May be your friend, chiropractor, doctor or a physical therapist told you that yoga is good for you. You must have heard a lot about yoga; it might seem like its a ‘cure’ for almost everything. The more you get to know the more confusing it will be to understand what yoga is all about.
Should you buy a book that teaches yoga? What will be the best one to read? You can see hundreds of yoga books, cd’s DVD’S, kits and decks. Should you buy it from bypatanjali or buy one of ‘dummies’ yoga books?
An overview of yoga is mentioned below, which will help you to decide your Yogic study path. There is no wrong or right path of yoga study, but you have to be selective while choosing a yoga teacher, yoga class or a yoga book.
You first should know that there are many styles of Yoga. It consists of nine major styles; many more sub styles and styles exist. The nine major yoga styles are Hatha, Bhakti, Raja, Tantra, Karma, kundalini Jnana, mantra and Yantra yoga. Each style has its unity of spirit, mind and body.
The meaning of yoga is “unity or “union”. If we can unify the mind, body and soul in harmony, we can achieve peace. Peace is the main purpose of Yoga through improved health due to a holistic life approach.
The birthplace of yoga is India. There are plenty of books written about Yoga but the origin dates back 1000 of years. Most of the world’s health maintenance systems consider yoga as “Mother”. Asian martial arts with shaoliin temple origin and Pilates can trace yoga back their ancestry.
The higher forms of yoga are Jhana, Bhakti, Raja and Karma yoga. Each of these are complex with themselves.
The most prolific yoga sub – style outside of India is Hatha. The beginners will also consider this style as a practitioner. Hatha yoga and its sub styles emphasize your physical health, which will also result in improved mental health. Most Hatha yoga classes outside India do not follow spiritual health.
Hatha Yoga is also considered as fundamentalist of Hinduism. This may be true in some rare instance, but most Hatha yoga teachers follow improved healthy for mind and body teaching.
Therefore, when choosing a teacher or a book, be aware that the guru or the teacher is a guide – but you have the right to know which path you are being guided to. The practitioner learns to expand their mind and take decisions on their own “along the way”.
Yoga doesn’t threat to any religion. Unity is not sectarianism, if yoga teacher teaches intolerance of any kind. We have to never tolerate prejudice and learn to appreciate diversity. Intolerance and prejudice are often the cause of war and crime. There are many online yoga sessions available and free videos that teach the basic methods of yoga. You can also join in yoga clubs that’s a kind of sameness.