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Major Systems of Yoga

Hatha Yoga

Ha = sun, Tha = moon. The sun and moon are believed to be the opposite currents that regulate bodily processes. Hatha Yoga mainly focuses on Asanas (postures) to balance the energy current in the nadis (energy channels like arteries, veins, etc). It includes Asanas, Shat Karmas, Pranayama, etc. Nowadays, when people usually say ‘Yoga’, they mean Hatha Yoga, that too only of its physical practise of Asanas.

Raja Yoga or Ashtanga Yoga

Raja = king. Raja Yoga is the Royal Yoga, the supreme form of Hatha Yoga, its crown, its master. Ashta = eight, Anga = limb or part. Raja Yoga is called so, because of the eight limbs it has. It deals with 'higher levels of perfection', like improving the already increased concentration originally increased through Hatha. Like Hatha Yoga, it also includes asanas. It mainly focuses on purification of the mind.

Bhakti Yoga

Bhakti = devotion. This is about the positive traits (feelings, here) like love, purity, desire, devotion to God, etc. It need not be connected with the Yogic asanas we see in pictures. It is ‘namaskara’ or ‘namaaz’ or ‘salutation’ or ‘devoid of ego’ or ‘prayer’, but it usually involves adherence to religion or faith. Only the Almighty God can value the Bhakti Yoga of a person. According to religions, it is primarily the Bhakti (devotion) that God uses as a scale to decide whether to allow one to enter Heaven, besides other actions and deeds.

Jnana Yoga

Jnana = knowledge. Jnana Yoga is strictly about philosophy. Jnana Yogi uses his intellect to study the metaphysics of one's own self. It finds who he is and what he is, by thinking. It is about an introspection of the Yogi. It helps us find answer to problems of life. Jnana Yogi achieves self realization through knowledge acquired through his own application of mind over matter with utmost intelligence.

Kriya Yoga

Kriya = action or deed. Kriya is the verbal component of life. Kriya Yoga aims to release the body and mind of difficulties, obstacles and obstructions. It necessarily relates to the Kriya we do for ourselves. It calms the mind and body through meditation and chants. It controls the cosmic energy (life-force) or the Kundalini Shakti of the person to unite the mind, body and spirit.

Karma Yoga

Karma = action or deed. It includes everything we do for others' good. It is dharma. It relates to our actions for others. It is important to note that we should 'act' without negative traits like selfishness and hatred. Karma Yogi acts because he loves to, not because he has to. This is the essence of a Yogi. Karma Yoga aims in the purification of us by serving our fellow beings, by serving the other servants of Almighty God, thereby pleasing the God.

Tantra Yoga

Tantra = principle or doctrine. Tantra is a different way of life, and contributed to the Yogic discipline of life, and later found to have strong similarities, and subtle differences in mystical metaphysics. The practice of Tantric meditation should be done with extreme care under a right ‘Guru’.

Kundalini Yoga

Kundalini = coiled. Kundalini is a force that lies coiled in the base of the spine. It is also pictured as a sleeping snake and hence it is a.k.a. ‘serpent power’. Kundalini Yoga is specifically to awaken the Kundalini Force and certain Yogic Asanas are remarkable for this with years of practice. It is an expanded sensory awareness and spiritual consciousness, and people might feel energy or electric-like circulation in the body. It has its roots in Tantra Yoga.

Yoga - A Brief Intro

Yoga is a Sanskrit (supposed to be the toughest and oldest language) word, meaning 'Yoke', or 'Unity'. It is the unity of the body, mind and spirit; which leads to the unification of the self with the cosmos. This is the goal of Yoga. It is a physical, mental and spiritual discipline developed in India during the Indus Valley Civilisation, in 3rd millennium BCE, as many figures of the time depict Yogic Meditative Posture - Padmasana.

