What exactly Yoga is ?

We know what is Yoga. Since from our Childhood we come to know about, like How we do Yoga and Become fit and fine. So today we will discuss everything about Yoga. We have researched a lot of information for you to know in detail about Yoga. so we divided the information in some parts.

Origin of Yoga (benefits included)

WHY Yoga (benefits included)

Types of ASANA

Popularity of Yoga

 

Origin of Yoga

 

The word YOGA is derived from the Sanskrit root or DHATU, "YUJ” which means to "join" or "union" The word Yoga hence used in any context defines "Unity" or "Oneness".  of the prime fundamentals of that context leading to its final goal. For example, in Ayurveda Medicine a compound formulation is known as YOGA which indicates the perfect union of its ingredients which may give the expected therapeutic result in an ailment it is designed for. In the same context the term RAAJ YOG as expounded by Patanjali indicates the final goal of complete merger or union of Individual Consciousness with Supreme Consciousness based on its core fundamentals.

 To understand further let us take an example of another form of Yoga known as Hath-Yoga whose fundamental practises find their source in Tantra. TANTRA is derived from 2 Sanskrit Dhatu's Tanoti and Trayati which mean Expansion and Liberation respectively.  Hence Yoga  in conjunction with HATH denotes its final goal at expanding consciousness  towards liberating Creative Energy which it terms as  Maya, Prakriti or Shakti and finally merging it with the inert consciousness of Shiv or Purusha through various methods of Hath In the same vein, the goals of other forms of Yoga  like  BHAKTI YOG, LAYA YOG, MANTRA YOG and KUNDALINI YOG can be understood.  it's highly inappropriate or extremely difficult to reach a selected period of time for the precise ORIGIN of YOG since Yoga is such a multifaceted practise deep rooted in very essence of probably an advanced civilisation from the Indian subcontinent With available Archaeological data we can speculatively but quite clearly say it was developed more than 1000 years ago Statues and Seals of Shiv and Parvati  performing various Asana and Meditation have been found in the Archaeological excavations made in the INDUS VALLEY at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. The Indus Valley Civilisation is dated as back as 3300 BCE The Seal of Pasupathi  found in Indus Valley excavations is the earliest depiction of Yoga which shows a humanoid figure attributed to Lord Shiv seated in a meditative yogic pose Lord Shiv is hence considered  the creator of Yoga and is known as AdiGuru or First Teacher.

 we can try and ascertain a time frame to Yoga by its earliest documentations. It must though be kept in mind that before the advent of codified systems in India the  knowledge was passed in form of Oral Traditions from teachers to students and hence the practise of yoga may have predated any treatise which we may attempt to put a codified time period by many years or even centuries. According to the accepted and available data of research in Indology and certainly not to the first oral transmission of its knowledge references to Yoga can be earliest found  in the Veda’s which many scholars believe were codified  when the Indus Valley culture was flourishing around 1300 -1500 BCE  the Veda’s do not mention the practise of Yoga but allude to it Symbolically. VEDIC knowledge is considered a Shruti which means knowledge revealed by Seers or Rishi's who attained them in states of deep meditation this deep meditative state can be attributed to the yogic state of Samadhi  and hence the existence of Veda’s is testimony to the prevalence of flourishing Yoga practises at that time However it is the Upanishad's where Yoga began to take it's individual shape.

