Himalayan Yoga Academy

Education & research Foundation

What To Do after you finish your yoga teacher training

So now, you’ve completed your yoga teacher training course, taught your final practical and theoretical class, and had joy in your graduation ceremony. So, the question is, what now? Well, first of all, enjoy the moment because ones like these don’t come along very often. You’ve probably worked hard in one of the most intense periods of your life – whether it was a weekend-based two-year yoga teacher training course or a four-week one, you’ve likely felt some permanent changes in your perspective on life permanently, and it’s almost time to consider what comes next. Here you will learn What To Do after you finish your yoga teacher training

On your YTTC, you’ll probably have been given some advice on how to start teaching – maybe offering your services as a cover teacher in nearby yoga studios or gyms or setting up a free community class in a venue like a church hall or community center. Some people are lucky enough to get jobs in holiday resorts almost straight away after their training ends, where they get thrown into the proverbial deep end of teaching and never look back. But if it doesn’t happen immediately for you, don’t despair. It can take a while for the processing of your course to happen and for you to find the courage to start putting yourself out there.

Sometimes, people get a leg up in the teaching world through people they know. If things aren’t happening on the cover-teaching front, you could offer to teach friends and family, or even work colleagues, for free first. I taught my first class with three friends, and I loved it. It’s a great way of building your confidence after the supportive environment of the YTT drifts away and you are out there, contemplating a career as a solo yoga teacher.

Or are you? One of the things about YTT is that it helps to make big decisions about your life, and one of them is allowed to be that you don’t want to pursue yoga teaching as a career. In lots of ways, we think we ‘should’ do it because we paid for the course and put so much into it – surely we have to pay that back by becoming the thing it trained us to be? The answer is no. The way you make sense of the course is by being true to yourself and your true nature.

The best YTTCs take you on a personal journey of discovery while training you how to teach yoga. You might be so excited about your journey on your 200-hour course that you imagine signing up for the 300-hour as soon as that course is over. But by the end, you may have changed your mind, and that is allowed. This is why it is important to take time to process after a YTTC because you need to give your mind time to adjust to all of the new ideas flooding your brain.

One of the most important things after a YTTC is not to start comparing your journey with someone else’s from your course. When I think about everyone in mine, some started teaching straight away abroad or at gyms in their hometowns, some took their time and tentatively set up community classes, and some switched careers and pursued academia in a completely different subject.

If you only follow someone on Instagram or Facebook, then you are only going to see what they are choosing to show you. The picture showing them sitting blissfully before sunset might say “I’ve found my path,” but behind the scenes, they could be struggling to process their own journeys. Be true to your own spirit and listen to it carefully. It may be the first time in your life that you have discovered your inner voice, and you are still getting to know it. Allow it to tell you what it wants to do, and don’t be upset if that isn’t yoga. Remember, you can always come back to what you’ve learned when the time is right for you – it doesn’t have to be right now.

If you are reading this and you’ve just completed a YTTC, then we at Himalayan Yoga Academy wish you all the best for your yogi journeys. Namaste.

Yoga for Depression

What is Depression? Depression (major depressive disorder or clinical depression) is a common but serious mood disorder. It causes severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working. Learn if Yoga for Depression is helpful or not.

When you are depressed, your concentration decreases, and indecisiveness takes over. All the hobbies and activities you enjoyed previously now don’t seem appealing at all. There will be a significant change in your weight – you either gain it or lose it.

Proper Counseling and psychotherapy are natural remedies but are not as effective as self-realization. Self-control, self-realization, and self-awareness are the basic parameters concerned in YOGA. Hence, Yoga can be beneficial for Depression.

Why Yoga for Depression?

Yoga poses increase blood circulation to the brain and stop the production of those hormones that are causing depression. Yoga does not have any side effects, and this is the best reason it became a better option as compared to other streams of medicine. Hence, Yoga keeps you in a fresh, positive, and calm mood. Here are some poses that help you deal with depression.

Shavasana

This asana relaxes the whole psycho-physiological system. It should ideally be practiced before sleep, before, during, and after asana practice, particularly after dynamic exercises such as Surya namaskar and when the practitioner feels physically and mentally tired. It develops body awareness. When the body is completely relaxed, awareness of the mind increases, developing pratyahara.

Bridge Pose

The Bridge Pose is an accessible backbend that will open your front body and leave you feeling grounded and rejuvenated. It greatly improves the circulation of blood. Helps alleviate stress and mild depression and calms the brain and central nervous system.

