The Principle behind Christian Yoga
Christian yoga is a spiritual practice of Christians most common in Eastern and Western Countries. It is a discipline that one practices to be much closer to God. Taking the path of Christian yoga can lead to healing of the mind and body. But perhaps even more important than that, it can lead to the discovery of what at the moment is only a potential within you.
Many of classes in the U.S teach the practice of yoga, the physical discipline that focuses on postures or asana, and employ no religious teaching at all. Other yoga teachers have training in yoga schools.
Practitioners say that Christian yoga fills a need for believers who want the health benefits of yoga but are put off by the practice's ancient Hindu roots. With this, it brings together the wonderful physical benefits of yoga within their spiritual beliefs.
The doctrines and practices of yoga date from the period of the Upanishads. The word yoga originated from Hindus, it is a religious practice of Hinduism that through the practice of certain disciplines one may achieve liberation from the limitations of flesh, the delusions of sense, and the pitfalls of thought and thus attain union with the object of knowledge.
Though developed in the ancient Hindu tradition, the movements of Christian yoga are so universal that they can adapt to or be adopted by any culture or spiritual path.
The yoga has been known for many years, and was practiced by some of the Early Christian during the persecution. The spirit and love that touched the Early Christian has been inherent from the men and women today. Christian yoga is about unfolding some of these wonderful possibilities each hold latent. It is about possibilities so amazing that many early Christians were willing to die in support of keeping a doorway open for other people to claim them. Go into it and are transformed by following the Christian pathway, the Christian yoga.
In the Eastern belief, Christian yoga is not an Eastern postures or breathing techniques, rather the aim is to open to an influence that can transform and heal. Eastern yoga attempts to drop the ego, the Christian path aims at transforming the personality. Christian yoga is described absolutely in the New Testament in the story of Jesus’ life as an allegory. It is a step-by-step way of transformation and the finding of a new life. As Jesus promised, this ‘heaven’, this new awareness of your life, is not far away. It is already yours if you know how to find it.
In Western, Christian yoga from its very beginning women played an important role in its practice and teachings. It is about universal processes of life, of mind and heart.
Christian yoga has garnered criticism, despite of its prevalence.
Many Christians says that Christian yoga is incompatible with Christianity, and emphasizing that it is not a religion in itself. Other says that there is no such as Christian yoga because it blends two different belief structure. Catholic priests in Mexico City instructed their parishioners not to attend Yoga classes because this practice would lead to other god’s and Eastern religion beliefs.
Though critics have charged that yoga's ancient Hindu origins are incompatible with Christian faith, practitioners say the exercise is an ideal vehicle for spiritual reflection.
Check out my other guide on Ashtanga Yoga – Is it right for you?
Please leave a comment at The Principle behind Christian Yoga if you found this helpful.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
THINGS I'VE LEARNED IN BIKRAM YOGA
THINGS I'VE LEARNED IN BIKRAM YOGA
There are many reasons why you should use Bikram Yoga. The advantages of Bikram Yoga can totally change your life. It’s amazing how Yoga can trigger your life and change your perspectives.
Bikram Yoga is widely known as the “hot yoga”. It was also called the Bikram Method Yoga. This aims to build your mental and physical strength. Improving your flexibility and balance is important and covered by Bikram Yoga.
Bikram yoga has roots in Hatha yoga which was designed to heal the mind and the body.
Bikram Choudhury was the founder of Bikram Yoga. He was a founder and a yoga practitioner. He developed Bikram Yoga after he met an injury in a weightlifting accident. He was so determined that he had discovered some healing benefits in practicing some exercises. A lot of people have proven the benefits of Bikram Yoga so the practice was passed on and many people continued to practice it.
Some people practice Bikram Yoga for healing purposes and physical therapy. This type of Yoga was proven helpful in bringing holistic benefits to those who believed and practiced it.
In fact, there was a patient who suffered from a knee injury. He tried to practice Bikram Yoga and just six weeks after continuous practice, his knees started to feel better. Some difficulties and pains that he suffered from were all disappearing.
