balance
-Improved metabolism
-Weight loss or maintenance
While these advantages are wonderful and have helped many, the true purpose of Yoga runs much deeper than it’s physical benefits. The original concept of Yoga was actually rooted in spiritual practice.
The origin of Yoga
Yoga’s origins can be traced to more than 5000 years ago in northern India. The word Yoga can be found in ancient sacred texts called the Rig Veda. The Vedas are a set of four sacred ancient Sanskrit texts. The Rig Veda is the first amongst the Vedas and is a collection containing over a thousand hymns and mantras in ten chapters known as mandalas.
Yoga was developed and refined by the Rishis (wise sages) who would document their beliefs and practices in a large work of writings called the Upanishads, which contained over 200 scriptures. Yoga is a part of the six schools of philosophy in Hinduism, and also plays a major part in Buddhism and its meditation practices.
So now we know where Yoga came from, but what is it?
Yoga is a Sanskrit word that translates to “yoke” or “union”. It means to draw together, to bind together, or to unite. The idea is to create a union of the mind, body, soul, and universal consciousness. This process of uniting the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of ourselves is what allows those who practice Yoga to experience deep states of freedom, peace and self-realization or what we might know as a form of enlightenment.
Breaking it down a bit-
It’s impossible to go over the full embodiment of Yoga without writing a whole book about it. So I’m just going to outline some terminologies of the practice so that you can get a general idea of how it breaks down.
There are 8 limbs of Yoga that are spiritual, mental and physical practices that build upon each other. These are:
Yama – The moral codes of conduct
Niyama – The physical observances and internal practices
Asana – The proper posture
Pranayama – The proper breathing exercises
Pratyahara – The withdrawal of senses from external distractions
Dharana – The mental concentration and focusing the mind
Dhyana – The meditation and focus on a single point
Samadhi – The end of all mental activity to attain a state of oneness
Then there are six branches of traditional Yoga, they are called:
Raja (the royal path) – which focuses on meditation practices
Karma (the path of action) – which focuses on action and service in daily life
Jnana (the path of knowledge) – which focuses on discriminative wisdom and self inquiry
Bhakti (the path of devotion) – which focuses on devotion to God
Tantra (the path of ecstasy) – which focuses on ritual and initiation
Hatha (the forceful path) – which focuses on the energy and movement of the body
So, as you can probably guess, the branch of Yoga mainly practiced in America today is Hatha Yoga.
How did Yoga get to America?
In the late 1890’s Swami Vivekananda came to America and demonstrated Yoga in the Chicago Worlds Fair. He was well-received and sort of paved a path for other Yogi’s to come into America to teach their practice. One such Yogi was guru Shri Yogendra who founded The Yoga Institute in India and America in 1918, with his revival of Hatha Yoga, where he would work alongside doctors and scientists to seek evidence of Yoga’s health benefits.
There is a LOT more that happened in-between his arrival in America, and today, but for the sake of time, I’m going to leave off here with just saying, it grew from there! The main point I wanted to highlight for International Yoga Day, is that Yoga is much more complex and deeper than being just another form of physical exercise. So if you’re already practicing Yoga for exercise, or are thinking about starting a Yoga practice, I encourage you to really explore the branches of Yoga besides just Hatha. It can be a beautifully powerful system in connecting yourself to a higher consciousness!
References:
Yoga for Dummies – Larry Payne and Georg Feuerstein
artsandculture.google.com
Ink & Amethyst 