GURU - MEANING "Gu" means dark and "Ru" means light. So, "Guru" can be roughly translated as darkness to light, or possibly one who leads from darkness to light. The Guru is a teacher who guides the Shishya's (student’s) life or a spiritual mentor who leads the shishya from blindness or ignorance to bliss, wisdom, and enlightenment.

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2. GURU - MEANING
• "Gu" means dark and "Ru" means light. So, "Guru" can be roughly
translated as darkness to light, or possibly one who leads from
darkness to light. The Guru is a teacher who guides the
• Shishya's (student’s) life or a spiritual mentor who leads the shishya
from blindness or ignorance to bliss, wisdom, and enlightenment.

3. Guru-Shishya parampara
• The Guru-Shishya parampara has been an inevitable part of
education in ancient Indian culture. This involved the tradition of a
living and learning relationship between the Guru and the Student
(Shishya), signifying the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual
bonding between them.

4. • This strong bond between the Guru and the Shishya enables the
Guru to become a mentor who leads the Shishya from ignorance to
wisdom, and enlightenment. Guru-Shishya proximity thus is not
only a part of our social order, but also a milestone in the life of a
human being in society. The living science of education i.e. Bio
Psycho-Psychic Science in our culture, has been long lost due to
ignorance of the people in this era of modernization.

5. • The revival of this spirit and its practice in the field of
education at all levels is the urgent need of the hour. A unique
blend of the ancient Indian Guru-Shishya Parampara with the
modern methodology of instruction amongst the state of the
art infrastructure is the essence of Karuna Yoga.

6. Guru Shishya Tradition in Yoga
• The study of Yoga is not like work for a diploma or a university
degree by someone desiring favourable results in stipulated time.
The Obstacles, trials and tribulations in the path of Yoga can be
removed to a large extend with the help of a Guru.

8. What is Satyananda Yoga?
• Sri Swami Satyananda Saraswati
• (1923-2009) developed this form of yoga meditation incorporating ancient and
traditional practices as well as information gleaned from modern medical-
physiotherapy. A guru and yoga master in both India and the West, his
teachings are propagated inside India as the Bihar School of Yoga and outside
India as the Satyananda Yoga tradition.
• Satyananda Yoga looks on the myriad traditional Indian yogic practices with
equal vision, and acknowledges the validity of all of their methods for spiritual
development. More gentle than some popular forms of yoga in the West, the
Satyananda system incorporates the whole person, not just the body.

9. • There is an emphasis on awareness and
practitioners are encouraged to learn about all
aspects of their personality through Yoga. Change
is a process that takes place naturally as a
consequence of regular practice with full
awareness, rather than by forcing the mind and
body beyond its limit.

10. • 2.1.5. Satyananda Yoga involves the practice of:
• • Asanas (postures)
• • Pranayama (breathing techniques)
• • Shatkarmas (six action/purification methods)
• • Yoga Nidra (psychic sleep meditation)
• • Kriya Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Mudras (gestures), Bandhas
• • Dhyan (meditation from the Tantras), e.g. Ajapa, Japa (meditation
breath with mantra), chakra shuddhi (chakra purification), Yoga
nidra (psychic sleep meditation), Tratak (candlelight and gazing
meditation), Naada yoga (yoga of sound, including singing, chanting,
Om chanting)

11. • Mantra Yoga (the repetition of sacred sounds)
• Karma yoga
• Jnana yoga
• Satyananda Yoga uses practices in a traditional way, asanas
(postures) to balance the body and mind through the physical
body, pranayama (breathing practices) to work on the energy body
(equated with Ki or Chi in other systems), and meditation to calm
and focus the mind. It also takes a broader outlook by teaching
and encouraging yogic lifestyles, not only for renunciates but also
for householders and lay practitioners.

