The practice of yoga creates a healthier and happier life

Yoga movement. Image: mobile.ayanaresort.com

Yoga has become part of modern life style since the 60s in Western countries like the United States and Europe. They practiced meditation and body movements based on yoga which has a very long history in ancient Hindu era, thousands of years BC. 

If you are serious in yoga activities, you will enjoy health physically, mentally and spiritually. Yoga and meditation can be done by anyone in any age, and you can learn and practice to fit your needs. With yoga you can: gain flexibility, reduce stress, recover from an injury or maintain overall health and longer life.

Before you pursue the basics and practice yoga seriously, you need to know the definition of yoga and its benefits for your life. For those of you who have studied yoga this time, then this article will provide additional information about this unique sport. The word "yoga" comes from the Sanskrit root yuj, which means "to join" or "to yoke". Yoga a Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, a part of which, including breath control, simple meditation, and the adoption of specific bodily postures, is widely practiced for health and relaxation. Human beings in a busy modern life, requires a balance of body and soul, then yoga is the best activity to make it happen.

Asana and pranayama in Yoga. Image: news.com.au

Yoga (/ˈjoʊɡə/; Sanskrit: योग, Listen) is a physical, mental, and spiritual practice or discipline. There is a broad variety of schools, practices and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism (including Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhism and Jainism.The best-known are Hatha yoga and Raja yoga. 

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.

Yoga History

The origins of Yoga have been speculated to date back to pre-Vedic Indian traditions, but most likely developed around the sixth and fifth centuries BCE, in ancient India's ascetic circles, which are also credited with the early sramana movements. The chronology of earliest texts describing yoga-practices is unclear, varyingly credited to Hindu Upanishads and Buddhist Pāli Canon, probably of third century BCE or later.

Although yoga is a creation of the great Yogi in Ancient Hindu era, you will find all the activities and movements of yoga is a universal activity that can be implemented by all human beings throughout the world. Since the 60s yoga has become a way of life in Western countries like the United States and Europe such as Britain and France, then spread to other regions in Europe, Asia, Latin America, also in Africa.

For those of you who have been practicing yoga, then you definitely taught to do pranayama and asana, both of which are basic movements of yoga. Asana is also referred to as Yoga Postures, Asanas are gentle stretching movements designed to help balance the mind and body. The practice of yoga makes the body flexible and strong, it also improves the functioning of the circulatory, digestive, respiratory, even your hormonal systems. Yoga brings about emotional stability and clarity of mind. Yoga which is popular today and involves physical exercises is actually Hatha Yoga and has its origins in medieval period.

Important vocabulary in yoga that you need to understand it is chakra, which has the intent and meaning as energy center; the basic system has seven chakras (sacrum, solar plexus, heart, throat, root, third eye and crown), each of which is associated with a color, element, syllable, significance, etc. Therefore, our objective to practice yoga is to find chakras in our body, resulting in a balance, even we could recover naturally when we experience fatigue, pain and stress.

In a yoga class or a yoga workshop, you not only taught physical movement. You will be taught Mantra and Mudra, which is a means and activities to keep you more focused. Mantra: a repeated sound, syllable, word or phrase; often used in chanting and meditation. Mudra: a hand gesture; the most common mudras are anjali mudra (pressing palms together at the heart) and gyana mudra (with the index finger and thumb touching).

Yoga class in Bali. Image: seekretreat.com

If you learn yoga in a comprehensive manner, then you will be taught various yoga movements from the base level, intermediate to advanced, even the various classes are usually tailored to your age, your spare time and some other reasons. If you are a busy person, then you can take the time to read the literature on meditation and yoga.

Do not worry, you can also gain knowledge of yoga on the Internet, you can even buy information about yoga in the form of CDs, DVDs and yoga apps in Android Application Store and of course at the Apple Store. The application can be installed on your iPhone or Android smartphone, but you do not get too preoccupied with your smartphone. Yoga is a practice, not just to think about it, you have to make it real in your training. Are you ready?

Other important suggestions, if you have a plan for the holidays, make sure you select vacation packages to Bali, an island paradise for lovers of yoga or a fantastic place for yoga fans around the world. In Bali, the island of the Gods, you can join a yoga class or a yoga workshop, while on holiday in this beautiful island.

This article partly inspired by en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga, yogayoga.com/new-to-yoga, elephantjournal.com, abc-of-yoga.com, yoga.org.nz, and other important sources of yoga. If you found this article is important and interesting, please share this blog to your friends, family, and your loved ones, so that they also live a healthy and happy as you are.