I know that there are several kinds of yoga. I'm not sure of the importance or meaning of them though. Could someone educate me on yoga?
NAMASTE Here are to great links that will answer many questions for you. http://www.yoga.com/ http://www.yogasite.com/ Hope that helps ya sistah.
The word yoga in sanskrit means to join or unite. Unite what with what? It is clearly stated in the scriptures that yoga is to unite us, in our limited and finite sense (caused by identification with the body, mind and intellect) with our true nature, that of the Infinite, Formless, All Pervading Lord, called Brahman, who is of the nature of pure conciousness, eternal existence and unbounded bliss. Often those who take up yoga forget the true purpose for which these practises are laid down. There are many forms of yoga, all with the same goal. There is ashtanga yoga and hatha yoga, which deal with controlling the body, the breath and opening chakras. The effect of these is to tame the mind and silence it, enabling is to transcend and move to the Highest State of Conciousness. There is gnyana yoga, where knowledge, logic, study and reflection are the means to realise our true nature as being Brahman alone. Then there is bhakti yoga, the path of devotion, intense, total, uunwavering love to the divine form of the Lord, culminating in the dissolution of all barriers (love tends to do that ) and a final union, a merger of the individual with the Infinite Lord. Then there is dhyana yoga, meditation, to relax the body, withdraw the senses and silence the mind, whereby what remains is of the nature of pure conciousness, peace itself (this state of conciousness is called samadhi). These are some of the broad categories of yoga, any combination of these can be formulated by various teachers according to the needs of their disciples.
Furthermore there is Hindu based yoga systems and Buddhist, as well as Taoist and still a few more yet. Yoga was developed in India, and spread to other regions. Yoga also means, "to yoke" as in yoking the horse to the cart. Yoga is not a religion per se, it superseeds religion, and purports to show one the source of everything, including God. When "yoking," one reconnects all elements of the personality back together with their basis of consciousness. This has a very healing and beneficial effect on all of the body's systems. So yoga is also a great form of self healing. Most people consider yoga the physical forms of hatha and pranayama since this is manifest and easy to see and teach to people. What people forget is that real yoga is meditation. Patanjali codified yoga in his Yoga Sutras. Meditation is one of his six limbs. In his system one aims at samadhi or the state of pure awareness without object, or awareness aware only of itself.
I could go an elaborate thing, but I'll leave that to those who've experienced the highest directly. http://www.sivanandadlshq.org