12. Iyengar Yoga
• Developed by the yoga master B.K.S. Iyengar throughout his long
and illustrious career, the Iyengar method is an innovative approach
to classical yoga deeply rooted in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
However, whereas Patanjali devised ashtanga yoga to depict an
ascending progression through the eight limbs of yoga, B.K.S. Iyengar
sought to integrate all eight limbs into one practice. He took the
physical form of yoga and pushed it into the realm of higher spiritual
disciplines, believing students could learn to meditate and refine
their awareness through asana and pranayama. Over fifty years of
intense study and dedicated personal practice, B.K.S. Iyengar
engineered a method of yoga that, through the physical practice of
yoga postures, allows students to explore the highest stages of

13. Patanjali’s ashtanga yoga (concentration, meditation, and
complete absorption by point of focus, or higher states of
consciousness). As students learn to hold their awareness in
multiple individual parts of the body simultaneously, the
concentration and sustained focus required to correctly align the
yoga postures completely absorbs the mind in a meditative state,
opening the gateway to higher states of consciousness. Iyengar
yoga is thus considered a meditation in action.

14. The Gist: From the Known to the Unknown
• The Iyengar method is a very individualized approach, making the style of
practice not only appropriate but also beneficial for all ages and abilities.
Iyengar yoga is particularly suited for those with chronic conditions, limitations,
or special needs. B.K.S. Iyengar systematized over two hundred classical yoga
postures, as well as fourteen types of pranayama(with variations), ranging from
basic to exceedingly advanced asanas, ensuring that students gradually and
safely progress through the syllabus of poses as they develop strength,
flexibility, balance, mind-body awareness, and the ability to remain focused.
Standing poses, which are heavily emphasized in beginning level classes, are the
foundation upon which the whole Iyengar system of asanas is built. Dynamic
and energizing, standing postures build strength and stability, improve
coordination and circulation, and increase general vitality. They are the easiest
group of poses with your Yoga Practice which to familiarize yourself with the
major parts of your anatomical structure while learning correct body alignment from the feet

15. • In Iyengar yoga, the emphasis is on learning (not just doing), and
unlike in more experiential approaches that encourage students
to explore their body in the yoga postures, there’s definitely a
right way to do the asanas in Iyengar yoga.
• The style is known for using props to facilitate learning and to
help a variety of students create optimal body alignment and
perform a posture correctly, minimizing the risk of strain or
injury and allowing students of all ages and abilities to receive
the full benefits of the asanas. B.K.S. Iyengar himself pioneered
the use of yoga props, which have become commonplace in
most yoga studios, adapting the asanas for a variety of physical
limitations and conditions.

16. Iyengar Alignment: The Practice of Precision
• Using yoga asana to bring about transformative states of the mind, the Iyengar
method gives primacy to the physical alignment of the body. Correct, or
optimal, alignment is the precise position and spatial relationship of the bones
in a posture, a precision that allows for equal amounts of stability and freedom
in order to receive the maximum benefits of practice while also protecting the
joints, ligaments, muscle fibers, and tendons - leaving little room for injury.
When you exercise improperly, reinforcing misalignments, the tendency is to
rely on the more-developed muscles for strength purposes and to continue to
stretch (possibly overstretch or strain) the more flexible areas of the body.
Practicing yoga asana in alignment encourages the tighter areas of the body to
open and the weaker parts to strengthen, balancing and developing the body
harmoniously. Once the various bones are optimally aligned, less muscular
effort is required, and the body can naturally relax in a pose, allowing the
posture’s beneficial effects to penetrate deeper.

17. Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga
• Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga is traditionally taught in "Mysore style," in
which each student in a class moves through a sequence of asanas
on their own while the teacher gives individualized guidance. The
practice is done every day except Saturdays, new moons, and full
moons.
• Sunday mornings, the teacher usually guides the class through the
Primary Series. Although this is the beginning level, most students
new to Hatha yoga still find it difficult. Indeed, there are many
asanas in that series that are considered advanced in other
approaches. Conversely, some poses in the intermediate and
advanced Ashtanga Vinyasa series are considered relatively simple.

18. Through the regular practice of the Primary Series, an intense series of postures
also called yoga chikitsa, meaning "yoga therapy," the body's energy pathways
(nadis) are opened and prana flows throughout the body, ridding it of toxins and
relaxing the nervous system. The second or Intermediate Series, called nadi
shodhana, meaning "nerve cleansing," focuses intensively on the spine and
pelvis, further opening and balancing energy channels in and around the spine.
In the Advanced Series, called sthira bhaga and which encompasses four
sequences, students integrate the strength and balance of the practice (Flynn
2003). When the teacher senses a student's ease and steadiness in a pose, he or
she gives the student the next pose, and when the student performs the entire
series with steadiness and ease, the first pose of the next series is introduced.
Advanced students continue to do the Primary and Intermediate series.