In order to be successful with the healing process of Bikram Yoga, you need devotion in practicing it.
There are some people who do not believe in the benefits of Bikram Yoga. Bikram Choudhury developed Bikram Yoga with the help of some scientists. The scientists from the University of Tokyo University Hospital proved that Bikram Yoga has medical benefits. Some of its benefits include the repairing of tissues and helps in curing chronic ailments.
The findings and benefits were presented at the International Medical Conference in the year 1972. It was stated that Bikram Yoga has the ability to affect the body internally.
The poses and pressure replenishes the cells and the flushing toxins in our body. It also oxygenates blood throughout our body keeping it clean and healthy.
While Bikram was on his research at Tokyo University, he discovered that the healing process takes place when all the body systems are functioning well, conditioned and strengthened. If the body is weak, applying the practice and healing method will be difficult to obtain.
Bikram has come up with twenty-six posture exercises which are to be practiced every day. In doing so, treatment in the body can be easily obtained. Some poses are accumulated with the combination of the western and eastern disciplines in Yoga which focuses on the stretching of the muscles, tendons, organs, nerves, glands and ligaments.
The different postures have connections and each of it precedes a posture that is helpful in treating the body effectively.
Anyone who wants to do yoga can use Bikram Yoga. It chooses no age at all. This type of yoga works with a tourniquet effect which includes balancing, stretching and creating pressure which is all done at a same time to keep a good blood flow to all the parts of the body.
Thanks to Bikram Choudhury, we can now have solutions to some of our medical problems. Always remember that dedication and devotion to Bikram Yoga is the main ingredient to staying healthy.
Check out my other guide on Ashtanga Yoga – Is it right for you?
Please leave a comment if you found this helpful.
There are many reasons why you should use Bikram Yoga. The advantages of Bikram Yoga can totally change your life. It’s amazing how Yoga can trigger your life and change your perspectives.
Bikram Yoga is widely known as the “hot yoga”. It was also called the Bikram Method Yoga. This aims to build your mental and physical strength. Improving your flexibility and balance is important and covered by Bikram Yoga.
Bikram yoga has roots in Hatha yoga which was designed to heal the mind and the body.
Bikram Choudhury was the founder of Bikram Yoga. He was a founder and a yoga practitioner. He developed Bikram Yoga after he met an injury in a weightlifting accident. He was so determined that he had discovered some healing benefits in practicing some exercises. A lot of people have proven the benefits of Bikram Yoga so the practice was passed on and many people continued to practice it.
Some people practice Bikram Yoga for healing purposes and physical therapy. This type of Yoga was proven helpful in bringing holistic benefits to those who believed and practiced it.
In fact, there was a patient who suffered from a knee injury. He tried to practice Bikram Yoga and just six weeks after continuous practice, his knees started to feel better. Some difficulties and pains that he suffered from were all disappearing.
In order to be successful with the healing process of Bikram Yoga, you need devotion in practicing it.
There are some people who do not believe in the benefits of Bikram Yoga. Bikram Choudhury developed Bikram Yoga with the help of some scientists. The scientists from the University of Tokyo University Hospital proved that Bikram Yoga has medical benefits. Some of its benefits include the repairing of tissues and helps in curing chronic ailments.
The findings and benefits were presented at the International Medical Conference in the year 1972. It was stated that Bikram Yoga has the ability to affect the body internally.
The poses and pressure replenishes the cells and the flushing toxins in our body. It also oxygenates blood throughout our body keeping it clean and healthy.
While Bikram was on his research at Tokyo University, he discovered that the healing process takes place when all the body systems are functioning well, conditioned and strengthened. If the body is weak, applying the practice and healing method will be difficult to obtain.
Bikram has come up with twenty-six posture exercises which are to be practiced every day. In doing so, treatment in the body can be easily obtained. Some poses are accumulated with the combination of the western and eastern disciplines in Yoga which focuses on the stretching of the muscles, tendons, organs, nerves, glands and ligaments.
The different postures have connections and each of it precedes a posture that is helpful in treating the body effectively.
