What is Yoga?
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Yoga is an ancient wisdom and one of India's most comprehensive traditions
that helps us to understand ourselves and the human condition. Yoga
means "yoke" to unite; return to wholeness. Patanjali,
author of the Yoga Sutras defines yoga as "the ability to direct
the mind exclusively towards an object and sustain that direction without
any distraction iin order to achieve kavalya (freedom)." TKV
Desikechar says, "The state of Yoga is one of a mind that's
not agitated, to know the truth and be able to communicate it without
hurting someone." Swami Kripalu wrote,"The ability to know all parts of ourselves with compassionate,
self awareness", and to Krishnamacharya "Yoga was a means to improved health; to restored well-being in
the face of illness; and to emotional balance and enhanced mental clarity.
It was also the accessible path of progression toward union with the
Absolute-whether conceived as God or a nameless Truth. The aim of Yoga
as described in the Bhagavad Gita(ancient Indian story) is how to resolve
conflicts, and presents Yoga as part of human life, and that in our
life, and all that happens, Yoga has a part to play. The three definitions
of Yoga according to the Bhagavad Gita have to do with attitude, action,
and emotion, and it is to be undertaken for the sake of Truth itself,
for the sake of living one’s dharma, which brings liberation of
the soul and what the Buddha termed "unshakable deliverance of
heart." |
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For
me, the starting point is always the need of the students. As there
is not just one approach for everybody, and as Krishnamacharya said, "I must create an atmosphere in my classes in which a student
can find his or her own way to Yoga. I have to realize that each of
my students is not the same person today as they were yesterday and
not at all the same as when they came last week". This is the most
important message he passed on, and what I hope to preserve.
It
is CHAYAYOGA's vision that Yoga is also a way of being
in the world that is a holistic practice of healthy lifestyle and integrity. |
Ayurveda Delray I 561.330.2929 I Contact
Chaya
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