Dealing with Yoga, one can't forget to pay tribute to the eminent Maharshi Patanjali  (lived during the 2nd century BCE) who has written one of the best known work exclusively on Yoga, 'Yoga Sutras'. Though he is considered the founder of Yoga by many people, Yoga has been in existence since the time of Vedas (3000 BCE), but in a different form or system. [FYI, Maharshi = sage]

Patanjali, in his book, has mentioned about 6 systems of Yoga viz. Raja Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Kriya Yoga and Karma Yoga. It is important to note that there are numerous different systems of Yoga besides these six, of which Tantra Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Dhyana Yoga, etc. can never be overlooked. Also, it is believed that Yoga has its major roots also in Tantra, which is a major school of Yoga and now a system of Yoga. In the next article I'll write about the major systems of Yoga and put hyperlink here.

The mystical and philosophical structure of Yoga is practised and mentioned in the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Mahabharata (in Bhagawat Gita, to be precise), as also in Tantric philosophies. All these must have spoken about different systems of Yoga, and it must be easy for us to presume that the Vedas (Major Scripture of Hinduism) must have spoken about Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga without mentioning the names, because we know Hinduism is a religion (or a way of life) and Bhakti = devotion. 

The above 'guesswork' that Vedas talked of Bhakti Yoga etc., is only my assumption based on my understanding, and I have never read or heard anything about it. I'll inform once I learn the 4 Vedas, which are basically filled with moral ideas, instructions and true knowledge about God.

We needn't learn all systems of Yoga to become a Yogi (one who mastered Yoga). Further, some may not even work for you. For instance, some people find happiness only in devotion to God, and once they do, they are Bhakti Yogis. So it is very important to understand the basics about at least the major systems of Yoga. 

There are 8 limbs of Yoga namely, Yama, Niyama, Asanas, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi. I'll write briefly about these 8 limbs also in one of the coming articles and put hyperlink here.

5 Minutes 2 Better Health

Hello Readers, This is my first article on this new blog. This is the Preamble for this blog to say what it is all about and the importance of taking care of your'self' for complete harmony of your body, mind and spirit. This blog focuses on Yogic practices to become healthy, in addition to other methods.

If you can spare 5 minutes daily for your own greater good, then continue reading.
There are only very few who doesn't suffer from health issues. According to UNO, there is no one on earth who doesn't suffer from health issues. Did you know that swinging your legs freely when you're sitting on a chair is related to some mental issues?
Do you suffer form health issues?  Most likely. Well, you've come to the right place (You be the judge). Most of our diseases are due to lack of exercise. But don't assume that a physically strenuous activity can fulfil all your body's need to exercise. When you exercise, the most important thing is your breath. You should have complete control of your breath.

They say "A man who controls his breath can control the world". Well said. It doesn't mean that you should consciously do your breathing all the time. If you do your breath with all your concentration all the time, do you think you have got any time left to control the world? Apparently not.

We recommend you to practice meditation. First of all, a brief intro... Dictionary defines Meditation as musing or observing on a certain subject. It also means contemplation of spiritual matters – religious or spiritual subjects. Sleep is unconscious meditation and meditation is conscious sleep.  But we are to develop our inner self. So let’s do the first part.

Meditation gives much insight to yourself within a short time of 5-10 minutes. It is a wonderful art and science to enjoy the presence, the present moment. 'Present' is a gift literally and practically. It lets you enjoy the fullness, the truth of your existence, the presence of every inch of your body.
The thing is, you can't get all of this with one type of meditation. They say, meditation is meditation and its all in it. But we need to understand that it is true once and only after you have mastered every type. This lets you put all in one, you hear me? All In One.

You'll master them step by step, and they say you should start by knowing your breath, by observing your breath, feeling your breath, and soon controlling you breath in every aspect. I find it the best to give you steps to do different types of meditation, in separate articles. And if you follow them, in the end, you'll master all of it, letting you enjoy the world. We'll use all the techniques - Tantric, Yogic, Taoist, Kundalini (often considered as a type of yoga, but you need to know more about it), et cetera.

You ready? Let your mind to take in everything... Allow it to wander... Give yourselves freedom to think and explore. I'll write soon. Give feedbacks too.

Breathe the Correct Way

Hello again, now I want to tell you about something about breathing that I should have told you in the very beginning. It’s about how to breathe. I’ll give the procedures to check whether your breathing is in the correct way or not and then to how to make it the correct way.