Child Pose

Child’s Pose helps to stretch the hips, thighs, and ankles while reducing stress and fatigue. It gently relaxes the muscles on the front of the body while softly and passively stretching the muscles of the back torso.

Reverse Warrior Pose

Reverse Warrior — Viparita Virabhadrasana (VIP-uh-REE-tuh veer-uh-buh-DRAHS-uh-nuh) — is a standing yoga pose that stretches the waist and energizes the whole body. This pose gives your brain a great workout as well. When practiced with mindfulness and awareness, it can be incredibly beneficial for your body.

Ardhakati Chakrasana

It helps clear blockages in the lungs and improves breathing. It increases blood supply to the lateral thoracic muscles as they are stretched.

Yoga for Depression

Pranayama: The regular practice of Pranayama can be quite effective in not only overcoming anxiety and depression among the elderly but also helping them in promoting mental health. It will help them develop a sort of resilience to any kind of mental or physical illness. Pranayams like Bhramari and Nadisodhana help greatly in improving your thinking capacity.

Is Vegan Food Always Healthy?

Why a Vegan Meal? Is Vegan Food always healthy? The recent rise of plant-based food choices around the world is an exciting step towards people choosing to eat and embrace a healthier, more sustainable diet and lifestyle. From a solely dietary perspective, a vegan diet avoids meat, dairy, eggs, seafood, and any foods that have derivatives of animal products. Far from being restrictive, a vegan diet offers abundant choice and creativity. Question: Is Vegan Food Always Healthy

A very healthy, balanced vegan diet will often include all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables. Such as sprouts, nuts and seeds, fresh herbs and spices, seaweeds, sprouted whole grains, legumes and beans, cold-pressed oils like coconut oil or olive oil, nut butters and seed pastes like tahini, nut milks or coconut milks, unprocessed olives and avocado for healthy fats, fermented foods like miso, tempeh, sauerkraut and kimchi, dried fruits, and superfoods.

Is Vegan Food Always Healthy?

A vegan meal provides a wide variety of positive benefits. Various scientific studies have shown that a plant-based, whole food diet can lower the risk of various types of illness and disease, including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and degenerative brain disease. A well-planned vegan diet has less saturated fat and cholesterol and more vitamins C and E, dietary fiber, folic acid, potassium, magnesium, and phytochemicals such as carotenoids and flavonoids. As a result, veganism can be said to be a perfectly balanced, healthy life.

Compared to meat-eaters, vegans weigh less, have lower cholesterol, blood pressure, and rates of type 2 diabetes. They have a 30 percent lower risk of heart disease and lower cancer rates. Most cases of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and a third of cancers can be avoided by changing to a healthier diet, increasing physical activity, and stopping smoking.

Is vegan food always healthy?

Marketers and advertisers have jumped on the bandwagon with the new trend and popularity of vegan cuisine. Vegan food may still be laden with white sugar, palm oil, additives, preservatives, and poor-quality ingredients. A vegan burger from a fast food chain may be a small step in the right direction, yet it is no substitute for real, fresh, wholesome food that nourishes and fuels your body.

Why Taking A YOGA RETREAT is Important

The unhealthy lifestyle of most people is a major reason behind the development and exacerbation of many chronic diseases. A very good reason to do a yoga retreat is to give yourself a truly relaxing and recreational experience. Improve flexibility by doing yoga asanas. Improving lifestyles through new residential experiences that promote healthy behaviors, calm the mind with meditation & breathing exercises, and feel the vibration of chanting Sanskrit mantras. So WHY Taking A YOGA RETREAT is Important.

Why we should take a Yoga Retreat

  1. You can truly connect with nature as there are so many retreat places in beautiful locations. This is the best way to get out of your busy daily life.  
  2. Say Bye-Bye to the daily technology life. During the retreat, no need to update your status and tweet or re-tweet every hour. You will not feel like being online 24×7.
  3. Going to a new place provides you with the best opportunity to explore the world. Experiencing unknown friends and places is the best way to grow and learn.
  4. If you have some bad habits then going to a yoga retreat is the best way to break from a bad habit is to replace it with a new healthy one
  5. We give so much of ourselves in our daily lives can be personal and professional, and we realize us impossible to take a moment just for ourselves. In a yoga and meditation retreat, you get the opportunity to meet some amazing people from the other part of the world, you can also use it as an opportunity to be alone.
  6. A yoga retreat keeps you far from your stresses about your duties where you need permission to truly relax. A retreat allows you to listen to your body, rest when you need it, and be free from daily stress.
  7. Going for a yoga retreat can be a life-changing experience, it can change and heal our mental and physical health.

