YogaAn exercise or Unification of Body, mind & soul
Think fitness and the first word that comes to mind, especially in recent times, is invariably yoga. With international celebrities like Madonna, Ricky Martin swearing by yoga, yoga as a complete fitness program has gained tremendous popularity, world-wide. Despite this most of us are still not clear about how or why yoga is beneficial. The most common reason to take to yoga has been, “It is good for us. Everyone is doing yoga these days”!
So now first take a slight peep into the world of yoga and explore why yoga is good and how it is different or even better than other forms of exercise. A common misconception that exists among many of us is to think of yoga as an exercise or its substitute. Even many learned yogis’ and babas’ are spreading this message to general public and have adopted the yoga as a means of exercise through which we can attain a healthy life and cure many disease condition. So the first step in enlightening ourselves about yoga is to clear this fallacy. Yoga is not an exercise or its substitute. It is one of the path of unification of mind, body and soul. It is the ultimate goal of yoga as is mentioned in the text , ‘Yog Sutra’ by Sage Patanjali, the main treatise for Yoga practitioners. And in preparation of the corporeal self for this tough journey towards this unification or self-evolution, asanas are practiced. The health benefits of asanas is but a natural by-product. So now we can clearly discern that the goal of yoga is entirely different and much deeper than those of conventional exercises which lie on much superficial level. Therefore propagating yoga as a simple means of exercise to cure various ailments of both body and mind is not precise and not justified by any means.
Now let us have an insight on yoga in its true sense: The word Yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root word ‘Yuj’ which means to unite. It is the true union of our will with the will of the GOD. Patanjali in his ‘Yog Sutra’ has suggested 8 stages of Yoga. These stages are known as ‘Asthangyoga’. They are as follows:
1. Yama (Social Discipline): Yama means restraint or abstenance. It contains five moral principles namely non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, celibacy and non-acquisitiveness.
2. Niyama (Individual Discipline): Rules of conduct towards oneself consist of certain disciplines which are physical and mental, both. These are 5 in number namely cleanliness, contentment, austerity, self-study and surrender to GOD.
3. Asana (Posture): Asanas means holding the body in a particular posture to bring stability to the body and poise to the mind. The practice of asanas help body cleanse its toxic metabolities and wastes and brings firmness to the body and vitality to the body and mind. This aspect of the yoga is now a days mostly explored leaving all other aspects.
4. Pranayama : The literal meaning of this is to control breath. But the deeper meaning is to control ones ‘Prana’ tatva that resides deep inside our body. Though breathing is also considered as a synonym of Pran but here the meaning that has to be taken is much deeper.
5. Pratyahara (Discipline of senses): The extroversion of the sense organs due to their hankering after wordly objects has to be restrained and directed inwards towards the source of all existence. This process of drawing the sense inwards is pratyahara or putting the sense under restraint.
6. Dharana (Concentration): Dharana means focussing the pure mine on one’s personal deity or individual self. The practice of dharana helps the mind to concentrate on a particular object.
7. Dhyana (Meditation): When one sustains and maintain the focus of attention through Dharana unbound by the time and Space, it is called Dhyana. It is next step of Dharana and destroys Rajas and Tamas gunas and develops Satvic Gunas.
8. Samadhi (Self-realization): The eighth and final stage of Yoga is Samadhi. At this stage, one’s identity becomes both externally and internally immersed in meditation. The meditator, the act of meditation and the object meditated upon becomes all three shred their individual characters and merge as one entity. This is the only reason that Sankaryacharya one the great Saint of Hinduism has one said ‘Aham Brahamasmi’ i.e. I am Brahm the sole creator of universe.
Now let us have an insight on yoga in its true sense: The word Yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root word ‘Yuj’ which means to unite. It is the true union of our will with the will of the GOD. Patanjali in his ‘Yog Sutra’ has suggested 8 stages of Yoga. These stages are known as ‘Asthangyoga’. They are as follows:
1. Yama (Social Discipline): Yama means restraint or abstenance. It contains five moral principles namely non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, celibacy and non-acquisitiveness.
2. Niyama (Individual Discipline): Rules of conduct towards oneself consist of certain disciplines which are physical and mental, both. These are 5 in number namely cleanliness, contentment, austerity, self-study and surrender to GOD.
3. Asana (Posture): Asanas means holding the body in a particular posture to bring stability to the body and poise to the mind. The practice of asanas help body cleanse its toxic metabolities and wastes and brings firmness to the body and vitality to the body and mind. This aspect of the yoga is now a days mostly explored leaving all other aspects.
4. Pranayama : The literal meaning of this is to control breath. But the deeper meaning is to control ones ‘Prana’ tatva that resides deep inside our body. Though breathing is also considered as a synonym of Pran but here the meaning that has to be taken is much deeper.
5. Pratyahara (Discipline of senses): The extroversion of the sense organs due to their hankering after wordly objects has to be restrained and directed inwards towards the source of all existence. This process of drawing the sense inwards is pratyahara or putting the sense under restraint.
6. Dharana (Concentration): Dharana means focussing the pure mine on one’s personal deity or individual self. The practice of dharana helps the mind to concentrate on a particular object.
7. Dhyana (Meditation): When one sustains and maintain the focus of attention through Dharana unbound by the time and Space, it is called Dhyana. It is next step of Dharana and destroys Rajas and Tamas gunas and develops Satvic Gunas.
8. Samadhi (Self-realization): The eighth and final stage of Yoga is Samadhi. At this stage, one’s identity becomes both externally and internally immersed in meditation. The meditator, the act of meditation and the object meditated upon becomes all three shred their individual characters and merge as one entity. This is the only reason that Sankaryacharya one the great Saint of Hinduism has one said ‘Aham Brahamasmi’ i.e. I am Brahm the sole creator of universe.
Hence when we talk of Yoga we should take the meaning in its original sense and try to fathom the concepts and principles laid by our ancestors for which they had devised ‘Yoga’.
