Look to a simple-looking cat. It sleeps fairly easily in many sorts of settings; it masters how to streeetch measuredly and well in between, many times. It listens very well and is not afraid to use its claws when that matters.

Much yoga can be learnt from studying a friendly cat.

Yoga and Its Benefits

Scores of worthwhile research studies on yoga have shown that practice of yoga can bring many benefits. In the West, yoga programmes have been used most often to enhance health and well-being, regardless of the origins of postures, breathing exercises and meditation methods.

A typical yoga session in the United States may last twenty minutes to an hour. To practice daily at home will be fit for many, although beginners normally do well to attend classes and get favourable instructions through them. There are things that are more easily accomplished that way. One should have an effective yoga program and stick to it for ten months, for example.

Easy, gentle postures may pave the way for more difficult ones. Movements are to be slow, calm and well contained. One is not to stretch beyond what is comfortable. Along with the poses, it is very good to learn to breathe deep in the abdomen. There are very simple, beneficent methods.

After the possible breathing program comes the relaxation or meditation drill. There are many ways of meditation. We suggest you learn the most efficient of the beneficent ones, if you can find them. Let sound research help you.

Two Aims so far

"There are . . . higher aims".

Yoga can be used for general relaxation and/or for combating some sorts of chronic diseases. The first benefit from good beginner's yoga could be reduction of the level of stress through calming down a bit. After that there could come an improvement in concentration, perhaps.

There are several further levels of yoga instruction and so-called deeper aims (higher aims) too. We leave such aims and postulated levels aside for now, in order to furnish a survey.

◎ Deep meditation is fit for many.

Sources: ◦A

Yoga as Exercises, Lore, and Living

'Yoga' is a Sanskrit word. It means literally 'yoking' and is akin to Latin jungere, to join, and denotes 'union'. Today the word represents:

A system of exercises for attaining bodily and/or mental control and well-being. This practical aspect of yoga involves hatha yoga, mantra yoga, kriya yoga and other yogas.
The exercises (poses or asanas) are a series of slow, gentle and painless stretches that gradually may increase in complexity as the student becomes stronger and more flexible. A program of well composed and administered poses are accompanied by deep, steady breathing that soothes the nervous system, improves blood circulation and may be beneficial on the whole system.
Gentle breathing programs can increase vitality for a while and calm down the mind and body too.
Contemplation may be practised on top of (and after) the other two yoga steps of (posture and breathing). A deep and wonderful relaxation may ensue. And "practice of deep relaxation elements leads to a calm, focused state of mind and a great feeling of vitality," it is said.
A Hindu theistic philosophy that teaches the calming down of body, mind, and will so that that the self may realize itself more or less, for shorter or longer periods, and go on from there.
Ways of living: It is characteristic that specified ways of life are called yogas. They are methodical ways, in that they focus on one or more set of values and methods to the relative preference of others. Karma yoga (the way of works) is one such yoga. Jnana (gyana) yoga is of thinking and deliberating, and so on. In actual practice they tend to blend much.

In its original context - which we do not have to think about or adhere to - yoga may be used for other ends than merely keeping the body more fit, the mind better at work. It is also used for spiritual enhancement. It is in this latter context that certain yoga teachers, called gurus, are found, and beginners either flourish and flounder.

◎ Able yoga teachers teach a series of essential methods.

Balancing Methods, Lore, and Dispensers

Yoga consists of (1) methods, (2) lore and teachings, and (3) givers (dispensers) of methods and likely interpreters of traditional teachings.

