You will learn the basic techniques and concepts of yoga in this chapter.

• Exercise
• Breathing techniques
• Meditation techniques

The Basics

Yoga is basically an ancient knowledge of body which originated from Indians and it is more than 500 years old. The basic word of yoga is originated from a Sanskrit word “yuj” which means to unite or to integrate two things. Yoga is exercised and practiced to unite your body with your spirit or you can make it easier and say that the reunion of person’s own consciousness and universal consciousness is achieved through yoga.

Ancient people, who practiced yoga, believed in the fact that in order to achieve internal peace, a person must integrate and unite his mind, body and spirit. Without this reunion, person can never achieve internal peace. This is very dense and difficult process to unite all three of the above because you need extraordinary control over your emotions, intelligence and actions. Yugis developed some easy and short cut ways to achieve balance between intelligence, emotions and actions and this balance was dependent upon three basic things that were exercise, breathing and meditation. These three things are thought to be the pillars of yoga.

Exercise

Human body is treated with lots of respect and care in yoga and this allows the yoga exercises to be very friendly and calming for body structure. Once you start practicing these exercises, then, you will see that there is no twist in these exercises and they are very basic poses which are formulated by yogis to develop peace within the body structure.

Breathing Techniques

Breathing techniques were included in this process because breathing is the source of life and when your source of life is out of order then, how can you expect to have harmony and order in your life. Breathing techniques help person to gain control over his whole body and his whole internal system as well. These techniques are little difficult to learn but yoga is all about practice and you can learn them by regular practice easily.

Meditation Techniques

Meditation is another thing which is necessary for yoga practice but there is some misconception involved about this technique and people think that their mind has to go blank for meditation. This is not the case because meditation is just another self-controlling technique which allows you to think more clearly and it harmonizes your thoughts and actions.

All three of the above things are very necessary part of yoga and you have to learn all three of the above step by step. You can say these techniques are the stairs to master yoga. Most of the people become hesitant and say that they have never done any stretching exercise and they cannot learn the difficult poses of yoga but this is a wrong thinking.

Yoga is for everyone who wants peace and harmony in his life. There is nothing in this world which is made and designed for specific people instead all humans have equal capabilities and everyone can practice and master yoga. You just need to concentrate very hard on these skills and integrate them in your life in such a way that they become your habit.

There is a saying that you should make yoga so much important part of your life that you may forget to eat but you should never forget to practice yoga. This saying can tell y9ou the importance of regularity in yoga. The first thing which yoga will give you will be a great looking and perfectly healthy body which everyone wants and after that later stages of breathing techniques and meditation appear.

Branches of Yoga

There are total six branches of yoga which you can adopt and in this chapter, I will tell you about all of those 6 branches in detail.

• Hatha yoga
• Bhakti yoga
• Raja yoga
• Jnana yoga or yoga of mind
• Karma yoga
• Tantra yoga

The Kinds

As I mentioned above that Yoga was originated from Indians and it is a very ancient art with lots of skills and complexities involved. If you think that yoga is just about posing your body in difficult positions then, you are mistaken because there are different branches of yoga which are listed below.

Hatha Yoga

Hatha yoga is also called yoga of postures and it is most famous branch of yoga in west which you must have seen. In this branch, body is twisted in different difficult and easy postures. The basic emphasis of this branch is to achieve peace through physical exercises, breathing techniques and mediation.

Basic purpose of this yoga branch is to achieve better health along with spirituality. This is the easiest branch as well because it does not take too much time from your busy routine and you can learn and master this art along with your daily work. You can easily adjust your schedule to practice and your daily routine will not be disturbed with this yoga branch.

Bhakti Yoga

Bhakti yoga is not very popular in the west but it is most practiced branch of yoga in India. This involved spirituality more than physical gestures and it revolves around heart and divine. You have to choose a path which suits your hear desires most and then, you have to see everything and everyone through that path. Bhakti yoga allows you to develop your faith in something and they take that faith to that level where it can tell you the exact way to catch.

Raja Yoga

Raja yoga is also called yoga of self-control. Even though self-control is characteristic of almost every yoga branch but this branch pays special attention to self-control. Most of the people who practice this branch of yoga are members of some religious prestige. Raja yogi sees him as central and gives respect to everything around. The basic step in mastering self-control is to allow you to be discovered. Discipline learning is the basic characteristic of raja yoga and if your life is distracted and undisciplined then, you must practice raja yoga to gain control of your life and make it more disciplined.

Excerpted from the book Yoga For Beginners.

This excerpt has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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