PROCEDURE TO CHECK WHETHER YOU ARE BREATHING CORRECTLY

Though this can explain good breathing, note
that you needn't move your chest as shown  here.

1. Observe how you breathe. You are taking the air in through your nostrils... They travel up the length of the nose... Travel down to your lungs... Good.

2. Now observe your stomach. Are they expanding? Well and good. Congratulations. You are breathing correctly. You are one in a 1000 or rarer. You needn’t proceed.

But if your stomach is not expanding, read on...

3. Observe your chest. Are they expanding or are you lifting your chest or shoulders up? Your chest is not meant to move during this wonderful process.

(If you are impatient to read the reasons and stuff, scroll to go see the procedure to correct your breathing.)

WHY CAN’T I MOVE MY CHEST?

It’s a good question. We have our ‘Thoracic Diaphragm’ in the underside of the chest to separate chest from the abdominal cavity. These skeletal-muscles perform respiration. During inhalation, they are designed to push downwards (to the abdominal cavity). This creates suction that draws air.

When air is drawn, when you breathe the wrong way, your rib cage expands. When air is drawn, when you breathe the correct way, your stomach expands. Now ask yourself. Which can expand more – stomach or rib cage? By simple logic we can say, it’s the stomach.

So when you practice the correct way, your lungs will get more space in the underside and so it can expand and grow a lot. This helps you use the unused alveolar cells in your lungs.

Did You Know...

1. A normal adult's lungs have about 6 x 10⁹ cells of which a person who is not a Yogi normally uses only one-third of it?

2.  Deep, Slow Breathing is believed to increase your lifetime?

3. Tortoises breath in a very, very slow rate? Not only their breathing, but many bodily functions are slow. And their lifetime is 120+ years. 

PROOF

Watch a baby. It breathes the correct way because they didn't make it wrong. It is the daily situations that lead to us to breathe the wrong way. For example, when someone scares you suddenly you'll have a sudden intake of air - in the wrong way. The 'hangover' of the scary incident influences us for long time that we breathe the wrong way. Another example: When we are small kids, we climb up things like windows and remember when our Mother sees us, is frightened of our safety that she makes a cry or call us. This has the same impact of someone scaring us. And such incidents train our body to breathe the wrong way.

Meditation IV - Pulse Listening Meditation

This is an easy meditation and many people love this. The benefits are mainly in your listening and observation powers.
You will learn to listen to small and little things, much more things, in detail.
When you acquire these abilities, your interpersonal and intra-personal abilities will develop.
Haven't you seen Sherlock Holmes (2009) film? Remember him telling each and everything about the girl at their first meeting? Note that you need to understand about body languages. In the same film, he goes to a suspect's lab containing many chemicals, he focuses on each one of them, smell them without going near them, get the smell distinctly and identify them. Then, with your keen observation, you will get much more details about people and things and yourself, in a way somewhere near Holmes. xD

Did You Know...

Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves?

That's our motto here.

Points of Contact

PROCEDURE

1. Do Nirmal Stiti Meditation if you please to cool you off.
2. Sit cross-legged, eyes closed, comfortable posture.
3. Rest your hands on the knees, as shown in the picture on the top. Don't tense them, just rest and relax.
4. Make 'OK Symbol'* with the fingers. This needs special attention. Touch the finger pads of the index finger and thumb with each other. See diagram on the right.
5. Now observe your pulse. You can feel the pulse in the finger. Give complete attention to the contacted points of the fingers, and nothing else.
You might need some time before you start to observe the pulse. But it's almost certain that you will get it in the first try itself.
This will get easy with some days of practice and you'll learn to feel the pulse the moment you keep fingers together.

That's it. Listen to your pulse for as long as you wish. This meditation can help you relax and relieve any tensions. You can do this even when the environment is not very calm, though this is desirable and recommended. This is the first meditation I learnt in my Yoga class, and I always have a liking for this one. This is very easy too.

*OK Symbol: This is not a symbol of Yoga or Meditation. This needn't be used to represent a Yogi either. This 'symbol' has its own meaning and importance and that is 'Pulse Listening' which we discussed here.

