Yoga - योग
YOGA - A PHILOSOPHICAL TEACHING THAT INCLUDES NUMEROUS MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EXERCISES AND PRACTICES:
YAMA - NIYAMA - ASANAS - PRANAYAMA - PRATYAHARA - DHARANA - DHYANA - SAMADHI
Bringing everything in harmony
The word "Yoga" comes from Sanskrit (an Indian language about 3000 years old).
"Yoga is the state in which the movements of the mind merges into a dynamic silence.
Sutra 1.2.
Yogash chitta vrtti nirodhah
In the yoga practice we start with physical exercises, integrate our breath and calm the mind. We come into silence and learn to listen inside ourselves. We do this because we are inwardly full of patterns, expectations and desires, which we often carry around with us physically, mentally and emotionally as a heavy affliction. Yoga is a way and a method to free ourselves from this burden and to bring back the true core.
The eight-part path of Patanjali (author of the yoga sutra and so-called "father of yoga") consists of the following eight aspects that must be mastered:
YAMA - Attitude towards the environment
NIYAMA - Attitude towards ourselves
ASANAS - Physical Exercises
PRANAYAMA - Breathing exercises
PRATYAHARA - Pulling the senses inside and out
DHARANA - Concentration
DHYANA - Meditation
SAMADHI - The Perfect Knowledge
Yoga helps us in a wonderful way to bring together the abilities and possibilities that life has to offer each individual. Yoga picks us up, exactly where we are at this precise moment. No matter whether we want to bring our body into shape, lead our mind to silence or find our deepest core being.
Yoga can make people healthier, more sensitive, more alert, more open, more interested, calmer, more relaxed, more cheerful, more responsible, more understanding, more happier and more loving.
Everything can be traced back to a single word:
Union