Home Remedies for Nasal Congestion

Nasal congestion or “stuffy nose” occurs when nasal and adjacent tissues and blood vessels in your nasal area become swollen with excess fluid, causing a “stuffy” plugged feeling. The nasal congestion may or may not include a nasal discharge or “runny nose.” Below are given Home remedies for nasal congestion

Nasal congestion usually is just an annoyance for older children and adults. But nasal congestion can be serious for children whose sleep is disturbed by their nasal congestion or for infants, who might have a hard time feeding as a result.

Home Remedies for Nasal Congestion

 Fenugreek Seeds (Methi)

This natural herb has anti-inflammatory properties that help in the detoxification of mucous membranes. Add some fenugreek seeds to hot water or tea and drink it two to three times a day. The heat and damp fenugreek seeds will help thin the mucus, allowing it to get out of the system naturally and further opening the sinus cavities.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Unfiltered Apple cider vinegar can help you a lot with your congestion problems. Add a few drops of this vinegar in hot water mixed with lemon or honey for taste to loosen the deposited mucus.

Using eucalyptus oil

Eucalyptus oil relieves the symptoms of sinus congestion. It may also help kill germs in and around the nasal passage that contribute to a sinus infection.

A person can use eucalyptus oil by applying it to tissue paper and sleeping next to it or by adding it to hot water and inhaling the steam. However, if a person applies the hot water and eucalyptus oil mixture directly to the skin, it may cause burns.

Jal Neti

Jal neti is a yogic action designed for nasal cleansing, where salted lukewarm water is used to get rid of the congestion and blockages of the nasal cavity and the respiratory tract. Jal neti helps keep you safe from many diseases and also encourages smooth breathing through the nostrils.

Do Yoga

The practice of yoga poses like the cow-face pose, head-to-knee posture, and yoga breathing exercises open the chest and improve circulation, thereby giving relief from congestion.

Why is Ayurveda Important?

Why is Ayurveda Important? Ayurveda is one of the world’s oldest holistic (“whole-body”) healing systems. It is believed to have been developed more than 3,000 years ago in India. It’s based on the belief that health and wellness depend on a delicate balance between the mind, body, and spirit. The main goal is to promote good health, not fight disease. However, treatments may be geared toward specific health problems.

Ayurveda Majorly Focuses on

  • The connection of the forces of the universe with a living being.
  • The driving force of life itself, the Doshas. The Doshas are known to be present in everybody in different aspects and ratios.
  • Also, the constitutional aspects of a body, are known as its Prakriti.

Ayurveda works on natural treatments, medication, and remedies for ailments inside of people’s systems. A lot of medicines created with the proportionate addition and subtractions of naturally found herbs and spices are included within Ayurvedic treatments to treat the ailing Doshas in a human.

Why is Ayurveda Important?

1. Improved Concentration

In our contemporary world, with the speed of travel, the overload of information, and the constant mechanical noise that pervades our lives. It is easy to become distracted, to find our minds disquieted and anxious. When we slow down, when we get to better know and understand our body and the way in which our body’s natural constitutions require balance, our mind follows this lead.

A balanced diet and lifestyle soothe our minds and allow for easier, more focused concentration. Mental balance is no less important than physical balance, and Ayurvedic practices are designed to promote mental balance as much as physical.

2. De-Stressing

In the same way, our minds lose focus, and we become stressed. Working under pressure, as most of us do, aggravates vata and produces stress. This vata imbalance affects the joints first—and isn’t it so that we often first notice high-stress levels by a sore, clenched jaw? Ayurveda, through diet and lifestyle, alleviates stress. These practices ameliorate vata imbalance and soothe pitta. Ayurveda has a comprehensive, long-term approach to revitalizing energy.

3. Revitalizing Energy

It is so easy in this world to shirk sleep when working toward a deadline, to unmindfully eat foods out of season, or even too late in the evening. We all do things that unbalance our bodies and minds, and this leads to sluggishness and lethargy.

Coffee and other stimulants might work in a pinch, in the short term. However, Ayurveda has a comprehensive, long-term approach to revitalizing energy. When we understand our natural dosha and our constitution, we can determine how to balance ourselves. A Vata person doing Vata activity is overloaded with Vata, and could benefit from more elements of Pitta and Kappa to balance this excess Vata.

