Yoga! (ritual, spiritual, faith, God, Christians)

[Doktormartini]

Hey! In school the other day, we briefly went over the 4 different types of yogas in Hinduism! I forgot the last one though, but he was saying how Yoga doesn't just mean doing those stretching exercising.

Bnana Yoga (is that correct), is the Yoga in which people percieve the world as Maya (an illusion).

Bhakti Yoga is devotion to faith and they spend their whole lives devoting themselves to the Gods/Goddesses.

Karma Yoga is the Yoga of just living your life and doing good deeds.

And then their was one more Yoga that I forgot the name!

Could someone please expand a little more on these yogas? That would be great...thanks!

[Hema]

I have never heard of Bnana yoga you spoke about. Perhaps it's about bananas? Hyuk hyuk...just joking. I know there is also Gyan Yoga - acquiring spiritual knowlegde, such as studying holy texts etc. There is also Hatha Yoga which is the type with all the exercises, it helps keep the body healthy, control breathing, heal diseases etc...this is the type people are familiar with. Some exercises help to raise spiritual consciousness but some of these require an expert tutor. I do Hatha Yoga - no I'm not an expert. There is also Kundalini Yoga - Kundalini is an energy which lies dormant in everyone at the base of the spine. This energy is representative of the female aspect of God - Shakti or energy. When we become more spiritual, this kundalini travels upward along the spine and opens the chakras or spiritual centres along the spine. (Symbolic of a cobra moving upwards). The Christians refer to the chakras as the mansions of the soul. The highest chakra at the top of the head is represented by a lotus. This highest chakra represents Shiva - the male aspect of God which is cosmic consciousness. Our goal in life is to merge Shakti with Shiva. When the kundalini merges with the highest chakra it never comes back down, the person lives in a state of enlightenment and constant God-awareness. This doesn't happen for most people though, only to a few, such as saints. For most of us, the energy goes to the second highest chakra, which is between the eyebrows, then it can come back down and go back up. Some of us have a certain chakra most active eg. the heart chakra is open in people who are in love and who are generally, very loving in nature. Those are all the types of yoga I know about, including the ones you spoke about. I don't know if there are more though. Oh! I'm so glad that someone posted in the Hinduism forum. There should be more action in here.

[Doktormartini]

Wow thanks for that information...it helped me quite a bit!

I'm so glad that someone posted in the Hinduism forum. There should be more action in here.

I totally agree! I just finished the Hinduism unit in my World Religions class and so far it is the unit I did the best on (Grade wise) and I found it very interesting!

[Hema]

Originally Posted by Doktormartini

Wow thanks for that information...it helped me quite a bit!

I totally agree! I just finished the Hinduism unit in my World Religions class and so far it is the unit I did the best on (Grade wise) and I found it very interesting!

Don't mention it. Congrats on being successful in your class.

[Lemon]

I'm thrilled someone started a topic on yoga here. I've been meaning to learn more about yoga because my doctors have told me to start practicing it (for anxiety and depression issues). It seems there are so many different forms and explanations for them, it's almost confusing!

[Hema]

Originally Posted by Lemon

I'm thrilled someone started a topic on yoga here. I've been meaning to learn more about yoga because my doctors have told me to start practicing it (for anxiety and depression issues). It seems there are so many different forms and explanations for them, it's almost confusing!

If your doctors said you should, they most likely mean Hatha Yoga - that is the type with the exercises, deep breathing etc.

[Lemon]

Originally Posted by Hema

If your doctors said you should, they most likely mean Hatha Yoga - that is the type with the exercises, deep breathing etc.

I just did a quick wikipedia search on Hatha Yoga, and that sounds like exactly what my doctors were talking about. Thanks.

[Hema]

No problem.

[syoonsh]

I personally want you to check out the Dahn Yoga formely known as Dahn World.

http://www.dahnworld.com

http://www.dahnyoga.com

http://www1.brainrespiration.com/

These are same companies from Dahn World.

They have many centers in all over the world which you can experience true more than

yoga!.

[MysticSang'ha]

Looks good, Syoonsh. Thanks for the links.



I've practiced Ashtanga Yoga for nearly 8 years now.



http://www.ashtanga.com/




I have friends who have done the Iyengar method forever (and are still trying to get me to convert to their method *giggle*), but I think pretty much any method is yet another way of conveying yoga wisdom.



There are actually more paths of yoga than what has been mentioned:


Besides karma yoga, jnana yoga, hatha yoga, and bhakti yoga, there are Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga (which I practice with the eight limbs), kundalini yoga (which is concerned with awakening our psychic/energy centers, or chakras), Kriya Yoga (which is concerned with activity of consciousness as known by Paramahansa Yogananda), Swara Yoga (which is a more complex system of manipulation of the breath, or pranayama, that coincides with the sun, moon, tides, etc.), and Mantra Yoga (the science of chanting and omitting sound).



I hope I haven't misrepresented anything here. This is how I've understood the different types of yoga.




Peace,
Mystic