Introduction to Yoga
Yoga is a method by which one can attain harmony. Yoga helps one to gain a healthy body and calm mind. Yoga is a tool that will help you banish fear, and the fear of fear.
The average human being has to cope up with many problems in day to day life. Yoga can be of enormous help to not let this misery get you down.
History of Yoga
Several tablets of the Indus Valley Civilization (1700 BC) have been found by historians that depict yoga poses.
Also, examples of the concept and terminology of yoga appear in the Upanishads (primarily 13 principal texts of the Vedanta) (800–100 BC).
For more on origin and history of yoga visit here.
Benefits of Yoga
The common goal here is the control of one's mental processes and emotions. One of the benefits of yoga is a more relaxed outlook on life.
Proper breathing and relaxation result in deeper, more beneficial sleep and a general sense of restfulness and well-being; and these in turn enable one to function at the very optimum of one's abilities.
A healthy body means a better functioning body, it means added tone, improved functioning of the glands, and that in turn means better muscle tone, skin tone, general vitality and vigour. There is also an improvement in a person's ability to concentrate. So you will be able to control your thoughts instead of being controlled by them.
Once you learn to live without tensions, you are on the way to achieve inner harmony. Your relationships with others will grow more harmonious and satisfying.
The best time of life to begin yoga is between the ages 20 and 40. But there is nothing rigid about this. You can begin at any age.
Practice of Yoga
There are numerous schools of yoga. The important ones are given below.
- Hatha yoga
- Japa yoga
- Laya yoga
- Karma yoga
- Jnana yoga
- Bhakti yoga
- Raja yoga
For more information on different paths of yoga visit here.
The various poses of yogas are called asanas.
The principle on which all asanas are based is the following:
Conscious relaxation together with conscious stretching.
Various poses or asanas are given the name of animals. This is because they were devised by yogis after closely observing those animals. Animals are instinctively more flexible than humans.
Related Sites
