|
Yoga Instructor
Yoga teacher training is the training of teachers of yoga as exercise, consisting mainly of the practice of yoga asanas, leading to certification. Such training is accredited by the Yoga Alliance in America, by the British Wheel of Yoga in the United Kingdom, and by the European Union of Yoga across Europe. The Yoga Alliance sets standards for 200-hour and 500-hour Recognized Yoga Teacher levels, which are accepted in America and other countries. Standards In America, the Yoga Alliance sets the 200-hour and 500-hour Recognized Yoga Teacher levels (RYT-200 and RYT-500). Training courses (200 hours initially for the RYT-200, then 300 hours to reach RYT-500) to qualify at these levels are provided by many independent yoga schools, teaching varied styles of yoga, both in America and other countries, including Britain. Yoga International notes that established yoga studios often require their teachers to pass the studios' own training courses. The British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yoga As Exercise
Yoga as exercise is a physical activity consisting mainly of asana, postures, often connected by vinyasa, flowing sequences, sometimes accompanied by pranayama, breathing exercises, and frequently ending with savasana, relaxation lying down or meditation. Yoga in this form has become familiar across the world, especially Yoga in the United States, in the US and Europe. It is derived from medieval Haṭha yoga, which made use of similar postures, but it is generally simply called "yoga". Academic research has given yoga as exercise a variety of names, including modern postural yoga and transnational anglophone yoga. Postures were not central in any of the older traditions of yoga; posture practice was revived in the 1920s by yoga gurus including Yogendra and Kuvalayananda, who emphasised its health benefits. The flowing sequences of Surya Namaskar (Salute to the Sun) were pioneered by the Rajah of Aundh State, Aundh, Bhawanrao Shrinivasrao Pant Pratinidhi, in the 1920s. It and ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pranayama
Pranayama (Sanskrit: प्राणायाम, "Prāṇāyāma") is the yogic practice of focusing on breath. In classical yoga, the breath is associated with '' prana'', thus, pranayama is a means to elevate the ''prana-shakti'', or life energies. Pranayama is described in Hindu texts such as the ''Bhagavad Gita'' and the ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali''. Later, in Hatha yoga texts, it meant the complete suspension of breathing. The pranayama practices in modern yoga as exercise differ from those of the Hatha yoga tradition, often using the breath in synchrony with movements. Etymology ''Prāṇāyāma'' (Devanagari: ') is a Sanskrit compound. It is defined variously by different authors. Macdonell gives the etymology as prana ('), breath, + ''āyāma'' and defines it as the suspension of breath. Monier-Williams defines the compound ' as "of the three 'breath-exercises' performed during (''See'' ', ', '". Monier-Williams, p706, left column./ref> This technical defi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Koshas
A ''kosha'' (also ''kosa''; Sanskrit कोश, IAST: ), usually rendered "sheath", is a covering of the '' Atman'', or Self according to Vedantic philosophy. The five sheaths, summarised with the term Panchakosha, are described in the ''Taittiriya Upanishad'' (2.1-5), and they are often visualised as the layers of an onion. From gross to fine they are: # ''Annamaya kosha'', "food" sheath (Anna), the physical body; # ''Pranamaya kosha'', "energy" sheath (Prana), the vital principle; # ''Manomaya kosha'' "mind" sheath (Manas), the mind and the five senses; # '' Vijñānamaya kosha'', "discernment" or "Knowledge" sheath ( Vigynana) # ''Anandamaya kosha'', "bliss" sheath ( Ananda) Origins The five sheaths summarised with the term Panchakosha are described in the ''Taittiriya Upanishad'' (2.1-5). ''Panchakoshas'' are divided in three bodies: * The gross body ''sthula sarira'' - made up of physical matter. This body consists of Annamaya kosha. * the subtle body ''suksma sarira' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nadis
() is a term for the channels through which, in traditional Indian medicine and spiritual theory, the energies such as prana of the human body, physical body, the subtle body and the causal body are said to flow. Within this philosophical framework, the nadis are said to connect at special points of intensity, the chakras. All nadis are said to originate from one of two centres; the heart and the ''kanda'', the latter being an egg-shaped bulb in the pelvis, pelvic area, just below the navel. The three principal nadis run from the base of the spine to the head, and are the ida on the left, the sushumna in the centre, and the pingala on the right. Ultimately the goal is to unblock these nadis to bring liberation. Overview Nadi is an important concept in Hindu philosophy, mentioned and described in the sources, some as much as 3,000 years old. The number of nadis of the human body is claimed to be up to hundreds-of-thousands and even millions. The ''Shiva Samhita'' treatise on y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chakra
A chakra (; ; ) is one of the various focal points used in a variety of ancient meditation practices, collectively denominated as Tantra, part of the inner traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. The concept of the chakra arose in Hinduism. Beliefs differ between the Indian religions: Buddhist texts mention four or five chakras, while Hindu sources often have six or seven. The modern "Western chakra system" arose from multiple sources, starting in the 1880s with H. P. Blavatsky and other Theosophists, followed by Sir John Woodroffe's 1919 book ''The Serpent Power'', and Charles W. Leadbeater's 1927 book ''The Chakras''. Psychological and other attributes, rainbow colours, and a wide range of correspondences with other systems such as alchemy, astrology, gemstones, homeopathy, Kabbalah and Tarot were added later. Etymology Lexically, ''chakra'' is the Indic reflex of an ancestral Indo-European languages, Indo-European form ''*kʷékʷlos'', whence also "wheel" and "cycl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subtle Body