Yoga methods are hinted at above. The good methods are considered universal in that they tie in to the human organism wherever it is on the planet.
Yoga lore consists of very many books and instruction works from a possibly alien culture (old and recent Indian), from times and climes that could be much different from ours. Then the question of adaptations arises in many. Basically, one should strive to glean and adapt the best from various sources into a cogent and good enough routine fit for one's daily life. That could work well.
The tradition of yoga teachings and beliefs consists old primers, ancient works, old and recent commentaries, and recent additions of other kinds. You may find excellent adaptations made by Westerners that don't call themselves yogis or roshis, but tackle the adaptation without bothering you a lot. We recommend some good books of the latter kind first, if you can find them.
Givers can be honest, good givers of boons, or "massas" eager to lord it over a following, desiring money or wealth, power or whatever. It may show up in time, but for some enrolled followers it could be too late if it happens. So it should work well to question the teacher, the said effects of his or her teachings, inspect the documentation closely to see if it is fair enough (not all yoga reports are). It is part of the old yoga tradition to be very circumspect in choosing a teacher. Such a standard helps one to derive benefit and avoid future calamities.

Enculturation and Good Yoga Practices

If you get ill after you take up meditating, it is easy to blame the method, the teachings, or the teacher - or yourself. But the loom of the large society could be the biggest culprit at the bottom. Few think of that. Kahlil Gibran says these memorable words in ◦The Prophet:

When the black thread breaks, the weaver shall look into the whole cloth, and he shall examine the loom also.

Often the yoga teachers hold views and interpret lore to confirm their own prestige or power over followers in the end. In some circles there is a demand for a different enculturation (enculturation: the process by which an individual learns the traditional content of a culture and assimilates its practices and values). When the enculturation that goes on, deviates considerably from the enculturation of the large society the dissonance may cause problems or bring into the open the suppressed problems of some members of the large society.

One should take into account more than one possible cause of problems. The individual's state, his or her general adaptations, and the stances taken by the group that teaches yoga - all three tend to work together. In any case severe troubles may be due to one or more of these three. It is too superficial to blame it all on the techniques, the teachings, the effects of one's niche in the large society (country and culture), and on oneself wholly. Discernment is a boon against being fooled by troublesome and superficial reports too. One should not jump to conclusions.

It stands to reason that it is good to take advantage of one's opportunities and long-range possibilities, getting a decent education, acquire skills and methods that help good living, to bulwark and prevent and go against stress and results of stress. Neat meditation and yoga do fit in - they are mainstream in the United States by now. The art of living consists in finding out how to fit them in to greatest benefit.

If a meditator experiences great trouble from doing his or her methods, we suggest a medical or psychological examination, dropping the meditation for some time - or meditating less - till the problems are solved. There are many mentally unhealthy guys in Norway: One fifth of the population could need to be hospitalized, and a brief stay in a mental hospital might do good to another another twenty percent, and many of the others are not completely well eithers, is a current estimate by professor Nils Retterstøl. Abaham Maslow has studied what marks healthy persons, unique guys. They differ from the average, but not all that differ from the average do it in a healthy, normal way. To the contrary. To sum it up: Mad guys - undiagnosed or otherwise - are to refrain from meditation to be on the safe side and avoid that latent diseases break out and so on. Safety first is a neat slogan. And there are not as few mentally troubled guys as formerly thought. It should pay to study Maslow's research findings.

It may NOT pay to give up independence and valuable assets if the guru you have put your trust or faith in, talks of power, adheres to power and goes for power. It might mean power over you too, and lessening your worth.

Along with methods and teachings, you should deal with what surrounds or comes along with the beneficent teachings and methods. Getting involved with a guru dynasty, guru followers and an enforced enculturation of outlooks and regulations that bring on difficulties later, may not be all right. You have to learn to inspect, thus. Don't find out too late, like the women who got married to a werewolf husband [madman] in a recurrent folk tale.

◎ It is a fool who forgets himself. (Ein rechter Narr, der sich selbst vergißt) (German proverb, in Beyer and Beyer 1996:417)

A - Exercises and Methods

Many yogis advocate a systemic build-up of practices. The most known system is found in an old work, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. We bring it on-line, allied with a practical commentary: [Link]. We also give detailed instructions on how to meditate.

B - Yoga Philosophy

In ancient India there were many schools of philosophy. Six of them are called orthodox, and the yoga philosophy is one of them. It closely resembles the Sankhya philosophy, with one difference: The Yoga philosophy has room for a God, in the form of Iswara, (Light-Lord), whereas Samkhya does not include anything about a God. These two systems may be handled together for practical purposes.

