The Pre-Classical Er Hatha Yoga

The meaning of hathayoga is “yoga of force” and refers to an intangible energy network within our physical body called “the subtle body.” Accordingly to the medieval teachings of hathayoga, there are two energy channels, the solar and lunar, which are balanced through postures and breath-control to then force the body to move into a meditative state, which seems so important for gaining insight about our physical existence. However, this metaphysical side of hathayoga was not addressed at the yoga practice I attended at. With this in mind, yoga certainly has physical benefits, but to ignore the spiritual aspect of the practice should not be forgotten and challenges my understanding of yoga as taught in lecture. For example, yoga can be seen as a spiritual path where through the unification of mind, body, and our senses a greater understanding of the “ultimate self” or “reality” can be gained, which then leads to liberation. Thus, I think for today’s yoga it would be useful to also emphasize the spiritual components to further expand the experience of the practitioner. The origin of yoga from the Indian traditions emphasized that yoga is a vehicle for physical, metaphysical, and spiritual transformation of the practitioner. Yoga has a huge component of self-reflection and contemplation in order to gain insight for liberation from worldly suffering, which is often accomplished through meditation where a strong, healthy body supports that practice. For example, the Vedic tradition and early Hindu society used mantras to go beyond their physical experience. The performance of mantras can be seen as a meditative as well as contemplative practice where one strengthens their mind to then unite with divine beings. Not to mention, accordingly to the Upanisads, yoga of meditation (dhyanayoga) is a common method to reach insight about

Rousseau, Pestolozzi and Dewey’s philosophies are all present in the lesson plan. Such as Rousseau believes in guided discovery and letting the learner take charge in an attempt to solve the problem at hand which takes place in the lesson when the learners are required to complete a worksheet by themselves with little assistance from the teacher. Rousseau’s philosophy states that he believes that learning should be based on senses, this lesson includes vision by watching the powerpoint, it contains touch in the practical work needed in the experiment and it requires audio as the learners need to listen to the information that the teacher is sharing with them. Pestalozzi and Rousseau both believe in a naturalist approach in education, this is

Yoga has been shown to be effective as an adjunctive treatment for a wide variety of disorders, including epilepsy, diabetes, heart disease, insomnia, and chronic pain (Streeter et al., 2012; van der Kolk, 2014). Streeter et al. (2012) propose that yoga is helpful in such a wide variety of conditions because it reduces allostatic load in the stress response symptom, decreases sympathetic nervous system activity, increases parasympathetic nervous system activity, and increases gamma amino-butyric acid (GABA) levels. Overall, yoga is a practice that may help the body return to a more optimal state of

Before providing the solution, “Yoga” has to be distinguished from Yoga. In the following discussion, Yoga indicates the Original religiously significant activity intends to “connect with the divine” (smith). On the other hand, “Yoga” means the “diluted” Yoga by the author, which loses its religious significance. And this is the popular type of the exercise practice by the outsider of the Indian culture. Using a metaphor to explain this: Yoga is like the spring water coming out of the valley, containing all sorts of minerals, not only questing the thirst, but also being beneficial to the body; “Yoga” much like distilled water, still can questing the thirst, but

The Baghavad Gita, Yoga Sutras of Patanjai, and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika are all considered to be revolutionary texts. Their teachings depart from earlier traditions and propose many approaches to enlightenment. Through their definition of yoga or their philosophical goals, each contain some similarities as well as aspects that make each of them unique.

As time passed, so did the techniques and thoughts of people before them. During the 1700’s, yoga masters created a form of yoga called Tantra yoga “to try to cleanse the body and mind to break the knots that bind us to our physical experience.”(Burgin, 2011). This type of yoga is believed to have led to the primary type of yoga in the western world which is known as Hatha Yoga. In the late 1800’s to early 1900’s, yoga began to expand even more, attracting a wider variety of followers. In the 1920’s Hatha Yoga began to become very popular in the western culture, with the majority of it being within India. This was due the strong promotion from T. Krishnamacharya who educated many people about the benefits of yoga. He would later form the Hatha

One of the possible mechanisms of communication between gut microbes and the brain is the release of biologically active molecules. These molecules are released packed into nanoparticles known as outer membrane vesicles. These vesicles can enter the systemic circulation and be delivered to different organs including the brain, eliciting a variety of immunological and metabolic responses.

