Information about yoga and different asanas.

1. Made By: Tarun Nirwan
Class: XI-L
School:
Dayawati Modi Academy-I
Modipuram, Meerut.

2.  Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines
which originated in ancient India. There is a broad variety of yoga schools,
practices, and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Among the most
well-known types of yoga are Hatha yoga and Raja yoga.
 The origins of yoga have been speculated to date back to pre-
Vedic Indian traditions; it is mentioned in the Rigveda, but most likely
developed around the sixth and fifth centuries BCE, in ancient
India's ascetic and sramana movements.The chronology of earliest texts
describing yoga-practices is unclear, varyingly credited
to Upanishads. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali date from the first half of the 1st
millennium CE, but only gained prominence in the West in the 20th
century.[13]Hatha yoga texts emerged around the 11th century with origins
in tantra.

3.  Yoga gurus from India later introduced yoga to the West, following
the success of Swami Vivekananda in the late 19th and early 20th
century. In the 1980s, yoga became popular as a system
of physical exercise across the Western world. Yoga in Indian
traditions, however, is more than physical exercise; it has a
meditative and spiritual core. One of the six major orthodox
schools of Hinduism is also called Yoga, which has its own
epistemology and metaphysics, and is closely related to
Hindu Samkhya philosophy.
 Many studies have tried to determine the effectiveness of yoga as
a complementary intervention for cancer, schizophrenia, asthma,
and heart disease.The results of these studies have been mixed
and inconclusive. On December 1, 2016, yoga was listed
by UNESCO as an Intangible cultural heritage.

5. The 8 elements of the yoga path are:
I. Yama.
II. Niyama.
III. Asana.
IV. Pranayama.
V. Pratyahara.
VI. Dharana.
VII. Dyana.
VIII. Samadhi.

6. Yama is a type of attitude that a yogi should take
towards the world. Yamas are really yogic ethical
principles, a set of behaviors with a purpose to help
a yogi to be a moral being, a person with
consciousness and strong values to live by. There
are 5 yamas and there are:
i. Non-vilence
ii. Trithfulness
iii. Non-theft
iv. Sexual moderation
v. Detachment

7.  This article contains Indic text .Without proper rendering
support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced
vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.
Niyam (Sanskrit: नियम) literally means positive duties or
observances. In Indian traditions,
particularly Yoga, niyamas and its complement, Yamas, are
recommended activities and habits for healthy living,
spiritual enlightenment and liberated state of existence. It
has multiple meanings depending on context in Hinduism. In
Buddhism, the term extends to the determinations of nature,
as in the Buddhist niyama dhammas.

8.  In yoga, an asana is a posture in which a practitioner sits. In
the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali defines "asana" as "to be seated
in a position that is firm, but relaxed". Patanjali mentions the
ability to sit for extended periods as one of the eight limbs of
his system, known as ashtanga yoga.

9.  Asanas are also performed as physical exercise where they
are sometimes referred to as "yoga postures" or "yoga
positions". Some asanas are performed just for health
purposes. Asanas do promote good health, although in
different ways compared to physical exercises, "placing the
physical body in positions that cultivate also awareness,
relaxation and concentration

10.  Praayama (Sanskrit: प्राणायाम pranayama) is
a Sanskrit word alternatively translated as "extension of
the prana (breath or life force)" or "breath control." The word
is composed from two Sanskrit words: prana meaning life
force (noted particularly as the breath), and either ayama (to
restrain or control the prana, implying a set of breathing
techniques where the breath is intentionally altered in order
to produce specific results) or the negative form ayama,
meaning to extend or draw out (as in extension of the life
force). It is a yogic discipline with origins in ancient India.

12.  Meditation can be defined as a practice where an individual
uses a technique, such as focusing their mind on a
particular object, thought or activity, to achieve a mentally
clear and emotionally calm state.
 Meditation has been practiced since antiquity in numerous
religious traditions and beliefs. Since the 19th century, it has
spread from its origins to other cultures where it is
commonly practiced in private and business life.
 Meditation may be used with the aim of reducing stress,
anxiety, depression, and pain, and increasing peace,
perspective and happiness. Meditation is under research to
define its possible health (psychological, neurological,
and cardiovascular) and other effects.