Anyone who wants to do yoga can use Bikram Yoga. It chooses no age at all. This type of yoga works with a tourniquet effect which includes balancing, stretching and creating pressure which is all done at a same time to keep a good blood flow to all the parts of the body.
Thanks to Bikram Choudhury, we can now have solutions to some of our medical problems. Always remember that dedication and devotion to Bikram Yoga is the main ingredient to staying healthy.
Check out my other guide on Ashtanga Yoga – Is it right for you?
Please leave a comment if you found this helpful.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Benefits of Yoga
Benefits of Yoga
Yoga through meditation works remarkably to achieve harmony and helps the mind
work in synchronization with the body. How often do we find that we are unable to
perform our activities properly and in a satisfying manner because of the confusions
and conflicts in our mind weigh down heavily upon us?
Stress is the number one suspect affecting all parts of our physical, endocrinal and
emotional system. And with the help of yoga this things can be corrected.
At the physical level, yoga and its cleansing practices have proven to be extremely
effective for various disorders.
Listed below are just some of the benefits of yoga that you can get.
Benefits of Yoga 1: Yoga is known to increase flexibility; yoga has postures that
trigger the different joints of the body. Including those joints that are not acted upon
with regular exercises routines.
Benefits of Yoga 2: Yoga also increases the lubrication of joints, ligament and
tendons. The well-researched yoga positions exercise the different tendons and
ligaments of the body.
It has also been found that the body which may have started doing yoga being a
rigid one may experience a quite remarkable flexibility in the end on those parts of
the body which have not been consciously worked upon.
Benefits of Yoga 3: yoga also massages all organs of the body. Yoga is perhaps the
only exercise that can work on through your internal organs in a thorough manner,
including those that hardly get externally stimulated during our entire lifetime.
Benefits of Yoga 4: Yoga acts in a wholesome manner on the various body parts.
This stimulation and massage of the organs in turn benefits us by keeping away
disease and providing a forewarning at the first possible instance of a likely onset of
disease or disorder.
One of the far-reaching benefits of yoga is the uncanny sense of awareness that it
develops in the practitioner of an impending health disorder or infection.
This in turn enables the person to take pre-emptive corrective action
Benefits of Yoga 5: yoga offers a complete detoxification of the body. It gently
stretches the muscles and joints as we;; as massaging the various organs, yoga
ensures the optimum blood supply to various parts of the body.
This helps in the flushing out of toxins from every nook and cranny of your body as
well as providing nourishment up to the last point. This leads to benefits such as
delayed ageing, energy and a remarkable zest for life.
Benefits of Yoga 6: yoga is also an excellent way to tone your muscles. Muscles
which have been flaccid and weak are stimulated repeatedly to shed excess fats and
flaccidity.
But these enormous physical benefits are just a “side effect” of this powerful
practice. What yoga does is harmonize the mind with the body and these results in
real quantum benefits.
It is now an open secret that the will of the mind has enabled people to achieve
extraordinary physical feats, which proves beyond doubt the mind and body
connection.
In fact yoga = meditation, because both work together in achieving the common
goal of unity of mind, body and spirit which can lead to an experience of eternal bliss
that you can only feel through yoga.
The meditative practices through yoga help in achieving an emotional balance
through detachment.
This in turn creates a remarkable calmness and a positive outlook, which also has
tremendous benefits on the physical health of the body.
Check out my other guide on Ashtanga Yoga – Is it right for you?
Please leave a comment if you found this helpful.
Yoga through meditation works remarkably to achieve harmony and helps the mind
work in synchronization with the body. How often do we find that we are unable to
perform our activities properly and in a satisfying manner because of the confusions
and conflicts in our mind weigh down heavily upon us?
Stress is the number one suspect affecting all parts of our physical, endocrinal and
emotional system. And with the help of yoga this things can be corrected.
At the physical level, yoga and its cleansing practices have proven to be extremely
effective for various disorders.
Listed below are just some of the benefits of yoga that you can get.
Benefits of Yoga 1: Yoga is known to increase flexibility; yoga has postures that
trigger the different joints of the body. Including those joints that are not acted upon
with regular exercises routines.