4. Relaxation

Grounding and relaxing vata types are vital to maintaining healthy skin and hair, preventing stress, and revitalizing energy. It is so easy to get out of sorts, and being mindful of our body’s natural constitution helps us to restore the balance that leads to relaxation. When you are relaxed, you feel comfortable and content in your mind and body, and so this is an important benchmark for physical, mental, and spiritual balance.

Abhyanga, body massage, is also important for relaxation. Whether using self-massage practices or pursuing a therapeutic massage, these practices, especially when enhanced with Ayurvedic oils and various heat sources, help remove excess vata that causes our stress.

5. Anti-Aging

Have you ever known a person who seems to have aged beyond their years? We say that they lived a hard life, meaning one of great stress, a life of significant physical, mental, and spiritual imbalance. We wear the signs of our health on our faces.

Through balancing doshas and maintaining a healthy relationship among vata, pitta, and kapha, we ameliorate the very stresses and anxieties that wear out our bodies. This harmony not only promotes a healthy, youthful body; Ayurvedic medicine also promotes a vibrant, dynamic mind, even as we age.

Top 5 Health Benefits of Olives

Olives are small fruits that grow on olive trees (Olea europaea). They belong to a group of fruit called drupes, or stone fruits, and are related to mangoes, cherries, peaches, almonds, and pistachios. Olives are very high in vitamin E and other powerful antioxidants. Studies show that they are good for the heart and may protect against osteoporosis and cancer. The healthy fats in olives are extracted to produce olive oil, one of the key components of the incredibly healthy Mediterranean diet. Learn Health Benefits of Olives.

Top 5 Health Benefits of Olives

1. Weight loss

Before you drop your jaws, we must remind you that each ripened olive weighs around 4 grams and is a healthy snack supplement for many around the world. Don’t expect olives to satiate your hunger, but what goes inside your body is made up of good fatty acids so that you eat healthy and stay healthy. Ranging from bitter to salty, olives serve as a great alternative to fatty junk like greasy burgers and spicy sandwiches. These Mediterranean balls of health can be soaked in brine to elevate the taste so that you can munch on them just like you love munching on your favorite potato chips. Except the fact that unlike potato chips, olives don’t add unwanted cholesterol around your heart valves, giving you untimely death. It’s time to begin your weight loss regimen by eating olives!

2. Flawless skin

It’s important to note that nobody on Earth likes to have fine lines on their face. Nonetheless, ageing is a part of life, and there isn’t much we can do about it. Yet, god was kind enough when he invented olives so that youth could be sustained gracefully. By eating olives, not only are you making yourself healthy but also unmaking those wrinkles. Studies have shown how eating olives can reduce signs of aging, such as fine lines and crow’s feet. Eating healthy olives helps skin stay soft and healthy since they contain oleic acid. Eat olives = stay good-looking. So go ahead and grab a bunch of olives to make that skin flawless.

3. Improved bone health

If hearing “osteoporosis” doesn’t make you jump in fear, we don’t know what will. If you belong to the section of less excitable humans, then you probably know what this term means. Human skeletal health, like the rest of the body, deteriorates rapidly with ageing. Most especially in women, bone disorders are prominent. Lack of nutritious diet and increased stress in lifestyles have led to skeletal problems. Olives are just what you need to feel less pain in the bones when you reach the dreaded age of 60. They are an excellent source of polyphenols that reduce inflammation and help your body deal with the natural process of ageing gracefully. Women in menopause must be given olives to ease their pain.

4. Memory 

Olives have a high amount of polyphenols, a natural chemical that reduces oxidative stress in the brain. By eating a daily serving of healthy olives you can help improve your memory. Remember that! Memory – Olives contain polyphenols, a natural chemical that reduces oxidative stress in the brain. By eating a daily serving of healthy olives, you can help improve your memory. Remember that!

5. Anti Cancer 

The fact that olives are an antioxidant-rich food and have anti-inflammatory properties make them a natural protection against cancer because chronic oxidative stress and chronic inflammation can be key factors in the development of cancer. If our cells get overwhelmed by oxidative stress and chronic excessive inflammation, our risk of cell cancer is increased. By providing us with rich supplies of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients, olives can help us avoid this dangerous combination of chronic oxidative stress and chronic inflammation.

Top 7 Health Benefits of Giloy

“Giloy, scientifically named as Tinospora Cordifolia, is an Ayurvedic herb. It has been used and advocated in Indian medicine for ages”, says Delhi-based Nutritionist Anshul Jaibharat. In Sanskrit, Giloy is known as ‘Amrita, ’ which translates to ‘the root of immortality’ because of its abundant medicinal properties. “The stem of Giloy is of maximum utility, but the root can also be used. Its uses and benefits have even been approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration)”, adds Nutritionist Anshul Jaibharat. Dr. Ashutosh Gautam, Baidyanath adds, “Giloy can be consumed in the form of juice, powder, or capsules”. Know the Health Benefits of Giloy.