14.  Sukhasana is easy pose, decent pose, or pleasant pose is
an asana practised in yoga, Buddhism, and Hinduism, similar to
sitting in a simple cross-legged position. While opening the hips
and lengthening the spine, the asana's relative ease on the knees
makes it easier than siddhasana or padmasana for people with
physical difficulties. Some schools do not consider it to be as
effective for prolonged meditation sessions because it is easy to
slump forward while sitting in it. For meditation, it is important that
the spine be straight and aligned with the head and neck. But if the
practitioner steadies the sukhasana pose by putting pillows or
blankets under the knees to create a steadiness, it may be easier
to sit longer in sukhasana for meditation without slumping forward.
An additional blanket or pillow under the buttocks may also be
beneficial and steadying. The 20th century Jnana
Yoga guru Ramana Maharshi advocated it as suitable for attaining
Enlightenment.

15.  Tadasana is the foundational pose for all
standing yoga postures and full inversions, such as
Handstand and Headstand. It is the pose from which every
other standing pose in your practice is born! The alignment,
muscle movements, and mindset you learn in Tadasana are
applied every time you do a standing yoga pose.

16.  Padmasana or Lotus Position is a cross-
legged sitting asana originating in meditative practices
of ancient India, in which the feet are placed on the
opposing thighs. It is an established asana, commonly used
for meditation, in the Yoga, Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist
contemplative traditions. The asana is said to resemble
a lotus, to encourage breathing properly through associated
meditative practice, and to foster physical stability.
 Shiva, the meditating ascetic God of Hinduism, Siddhartha
Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, and
the Tirthankaras (Teaching Gods) in Jainism have been
depicted in the lotus position.

17. Rock cut sculpture
depicting Mahavira in Lotus position
at Samanar Hills, Tamil Nadu, India

18.  Yoga nidra is a stateof consciousness between waking and
sleeping, like the "going-to-sleep" stage. It is a state in
which the body is completely relaxed, and the practitioner
becomes systematically and increasingly aware of the inner
world by following a set of verbal instructions. This state of
consciousness (yoga nidra) is different from meditation in
which concentration on a single focus is required. In yoga
nidra the practitioner remains in a state of light withdrawal of
the 5 senses (pratyahara) with four of his or her senses
internalised, that is, withdrawn, and only the hearing still
connects to the instructions. The yogic goal of both paths,
deep relaxation (yoga nidra) and meditation are the same, a
state of meditative consciousness called samadhi.

19.  Yoga nidra is among the deepest possible states of
relaxation while still maintaining full consciousness. In lucid
dreaming, one is only, or mainly, cognizant of the dream
environment, and has little or no awareness of one's actual
environment.
 The practice of yoga relaxation has been found to reduce
tension and anxiety. The autonomic symptoms of high
anxiety such as headache, giddiness, chest pain,
palpitations, sweating and abdominal pain respond well. It
has been used to help soldiers from war cope
with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
 Yoga nidra refers to the conscious awareness of the deep
sleep state, referred to as prajna in Mandukya Upanishad.

20. The concept of yoga nidra is very ancient in Indian traditions such
as Hinduism and Buddhism. Lord Krishna is often associated with yoga nidra
in the epic Mahabharata. Similarly, many yogis and rishis are supposed to
have experienced yoga nidra throughout their life.
In modern times, yoga nidra was experienced by Satyananda Saraswati when
he was living with his guru Sivananda Saraswati in Rishikesh. He began
studying the tantric scriptures and, after practice, constructed a system of
relaxation, which he began popularizing in the mid-20th century.He explained
yoga nidra as a state of mind between wakefulness and sleep that opened
deep phases of the mind, suggesting a connection with the ancient tantric
practice called nyasa, whereby Sanskrit mantras are mentally placed within
specific body parts, while meditating on each part (of the bodymind). The form
of practice taught by Satyananda includes eight stages (internalisation,
sankalpa, rotation of consciousness, breath awareness, manifestation of
opposites, creative visualization, sankalpa and externalisation).