Yoga is the union of the physical body and the spiritual body. The PRANAYAMA (breath exercise), AASANAS (yoga positions) MUDRAS (hands positions), BHANDAS (body’s lock) and MEDITATION comprise the yoga practice. Yoga provides the technology necessary to deal with your body. Yoga will teach you how your body works, how to breathe properly, how to use all of these techniques for your own benefit, how to understand, relate, and use the mind, and the tools necessary to quiet the mind so that you can access the natural state of the being oneness.

A variety of forms of yoga are practiced. But together they are yoga. While all these have common elements, some focus on postures and exercises and some others spirituality.

Different types of Yoga

It is the yoga of vitality and is the foundation of all yoga systems. It is the stairway to the higher yogas. It is the preparatory stage for the purification of physical body which makes the body fit for the practice of higher yogas. The word HATHA is the combination of two words HA (sun) and THA (moon). Thus, Hatha Yoga refers to positive (sun) and to negative (moon) currents in the system. These currents are to be balanced and mastered so that vital force, prana, can be regulated, the mind cleared and super conscious states experienced. Hatha Yoga is what most people in the West associate with the word Yoga.

Hatha Yoga focuses on a series of asanas, or postures, and on pranayama, or breathing. To do yoga one has to keep their body to stay in one position for long periods of meditation. AASANAS are meant to do this. They are also intended to purify and regulate the flow of energy through the body. Students are taught several different ways to breathe to promote the flow of energy through the body.

Benefits:

• Increases concentration
• Relax tensed muscles.
• Increase strength and flexibility

Limitations:

• It does not have the cardiac benefit of a brisk walk

In general, Hatha Yoga is a good place for beginners to start their yoga journey. If practiced mindfully, Hatha Yoga can produce positive physical, spiritual, and mental results.

Bhakthi yoga is the yoga of emotions. It is the system in which love and devotion are highlighted. In bhakti yoga instead of asana, pranayama, mudra or controlled meditation, love of God, love of God in man, and surrender to God's will is stressed. The purpose of all the other yoga systems is to help gradually raise one to a platform of perfect and steady mental concentration. In Bhakti yoga, the yogi attempts to focus his mind on service to the Lord.The goal of Bhakthi is to replace fear by love. There are no set ways to perform Bhakti yoga. For persons who find it difficult to concentrate during meditation and for whom the approach of calm discernment is too subtle, prayer and chanting can be of value.

St. Francis is one of the Christian traditions who exemplified the Yoga of love and devotion. It is in our day to day life that Bhakti Yoga is truly practiced. Are we loving, compassionate and fair in our dealings with others?

Benefits:

• The principal fruit of Bhakti is the ultimate knowledge – the realization of     the Brahman within.
• Improve quality of life
• Softens heart and remove hatred, lust, anger, greed etc.
• Generates peace of mind

True Bhakti is ultimate surrender to the Lord so that ego is extinguished and there abides in the heart a complete love for all beings.

Limitations:

Followed blindly or to extremes can lead to the ignorance of ritualism, emotionalism and mindlessness.

It is the yoga of actions. The effect of actions remains in the person as his culture. Good action purifies the mind. It deals with both the quality and the motivation of action and might be called the Yoga of action. Our profession, our bodies, our relationships and even how we do the dishes, with right understanding, all become an expression of our Yoga. Our actions are the manifestation of our inner reality. Karma Yoga is the place where all Yoga systems can come together. Karma Yoga reminds us to think of and serve others, especially those who cannot help themselves--the very poor, sick or old. The message of Karma Yoga is this: when we work in harmony with the Power that runs the universe, we are not egotistically motivated, and we no longer maintain compulsive desires relative to the future. With the eradication of compulsive desire, we are able to live in the present, while planning for the future, without being bound to the future. Every reasonable desire carries within itself the motive force for its fulfillment. That is, if an experience is possible to have in this natural world, and we desire it, we are subconsciously pushed toward it or attract it to ourselves.

Benefits:

• Purity of heart by selfless service.
• Vanishes all negative qualities.
• Develop humility, pure love, sympathy, tolerance and mercy.
• Eradicate selfishness.
• Liberal outlook on life.
• Begin to feel oneness and unity.

It is the yoga of knowledge. It recommends that the divine love, truth etc can neither be cultivated nor brought by our little minds and action. Instead they come into us when we destroy the barricade of our ignorance and illusions. It is the Yoga of Seeing and Being, asking us to look and discover rather than to follow and believe. It endeavors to free one from conditioning and the limitations of knowledge. It shows us that when we open our eyes and begin to see the beauty and sacredness around us we do not need techniques, rituals or beliefs. We need to end our illusion and delusion. This happens through the awakening of perception and watchfulness in our daily life. For the intellectually inclined, the Jnana Yoga would really help him/her develop as a person. It helps one to enhance or gain spiritual knowledge.

It is the yoga of directing ones life’s force to bring mind and emotions into a balance so that the attention may be easily focused on the object of meditation. Thus the light of the indwelling spirit may shine out. When the energy is balanced throughout the brain and body, mind becomes very calm. Then it is free of meaningless thoughts, worries, and the knick-knacks of the subconscious mind. This state usually gives you a very pleasant sense of well being and your mind seems filled with a velvety darkness.

It is the yoga of attaining higher state of deeper concentration through the rhythmic repetition of specific sounds and mantras. It is an easiest way to achieve difficult state of Pratyahara, that is Internalizing the sense oriented mind from external world and focus on inner consciousness. Like the sunrays concentrated on one point through a convex lens burns the paper, recitation of mantras repeatedly will make the awareness concentrated and powerful. Mantra affects subconscious mind, thinking patterns are affected; negative impressions can be removed from subconscious such as fear, anger, jealousy etc. Also positive impressions can be programmed in the subconscious.

Benefits:

• Remove negative impressions.
• Increases concentration, memory, logical thinking.
• Relax the muscles.
• Reduce stress and its effects.

Integral yoga is a modern version of the traditional yoga systems of India. This yoga teaches that what you do everyday (karma) is important. It is a world-affirmative and body-positive spirituality that skillfully combines self-transcendence with love, compassion, and reverence for all life. For integral yoga the ultimate goal of life is complete self-integration. Action, love, wisdom and peace are equally important elements in such self-integration. integral yoga points out that love is inseparable from wisdom and selfless action. Love in its spiritual essence is an attribute of wisdom. It is active interest in the progress and betterment of society. Love is undivided loyalty to life's higher values. Integral yoga aims at the unity of personality growth and spiritual intuition. It affirms the ideal of integrated personality as a creative center of expression of the external.