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Meditation III - Empowering the Senses

OK Symbol

Well, this is not actually considered a meditation by many who think that meditations is all about sitting the Indian way with clasped or 'OK Symbol'. I take this a type of meditation and can be done better if you have developed enough concentration from Meditation I. If you do this just after a refreshing Meditation I, you'll do this better, believe me.

This improves concentration to a further level in a different way. Here you will develop all your 5 senses (or beyond??) rather than forgetting everything as we did earlier. This one is somewhat a 'moving meditation' but not exactly the 'Moving Meditation' they talk about.

This doesn't need step-by-step procedures, but here goes one:

PROCEDURE:

1. Getting Ready: Though not necessary, take a glass of water/juice to the room and keep it there safely. Though not necessary, it's better to do the Meditation I. Better get a comfortable room with proper ventilation and pleasing lighting with not ear-thrashing sound, but its good to have some kinda sounds. This can cool you down, get yourself comfortable and keen on your senses. Make soft (not so deep), comfortable breathing throughout the Meditation.

2. You better start-off by standing with foot shoulder-width apart. You needn't move your body just to smell/hear things (We'll ask you to smell/hear things), but you can use occasionally for activities like scratching, etc. Just go easy. Close your eyes. We'll develop the 'seeing sense' later.

3. Now try your best to listen to all the sounds, all you can hear - voice, vehicle-sound, birds, etc. Concentrate these things for quite some while like 1-2 minutes.

4. Now try to smell things. Smell of the juice, smell from kitchen, the perfume you have used, smell of metal, etc. You needn't move. Soon when you get keener on these things (you will, within 2 minutes), remember what we talked about previously... the things you heard; You have to try to hear them again without forgetting to smell things. This is easier than it sounds.

5. Now you are going to become aware of your sense of touch. Feel wherever your body touches - like your arms touches your thighs (as it hangs out freely), tongue touches mouth, and most importantly your feet touches the floor. Feel all of this.

6. Note that, at each step you become aware of more and more smaller sounds and smells and touches. Of course you have to use all these senses simultaneously.

7. Now we're gonna make a move... make some small steps (of course a feet or a two) forward. Feel the floor not touching you underside of leg and touching it again when you step. Feel allt he 3 senses.

8. Gently, very carefully sit on the floor. Be careful enough not to withdraw your awareness of the other senses. Sit comfortably, better not cross-legged in the beginning stages before mastering this meditation). Sit with legs forward.

9. Now you can feel the floor touching your butts, thighs, and hands. (Of course you can place your hands on the floor, if you wish to). Feel the hardness, the stiffness of the floor (this is important). Feel it along with the other senses.

10. Soon you will transform yourself to a much higher spiritual existence. You will feel good. Enjoy this for a long time if you want to just because this feels good.

11. Next you got to very slowly open the eyes. Now see what you see. See the colors, along with all the hearing/smelling/touching. Gently change where you are looking at. Enjoy all the 4 senses.

12. Here you are going to enjoy a very tasty sense - your sense of taste. Enjoy the taste of the mouth, you saliva. After 2-3 minutes, gently get up and walk to the glass of juice.

13. Carefully go take the glass of juice/water. When you take feel it when you touch it. Try to get its taste. Everything, along with what you were hearing/smelling.

14. Drink the juice very very slowly. Enjoy its smell, taste and when it touches your mouth, throat, and stomach. The juice tastes a million times more. Of course you can try this step whenever you eat/drink things.

15. When you want to stop, gently take some deep breath. Don't take too deep. Just increase gradually. Smile. Look into the mirror, if you want to and you are DONE.