During a trial that took place at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, 15,500 healthy middle aged people participated in a study that showed that yoga and weight loss are definitely connected, and yoga prevents people who have lost weight from gaining it back. While it burns less calories than some other more intense forms of exercise, it helps to create focus and mindfulness that can be a valuable tool to everyone, especially those carrying the burden of extra pounds. In the end, people who practiced yoga were shown to lose about 5 pounds in the same amount of time those who did not practice it gained fourteen

The origins of yoga date back to India over 5,000 years ago. The Vedas, holy writings that are the foundation for Hinduism, possess ancient yoga teachings known as Vedic Yoga. Individuals became reliant on Vedic yoga to live their life in divine harmony.

Cardiovascular disease is a global burden and by changing risk factors such as increasing physical activity and reducing stress by relaxation can lower the incidence of the disease (Hartley, Dyakova, Holmes, Clarke, Lee, Ernst, & Rees, 2014) The study had 800 participants with high risk factors of the cardiovascular disease and were recruited to 11 study trials. After eight months of this ongoing study, Hartley and Colleagues (2014) found that any form of yoga showed reduction in the systolic and diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides, and an increase in high-density lipoprotein. Since patients with the cardiovascular disease are unable to perform rigorous exercises, yoga was concluded to be an ideal choice for them. Participants, who

In the early days when Indian philosophy was first introduced to our western way of thought many famous people were attracted to these ideas. For example, Somerset Maugham, Christopher Isherwood, Aldous Huxley, Dr Albert Schweitzer and many more. The famous Sanskrit expression from the Upanisad “Tat twam asi” meaning That Thou Art Thyself (That man must see himself in all beings and see all beings in himself) has provided an introduction for many people to the study of yoga and

Throughout this six week session I've gained a much better understanding of yoga and how it really works. I've learned that yoga not only helps the body flexibility but also helps you throughout the day from the different techniques you learn and do on a daily basis. In fact, what I find interesting about yoga is that it's not all about physical activity but being one with yourself, as if getting to know yourself throughout these exercises. I also feel as though yoga helps release tension and negative energy from the body, while clearing the mind and making you feel like a new person after exercising. For example, every morning that I wake up there are times I don't want to get out of bed or do anything, but once I get to class it's like a heavy burden been released off of my shoulders and I begin to feel good and happy. Doing yoga puts me in a better mood.

Traditionally, the Vedas, had been misinterpreted and perceived as the records of a life revolving around sacrificial fires, cows, horses and incantations to Nature Gods.  By contrast, the Upanishads were regarded as relatable work on metaphysics and philosophy.  This gave rise to two schools of philosophy, Vedic concepts as a system of rituals and the Upanishads as a source of wisdom. Often the Upanishads are taken as being part of the Vedas, but Meditation originally arose in the early Upanishadic period as a way of internalizing the fire sacrifice. The Upanishadic concepts of yoga can be considered coming after the Vedic, as Upanishads are philosophical texts that came after the Vedas. While this is true, they differ in that the Upanishadic

Yoga is a practical aid, not a religion. Yoga is an ancient art based on a harmonizing system of development for the body, mind, and spirit. The continued practice of yoga will lead you to a sense of peace and well-being, and also a feeling of being at one with their environment. This is a simple definition.

The health behavior that was chosen to promote during our campaign was yoga. We encouraged students, staff, and faculty members at Knox College to partake in yoga classes offered by the school in order to reduce stress and target a particular health/illness outcome. The main physical health/illness outcome targeted in this campaign was reduced blood pressure. Yoga is also seen to improve cardiovascular health. We chose to focus on the benefits of yoga to improve blood pressure and cardiovascular health instead of just one or the other because most of the studies that we found while researching mentioned both decreased blood pressure and improved cardiovascular health occurring from practicing yoga.