Posts Tagged ‘Physical Postures’

Gain flexibility and strength with Hatha Yoga

What almost everybody think is “regular” yoga is Hatha yoga. Hatha Yoga is a sort of yoga made by Swatmarama, a yoga guru and teacher from India which lived in 15th century. This particular system of yoga is the most popular one, and it is from which several other Styles of Yoga originated including Power Yoga, Bikram Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, and Kundalini Yoga. The word “hatha” comes from the Sanskrit terms “ha” meaning “sun” and “tha” meaning “moon”. Hatha Yoga is wellknown for the style of yoga that combine pairs of opposites, refering to the sun (positive) and the moon (negative). It has it’s main aim on the third limb (Asana) and the fourth limb (Pranayama) in the Eight Limbs of Yoga.

Hatha Yoga is practicing the balance between your body and mind, it also help to free the unidentifiable spiritual parts of our mind through physical postures or Asanas, Pranayama which is the important breathing techniques, and Meditation.

Asanas are various body positions designed to improve health and remove diseases in the physical, causal, and subtle bodies. “Asana”, which is a Sanskrit word, have the meaning of “seat”, which refers not only to the physical position of the body but also to the position of the body in relation to divinity. They were originally meant for Meditation, as the postures can make you feel relaxed for a long period of time. The regular practice of Asanas will grant the practitioner muscle flexibility and bone strength, as well as non-physical rewards such as the development of will power, concentration, and self-withdrawal.

If we look at Pranayama, the word is made up of “prana” (life-force or energy source) and “ayama” (to control). Pranayama main focus is on breathing control. This is an important part of Hatha Yoga because yogis from India have always believed that by controlling the breathing you are able to control the mind as well. The practice of Pranayama can also help unleash the dormant energies inside our body.
By exercising Hatha yoga you can discover your physical and mental potentials. Through continued performance of Asanas and Pranayama, you will achieve flexibility and strength, and become more relaxed in even the most stressful situations. Hatha Yoga’s relaxation exercises will open the energy channels, which in turn allows spiritual energy to flow freely. A few Hatha yoga poses help your internal organs as well, preventing various diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, and hypertension. Another positive effect is that it balance the internal and glandular functions of the body. Pranayama, on the other hand, can help manage asthma and bronchitis.

Hatha Yoga will help you through a stressful day, it relieve built up tension, and deal with anxiety and depression. The most important part is that it help you to keep your mind focused and prepared for meditation and, hopefully help you in the search for enlightenment.

Dahn Yoga

Dahn yoga developed in South Korea not India and is modern unlike most forms of yoga. Known in Korea as Dahnak or Dahn Hak, the first Dahn yoga center was opened in Seoul in the 1980s by the originator of Dahn yoga, Il-chi Lee, although it is reported to be based on a much older tradition. It soon spread to the USA.

Like Hatha yoga, which is much better known in the west, Dahn yoga unites physical postures and breathing exercises and focuses on aligning the body and mind in order to expand the mind and allow better circulation of energy within the body. It also proposes some physical benefits like improving general health and fitness, promoting both longer life and improved vitality and quality of life and lowering stress levels.

Dahn yoga also claims to help the body learn to heal itself naturally, by improving the circulation of life energy and its connection with the mind and consciousness. This is done physically by exercises which are said to remove blockages in its path. Spiritual healing is also promoted through meditation along with improved relaxation. In yoga practice physical tensions and mental health are released and like other forms of yoga it is a holistic practice whose benefits reverberate into daily life.

Dahn Hak philosophy includes certain principles of the action and movement of life energy (ki, also spelled chi or qi) that students are taught during the classes. There tends to be more teaching of the ideas behind the practice than you would find in a Hatha yoga class in the West. This, together with the high prices that are often charged in comparison with other yoga classes, has resulted in some accusations of cult status. However, there does not seem to be any evidence of the human rights issues that are associated with dangerous cults. Nobody will stop you from leaving a Dahn yoga class, and making large profits is not by itself evidence of a cult, or many businesses would fall into that definition! Many mainstream Korean and Japanese martial arts and religious groups to be viewed as cults by some Americans. These accusations may simply be caused by differences between north east Asian culture and Western culture.

A typical Dahn yoga class will begin with meridian stretching exercises to stimulate the ki to pass freely through all the meridians of the body. These are followed by a series of postures and often a period of meditation or breathing exercises that focuses on releasing stagnant ki and storing fresh ki in the body’s center, the dan jeong or 2nd chakra, located in the abdomen just below the navel. Some Dahn classes teach a non-combative form of martial art called Dahn Mu Do that is more like tai chi than yoga.

Students report many health benefits from their practice of Dahn yoga as with other forms of yoga including resolution of many problems that are frequently stress-related such as back pain, shoulder and neck tension, sleeping problems, migraine and digestive disorders.

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The History of Yoga and Four Thousand Years

Since the beginning of its creation, yoga has always meant a bringing together of the mind and body in perfect union and since that time, the main intentions of yoga have not changed, but have improved and been refined. Originally from the country of India, the brief history of Yoga has a lot of tradition embodied in its movements and is a fitness system that incorporates the mental, spiritual and physical health for an individual. Thus, the history of yoga is rich not only in its tradition, but also in its effectiveness and it may be divided into four different periods that began with the pre-classical period which was followed by the classical period which gave way to the post-classical period and up to the present or modern period.

The Book of Yoga: Yoga Sutra

The classical period of yoga would not have been possible with the book yoga sutra and the full history of yoga that it helps to contain in its pages. The word yoga itself means the ëYolkí or something which joins other things together and a good example would be joining of a cart to the ox while using a yolk. Thus, you can easily infer that yoga has everything to do with uniting each and every aspect of the human being into one single entity.

In addition to the famous body contortions, there are breathing exercises, physical postures and meditation that work together to bring all aspects of yoga and its ethics together.

Nowadays, there is a change in the world of yoga and the the history of Yoga has gone to the past, allowing a more globalized version of yoga and a more experienced renaissance to evolve, allowing a delineation between the spiritual and physical aspects of yoga. The history of yoga has also been witness to the many schools and methods of teaching for yoga over the years, springing new philosophies and approaches to yoga itself.

Nevertheless, the common thread that runs in all forms of yoga and which have not changed much throughout the history of yoga is that the fundamental aim of yoga is to create a harmony of the mind, body and also the environment. The modern period in the history of yoga shows us that we can have comprehensive control on our minds and bodies and not just use yoga as a way to stay skinny, but instead as a way to empower ourselves and control our minds and bodies.