Notes and Experience

• This seems to be a very advanced form of meditation. Of course this can be difficult to many people who are used to listening or hearing only one thing and not to listen to many things. Well of course you need to concentrate only on the subject matter, but it's good to listen to many things.
• So for practice, you can cut down to just 2 senses in the beginning - touch and something. Once you get OK, make touch and something else. Then combine all.
• You needn't make it like you have to do this at such and such time. Just go easy. You can learn it at your own pace - 1 month, 6 months, 1 year or more.
• Experience, it took quite a time for me to get this right.
• It was tough for me to get all the senses at one go. So I had to cut down to 2 at a time and then develop.
• Remember, the procedure stuff is absolutely from my experience and I got no training from master. So it is naturally difficult for me to figure things out. 
• I believe, this article will help you because this one you can count on and refer. I had to edit it a lot of times to make it better each time...

The benefits are numerous. You become strong, aware, keen, careful, calm, healthy, and promote good functionality to your organs. Try it.

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Meditation II - Triangular Breathing Meditation

Triangular Breathing

Here we'll discuss about Triangular Breathing in meditation. This one is very simple. You'll be able to get close to 'master it' within a week. In this type, we use deep breathing in a new way - triangular way. So if you have any problems with lungs like asthma, do this when you are not currently suffering from asthma. If you have such problems, you won't be able to do this in an appreciable manner.

Triangular Breathing is the way of breathing in the ratio 1:1:1. Usually I name this breathing method 'Equilateral Triangular Breathing'. Steps 3-5 gives a brief description on how to do this. This one doesn't need procedure but for the sake of it...

Did You Know...

1. Adults usually use only one-third (200 million out of 600 million, approx.) of the alveolar cells in the lungs?

PROCEDURE

1. Sit cross-legged comfortably and keep your back straight. In Meditation I, you were not asked to consciously keep your spine straight because there we shouldn't do things consciously. But here, you should use a little extra effort. Clasp you fingers and close your eyes if you want to.

2. Take 1 or 2 deep breaths to cool you off.

3. Now inhale deeply and fill your lungs at a uniform rate through a course of some 5 or 7 or 12 or more seconds.

4. Keep the air in your lungs for about the same time - 5 or 7 or 12 or more seconds.

5. Exhale completely and uniformly through a course of the same time.

6. If you wish to and have the energy, repeat steps 3 - 5 six or twelve times or a 'multiple of six' times. I don't know why this is so. This is what I learnt - do it in multiples of six.

DON'T s
1. Don't pressure yourself to keep the air in a longer time. Time will build-up gradually.
2. Don't pressure yourself to repeat it more number of times.

Did You Know...

2. Deep, Slow Breathing is believed to increase your lifetime?
3. Tortoises breath in a very, very slow rate? Not only their breathing, but many bodily functions are slow. And their lifetime is 120+ years.

BENEFITS
1. Increase lung capacity and power.
2. This one can aid cure your asthma.
3. Increase stamina and energy, get more cosmic energy (we'll deal about this later), improve concentration, and eliminate many diseases. 
4. Slower and deeper breathing can slow down and improve most of your bodily processes like heart beat, digestion, etc. That's why deep breathing itself can cure many diseases which seem to have no connection with lungs.

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Meditation I - Nirmal Stiti Meditation

So you have committed to go through your way to good health. Here we wish to discuss about the first and foremost type of meditation. There is no hard and fast rule that you should perform this type of meditation before everything else... This way, it’s just easier and perhaps better. Here goes the procedure...

PROCEDURE

Clasped Fingers 

1.      Getting Ready: Though not compulsory, wash your face with clean water. Choose a clean place without much distraction with proper ventilation. Start off by sitting cross legged. This is one of the best positions because when you sit so and clasp your finger, the energy circuit, which always exists within you, becomes stable. So you don’t have to worry about muscles to keep your posture better. This can help prevent yourself from dozing off if otherwise you use a good position of Savasana. For this type of meditation, I bet you’ll do the best when 

      you sit cross legged.

2.      Relax: Take few deep breaths, about 5-10; but don’t take exhausting very deep breath. This is just for you to relax. So take some air, pass it out, and relax. Control your thoughts by just not controlling anything; just don’t let anything into you... Relax totally.

3.      Once you get your body relaxed, you become conscious about the Mind and the Intellect. (You know this – when you travel by train and you don’t have anything to read on, you’ll soon dip yourself in thoughts). 

