Know About Yoga : Main Branches of Yoga

We received this question from one of our blog readers. She is looking for detailed information on Yoga, its origin, and different branches of Yoga. Here is her exact question:

What is Yoga? please explain the history and different branches of yoga.

Detailed Reply on the above question by YogaCurious:

For people in the west where Yoga’s popularity knows no bounds today, it is considered as a health and fitness regime that comprises many postures that are made to improve the flexibility of the body and to remove stress from the body. This is too simplistic an overview of an ancient discipline that originated thousands of years ago in India. It is derived from a Sanskrit word that means to unite, and Yoga indeed is a path to attain union with God. It allows one to have a union of his inner consciousness with that of the universal consciousness. One of the most respected and ancient references of yoga is given in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

To answer the question of what is Yoga, it is an ancient Hindu tradition or rather a way of life that comprises postures, breathing exercises, and meditation. It has physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects through its postures or asanas, breathing exercises or pranayamas, and meditation. Yoga, when incorporated in one’s life in entirety, is believed to create a balance between the body and his inner self or consciousness. Breathing is believed to be crucial in Yoga to prepare one’s body for the more rigorous part of yoga, and that is meditation. Meditation is not going blank as is the misconception in the west. It merely means to organize one’s thought system and bring it to a focus to have a quiet and relaxed mind.

Branches of Yoga: 

There are many different branches of yoga though the West believes it to be a system of making difficult postures or asanas. Here is a brief description of these different systems of Yoga.

1) Hatha Yoga-

People in the west know this branch as it is what is they consider as Yoga. Hatha means sun and moon, where ‘Ha’ refers to the sun and ‘tha’ refers to the moon. Hatha Yoga is the best thing to create balance and uniting opposites. This system includes all the asanas or postures, the breathing exercises, and the meditation part. All three are believed to help in attaining better bodily and emotional health.  Hatha Yoga is good to give your mind and body 

2) Bhakti Yoga-

This branch is all about devotion and worship and the practitioner has to take his devotion to his deity to an altogether higher level, forgetting all about self and the real world. Bhakti yoga helps to create feelings of unconditional love for your personal god. 

Following things make your Bhakti Yoga stronger:

• Never Criticize to someone
• Develop tolerance power
• learn to forgive someone immediately
• do apologize for your mistakes
• see good things in others
• Always remain thankful and take blessings from others

3) Raja Yoga-

Raj Yoga is all about discipline or self-control and consists of Ashtanga Yoga as revealed in Yoga Sutras. Raj yoga is very helpful to develop mentally and spiritually. Below are the 8 important steps of Raja Yoga.

Steps for Raja Yoga:

1. Yama
2. Niyama
3. Asana
4. Pranayama
5. Pratyahara
6. Dharana
7. Gyana
8. Samadhi

4) Gyana Yoga (Jnana Yoga)-

This branch of Yoga deals with knowledge and wisdom and emphasizes on intelligence. Gyana Yoga is considered as the most difficult in all yoga branches. 

5) Karma Yoga-

This branch is dedicated to service or karma and believes one’s present state of existence to be a result of his past actions. This means that you can achieve a blissful state for yourself by engaging in acts of selfless service and keeping away from negative thoughts and actions. Karma yoga teaches you to keep your ego away from your mind. 

Following things will help you to practice Karma yoga better:

• Kind to your self and keep your self away from being selfish
• remain genuine everywhere and show your true nature to everyone
• Respect all natural resources 
• Contribute, where to are capable of sharing  
• Remain polite to every person even if they are not to you.
• Keep Positive attitude even in the worst situation

6) Tantra Yoga-

This branch is all about rituals and practices. Though sex is a part of this yoga, it is also about devotion, humility, dedication, and purity. Tantra yoga is a comparison of asana, mantra, mudra, and bandha. The main goal of Tantra yoga is to increase spiritual growth and keep yourself physically strong. 

3 Main Tantra Yoga Postures-

1. Boat pose
2. Yab Yum
3. Hand on heart

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