Strike the Yoga Pose
It is said that the key to a happy self and to exude a peaceful disposition, there needs to be harmony or balance within. If this concept is pretty much alien to you, simply put, it means that there needs to be a congruence with your mind, body and spirit.
Om Ah Hung
But how is this achieved and how does one know if there is an imbalance in the first place? It’s really quite simple. If your mind thinks one thing and your body does another and somewhere in the pit of your being, you feel an unexplained discontent but refuses to be pinned down then this is a clear indication of an imbalance among the three points mentioned.
The solution to this problem is just as simple really. Try yoga.
Pop yoga
You’re probably thinking, how can twisting oneself into a pretzel solve the problem of imbalance. Thanks to popular icons like Madonna and the Bikram Yoga franchise, yoga was brought to the attention of the mainstream. Yoga is now not some esoteric practice that no one but some remote yogi removed from life as we know it practices. Yoga is now a pretty common word uttered evryday if not practiced.
More than meets the eye
Unfortunately, the world has still a way to go before really understanding what yoga is. For instance, not everybody knows that there are several types of yoga and not all types entail twisting your body into a knot or standing on your head.
Eight paths. One goal.
There actually are eight branches of yoga. One and definitely the most famous one is Hatha yoga or the purification of the mind and body through doing a series of physically testing postures called asanas. Under Hatha are practices like Ashtanga which a lot o health clubs teach as an alternative to usual aerobic exercise to promote health and wellness.
There is also Jnana yoga that entails enquiry and is a more philosophical and intellectual approach to yoga. Karma yoga is all about everyday action keeping in mind that as in physics, everything has an equal and opposite reaction so that actions need to be analyzed as cause and effect.
Bhakti yoga or the yoga of devotion involves a lot of visualizations of supreme beings for the end goal of being able to embody their traits in oneself. Usually practiced with Bhakti is Mantra yoga or the yoga through the repetition of sound or words. These words are usually Sanskrit or Tibetan and if you understand neither, it’s alright as long as you have the proper intent and also, repetitive chants help one to concentrate and lose one’s thoughts and eventually stress.
Even lesser known are Kundalini yoga or the yoga of harnessing energy that is said to be achieved through the alignment of the spine, and Laya yoga or the yoga of rhythm.
The last type of yoga is Raja yoga or meditation. This entails long quiet sitting practice that is supposed to train the mind.
An altered state
Although there are eight different branches of yoga, they are all actually the same in nature. Although Raja is the only one called the yoga meditation, all types of yoga is meditative. Even Hatha yoga where you have to subject your body in different challenging postures is supposed to promote meditation and a mindfulness for a healthier, happier you.
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