 Let us try and trace the origins of Yoga in an interactive timeline on basis of Yoga literature of prime substance KATHA Upanishad Codified date unknown but scholars place it around 600 BCE Katha Upanishad details the story of an young brahmin Nachiket who is granted 3 wishes by Yam the lord of death  His last wish is to know about life after death in response to which Yam teaches him the fundamentals of Yoga and immortality of Jiva or soul SHVETASHVATRA Upanishad Codified date unknown but scholars place it around 400 BCE Fundamentals of Yoga like Meditation, control through posture and Samadhi are described MAITRAYANIYA Upanishad codified around 300 BCE, it formalizes the six fold form of yoga Over a period of time dedicated Upanishads to Yoga known as  YOG Upanishad a corpus of about 22 texts   orientated to Vedanta philosophy  were established which by the 18 century reached their final compilation  comprising some rewritings of older texts and several newly composed texts. These texts elaborated several forms of YOG MANTRA, YOG LAYA, YOG HATHA, YOG and RAAJ YOG Mahabharat, the Moskhadharma  book 12, part 2 discuss in length various systems of yoga Though codified status of Mahabharat is unknown scholars presume the Mokshadharma to have been codified around the early parts of 4BCE Yoga-Sutra Codified 1 BCE - 4TH CE Though the sutras are attributed to Patanjali  scholars of Indology believe that the original text may have been revised over time by many author's till its present form it shows a dominative influence of Sankhya Philosophy  It comprises of 4 chapters with 195 aphorisms which describe fundamentals of Yoga philosophy with introduction to Ashtang Yoga or 8 limbed Yoga YAM or proper behavior NIYAM or proper attitude ASANA or posture PRANAYAM or control of breath or cosmic energy PRATYAHAR or withdrawal of senses DHARAN or concentration DHAYN or meditation and SAMADHI or final absorption or dissolution Yoga Sutra shows shades of Mahayana Buddhism and also supposed to be at the core fundamentals of Jainism YOG YAJNAVALKYA codified around 2BCE -4CE contains 12 chapters 504 verses expounds Patanjali’s 8 limbed Yoga or Ashtanga Yoga Main features are extensive discussion of various Pranayama through 100 Verses Applications of Yoga to Ayurveda Simplified logical explanation of Kundalini All done through a dialogue between sage Yajnavalkya and his philosopher wife Gargi  the treatise is first of its kind which makes Yoga universally applicable to both men and women. Hath-Yoga is transmitted in Guru-Student lineage with different sects of tantra and similar traditions Modern Yoga, 19th century to the present.

Most methods of Modern-Yoga are improvised form of Hath-Yoga  to serve worldly goals of Physical fitness and Flexibility  which are achieved through sophisticated and individualised techniques  as opposed to Hath-Yoga’s perfect postures to control the Autonomic Nervous System the main emphasis is on beautiful body structures and Bio-Medico-Media oriented goals  aligning Modern-Yoga practice with modern scientific and medical explanation the Modern-Yoga principles are neither the Unconscious Mind Model of Hath-Yoga nor the Dead Sensory Perceptions of Raaj-Yoga but expounds new zones of Secular Spirituality there is no emphasis on Psychic Control of the body or the concept of Samadhi as mentioned by Patanjali but more towards a happy health society and economic empowerment it is hence very much oriented towards this world Yoga is taught through Yoga schools which are organised as large scale ashrams or small to medium private Yoga studios.

 

WHY YOGA?

 

Of all the items within the world, of all the items that a person's being can do, why yoga? Everything that citizenry can do is actually an expression of who they’re. Somebody sings a song, somebody dance, somebody writes a book, somebody draw a picture. whatever else we do is an expression of who you're .You may be conscious of it, you may be unconscious of it but still everything that you say, everything that you do, everything that comes out of you is essentially an expression of who you are. So, yoga, there in way is diametrically opposite to this because it’s not an expression of who you’re, it’s about determining on who you’re. It’s about determining as to what you want to be, changing the very fundamentals of one’s existence. Today there is medical and scientific evidence to show that the very fundamentals of the activity of your brain, your chemistry, even your genetic content can be changed by practicing different systems of yoga. This needed no confirmation because we've always witnessed this but today there's scientific data to prove this. So, this is not an expression of who you are, this is about determining the character of you would like to… who you would like to be, changing the elemental ingredients which has made you, who you are.

