...In Sanskrit, Ashtanga Yoga means "eight limbs," with Ashta meaning eight, and Anga meaning limbs. These eight limbs are meant to help a devotee t Ashtanga Yoga live a healthy life. One of the main intentions for this type of yoga is to help minimize stress and anxiety in one's life, and to strengthen our endurance. In Western Yoga circles, many people practice Power Yoga which is essentially a form which is modeled after traditional Ashtanga Yoga. There are eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga, which work in the following way:

The first limb is asana, which is the discipline of performing Yoga exercises in order to better your spirit and your body. The second limb is Niyama, which is for taking control of your entire life by learning personal restraint. Niyama is a combination of joy, patience, self-study, purity and the love of god. The third limb is Yama, which involves enabling us to dwell on all the good in human behavior, and is comprised of non-violence, celibacy, truthfulness, staying clear of envy, avoiding jealousy and possessiveness, and resisting stealin...more

Yoga is Self Improvement

...vate your mind and body together through daily Yoga practice. The mind is more powerful than the sum of its thoughts and it must be controlled. The mind that is allowed to wander usually produces random and unproductive thought.

In varying degrees, most styles of Yoga tie the physical postures, proper breathing, and focused concentration, together, in one single session. This constant bonding of mind and body, creates inner harmony. This in turn, results in a productive mind-set. This gives the average Yoga student an advantage in productivity, organizational skills, creativity, and self-preservation.

You can enhance positive energy with daily Yoga practice. After...more

Yoga - balance Your Mind and Body

...ness on emotional level by recognizing our worries and habits, on the physical level by being aware of our breathing patterns and on the mental level by controlling our mind. Self awareness is the basis of self esteem that leads to self confidence. The low self esteem affects our psychological and emotional well being.

Struggle and strife are natural to the human state; negative habituation promotes unawareness which prevents us from experiencing our true potentials, these negative thoughts get stored in our bodies causing blockages that disrupt the balance of health. By purifying our body and keeping it in good shape, we can enhance our health; we can reduce the procedure of cell deterioration and delay...more

Yoga - A Brief Historic Perspective

... system.Yet taking refuge in a belief system or faith has its limitations.

It will not prevent people from going to war with one another, in fact, quite the contrary, some of the most persistent conflicts that are raging to this very day are rooted in disputes around belief systems. This explains why Yoga evolved to distance itself from religion and modern Yoga as it is known today cannot be seen as a belief system or religion.

The first actual teachings of Yoga are to be found in the Vedas, which are ancient texts recorded by the Indus-Sarasvati civilization. The Vedas are reputed being the oldest scripture in the world and could be described as a compilation of hymns that commends a high power. They contain the first known descriptions of rituals aimed at going beyond the limitations of the mind in order to provoke divine revelation. They are referred to as pre-classical Yoga.

The classical period of Yoga was introduced by the works of Master Patanjali who wrote his now universally famous Sutras. Scholar believe in general that this must have happened around 200 B.C. Sutras could be described in modern terms...more

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