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Yoga InformationWhat is Yoga?Yoga means “to join or yoke together.” Thus brining the body and mind together into balance and harmony. Some traditional yoga techniques are considered to be more than 5,000 years. The interest in greater personal freedom, health and long life, and heightened self-understanding gave birth to the practice of yoga. The Main Components of Yoga Exercise, breathing, and meditation are the fundamentals of each system of yoga. The physical exercises of Yoga are designed to put pressure on the glandular systems of the body It is believed that this will improve and maintainoverall health. Yoga students believe that the body is the vehicle that allows us to physically live and love in this world. The body is considered a temple, a holy place, and treated with the greatest respect. Therefore, each person - body - in this universe is a temple or holy place. Breathing techniques are based on the concept that breath is the source of life in the body. Many consider breath to be the soul, the substance, of each person. Breath control is practiced to improve the health and functioning of body and mind. Exercise and breathing prepare the body and mind for meditation. A quiet mind facilitates physical, emotional and spiritual healing. Types of YogaThere are over a hundred different schools of Yoga. The most popular forms of yoga are: Hatha Yoga: The physical movements and postures, plus breathing techniques. This is what most people consider Yoga. Raja Yoga: Also know as the “royal road,” incorporates exercise and breathing practice with meditation and study, producing a well-rounded individual. Jnana Yoga: The path of wisdom; considered the most difficult path. Bhakti Yoga: Extreme devotion in one-pointed concentration upon one’s concept of God. Karma Yoga: All movement and work is done with the mind centered on a personal concept of God. Tantra Yoga: A demonstration of showing the unseen consciousness in form through specific words, diagrams, and movements. One representation shows the joining of the physical and spiritual bodies as two triangles superimposed upon one another. The downward-pointing triangle represents the physical body, or the female aspect having to do with work, action, and movement; the upward-pointing triangle represents the spiritual body of support, energy, and vastness. Kashmir Shaivism: States that everything in the universe has both male and female qualities. The male and female principles form an equal partnership. they are completely interdependent and cannot be separated. This produces the ultimate union of opposites. It is the mystery and wonder of the universe. Kashmir Shaivism yoga is based in emotion rather than intellect. A basic tenant is that intellectual understanding itself will never lead to the realization of the summit of Yoga. The philosophy states that the egotistical intellect blocks our ability to fully experience our individual power. Yoga meditation can be achieved
quickly and easily with biofeedback and mind machines.
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