A subtle body is a "quasi material" aspect of the human body, being neither solely physical nor solely spiritual, according to various Western esotericism, esoteric, occultism, occult, and mysticism, mystical teachings. This contrasts with the mind–body dualism that has dominated Western thought. The subtle body is important in the Taoism of China and Indian religions, Dharmic religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, mainly in the branches that focus on tantra and yoga, where it is known as the ''Sūkṣma-śarīra'' (). However, while mostly associated with Asian cultures, non-dualistic approaches to the mind and body are found in many parts of the world. Subtle body concepts and practices can be identified as early as 2nd century BCE in Taoist texts found in the Mawangdui tombs. It was "evidently present" in Indian thought as early as the 4th to 1st century BCE when the Taittiriya Upanishad described the Panchakoshas, a series of five interpenetrating sheaths of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pranayama
Pranayama (Sanskrit: प्राणायाम, "Prāṇāyāma") is the yogic practice of focusing on breath. In classical yoga, the breath is associated with '' prana'', thus, pranayama is a means to elevate the ''prana-shakti'', or life energies. Pranayama is described in Hindu texts such as the ''Bhagavad Gita'' and the ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali''. Later, in Hatha yoga texts, it meant the complete suspension of breathing. The pranayama practices in modern yoga as exercise differ from those of the Hatha yoga tradition, often using the breath in synchrony with movements. Etymology ''Prāṇāyāma'' (Devanagari: ') is a Sanskrit compound. It is defined variously by different authors. Macdonell gives the etymology as prana ('), breath, + ''āyāma'' and defines it as the suspension of breath. Monier-Williams defines the compound ' as "of the three 'breath-exercises' performed during (''See'' ', ', '". Monier-Williams, p706, left column./ref> This technical defi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hatha Yoga
Hatha yoga (; Sanskrit हठयोग, International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''haṭhayoga'') is a branch of yoga that uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ ''haṭha'' literally means "force", alluding to a system of physical techniques. Some hatha yoga style techniques can be traced back at least to the 1st-century CE, in texts such as the Hindu Itihasa, Sanskrit epics and Buddhism's Pali canon. The oldest dated text so far found to describe hatha yoga, the 11th-century ''Amritasiddhi, Amṛtasiddhi'', comes from a Tantra, tantric Buddhist milieu. The oldest texts to use the terminology of ''hatha'' are also Vajrayana Buddhist. Hindu hatha yoga texts appear from the 11th century onward. Some of the early hatha yoga texts (11th-13th c.) describe methods to raise and conserve bindu (vital force, that is, semen, and in women ''rajas –'' menstrual fluid). This was seen as the physical esse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Of Yoga
The science of yoga is the study of modern yoga as exercise, yoga as physical exercise and yoga breathing (pranayama) in human sciences such as human anatomy, anatomy, human physiology, physiology, and psychology. Yoga's effects are to some extent shared with other forms of exercise, though it differs in the amount of stretching involved, and because of its frequent use of long holds and relaxation, in its ability to reduce stress. Yoga is here treated separately from meditation, which has effects of its own, though yoga and meditation are combined in some schools of yoga. Yoga has been studied scientifically since the 19th-century physiology experiments of N. C. Paul. The early 20th-century pioneers Yogendra and Kuvalayananda both set up institutes to study yoga systematically. Yoga is also used directly Yoga for therapeutic purposes, as therapy, especially for psychological conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, but the evidence for this remains weak. Yoga has som ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yoga (philosophy)
Yoga philosophy is one of the six major important schools of Hindu philosophy,Maurice Phillips (Published as Max Muller collection), The Evolution of Hinduism, , PhD. Thesis awarded by University of Berne, Switzerland, page 8 though it is only at the end of the first millennium CE that Yoga is mentioned as a separate school of thought in Indian texts, distinct from Samkhya.David Lawrence (2014), in The Bloomsbury Companion to Hindu Studies (Editor: Jessica Frazier), Bloomsbury Academic, , pages 137-150 Ancient, medieval and modern literature often simply call Yoga philosophy Yoga.Knut Jacobsen (2008), Theory and Practice of Yoga, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 100-101, 333-340Mikel Burley (2012), Classical Samkhya and Yoga – An Indian Metaphysics of Experience, Routledge, , pages 43-46 and Introduction chapter A systematic collection of ideas of Yoga is found in the ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali'',Larson, p. 21–22. a key text of Yoga which has influenced all other schools of India ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Restorative Yoga
Restorative Yoga is the practice of asanas, each held for longer than in conventional yoga as exercise classes, often with the support of props such as folded blankets, to relax the body, reduce stress, and often to prepare for pranayama. The practice was foreshadowed by Iyengar Yoga's use of props in its deliberate style of asana practice. Practice Restorative Yoga sessions allow the body to slow down and relax in a small number of asanas. Each pose is held for longer than in conventional classes, sometimes for twenty minutes, so a session may consist of only four to six asanas. The long holding of poses is often assisted with props such as folded blankets, blocks, and bolsters to ensure the body is fully supported and so to allow the muscles to relax. An early disciple of B.K.S. Iyengar, the yoga teacher and ''Yoga Journal'' editor Judith Lasater helped to popularize restorative yoga, based on Iyengar Yoga's asanas and use of props. Lasater states that "you will need" a yog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
