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Yoga
Four kinds of Yoga
Body Postures:
Meditation Techniques:
The "8 steps" of Raja Yoga:
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 Four
kinds of Yoga:
These four paths are used in Christianity, love, action, knowledge,
meditation... the big difference is "Faith" in a Savior who fills you with
love and joy and peace, already here, on earth.
Four kinds of Yoga, four primary ways of
salvation in Hinduism, four possible paths to moksha or salvation.
1- Bhakti Yoga, the way of
devotion:
It is the most popular god-road in India. Devotion and honor
towards a god or gods... Christianity is presented as an example of this
road
It satisfies the longing for a more emotional and personal
approach to religion.
In the way of devotion, the focus is one obtaining the mercy and help
of a god in finding release from the cycle of reincarnation. Some Hindus
conceive of ultimate salvation as absorption into the one divine reality,
with all loss of individual existence. Others conceive of it as heavenly
existence in adoration of the personal God.
2- Karma Yoga, the way of good works:
To carry out good works, good deeds, give money to the temple or to
people, attend festivals, pilgrimages... and do the work for God's sake
instead of your own... whatever you do, do it for God... don't look for
fruit or success, just do it because it is the will of God... It is also
very familiar to the Christians.
3- Jnana Yoga, the way of knowledge.
To explore the Sacred Scriptures, usually with the help of a guru or a
sadhus. It usually has three steps: Hearing (or reading), thinking, and
meditation.
4- Raja Yoga, the way of contemplation or meditation:
It is called the "royal road", and it is the one used by most Hindu
and Buddhist Cults... "meditation", or better, "contemplation", with the 8
steps of Raja Yoga. See
the 8 steps of Raja Yoga
How Yoga
Works: How to obtain the union with the Absolute:
All Yoga methods include at least two
components: Meditation (prayer) and discipline (asceticism).
To obtain the union with the
Absolute, Hinduism claims, the greatest obstacles are your own
"body", "mind" and "personality", so they have to be suppressed or
controlled:
1- To control the "body", they use body postures, solitude,
breathing exercises;
2- To restrain the "mind" meditation techniques are used (mantras,
yantras, koans...);
3- And to suppress your own personality, your "self", they have
gurus or masters who humiliate you, besides teaching you. |
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Yoga Postures |
Bhujangasana (cobra position) is a
hatha yoga position
which strengthens the
spine; stretches
chest and lungs, shoulders, and abdomen; firms the
buttocks;
stimulates
abdominal organs;
helps relieve stress and fatigue; opens the
heart and
lungs.
Traditional texts say that Bhujangasana increases body heat, destroys
disease, and awakens
kundalini.
Step by
step:
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Lie
prone on the floor. Stretch your legs back, tops of the feet on the
floor. Spread your hands on the floor under your shoulders. Hug the
elbows back into your body.
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Press
the tops of the feet and thighs and the pubis firmly into the floor.
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On an
inhalation, begin to straighten the arms to lift the chest off the
floor, going only to the height at which you can maintain a connection
through your pubis to your legs. Press the tailbone toward the pubis and
lift the pubis toward the navel. Narrow the hip points. Firm but don't
harden the buttocks.
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Firm
the shoulder blades against the back, puffing the side ribs forward.
Lift through the top of the sternum but avoid pushing the front ribs
forward, which only hardens the lower back. Distribute the backbend
evenly throughout the entire spine.
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Bhujangasana should be followed by
Salabhasana
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