Benefits of Yoga 2: Yoga also increases the lubrication of joints, ligament and
tendons. The well-researched yoga positions exercise the different tendons and
ligaments of the body.
It has also been found that the body which may have started doing yoga being a
rigid one may experience a quite remarkable flexibility in the end on those parts of
the body which have not been consciously worked upon.
Benefits of Yoga 3: yoga also massages all organs of the body. Yoga is perhaps the
only exercise that can work on through your internal organs in a thorough manner,
including those that hardly get externally stimulated during our entire lifetime.
Benefits of Yoga 4: Yoga acts in a wholesome manner on the various body parts.
This stimulation and massage of the organs in turn benefits us by keeping away
disease and providing a forewarning at the first possible instance of a likely onset of
disease or disorder.
One of the far-reaching benefits of yoga is the uncanny sense of awareness that it
develops in the practitioner of an impending health disorder or infection.
This in turn enables the person to take pre-emptive corrective action
Benefits of Yoga 5: yoga offers a complete detoxification of the body. It gently
stretches the muscles and joints as we;; as massaging the various organs, yoga
ensures the optimum blood supply to various parts of the body.
This helps in the flushing out of toxins from every nook and cranny of your body as
well as providing nourishment up to the last point. This leads to benefits such as
delayed ageing, energy and a remarkable zest for life.
Benefits of Yoga 6: yoga is also an excellent way to tone your muscles. Muscles
which have been flaccid and weak are stimulated repeatedly to shed excess fats and
flaccidity.
But these enormous physical benefits are just a “side effect” of this powerful
practice. What yoga does is harmonize the mind with the body and these results in
real quantum benefits.
It is now an open secret that the will of the mind has enabled people to achieve
extraordinary physical feats, which proves beyond doubt the mind and body
connection.
In fact yoga = meditation, because both work together in achieving the common
goal of unity of mind, body and spirit which can lead to an experience of eternal bliss
that you can only feel through yoga.
The meditative practices through yoga help in achieving an emotional balance
through detachment.
This in turn creates a remarkable calmness and a positive outlook, which also has
tremendous benefits on the physical health of the body.
Check out my other guide on Ashtanga Yoga – Is it right for you?
Please leave a comment if you found this helpful.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Ashtanga Yoga – Is it right for you?
Ashtanga Yoga - Is it right for you?
Ashtanga Yoga is the type of yoga which was developed and founded by K. Pattabhi Jois. This type of yoga is known as the Eight Limb Yoga which has revolved in Pattanjali's enormous idea. It presented that the path of purification is made up of the eight spiritual practices.
The first four limbs that represent Ashtanga Yoga are – yama, niyama, Asana and the Pranayama. These are considered cleansing practices which are externally correctable. The other set of limbs which are the – pratyahara, dhyana, dharana are the internal practies.
These limbs can only be corrected by the proper application of the Ashtanga Yoga method. This type of yoga method is quite dangerous to the mind.
K. Pattabhi Jois said that practicing these Eight Limbs and also its sub-limbs of the external practices which include the niyama and yama is not possible. In doing so, the body should be strong so that it can perform the practices well enough. If the body is weak, and the sense organs are not functioning well, practicing will never be useful at all.
This is a philosophy that K. Pattabhi Jois has applied, this is important to understand so that in doing the practice, you are sure that the body will improve and the keep it stronger and healthier.
Vinsaya and Tristhana is practiced in Ashtanga Yoga.
The Vinsaya is a style that makes Ashtanga and its principles distinct from the others. Vinsaya means the movement and breathing which is used for the internal cleansing process. Each movement done is accompanied by only one breath. Sweat is the most important product of Vinsaya. When you produce sweat, it only means that you are successfully applying the practice. When you perform the Asanas, the body creates heat which causes your blood to boil and excrete the toxins outside of your body. The toxins are found in your sweat. So the more sweat you create, the more toxins are released.
The poses are used to fully develop the strength and health of the body. The series of practices make this possible. There are three postures used in Ashtaga Yoga.
