Can you tell me why you practise yogha??

[Kahala]

Do you practise yogha?? Why??
In my country most people do yogha to be fit or to reduce stress.
What do you think about it??

[Arjuna]

Originally Posted by Kahala

Do you practise yogha?? Why??
In my country most people do yogha to be fit or to reduce stress.
What do you think about it??

This is good to be fit and free of stresses, but verily these practices are not Yoga .
Yoga is exactly what is meant by "religion" in its essential and literal sense.

[vanwinkle]

Originally Posted by Arjuna

This is good to be fit and free of stresses, but verily these practices are not Yoga .
Yoga is exactly what is meant by "religion" in its essential and literal sense.

Namaste Arjuna
I was intrigued by your reference to yoga as a religion as it is often said that yoga is not a religion. Of course while I practice and teach "yoga" in the uk mostly from an asana perspective I always recognise that it is probably one of the most spiritual of paths.
If you would care to I would be interested to hear more of your views?
Vanwinkle

[yajvan]

hari oṁ
~~~~~

Namaste

I read the posts above and thought this may compliment the conversation:

yoga योग is the act of yoking , joining , attaching , harnessing. But to what? To what Arjuna mentions - religion.
Religion in its purest sense is to relig(āre) to tie, fasten re + ligāre to bind, tie. But now what are we tying to? What are we joining or harnessing to? To the Supreme, to bind one back to the source, to yoke one back to anuttara ( the Supreme).

What does Patañjali’s yogadarśana (the yoga sūtras of Patañjali) say of this yoga?
The second sūtra of the first chapter says yogash citta-vrtti-nirodah . What does this mean? This is reviewed in this HDF post: http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=909&highlight=yoga+citta+vritti+nirodhah



If one were talking Hatha Yoga, a POV can be found in this HDF post: http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showpost.php?p=18464&postcount=8

If one were talking to a Hatha Yoga sadhu and asked what they're doing, they may answer 'finding balance' or 'working with and balancing the sun and moon forces'. Now how can we get to this notion offered by the sadhu from this word hatha?
We know if we look at some of the roots it may help us:
ham हम् an exclamation expressive of anger or courtesy or respect.
We then can see where some of this force & obstinacy may come from, from this root; yet lets also consider the following:
haT हट् - to shine , be bright
Tha ठ - the moon's disk, a disk


pranams

[izi]

I practice Bhakti yoga and Karma yoga becase it makes me feel better each day. I gain a better foothold in the world and can make more sense of what is occuring in every step of my day to day existence.

I practice some asana but only a few that I was taught when I was a child nothing more, and some of my own I learned as a byproduct of Bhakti Yoga. For instance, once when I was worshipping Ananta a force suddenly pushed me up into "the archer" position but I didn't know what it was until I looked it up, so I do practice those positions.

I hear it is extremely good for moving blood around your organs and it makes me feel more limber, I do like it a lot when I do asana.

[ashiyanayoga]

Yoga in general has a lot of advantages. A minimum of 20 minutes everyday yoga routine can improve circulation, reduce stress and make one feel young and vibrant...


Ashu
www.ashiyana-yoga-goa.com