Different Types of Yoga

There are 5 major branches of yoga, namely, Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Hatha Yoga. These different types of yogas require a lot of self-discipline and perseverance. Yoga is an excellent way to stay healthy, improve immunity and increase mind control.

Effects of Yoga
Yoga, although an exercise regime, is more of a meditation form. There are many yoga classes and gyms which offer yoga exercises. Yoga helps in making the body flexible and decrease the stiffness of the joints. Its helps in strengthening and toning the body muscles. It helps in making muscles lean and shapely. The various movements of yoga help in easing neck pain, back pain, headaches and other types of body pain. It also helps curing various aliments such as controlling diabetes, hypertension, disorders related to digestive system, breathing troubles, varicose veins and heart diseases. Yoga helps bring the mind and body together, thus increasing the concentration power of an individual.

Different Yoga Positions
There are over 600 different types of yoga positions, that can be mastered by practicing yoga regularly. Few types of yoga positions are:

    * Utthita Parsvakonasana that is Extended Side Angle Pose
    * Tadasana- Mountain Pose
    * Urdhva Hastasana- Raised Hands Pose
    * Uttanasana- Standing Forward Bend
    * Malasana- Garland Pose
    * Utthita Trikonasana- Extended Triangle Pose
    * Dolphin Pose
    * Padmasana- Lotus Pose

Yoga Types
The most common types of yoga that you'll come across is Raja Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Astanga Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga and Iyenger Yoga. These help in giving strength and flexibility to your body and help you in getting relaxed. There are many other different types of yoga that you may not have tried or heard of. Some of them are:

Abhava Yoga
This is a yoga of non-being. It means the power of nonexistence. It is a higher yogic practice of immersing into yourself without the use of mantras.

Buddi Yoga
Buddi Yoga meaning 'yoga of consciousness' is the highest stage of yoga. Buddi yoga represents the eighth stage of the 'eight fold path' comprising of yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, samadhi. This yoga was first mentioned in the Bhagwat Gita.

Dhyana Yoga
Dhyana means profound meditation. 'Dhyana leads to Samadhi.' It is aimed to develop the self consciousness to the level of perfection. The final At this stage one works on increasing the 'mass' of consciousness and obtaining power in subtlety.

Guru Yoga
In this form of yoga, the disciple combines his mind to the mind of his teacher through meditation. With the help of the teacher one can find the inner teacher, that is, the true nature of one's mind.

Jnana Yoga
In this form of yoga, one converts the intellectual knowledge into practical wisdom. It is a mean to obtain the highest meditative state and inner knowledge.

Karma Yoga
Karma Yoga is a path of devotion to work. It is very difficult to loose one's identity and work selflessly. One only works when one expects a reward or incentive. In the Karma, state work is thought as worship to God. A person achieves stability of mind and becomes spiritual.

Laya Yoga
Laya is dissolution or disappearance of oneself in the harmony of the absolute. It turns off the mind so that the individual does not act under his mind's command, but according to the will of God.

Saptanga Yoga
It is a combined discipline of the seven limbs (Sapta-anga), that is, six purifying practices; posture, seal, sensory inhibition, breath control, meditation and ecstasy.

Yantra Yoga
Yantra Yoga focuses on the mind through the yantra, that is, geometric representations of the cosmos.

There are many more types of yoga that help in self realization and salvation. You should try out the different types of yoga and find out the one that suits your body and mind. Different types of yoga are beneficial in improving one's life and also physical health. There are many yoga classes that teach great yoga exercises. Speak to the yoga teacher and find out the different yogas you can learn to improve the quality of your life.

Yoga: Basics of Yoga

Yoga, is a word derived from Sanskrit, meaning the 'union with the divine'. It is a method, which teaches the individual soul to connect with the Supreme Soul or what we better relate to as, God. Yoga is the ancient art of using your concentration to attain the union of body, mind and soul. It's a discipline which teaches you to balance your emotions and intentions. It is a way of achieving holistic fitness, which is clearly above physical fitness. Learning a few yoga basics will help you in releasing stress, fatigue and pain. Here are a few basics of yoga for your help.

Yoga Poses for Beginners

Surya Namaskar
The surya namaskar is one of the basic yoga poses. It literally means, 'salute to the sun'. This asana or posture, uses the entire body, from head to toe, to worship the sun. This yoga posture is practiced as a physical exercise for fitness by world at large. However, with a deeper understanding the same, a surya namaskar can be performed as total sadhana, which accomplished the asana, pranayama, mantra and chakra meditation. This exercise is supposed to be done at sunrise to reach a spiritual arousal. A full surya namaskar, consists of two sets of twelve poses. Ideally, this yoga postures is to be repeated 12 times with 12 mantras. Read more on yoga exercises.

