Introduction Yoga loosely translated to English means 'to become one'. In modern times the emphasis of many yoga teachings have become the physical aspect of yoga exercises.
While most yoga teachings do include some aspect of meditation few teach the practitioner the path of ascension. The popularity of yoga here in the west has come with commercialization and trademarking of styles of yoga. Kundilini
Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Power Yoga, Hot Yoga, and Yoga meditation are some of the divisions that have become popularized in the Yoga movement. The various trainings of Yoga (to become one) all overlap in several aspects; and also neglect
other aspects of each other. The western concept of divide and conker has actually helped the popularity of Yoga by delivering a style of yoga for every taste. UP TO PAGE INDEX
Origin
The teachings of yoga go back as far as
any history in India. The original teachings of Shiva are said to be yoga. That dates back about seven thousand years. Who first started yoga is not known but it can be traced back as far as language in India. Teachings of Yoga and
similar practices can be found in every culture on earth. Yoga was the spiritual path before religion came into being. The basics of yoga can be found in most major religions. Most of the terms in yoga have Sanskrit origins. The basic
teachings of yoga are at the foundation of Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism and some Shamanism teachings. Some aspects of the teachings in the Old and New Testament have been interpreted to have the same intent as old yoga teachings. UP TO PAGE INDEX
What It Is Yoga is a process through which we can learn how to enjoy life more fully. It trains us to be more in touch with what is happening with our body, and to be more in control of our mind. This allows us to enjoy
a higher level of mental and physical health. For some it becomes a spiritual path as it allows us to feel our feelings, both physical and emotional, more completely.
Yoga is a practical training for living human beings to get more in
touch with who they are. It is a methodology that allows us to explore ourselves on a deeper level. To get to know the part of us that lives in a human body and how we connect with the rest of the creation/universe. The physical
practice of Yoga can help us expand our recognition of the world around us. It does this by increasing our ability to be more aware of our own physical body; resulting in recognition of what effects our body from our environment. The
mental/meditative/esoteric aspect of Yoga expands our consciousness allowing us to be more present. The increased ability to focus offers us the opportunity to make decisions rather than having reactions. Learning to sense what is
happening in the deeper processes of our mind helps us to make choices that are based on our present situation rather than on our habits/patterns/past. Yoga is an ancient teaching of how to be the best person that you can be. It
teaches this by having you develop practices and exercises to improve the workings of your body and increasing your awareness of your whole self.
The biggest difference between the old teachings of Yoga and that of the newer religions
is that Yoga had a practical reason behind each practice. Most of today's main religions have rituals and ask the followers to have faith. The Yogi monks that I studied with could explain the practical aspect of every part of their
practice. UP TO PAGE INDEX The Yogi Said Even celibacy has a practical aspect for the devoted Yoga follower. When I was 25 living at the Ananda Marga Yoga Training Centre in Kingston Jamaica the topic of sex came up in a
conversation with a monk. Data Sugutanada told me that he had never had sex. I was quick to tell him that he didn't know what he was missing. He looked straight into my eye and Said with a deep and solemn look of knowing" yes.., but you
too do not know what it is that you are missing". He then told me about the energetic benefits of retaining the Essence. I thought that this monk was about my age because he looked about my age. Over the next several months I got to
know this man better and realized that there was something to what he had said. He had grown up in the Bengal region of India and at the age of fifteen, (about when I was born) he became a monk. Years later I learned a few of the benefits
of cultivating the sexual energy from various other energy systems and then started to truly understand what he meant. Don't get me wrong, I am a Canadian male; I am not going to give up my sex-life but there is a practical purpose to
celibacy on the spiritual path. When I first heard what their diet was I thought that it was just silly. The way that they categorized food according to the vibrational affect that it has on the human seemed a little far-fetched and
dogmatic. I followed the Diet for several months and found that when I went out for a meal that had food said to lower the vibration it truly was harder to reach the higher meditative states of the meditations that they taught me. I also
found that the diets recommended by other meditative teachings, that are very different, are beneficial to those meditative processes. The more I followed the instructions of the monks the more I realized how synergistic the Yoga
teachings truly are. One day I told dada how great my meditation was when I did my fourteen asanas before meditating. He asked me if I had meditated before doing the asanas; then told me how much more I would get out of doing the asanas
if I did my sadana first. After a few weeks, when my ego receded, I tried it and he was so correct. By balancing and clearing my charkas first I could much more easily get into and hold those difficult postures; the progress on deepening
my meditations accelerated too. UP TO PAGE INDEX |