These two philosophies purport to delineate how the universe is made from inside out. In so doing they use constructs (concepts) that are beyond methodical investigations, and call for faith: gunas, deep abstract qualities, are three of them, ether, akash may be another. Hence these philosophies postulate things that may not be proved or falsified. One should be made aware of that.

In ancient India there were other lines of thinking too. Non-orthodox philosophies include the Carvaca school of materialism, Jainism, and Buddhism. The six orthodox Hindu philosophies that recognised the authority of the Vedas [Deussen, 1966; Chatterjee and Datta, 1968]

In our days, many yoga practices and outlooks of the ancient days have been "brushed aside" to the preference of Vedanta teachings. Vedanta, which means "the end of the Vedas", is another orthodox Hindu philosophy, with very many forms and facets.

C - Yoga Modes or Yoga Ways

In whatever yoga practice, there is an element of training. One may profit much by keeping it up in culinary ways, minding the ways of athletic training, where progress may be a "fruit" of methodical and good enough traning over some time. Focus and accuracy is thought to work well. A little practice may help too.

Mantra yoga, or "sound yoga" is involved in hatha yoga, raja yoga (and kriya yoga), and is also held to be an OK, independent yoga branch alone. A good meditation posture is much recommended along with it. RECOMMENDED
Hatha yoga is a quite all-round yoga system of body discipline, postures aka asanas, and pranayama (breathing methods) that are aimed at mastery of the vital force, called prana in Sanskrit. Mental techniques of concentration and meditation may be involved too, so hatha yoga may give the same benefits as raja yoga. The difference between them is a difference of focus and what methods predominate, in some cases. We may advocate gentle hatha yoga that is geared to the persons over and above any system. CAN BE RECOMMENDED.
Raja yoga is called 'kingly yoga'. It incorporates hatha yoga asanas (postures), breathing training, concentration and meditation (dhyana) methods. There are many of them. The focus is more on mental techniques and pranayama than in hatha yoga. The practice may be draining, that sort of 'tough'. MAY BE RECOMMENDED, DEPENDING ON WHAT MEDLEY OF METHODS AND INSTRUCTIONS ARE USED
Jnana yoga is thought of as 'wisdom's way'. The discriminative faculty of the mind is used thoroughly, but the full fruit is not one of echoing phrases to oneself or others, but of realization(s). We don't advocate jnana yoga, because it is ineffective for almost everyone; it is said to work only for a few. FOOL'S PLAY FOR MOST PART
Karma yoga is a yoga of work. The words 'karma' stems from Sanskrit kri, do, and stand for (some sort of) work. A thoroughly detached attitude is promoted. But where you are instructed to work for unselfish ends so that you neglect catering to the fruits of what you have been working with, maybe you have been misguided. Maybe you should have followed up and seen projects through more and better. You could do well to think about it. TRY FOR GAINING MERITS, RATHER
Bhakti (love) yoga is intended to fit persons of a more or less devotional nature. Various devotional stances are pinpointed in the yoga literature. You may love love, love someone or even something as a lover, a miser, a mistress, a child, a parent - in short, you make use of normal human attitudes and strive on more or less taken in, perhaps. For essential yoga is aimed at rising above human emotions of relating. That is a basic teaching. And you don't have to be devotional in order to go for yoga training. MISUSED.

There are still other yoga modes, but many favoured methods could be incorporated in the ones listed above. Leaving out the dross, which seems to include battering-dreamy love yoga attempts aside, insistent gulping of great-looking phrases as in base jnana yoga, or working for no benefit to yourself or your home, as in misguided karma yoga, you may be freed to go for methods that make a difference, after all.

◎ Little yoga theory is needed for calm and essential practice.

Yoga Adaptations

There are good adaptations and not good adaptations. In between them are many adaptations without much value. Adaptations are also of many degrees. It is too easy for a newcomer to respond in not good enough ways, once he has conformed to the organization that presents the ways of yoga and promises results -

He strives fervently to adapt himself to whatever yoga he has come across. He may seek to enrol a group too.
He tries to adapt yoga to himself, his background and basic cultural premises, and favourable sides of his family history too.