Giloy is used for various purposes, primarily for treating ailments or preventing diseases. This wonder herb is used along with castor oil, ginger, sugar, ghee, and jaggery to treat various issues like gout, rheumatoid arthritis, skin, liver-related issues, arthritis, and constipation.

Health Benefits of Giloy

1. Boosts Immunity

Due to its ability to boost the immune system, the herb works like a rejuvenating element and contains antioxidants that cure and prevent dangerous ailments. This herb helps to eliminate toxins from the liver and kidney, fight bacteria, and combat Urinary Tract infections.

2. Treats Chronic Fever

Giloy helps get rid of recurrent fevers. Since Giloy is an antipyretic, it can reduce signs and symptoms of several life-threatening conditions like Dengue, Swine Flu, and Malaria as well.

3. Reduces Signs of Aging

Without any doubt, Giloy can be considered the queen of all herbs and is extremely beneficial for treating signs of aging. Guduchi contains anti-aging properties that remove dark spots, wrinkles, fine lines, and uneven skin tone and keep the skin clear, glowing, and bright. There are many Giloy-based Ayurvedic face packs to try.

4. Improves Digestion

Giloy is very beneficial in improving digestion and treating bowel-related issues. It helps with aches, gas, bloating, and indigestion and also helps patients with piles.

5. Effective for Diabetics

Giloy is an amazing herb for someone who is suffering from diabetes, as the herb acts as a hypoglycemic agent. Giloy juice helps reduce high levels of blood sugar and works wonders.

6. Treats Arthritis

Giloy contains anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic properties that help treat arthritis and its several symptoms. It takes care of arthritis, joint pain, swelling, redness, and several symptoms related to it.

Home Remedies of Giloy

  1. Boil some Giloy in water and let it cool down. Then apply over the eyelid for clearer vision.
  2. Drinking Giloy juice reduces the high level of blood sugar.
  3. Take a little extract of Giloy and mix it with honey to treat malaria fever.
  4. Take ½ gram Giloy powder with some amla juice to treat digestive issues.
  5. Giloy juice with buttermilk also helps people suffering from piles.

What is Dhyana Yoga?

Dhyata, Dhyana, and Dheya are three components of Yoga. Dhyata (Practitioner) uses Dhyana (Meditation/means) for Dheya (Aim/mission). Dheya is Yoga, which means a state of missionary. Meditation is the final key or switch for Yoga. Yoga is more about meditation(Dhyana Yoga). By ethics, Meditation is itself yoga; or Yoga is itself Meditation. Meditation is the seventh limb of Ashtanga Yoga and the sixth limb of Hatha Yoga.

“Yogashchittavrittinirodhah”-PYS 1.2.  Maharshi Patanjali has defined Yoga. Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of thoughts in Chitta; Chitta is more about the Mind with Egos, Intellect, and Conscious. Yoga is the restraint of the whirls of the mind stuff. Yoga is the absolute purity of Mind and soul, whereas Meditation is the means for keeping the purity of mind and also making the cessation of mind from firing of thoughts.  Meditation is the state of being devoid.

Meditation is simply a journey from the outer world to inner world. It is an adventure into silence. Meditation means the act of exercising the mind in contemplation. One meditates on a subject when one focuses one’s attention on it in this manner. Calmness and stillness are not the natural properties of the mind, which is always in motion and whirling motion. The natural motion of mind is vertical. It is usually in whirls.

The Bhagavad Geeta emphasizes the fact that the mind is always in motion and that the moving nature of the mind is to be controlled. The Geeta admits that it is difficult to control the mind; still, it prescribes yogic methods to restrain and calm the mind if one sincerely and silently practices the prescribed yogic methods and techniques.

“Tatra pratya yaika-taanataa dhyaanam”.- PYS 3.2.  That is the condition for the singular, uninterrupted reflection of a profound spiritual character that is Meditation (Dhyana). Patanjali had recognized the importance of dhyana yoga at an earlier point. It is useful in helping yogis overcome the residual dispositions that remain after the yogi had undertaken the psychoanalytic exploration into the historical root of a present aversion.

Preparation for Meditation

Meditation is a common tool for each yogic Kriya. Every practice in Yoga is itself meditation or a way of meditation.