19. Ashtanga Vinyasa is a highly focused practice. The practice of
dristana, in which one gazes steadily upon a specified point in and
between each asana, lends to pratyahara, a more internal
awareness. Ujjayi pranayama is maintained throughout, creating a
steady rhythm in the breath that is sustained evenly from pose to
pose, its sound and sensation creating a mantra that fosters greater
mental focus and acuity.
Bandhas are employed in most of the practice, assisting in the
regulation of pranic energy flowing through the body. The practice
is tied together through vinyasa, the conscious connection of breath
to movement that helps generate a "balance of strength and
flexibility, lightness and heaviness, movement, and stillness).

20. Vinyasa Flow Yoga
• Vinyasa flow yoga is somewhat less definable than others
approaches precisely because it embodies the continuous, dynamic,
conscious evolution of the practice. It reflects the constant interplay
of human beings in the flow of life, connecting our inner nature, life
experience, and the received wisdom of tradition as we explore and
discover new possibilities for creative expression and conscious
living on this planet.
• The term vinyasa is derived from nyasa, meaning "to place," and vi, meaning
"in a special way." The term flow, originally defined by Ganga White (2007,
114) in relationship to Hatha yoga, "implies a practice with a theme or
purpose with poses linked or associated together." Taken together, Vinyasa
Flow thus suggests a practice in which we consciously place the body-breath-

21. Vinyasa Flow teacher Shiva Rea describes as "one that awakens
and sustains consciousness." She continues: In this way vinyasa
connects with the meditative practice of "nyasa" within the
Tantric yoga traditions. In nyasa practice, designed to awaken our
inherent divine energy, practitioners bring awareness to different
parts of the body and then, through mantra and visualization,
awaken the inner pathways for shakti (divine force) to flow
through the entire field of their being. As we bring the
techniques of vinyasa to bear throughout our lives, we open
similar pathways of transformation, inner and outer, step-by-step
and breath-by-breath.

22. As in Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga, Vinyasa Flow moves steadily from
pose to pose in sequences of movements synchronized with
ujjayi pranayama, often pausing to hold poses for various lengths
of time while maintaining the rhythmic flow of the breath. Unlike
Ashtanga Vinyasa, each class usually offers a different sequence
of poses, although most use some form of Surya Namaskara A
and B from the Krishnamacharya lineage.

23. Vinyasa krama
Many classes also closely follow the basic standing poses and
finishing sequence found in Ashtanga Vinyasa. Many Vinyasa Flow
classes apply Iyengar alignment principles, energetic actions within
poses, and use of props. The insights and methods of
Krishnamacharya are seen in Vinyasa Flow's emphasis on vinyasa
krama, krama referring to "stages" that create a deliberate
sequencing of asanas. Vinyasa krama also refers to the staging of
practice that accommodates differing intentions and abilities, so
you start from where you are and move consciously - "in a special
way"—as you progress from simpler to more complex asanas.

24. • Vinyasa Flow often applies the concept of pratikriyasana, meaning
neutralizing or "counter poses." Working with the idea "to place in
a special way," many Vinyasa Flow teachers highlight this concept
in several relationships within the practice: being conscious of how
the body is moved and placed within and between poses;
conscious linking of breath and body-mind within and between
poses; the way you approach your mat, set an intention, stay
connected with that intention throughout a practice, get up from
your mat, and move out into the larger world; paying attention to
what you are doing while practicing, breathing, moving, feeling,
watching, being in the flow; opening in a more intuitive way that
expresses and embodies the feeling of pranic energy flowing in the
universe.

25. Unlike most approaches to Hatha yoga, which have a fixed
system, Vinyasa Flow is not a system. This allows creativity in
sequencing asanas and offering a diverse array of themes in
different classes. This fr
eedom and dynamism help make Vinyasa Flow one of the most
attractive forms of yoga today, variously resonating with the
spirit, intentions, and life experiences of different teachers and
students.