 So, yoga as a system needs far more involvement than the other things. If you discover full expression through any particular activity, it's going to also leave you somewhat transformed. If you cook with all of your heart, some transformation may happen. If you dance with all of your heart, some transformation may happen. But that's only a particular impact that's happening due to absolute involvement during a particular activity but essentially that activity naturally is an expression of who you are. it is a way, it is a way, it’s a technology through which you'll change the form of who you're literally also, otherwise also. otherwise also You can change the very shape of who you actually are immediately , which will be transformed because who you're real… immediately as an individual may be a combination of things - genetic material, before that the karmic substance that you simply carry due to that you chose a particular womb, therefore the genetic material and since the instant and you ‘reborn, whatever quite impressions that have gone into you within the sort of sort of experiences, situations, thoughts, emotions, relationships, associations, whatever else you've got imbibed, all these things make you a certain kind of person.

 This flexibility we start working together with your body to start out with, afterwards it should come to each aspect of your life. Your body, your psychological structure, your emotional structure, your karmic structure, everything should become flexible, that it is often whatever it's required to be, it is not stuck being this manner or that way. So, yoga as a process, yoga as a way, yoga as a technology, yoga as a science is actually to interrupt the restrictions of a particular concretization that happens which we call as personality to evolve from being an individual to a presence.

If you’re a person that means you have made a shell for yourself. You formed a shell in that shell only you can operate. If you break the shell, you will know more be a person but simply a presence, as life is, as God is, just a presence. If it can be encased in a shell, it becomes a person. So, yoga means slowly you’re performing on making this shell thinner and thinner, more and more porous, that at some point you'll exist without a shell.

 

Types of ASANA

We will just know some names and benefits of different asanas I recommend you to try these easy asanas at home.

1.Katichakrasana

Katchakrasana is good for reliving constipation as this yoga improves the flexibility of spine and waist. Abdominal muscles, neck, legs, arms, shoulders will get a positive impact of this asana. in this asana we have to open our arms and rotate our body clockwise and anticlockwise.

2.Bhujangasana

This asana stimulates the heart and organ in the abdomen, this asana releases the fatigue and stress. It also maintains flexibility. To do this asana firstly lie on your stomach and place your forehead on the floor. Keep your tops of feet touching to floor, then place hands underneath your shoulder, keep your elbows close to your body.

With subsequent inhale, start lifting your head and chest off the ground. Be mindful of opening the chest, and do not place all of your weight onto your hands. Keep the elbows lightly bent and keep the rear muscles working Take your hands off from the floor for a moment to see what is a comfortable, maintainable height for you.

3.Matsyasana

This asana removes the respiratory problem as it supports the right breathing mechanism. It also makes neck muscles stronger. To do matsyasana firstly lie down your shoulder and place your head on the floor, stay relaxed (inhale, exhale), after your last exhale, Inhale and press your forearms and elbows firmly against the floor. Next, with an inhale, lift your upper torso and head away from the floor. Then release your head back onto the floor.

4.Balasana

This asana helps keep stress and fatigue away from us. This asana also improves thigh, ankle, hip muscles.to do this Yoga firstly sit on your heels on the floor, keep your knees together, slowly bend down your forehead to touch the floor and exhale, keep your arms alongside your body.

5.Tadasan

This asana is basically a posture in which you only have stand straight and join your hands by moving upward direction. This Yoga improve your thigh, knee, ankles with increased power and mobility of legs, feet and hips.

Popularity of Yoga

Since the Yoga help us to keep our body fit and fine, it also help’s us to keep away from many diseases that is why Yoga has got the huge response from the Globe. Due to the positive effects of Yoga in Many schools, colleges, universities, offices etc has started to train their peoples about Yoga. In India the very famous swami Ramdev teaches about Yoga by taking various shibirs in all over the country. Not only in India but they taught yoga in many different countries. Because of such a huge response from a population of the world for Yoga, on 21st June 2014 it is declared as “International Yoga Day” by the Prime Minister of India honourable Mr Narendra Modi. Now the Yoga day is celebrating all over the world by doing the different activities of yoga by every individual.