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Yoga is being practiced in all forms today including Art Yoga, Dance Yoga, Dynamic Yoga and Power Yoga. It dates back to the time of the Indus Valley civilisation and the times of the Rig Veda. Yoga as a concept slowly emerged in the Bhagavad Gita and in Shanti Parva of Mahabharata. Yoga is most elaborately described in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Thus, Patanjali is said to be the Father of Yoga. Our Associate Editor, Navodita, talks about Yoga as a lifestyle, in the weekly column, exclusively for Different Truths.
Yoga is not just exercise and asanas. It is something more and beyond that takes you towards emotional integration and spiritual elevation with a touch of a mystic element. It is this that gives you a sense of something beyond the imagination.
Yoga is being practiced in all forms today including Art Yoga, Dance Yoga, Dynamic Yoga and Power Yoga.
One of the beauties of the physical practice of Yoga is that the poses support and sustain you no matter how old or young, fit or frail, you come to your mat. As you age, your understanding of the asana becomes more sophisticated. You move from working on the alignment and mechanics of the pose to refining the inner actions to just being in the pose. Such is the development of the Self-practicing Yoga. The more classical pose you do, the better effect of the asana you benefit from. Yoga, however, is more than just that. If you practice Yoga asanas every day but cannot manage the healthy lifestyle that demands eat healthily and get enough sleep, then you doing nothing more than aerobics or exercises. Yoga effects come to you holistically with every practice of asana and with every act of will-power to discipline your body and mind. Yoga can actually be m
Yoga is thus a way of life. Asanas aside, pranayama is another major breathing technique used to control the breath. Practicing proper techniques of meditation can pump proper oxygen to the blood and brain eventually helping control prana or vital life energy. Pranayama also goes hand in hand with various Yoga asanas. The union of these two yogic principles is considered as the highest form of purification and self-discipline, covering both body and mind. Pranayama techniques also prepare us for deeper forms of meditation.
Yoga more often than not can be about restraint, self-control, discipline in eating habits and in fitness and lifestyle. It doesn’t always propagate austere ways of living but living with a sense of fulfillment, happiness, and peace with a feeling of contentment and satisfaction. It is a way of life that promotes perfect relationships with your loved ones, respect for elders and love for youngers ones in your family and a harmonious way of community life.
It can augment your personality in every possible way – one you can start by always being positive.
Yoga can assist you not only in keeping your physical body healthy but also in maintaining an equipoise, calm and in control of life situations. Yoga, therefore, is more than just physical asanas and to relegate it to some aspects that are dynamic and power yoga would only be focussing on a minuscule part of what this deep philosophy truly is about.
©Navodita Pande
Photos from the internet.
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