Ashtanga Namaskar
Basics of yoga aim to benefit your body in the best possible way. Ashtanga namaskar is a derivation of surya namaskar. Asht means eight in Sanskrit and anga means body. Thus comes the nomenclature, meaning eight parts of the body saluting together for self healing and fitness. This yoga posture provides a thorough massage to every curve of your body and flexing and working on every important part of the body, thus giving it the required strength and shape. Performing this yoga exercise helps the heart by providing much needed exercise to the cardiac muscles and arteries. With synchronized breathing and body movements of ashtanga namaskar and chanting of mantras, it lightens up the piled up anger, agitations and anger within. The cleanses the soul and restores the lost radiance within, which reflects on your aura. Read more on Ashtanga yoga.

Pranayam
Prana means is breath in Sanskrit and the vital force of life in our general understanding and ayam means control. Thus pranayama means rhythmic control of breathing for a healthy body and mind. There are many types of pranayams practiced in various schools of yoga. Surya Bhedan, Bhasrika, Ujjayi, Shitali, Sitkari, Bhramari, Murchha & Plavini Pranayama are the breathing exercises practiced in Hatha Yoga. Anulom – Vilom, quiet breathing, deep breathing and fast breathing are some more breathing exercises that are popularly practiced by beginners to experience the mental and physical harmony, which is often hidden beneath the random rantings of the occupied mind. Read more on deep breathing benefits.

Shavasana
The yoga basics end with Shavasna, which is the final yoga pose. A yoga exercise session surceases with shavasan. Shava refers to a dead body and asana, needless to say, means posture. Thus this yoga posture is about getting in a relaxed position, just like a corpse, which is ready to depart the material world and enter a new life filled with hope and energy. This yoga pose resembles a dead body which is worn out, fatigued, battered and bruised its spirit which reflects the outside. But as the asana comes to an end, it rejuvenates the body, nourishes its spirit and brings it back to life, which is blessed with good health, vigor and verve.

These are the four yoga basics to begin with. Yoga, as a form of traditional exercise, is a technique of directing the human personality beyond the whimpering of the harrowed life. It aims at uplifting the broken down spirit and unfolding its inner strength for peace within for a peace outside.

How To Do Yoga

With information on how to do Yoga being available in abundance on the Internet, television, CDs, DVDs and books; it is not impossible to know what Yoga is or how it should be done. There are hundreds of people getting trained in Yogic sciences and the art of healing. Two things are needed to be considered at this juncture. Firstly, Yoga comes through consistent practice and it is surely a healthy way to living. However if any guru, tricks you to teach Yoga within few days, don't rely on them. I'm not talking about just being superficially introduced to Yoga.

My point of reference is that you should be under the guidance of a trained Yoga instructor for few months so that you know if your every move is correct. Second point in explaining how to do Yoga is that you must not be deceived by false claims or exaggerated results. Yoga exercises are based on deep science and people do get hundred percent cured from diseases but then, it only comes after expert support and conducive surrounding. So you've got to be realistic in your aim. The objective of Yoga must be to attain a healthy body. Your must be to able to learn basics of Yoga in such a way that practicing Yoga at home becomes easier.

How to do Yoga at Home for Beginners

Many people wonder how to do Yoga at home? This is due to the fact that be it basic Yoga poses or advanced Yoga poses, both are complicated and practicing them without any guidance may be harmful. In the start, it is good to join a Yoga class so that one is familiar with intricacies of numerous Yogic postures as well as breathing exercises. After an individual is comfortable practicing Yoga with an expert teacher, he or she can begun practicing Yoga at home.

A healthy adult can easily practice numerous Yoga exercises at home, once being trained by an expert teacher. When one starts to think on how to do Yoga at home, it is essential to consider the environment at home. Choosing an area like garden or balcony that has the flow of fresh air in it, is essential to practice Yoga comfortably. If proper ambiance is not available at home, it is advisable to go to a local park.

Beginners must understand that a science, as deep as Yoga must be practiced carefully. In the start, Yoga sessions must range for half or more hours depending on comfort of the person. One must not try to go beyond body limits and unnecessarily strain the body.

Just like right posture and right breathing exercises are important for the body, it is important to eat the right kind of food. Healthy diet is an integral part of Yoga workouts and no matter how good your Yoga sessions are, if your diet is improper, Yoga exercises won't benefit you in anyway. They can in fact turn out to be harmful.

In the last segment on 'how to do Yoga at home', we would like to share with you a precious tip that is, healthy living is the key to reaping the rich benefits of Yoga. An individual with poor sleeping habits and unhealthy eating can rarely benefit from Yoga. So if you're joining a Yoga class, ensure that you're able to follow a healthy lifestyle.

Informing you on how to do Yoga or explaining numerous Yoga postures in the limitations of this article is next to impossible. We tried to present before you some simple tips and advice on doing Yoga, so that you're aware of the basics of this science. Practice Yoga! Stay fit!