Yoga for Beginners

History of Yoga

Yoga is a very old spiritual and physical discipline. It is also a division of philosophy which came from India supposedly over 5,000 years ago. The word yoga comes from Sanskrit word ‘yuj’, which denotes ‘to join, to unite’. The Iyengar school of yoga translates yuj as the “to join or integrate all facets of the individual: body with mind and mind with soul in order to attain a joyful life of balance and meaning.” The ultimate purpose of yoga, according to them is to achieve ‘kaivalya’ liberation or ultimate freedom. However this website doesn’t cover religious Yoga it rather tries to educate only the physical aspects of it.

Origins of Yoga

There is no exact writing on who exactly came up with yoga due to its multitude of practices by yoga practitioners or yogis way before people mastered writing. Yogis over the span of thousands of years conferred down the discipline to their disciples, and other various schools of yoga improved it as it became widely known. The earliest records about yoga, and one of the ancient Sanskrit in existence, is widely known to be scribed by Patanjali, an Indian yogic erudite who practiced between a period of 2,000 and 2,500 years ago. Patanjali is attributed with writing the Yoga Sutras or “threads” in Sanskrit that are the philosophy, the principles and practices of yoga. Even though a lot of schools of yoga have grown over the centuries, they all still practiced the fundamental tenets as recorded by Patanjali over 2,000 years ago. Buddhism and other Eastern spiritual traditions use many of the yoga techniques or derivations of those techniques.

How does yoga help our health?

Yoga employs postures or in yogic language “asanas” with attention on particular parts of our body. Every posture requires a breathing technique, yogis call it “pranayama” it helps to combine the body with mind and mind with soul.

Yoga postures assist our body to adapt. There are 1000s of yoga asanas, and in Sanskrit, these postures are referred as kriyas which mean “actions”, mudras that signify “seals”, and bandhas that denote “locks”. A kriya concentrates on shifting our energy up and down our spine; yoga mudra is a technique that holds our energy and promotes awareness; and a bandha employs the method of holding muscular tightening to develop awareness.

Types of yoga

There are several types of yoga practiced by various schools. They progressed over the millennia as various yoga practitioners improved their own techniques and passed down to disciples who then in turn taught their disciples. For example, Hatha yoga, undoubtedly the most well known type of yoga practiced in the U.S., was introduced by Yogi Swatmarama in India in the 15th century. Kundalini yoga, that is known to be 5,000 years old, one of the oldest among other types of yoga was developed by Yogi Bhajan in 1969 and spread in the west while on a journey from India.

Knowing yoga can be a very exciting experience. First thing you need to do is find the type of yoga that suits you most. Draw your expectations of a yoga class, yoga teachers and what type of exercises you wish to practice. Timing is important too as different yoga teachers prefer various timings.

The Internet has tons of information for a beginner in yoga. You can get all kinds of products and guides: from free magazines, DVD videos to various books. As soon as you have done your survey and got all the information you need, contact a yoga instructor and go through with them about the things that you don’t understand in regards to yoga. Ask what style would be most suitable for a yoga beginner like you factoring in your current state of health, physical strength and interests.

Some of the most popular yoga styles are bikram yoga (hot yoga), hatha yoga(physical yoga), and ashtanga yoga which is for individuals who are in good physical shape. There is also prenatal yoga for pregnant women.