Some fundamental things for meditation are:

The Place, Time, Nature, Atmosphere, Purity, Punctuality, Clothes, and The bath

Prayer – OM Chants 3 times and Guru Mantra -3 times “Om Shree Gurave Namah”

Pre-Activities for Meditation

Subtle Exercise (Pre meditative Acts): Toes flex, Ankle rotate, Knee bend, Hip rotate, Baby Rock, Butterfly, Shoulder Joint rotate, Neck rotate, Simple spinal twist

Asana – As need assessment, different asanas series on counter base and effort.

 Pranayama – attempt Nadi Shodan, Ujjayi, and Bharamari at least,

Mudras –  Gyana Mudra, Prana Mudra, Aakashi Mudra,

Bandhas – Jalandhara, Uddiyana, Moola Bandhas

 Yoga-Nidra – An art of physical, mental, and emotional relaxation and balance and Sleeping Meditation

Dhyana Yoga (Meditation): There are thousands of techniques for meditation, such as Vipasana Dhyana, Aajapa Japa Dhyana, Nadabrahma Dhyana, Mantra Dhyana, Bhagavatiya Dhyana, Mudra Dhyana, etc.

To be continued…..

By Swami Yog SubodhSchool of Dhyana Yoga (Meditation)

What is Kriya Yoga ?

Yoga has a universal goal and is the ultimate mission. Yoga is not done; it is experienced. Yoga is more about Meditation. All of us have abundant potency that is beyond our imagination and dreams. Each person can experience different levels of consciousness; most people live in lower levels of consciousness. There are various systems of yoga, such as Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Kriya Yoga, etc., which are widely propagated throughout the world.

All are aiming at transcendental states where one starts to commune with one’s inner being. Kriya Yoga is more interested in awareness than consciousness. Dhyana Yoga (Meditation Yoga) or Antaranga Yoga or Raja Yoga, is the mainstream of yoga or the final key of Yoga. In a visible sense, three major components, Yoga, Pranayama, and Meditation, build Yoga in Human Life.

Concentration is something that occurs spontaneously in a very relaxed mind and body. Relaxed concentration will lead us. The fruit of deep one-pointed concentration is the occurrence of the spontaneous state of meditation. Most people have heard of meditation, but very few people have experienced it yet.

  • How can most people learn to explore their minds?
  • If they cannot concentrate what they should do?
  • How can one attain meditational experience?

Here, Kriya yoga comes to the rescue. Kriya yoga seems to contradict the basic rules of yoga. It says that you should not try to concentrate your mind. Don’t make any effort to bring about one-pointedness. Kriya yoga accepts most people’s limitations; if you are unable to concentrate, then other rules must be used to achieve the same results.

Kriya Yoga is more interested in awareness than concentration. It does not presuppose concentration. The very word kriya means activity or movement. It also means practical, which leads to Yoga or Union. The source of kriya yoga practices goes back to antiquity and slowly evolved over a period of time through practice and experience.

Tapah svaadhyaayesvara-pranidhaanaanihPYS 2.1

Action in Yoga consists of penance, study (of the Vedas or self), and surrendering to the Supreme power.

Tapas’ comes from the root ‘tapa’, which means, among other things, to cause pain and discomfort. Tapa is thus the practice of austerities. While it sounds frightening, the practice of tapas is widespread among those who think of themselves as practicing yoga. What is called ‘yoga in the modern time, particularly in modern society, is simply a ritualized version of tapas? This is incorrectly called ‘Aasana which traditionally covers the state is still or seated.

While tapas is the first practice mentioned here, it is not the last practice that the yogi must master. After tapas, the yogi must endeavor to practice ‘Svaadhyaaya,’ which means the study of Vedas and the study of self.

Kriya Yoga

Finally, in yoga Darshan, Patanjali reaffirms his commitment to ‘Isvara pranidhaaranaa’ as a means of accomplishing the goals of yoga. Devotion, surrender before, and contemplation and meditation on. Kriya Yoga is the yoga of generating of Prana (Energy or life force). The ideal method for people today is Kriya Yoga. Kriya yoga allows you to filter out the morass, the quagmire of complexes, fears, etc., in your mind, which make life an unhappy affair.

Preparation for Kriya Yoga

Six cleansing Acts

Body control and sound health

Proficiency in Mudras and bandhas

Development of breath consciousness

Art and science of Rest and Relaxation

Location and familiarity with the psychic passages and chakras

By Swami Yog Subodh – School of Kriya Yoga