What is Yoga?

Yoga is an ancient multi-faceted discipline that originated in India. The aim is to unite the mind, body and spirit through physical postures (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayama), and meditation (dhyana). The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit word and means to unite or yoke, to harmonize. It means working towards a level where the body and mind function together harmoniously.
It serves as a holistic practice for physical, mental and spiritual well-being. Modern yoga is often used for stress reduction and fitness, while traditional paths include devotion, action and knowledge.
Yoga also refers to the union between the individual and Something Greater than what we are, whether it is called God, the Divine or anything else. Yoga does not represent or promote any particular religion; it is a system that aims to help people achieve their full potential and a heightened consciousness.
The science of Yoga is broad and has been divided into several branches, each branch focused on a different means of achieving union with the Divine or the greatness of human potential.

The Main Yoga Branches

• Hatha Yoga; works through the mastery of the body and breath. This is the most practical of the branches and is the best known Yoga in the West. It involves a system of exercises that train though physical postures, breathing and relaxation techniques.
• Raja Yoga; works through the mastery of the mind. It works towards mental discipline by mastering consciousness and stilling the thoughts of the mind.
• Jnana Yoga; works through knowledge (ultimate self-knowledge) and involves the study of scriptures and meditation.
• Bhakti Yoga; works through love and devotion. It often involves devotion to a deity, guru or prophet.
• Karma Yoga; works through selfless action and service.
• Mantra Yoga, works through vocal or mental repetition of sacred sound. Its aim is to alter consciousness through repetition of certain syllables, words or phrases that are called mantra.
• Kundalini Yoga; works through awakening and raising the body’s latent psychic nerve-force (kundalini) through several energy centres (chakras).
• Tantric Yoga; works through harnessing of sexual energy. It involves the control of sexual energies and prepares for the union of male and female energies, in order to achieve union with the Divine.

What I Offer – Hatha Yoga

What I want to offer to you is Hatha Yoga that is well-known in the West. If you break down the word Hatha it means sun and moon, ‘ha’ – sun, ‘tha’ – moon. It refers to the balance of male and female, day and night, positive and negative, yin and yang, balancing pairs.
Yoga is a psychological, physiological and spiritual discipline that has been an integral part of the Indian culture for thousands of years. The ancient Yogis developed the system as a means to achieve harmony within themselves and in relation to their environment. They believed that by working with the body and the breath, control over the mind, emotions and general well-being could be achieved.
Yoga is also a system of personal growth and development. You can use yoga just as an exercise tool or you can use it as a way of developing a deeper spiritual awareness and life, connecting with yourself and others on a deeper level. Each one of us strives for happiness and well-being and I want to offer you a yoga practice that can help and assist you with just that. We learn to tap into our body’s energy centres and find more balance, happiness and fulfillment, within ourselves and with the world around us.

Yoga as a Way of Life

Yoga is a way of life; it gives you practical tools to create more peace, harmony and balance within your body, mind and soul. Yoga is a practical aid, not a religion. The philosophy of yoga is based on principles of honesty, non-violence, non-stealing, purity and surrender of the ego. It is not in conflict with any religion. Yoga is union with all. Yoga helps us to get in touch with our true selves. It creates greater awareness and connection between and within our body, mind and soul.
The ultimate goal of yoga is to create union between our individual consciousness’ with the universal consciousness.
Yoga is a path of self-discovery, self-creation into becoming a happy, balanced and fulfilled human being.
Yoga is a practice, not perfection. It is the process of returning to your yoga practice over and over again that gives you the benefits, a discipline of self-discovery and creation.

Yoga, Energy and Modern Science

We are all energy, we moved from Newtonian understanding of matter and life to a quantum physics understanding that everything is energy.
This is where Western science and spirituality paths are crossing. We have learned from all our spiritual paths that we are spiritual beings and are temporally captivated in a physical body. We identified so strongly with this physical being, that we completely forgot about our spiritual being. Yoga is a wonderful tool to bring connection and union between the physical body and the spiritual body with the help of our mind.
We are coming back to the energies in our body. In yoga we revert to energy centres in the body, that we call the chakras.
We have seven major chakras in our bodies: all are connected to our spine, our nervous system and our endocrine system, emotions and body parts/organs. All are intimately connected.

The Seven Chakras

1. Muladhara

Muladhara – The first chakra is physically located at the base of the spine. It’s the seat of our physical survival. This is where we find connection to our physical body and our society or ‘tribe”. Imbalance in this chakra is experienced in our gastro-intestinal tract, our adrenals and kidneys. We find more groundedness and balance in this chakra through our yoga practice.

2. Svadhisthana

Svadhisthana – It is the second chakra, located between the pubic bone and navel. It’s the seat of our sexual and creative energies. This is where our sexual orientation is defined and where we make decisions about romantic partnership. Physical symptoms that can indicate an imbalance in this chakra include prostate, uterine, ovarian, and vaginal problems. By balancing this chakra, we heal conflict around our sexuality and romantic relationships. We strengthen our creative energy and create more balanced relationships.

3. Manipura

Manipura – The third chakra, is located just above our naval. It is the seat of one’s identity and personal power. When this chakra is in balance, we experience a healthy sense of self. The self outside of the ego identification, the “I am”. Imbalances in this chakra manifest in abdominal organs, like ulcers, and digestive problems. Many emotions are also experience in this chakra. We often refer to our “gut feelings” and we keep our suppressed emotions in this chakra.

4. Anahata

Anahata – The fourth chakra, is located in the chest area, between the shoulder blades and over the breastbone. It is also referred to as the heart chakra. This is where we experience love, compassion, forgiveness and mercy. When this chakra is open, love fills us and pours out to others. All experiences of love are experienced here. When this chakra is out of balance or blocked, jealousy, bitterness, fear, resentment and hardness take the place of love. Our cardiovascular system and thymus gland are controlled in this chakra, which is responsible for a healthy immune system.

5. Visshudha

Visshudha – The fifth chakra. This chakra is located in the throat area and is the centre of communication and communion. This is where we share ideas, good or bad and develop our means of communication. When this chakra is open and balanced, we have an open channel for communication. The words we speak to others are clear, direct and honest. When this chakra is blocked or out of balance, we don’t speak our truth, we deceive others with our words. On the physical level imbalance in this area manifests as sore throat and infections in the throat and lungs. Thyroid and metabolism problems are also common when this chakra is out of balance.

6. Ajna

Ajna – The sixth chakra is located at the point between the eyebrows. It is the centre of perception and cognition. It helps us to interpret information that our five senses bring to us from our perceived external world. On a spiritual level, this is the centre responsible for our ‘sixth sense”. It is here that we find things like intuition, visions and mystical experiences. A healthy chakra removes the filters of perception; our intuition and mystical experiences are heightened and opened. Imbalances in this chakra can cause mental illnesses, headaches, and brain tumors. Yoga and meditation have proven to be quite effective in helping people with mental health conditions to recover mental health and balance.

7. Sahasrara

Sahasrara – The seventh chakra is located at the crown of the head and is our connection to the Spirit. While the Muladhara roots us and grounds us in the physical nature, Sahasrara roots us in our spiritual nature. When this chakra is open, we allow a direct experience of our spiritual nature and the experience of God, not in a religious way, but in a direct spiritual way. This is to move into the Knowing of our spiritual nature.
The seven chakras function as a holistic system, all are connected to each other to form a whole experience of being human.

Yoga as a Path to Balance

Yoga is a practice to find more balance, peace and harmony within our body, mind and soul. With Yoga we can live a happier and more fulfilled life as a spiritual being in a physical body.

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