Originally Posted by
Indraneela
Namasté,
As a very general and simplified explanation - as I understand it, if Hinduism is "the talk," think of yoga as the method of "walking the walk." It consists of all of the practices by which a spiritual seeker "yokes" him/herself to the Divine, working to serve That with purity and joy, and/or realise That within him/herself.
There are different parts of this which work together. There is karma yoga, for example, whereby one serves God by rendering service to others and to the world. There is bhakti yoga, the practice of loving devotion and the meditation upon/praising of God's glories, grace, and wonder. The hatha yoga physical postures that you know, are part of raja yoga, another aspect. Some seekers choose one sort of yoga upon which to focus - seeing all they do as Divine service, for example, or practicing the love of God in loving and embracing all things and beings.
The physical yoga practice that we know in the West is only a hollowed-out version of something much deeper. These postures, for a Hindu devotee, are meditative and disciplining. They serve to increase the body's suppleness and flexibility, granting a long life of health and strength - a longer life and energy through which to seek the Divine - as well as aligning the seeker with Divine energies. (Many of these postures are named after Gods, stories, etc.) Western yoga studios teach these poses for fitness only, eliminating the sacred elements intrinsic to them, and arguing that "yoga" belongs to the world and is not specifically "Hindu." (To give an idea of why this upsets many Hindus, imagine if I opened a restaurant called "Eucharist" and served different breads and wines there, and argued - amidst allegations of disrespect and sacrilege - that food is universally human, and that there's nothing specifically Christian about eating and drinking!)
One certainly may learn these practices from a Guru - a special teacher who embodies the Divine and guides the student closer to the Divine therefore. One may also learn at an ashram, a community of yoga practitioners/devotees, which is similar to a monastery in that it consists of folks who live and work together, to serve and realise God. There are also many books out there that can be excellent guides to Yoga (provided that they are written by Hindus, and not by fitness magazine editors or the like).
An excellent first step is to begin adherence to the behavioral and social disciplines called yamas and niyamas. If you search "yama" and "niyama" on this forum and/or Google, you will find several discussions of these practices.
Indraneela
===
Oṁ Indrāya Namaḥ.
Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya.
Bookmarks