Yoga Essay, Research Paper

Yoga a New Experience.

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Practicing Yoga is associated with establishing harmony, equanimity and balance.

It has been well-publicized in the mainstream media, recommended to patients by their

doctors, and praised by its many practitioners. Yoga can help relieve stress and tension in

a person?s daily life.

The definition of Yoga in the dictionary, is a Hindu theistic philosophy, teaching

the suppression of all activity of the body, mind, and will in order that the self may realize

its distinction from them and attain liberation. In a more general term yoga is a system of

exercises for attaining bodily, mental control and well-being.

Yoga means union. Union between one?s individual consciousness and the

Universal consciousness. Therefore, yoga refers to a certain state of consciousness as well

as to methods that help one reach that goal or state of union with the divine. Many people

confuse yoga with physical contortion, or think it is a religion. Yoga is none of these

things. Yoga is basically a way of life which enables one to conserve energy and

coordinate the power of body, mind, consciousness, which keeps the body healthy and the

mind relaxed.

Yoga is one of the world?s oldest branches of spiritual inquiry, and one of the

longest standing, most intense experiments of the human spirit, according to the Shoshoni

site: Getting in touch with Shoshoni. Yoga teaches guidelines and values to follow, and

practices for purification for the body, mind and spirit. It is the exercise of discipline and

the practice of purification. The spiritual tradition of yoga training has been passed down

from generation to generation. In the last one hundred years, yoga has become available

to the public as never before, presented through hundreds of centers throughout the

world, through classes, workshops, videos, books, audio tapes and even television

programs.

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There are many different yogas. Yoga can be simplified into five principles. First

there is proper exercise; if a person?s lifestyle doesn?t provide natural motion of muscles

and joints then disease and great discomfort will come with time. The second principle is

proper breathing; yoga teaches people how to use the lungs to their maximum capacity

and how to control the breath. Breathing increases vitality and mental clarity. The third

principle is proper relaxation; by relaxing deeply all the muscles, the yogi can thoroughly

rejuvenate his or her nervous system and attain a deep sense of inner peace. The fourth

principle is proper diet; besides being responsibel for building oneselves physical body, the

foods a person eats profoundly affects the mind. The last principle is positive thinking;

people should exert to entertain positive and creative thoughts as these will contribute to

vibrant health and a peaceful, joyful mind.

The four paths of yoga are Jnana Yoga; this is the yoga of wisdom and develops

the Intellect or Will, Bhakti Yoga; the yoga of devotion which opens the heart, Karma

Yoga; the path of action of selfless service and Raja Yoga; the royal or psychological ,

which involves the mind.

Hatha Yoga, which is a branch of Raja Yoga, is one of the best-known yoga

practices of western society. This yoga is a path to self awareness. It consists of three

components which are meditation, poses and breathing. Hatha Yoga strives to balance

strength and flexibility. Proficient students of this yoga can recapture the power of youth

everyday.

Advantages of Hatha Yoga are that it will provide a person with a sense of

well-being and it will impart a person the power and confidence for expansion and positive

change. Weight-loss, muscle toning and stress relief are only some of the immediate

advantages of this unique and ancient practice.

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The benefits of Hatha Yoga are basically divided into two areas. First, there are

the physiological benefits. A person will become stronger, more flexible and calmer.

Hatha Yoga is one of the most complete systems of exercises ever created. This is

because it works on all of the various systems of the human body such as the Muscular,

Circulatory, Digestive, Respiratory, Endocrine and Reproductive systems. Hatha Yoga

teaches a person how to help generate and store up more life current than is used up and it

also teaches how to send this life current down to all tissues of the body, thus promoting

their health through contact with inner cosmic energy.

The main component of Hatha Yoga are yoga postures or asanas. The word asana

means comfortable, stable pose. Asanas are exercises of a special kind. The form they

have taken is the result of a thousand years of experience: trial and error, experiments, and

scrupulous observation. Asanas are special positions of the body that strengthen, purify

and balance the systems of a person?s body. They help release tight areas, knots,

throughout the body. These knots are often related to mental and emotional tensions

which are stored in the physical muscles. While asanas are rarely prescribed to treat

illnesses, they surely have healing properties and definitely prevent diseases according to

the Abhidhyan Yoga Institute, Inc.

While performing asanas regularly with Hatha Yoga, a person will gradually

achieve greater endurance, their body will come to its natural weight and rid itself of

toxins, they will breath easier and they will have an easier time coping with stress.

Considering this, the person?s overall mood will improve since they would be having more

pleasant thoughts and fewer negative emotions.

The second benefit of Hatha Yoga is the mental or spiritual aspect. A person will

find themselves more able to concentrate and become acutely aware of their own inner

voice. Deep rhythmic breathing provides deep tension release and a noticeable rise in

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energy levels. A study at Harvard University Medical School conducted by medical

doctors revealed, ?A simple breathing technique can lower blood pressure and decrease

anxiety. The results of proper breathing applied on heart patients have proven extremely

helpful.?

There are many emotional benefits that Hatha Yoga creates such as, learning

different relaxation techniques and experiencing deep relaxation, improved concentration,

improving self worth and confidence, and staying calm under pressure to name a few.

Anyone can benefit from studying Hatha Yoga. Busy people use it to manage

stress in their hectic lives, elite athletes use it to focus themselves toward a high level of

performance and to recover from injuries. In contrast to conventional sports and training

programs, Hatha Yoga has been developed over thousands of years as a way of teaching

people how to improve their lives, thus relieving stress and tension.