Classical Yoga, which is rooted in old Hundu Yoga teachings, which is called Ashtanga yoga (8 limbed yoga) or Raja yoga. It includes 8 levels of practice dealing with all the aspects of our life, inside and outside us. Asana being just one of the levels.
So in Ashtanga yoga we have:
Yamas - the way of behaviour of a person, which will create a foundation of peace and harmony both socially and personally. Yamas include not harming ourselves and all around us, truthfulness, right use of sexual energy, non stealing, non possessiveness.
Niyamas - Life Style, how we live and act on a daily basis impacts our feelings and emotions. Niyamas include cleanliness inside and outside our body, contentment of where we are now and what we are, self discipline, self study, surrender.
Asana - physical postures and movements, to have a healthy body and consequently a healthy mind. Practicing asanas include also all the below mentioned points, starting from right breathing during the postures, concentrating the mind, bringing our senses from the outside world to inside our body, as well as meditating, since we have to keep our minds clear during the whole practice in order to reach the needed results.
Pranayama- The root of this word “Prana” means “Life force”. Pranayama means breathing techniques which help us to awaken our life energy, to awaken our mind and to balance the energies in the body, which create life force, to develop deeper connections with the cosmic energy.
Prathyahara - these are techniques to bring our senses from the outside world to inside. It includes deep relaxation of the body, where we disconnect from the physical world and go deeper inside ourselves. Usually we rest after each asana practice, this is one of the Pratyahara techniques. When we do something we love, such as painting, singing, other forms of art, or even working, dedicating ourselves to something…. These are all ways to bring our awareness from all the buzz going on around to inwards. Practicing pratyahara helps us to reach Dharana, the next level of Ashtanga yoga.
Dharana - is the deep concentration where we focus and stabilize our attention on some object, it can be our peace of art, our work projects, or anything else. Dharana includes different techniques helping us to attain this concentration of mind. For example meditation by constantly gazing on particular objects, until our mind becomes steady.
Dhyana - this is the meditation itself. All the responses are there, inside us. So whenever we manage to steady our minds and hold our attention on one point we get those answers.The greatest instrument of knowledge is our awareness when it is steady. Dyana can also be the process of the work, or anything we do, totally absorbed in it. So instead of being absorbed by worries, stressful events, anxious emotions or conflicts, we can use our minds for higher purposes, to reach bliss and happiness.
Samadhi - Once the mind becomes one with its object we experience profound peace and blissful happiness. This is the total awareness of the oneness of all. Samadhi is the ultimate goal of Yoga in general. Here we can also speak about oneness with our pieces of art, with our families and friends, with our pets, with the projects we work on, etc. Samadhi also refers to the feeling of happiness when we reach our goals, to success in our projects and in anything that we plan and do.
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