      Better to close your eyes in the first place, for they are the windows of mind. Mind is a bundle of thoughts but don’t chant anything to get out of your thoughts - this might activate another part of the brain which is not preferred at this moment.

4.   Breath: We reached the main part. Have you wondered "Geez, How can I sit without thinking anything?"? Well, you need to surpass your mind and the intellect, so you can think about your breath. Remember making them normal after the first few deep breaths? Drift your thoughts of the breath to observing your breath... not deep breath, your normal, uncontrolled, natural way of breathing. Amazing feeling...

     

      Observe it... you'll feel that it enters through the nostrils and travels till the abdomen... well, not really, if you continue observing this. You'll feel your breath travelling lesser and lesser distance, soon travelling only till your manly (or womanly) chest. Hey, not just till the chest, it shortens and thins and gradually confines itself into travelling only through the nostrils... you won't feel it going to your lungs!!! Don't Panic. Continue and you will find that it confines to just a small spot between your eyebrows. 

      Are you thinking that the oxygen is not reaching the lungs and you’ll die soon? Added to this is the irritation of itching and worse feeling all over your body, especially your face. Well, this is the moment. You are being showered by cosmic energy (This is a million dollar topic and we'll deal about it later). You now live with this energy, and not oxygen. You now slide away to absolute no-thought-state – Nirmal Stiti. Congratulations. This will help your spirit to get ready for Astral Travel. (We'll deal about it later). 

      This is the moment we have been waiting for. Stay so as long as possible.

5.     Finishing: Once you feel really exhausted and bad, you might want to come back to real world. This means that you've made some wrong move and that you have filled your mind with one thought, a thought of feeling that you are out of the previous world. This is normal. Once you become experienced, you'll know when to stop. 

      So what's the big deal? Hmm... It’s with coming back. You feel like coming back like a thunder (usually with a cough). But don't do so. Once you want to enjoy the old world, try taking a sudden intake of air. This would be difficult and will be once very small one. You should try to do that. If you can or can't do that, then exhale slowly (at least 5 seconds). Inhale again deeply, Exhale... enjoy this deep breathing for some 5 reps. Now, though not necessary, try Triangle Breathing (Inhale using say 5 seconds, Hold for 5seconds, Exhale for 5 seconds. We'll talk about this in the coming article). 

      Now very slowly take your hands and rub against each other firmly and create some small heat. Now keep your palms on your eyes and enjoy the heat for some 5-10 seconds. Take away your hand. Slowly open your eyes. Smile.

6.   Now you might want to wash your face with clean water. This feels like ecstasy, though not even close to it. Once you get better at this, you can reach Nirmal Stiti in less than a minute.

      Done.

EXPERIENCE

      The first time I came across this was many years back. I just meditated. And I had a strange feeling. It was like awful feeling, with some awsomeness in it. Being curious, I checked the internet and learnt that this was a least bit similar to Meditation to Nirmal Stiti. 

      Of course I din't reach Nirmal Stiti the first time. So I read and inquired about this Nirmal Stiti and started practicing it. To learn this meditation, was like, against my logic. You know, this contradicts the 'fact' that we need air to live.

      Here goes the good news. I couldn't do it. I felt bad. But I recollected all about the word that started with 'P' - Practice. Yes, I did again and again. Its like learning to ride a bicycle. We fall hundreds of times. But do we stop? No. Because we were kids at that time and kids are well known for their 'Try Again' approach. They never feel disappointed, because they don't know what disappointment is. Yes, be a kid.

      Remember, being like a kid can't get you correct. You should have the kiddy attitudes with your grown-up intellect.

      We need air - these are what our world has taught us. Be a kid who doesn't know this. Be a kid who believes what they hear... and remember you heard only me saying that you can live wihtout air in Nirmal Stiti. Yes, this is the inspiration I got from Yogi masters.

Benefits of this are innumerable. You'll feel happy. You'll be relieved of common diseases like cold, cough, chest pain, etc. and some sort of pain after ONLY ONE average session of 5 minutes. Isn't that great? This can help you in your Kundalini Meditation (which we'll discuss later) whose procedure is almost same in the initial stages.

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