| Ayurveda | Ayurveda Trip | Yoga |
|---|
Yoga & Meditation
Yoga is a group of ancient spiritual practices originating in India. As a general term in Hinduism it has been defined as referring to "technologies or disciplines of asceticism and meditation which are thought to lead to spiritual experience and profound understanding or insight into the nature of existence."Yoga is also intimately connected to the religious beliefs and practices of the other Indian religions.
Outside India, Yoga is mostly associated with the practice of asanas (postures) of Hatha Yoga or as a form of exercise, although it has influenced the entire Indian religions family and other spiritual practices throughout the world.
Hindu texts discussing different aspects of yoga include the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Shiva Samhita, and many others.
Major branches of Yoga include: Hatha Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Raja Yoga. Raja Yoga, known simply as Yoga in the context of Hindu philosophy, is one of the six orthodox (astika) schools of thought, established by the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
Patanjali's writing also became the basis for a system referred to it as "Ashtanga Yoga" ("Eight-Limbed Yoga"). This eight-limbed concept derived from the 29th Sutra of the 2nd book became a feature of Raja yoga, and is a core characteristic of practically every Raja yoga variation taught today. The Eight Limbs of yoga practice are:
Yama
A Yama (Sanskrit), literally a "restraint", is a rule or code of conduct for living virtuously. The yamas comprise the "shall-nots" in our dealings with the external world.
Ten Yamas are codified as "the restraints" in numerous scriptures including the Shandilya and Varaha Upanishads, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika by Gorakshanatha, and the Tirumantiram of Tirumular. Patańjali lists only five yamas in his Yoga Sutras.
Niyama
Niyama is a set of behaviors codified as "the observances" in numerous scriptures including the Shandilya and Varuha Upanishads, Hatha Yoga Pradipika by Gorakshanatha, the Tirumantiram of Tirumular and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. All the above texts list ten Niyamas, with the exception of Patanjali's work, which lists only five. They comprise the "shall-do" in our dealings with the inner world, and Swami Vivekananda describes them as the second step of Raja yoga
Asana
Asana, Sanskrit for "sitting posture" (asanam is 'sitting' or 'ass' / aste is 'he sits'), is a body position, typically associated with the practice of Yoga, intended primarily to restore and maintain a practioner's well-being, improve the body's flexibility and vitality, and promote the ability to remain in seated meditation for extended periods. In the context of Yoga practice, asana refers to two things: the place where a practitioner (yogin (general usage); yogi (male); yogini (female)) sits and the manner (posture) in which s/he sits. In the Yoga sutras, Patanjali suggests that asana is "to be seated in a position that is firm, but relaxed". As the repertoire of postures has expanded and moved beyond the simple sitting posture over the centuries, modern usage has come to include variations from lying on the back and standing on the head, to a variety of other positions. In the Yoga sutras, Patanjali mentions the execution of an asana as the third of the eight limbs of Classical or Raja yoga
Pranayama
Pranayam is a Sanskrit word meaning, lengthening of the prana or breath. The word is composed of two Sanskrit words, Prana, life force, or vital energy, particularly, the breath, and "ayama", to lengthen or extend. It is often translated as control of the life force (prana). When used as a technical term in yoga, it is often translated more specifically as "breath control".Literal translations include A. A. Macdonell's "suspension of breath".
Pratyahara
Pratyahara is the fifth element among the Eight stages of Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga. At this stage, the consciousness of the individual is internalized in order that the sensations from the senses of taste, touch, sight, hearing and smell don't reach their respective centres in the brain. With this, the Sadhaka, or disciple, is free to meditate without distractions.
At the advanced levels, the electrical currents which pulsate through the nerves and even the involuntary muscles are turned off by the practitioners. This is accomplished through Pranayama or breath-control.
Apart from Pranayama, another device that is used to aid in the development of Pratyahara is to concentrate on the point between the eyebrows. This location is known as Ajna Chakra or the third eye.
Dharana
Dharana is a Sanskrit term from the verbal root dhri to hold, carry, maintain, resolve; and it is the sixth stage, step or limb of eight elucidated by Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga or Raja Yoga. For a detailed account of the Eight Limbs, refer to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
Dharana may be translated as "holding", "holding steady", "concentration" or "single focus". The prior limb Pratyahara invoves withdrawing the senses from external phenomena. Dharana builds further upon this by refining it further to ekagrata or ekagra chitta, that is single-pointed concentration and focus, which is in this context cognate with shamata. Maehle defines Dharana as: "The mind thinks about one object and avoids other thoughts; awareness of the object is still interrupted."
Dharana is the initial step of deep concentrative meditation, where the object being focused upon is held in the mind without consciousness wavering from it. The difference between Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi is that in the former, the object of meditation, the meditator, and the act of meditation itself remain separate. That is, the meditator or the meditator's meta-awareness is conscious of meditating (that is, is conscious of the act of meditation) on an object, and of his or her own self, which is concentrating on the object. In the subsequent stage of Dhyana, as the meditator becomes more advanced, consciousness of the act of meditation disappears, and only the consciousness of being/existing and the object of concentration exist.
Dhyana
Dhyana in Sanskrit or Jhana in Pali refers to a type or aspect of meditation. It is a key concept in Hinduism and Buddhism. Equivalent terms are "Chán" in modern Chinese, "Zen" in Japanese, "Seon" in Korean, 'Thien" in Vietnamese, and Samten in Tibetan.
Samadhi
Samadhi is a Hindu and Buddhist term that describes a non-dualistic state of consciousness in which the consciousness of the experiencing subject becomes one with the experienced object, and in which the mind becomes still (one-pointed or concentrated) though the person remains conscious. Sahaj samadhi is the effortless and continual state of perfection of a satguru. It varies from technical terms used to describe the higher levels of concentrated meditation, or dhyana, in Yogic schools, and is considered a precursor for enlightenment, or Nirvana, in Buddhism. It is the eighth and final limb of the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, and comprises the pinnacle of achievements in Samyama, the three-tiered practice of meditation including also dharana and dhyana.