The three are classified on different levels.
The first is the Primary Series which aims on aligning the body and also detoxifying it.
The second is the Intermediate Series opening and cleaning the energy channels which comes to the process of purifying the Nervous System.
The last series would be the Advanced Series from A to D. in this series, the grace and strength is measured.
The Tristhana is another yoga principle which represents the union of the three places of action and attention. First is the posture, second is the breathing technique ad last is the Dristhi of the Looking Place. All these three should work altogether to perform a function.
Breathing techniques are simultaneous and synchronized. It is important to make a single breath for one movement. Ujjayi Breathing is the Yoga Breathing Technique used in the application of Ashtanga Yoga. Applying this technique must be prolonged after every practice. What you need to master is holding your pose longer at the same time hold your breath. This is an amazing breathing exercise that will increase your internal fire and will strengthen the Nervous System.
Both Ashtanga and Tristhana deal with the series of Dristhi. The Dristhi is described as the point on which you gain your focus or attention while doing the Asana. This enables your mind to be purified and stabilized clearly.
Setting the mind clear and cleansing it can only be done in the Eight-Limb Yoga or Ashtanga Yoga.
Please leave a comment if you found this helpful.
Ashtanga Yoga is the type of yoga which was developed and founded by K. Pattabhi Jois. This type of yoga is known as the Eight Limb Yoga which has revolved in Pattanjali's enormous idea. It presented that the path of purification is made up of the eight spiritual practices.
The first four limbs that represent Ashtanga Yoga are – yama, niyama, Asana and the Pranayama. These are considered cleansing practices which are externally correctable. The other set of limbs which are the – pratyahara, dhyana, dharana are the internal practies.
These limbs can only be corrected by the proper application of the Ashtanga Yoga method. This type of yoga method is quite dangerous to the mind.
K. Pattabhi Jois said that practicing these Eight Limbs and also its sub-limbs of the external practices which include the niyama and yama is not possible. In doing so, the body should be strong so that it can perform the practices well enough. If the body is weak, and the sense organs are not functioning well, practicing will never be useful at all.
This is a philosophy that K. Pattabhi Jois has applied, this is important to understand so that in doing the practice, you are sure that the body will improve and the keep it stronger and healthier.
Vinsaya and Tristhana is practiced in Ashtanga Yoga.
The Vinsaya is a style that makes Ashtanga and its principles distinct from the others. Vinsaya means the movement and breathing which is used for the internal cleansing process. Each movement done is accompanied by only one breath. Sweat is the most important product of Vinsaya. When you produce sweat, it only means that you are successfully applying the practice. When you perform the Asanas, the body creates heat which causes your blood to boil and excrete the toxins outside of your body. The toxins are found in your sweat. So the more sweat you create, the more toxins are released.
The poses are used to fully develop the strength and health of the body. The series of practices make this possible. There are three postures used in Ashtaga Yoga.
The three are classified on different levels.
The first is the Primary Series which aims on aligning the body and also detoxifying it.
The second is the Intermediate Series opening and cleaning the energy channels which comes to the process of purifying the Nervous System.
The last series would be the Advanced Series from A to D. in this series, the grace and strength is measured.
The Tristhana is another yoga principle which represents the union of the three places of action and attention. First is the posture, second is the breathing technique ad last is the Dristhi of the Looking Place. All these three should work altogether to perform a function.
Breathing techniques are simultaneous and synchronized. It is important to make a single breath for one movement. Ujjayi Breathing is the Yoga Breathing Technique used in the application of Ashtanga Yoga. Applying this technique must be prolonged after every practice. What you need to master is holding your pose longer at the same time hold your breath. This is an amazing breathing exercise that will increase your internal fire and will strengthen the Nervous System.
Both Ashtanga and Tristhana deal with the series of Dristhi. The Dristhi is described as the point on which you gain your focus or attention while doing the Asana. This enables your mind to be purified and stabilized clearly.
Setting the mind clear and cleansing it can only be done in the Eight-Limb Yoga or Ashtanga Yoga.
Please leave a comment if you found this helpful.
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