The second main way is recommended here. Here are two main ways to do it:

Goldsmith ways are in part like that of Indiana Jones. He plucks the finest specimen he may lay hands on from alien cultures, and later he may remake them. The British queen and many others have jewels from other places. They were hardly found in the UK terrain. To make the best use of insights and methods from afar, live with them for some time, polish and cut them as expertly as you can master after learning the trade, and assemble and reassemble. The results could be astounding, shining, much coveted.
Gardener ways can be much more favourable, frankly, for they are linked to living and growing. A gardener judges various imported seeds and learns to consider if the seedlings can have a future in the new homeland. Does the climate and other general conditions agree? Will a hothouse be needed? And so on. Thus, learn to consider "the soil" that methods and tenets are rooted in. Do we have near-identical conditions here? Will it be worthwhile to invest time and energy in plants that may be awfully hard to produce?
The principal advantage of "gardener yoga" is that you may enrich your life by clever appropriations of good ideas and methods from other parts of the world. Maybe some cultivation helps too. In fact, very much good food in Scandinavia is imported. Potatoes, tomatoes, and on, on.
You have to know how to handle the new items too. For example, if you expose potatoes to much light, they become green and hence poisonous. If you don't, you may eat them and be happy. Apply gardener thinking to ideas and ways you come across, and much may become different, to your benefit.

Relevant yoga practice may be more of a both-and and an either-or, and there is nothing wrong with that, per se (in itself): But still try to adapt yoga teachings and methods to yourself, your predominant conditions and so on. If not, you may be in for troubles. Many are "washed up" thereby; they are told and exhorted to conform and adapt to the urges and wishes of guru bosses and their vicars, and as a result of what is set up and its pressures, many may lose favourable, personal assertiveness. One should guard against losing it and refrain from dropping main human rights in order to please others much too much.

◎ Elementary and sanity-helping yoga knowledge is not barred from a beginner.

Hindu Yoga and Other Yogas

Yoga is found in other religions than Hinduism. Zen comprises yoga too. One does not have to be a believer to practice beneficent methods of yoga and Zen. Old Taoism had methods of meditation too, but they were largely destroyed during the reign of a certain emperor of China. Some think they are confluent with the better Zen teachings.

It is possible to blend good methods from different cultures. For example, one does not have to be a Buddhist to profit from Buddhist meditation methods [cf. Ns, Sim, etc.]. Much depends on what sorts of yoga you come across to begin with, and what yoga teachers and teachings.

◎ Be careful a long way: Inspect much before committing yourself, so as to avoid future distress: Advances are different from hindsights -

~ೞ⬯ೞ~

Rising above Common Yoga

Profitable Strides

Yoga has a historical background, and is from a culture that in some respects are different from ours. Different values are often advocated, including renouncing this and that. Society today is not very helpful for those who turn themselves into beggars or monks through old yoga injunctions. Many of the injunctions are not helpful in general, either. Thus, if you love onions, keep up having them for dinner, no matter what one old yoga book, the Hatha-Yoga Pradhipika says in the matter.

There is another side to yoga that may be good to consider. Let us say someone, or Jeder, is stressed and lonely in a big city. He learns that yoga helps against stress and promotes well-being, so he attends the nearest yoga class and finds that it benefits him. He is now able to endure more. Yes, in the long run, maybe.

Could there be any possible negative side to that?

If conditions overtax us, one thing we may do is to become tougher.
Another is to become more skilled in coping with our challenges, and getting things done very well. Sound education may be for that.
Stressors (stressful events) and hazards very often need to be reduced in the long term for the sake of one's health, or that of others.
The general focus had better be on wise steering towards good environments that matter too, some that increase benefits.
Shielding (it is a wide term) could be good and work well too - and could be necessary.

Modern life is tough, and if practice of yoga leads to neglect of training and benefitting oneself better (above), something could go wrong. That is a main point. Therefore we get suspicious when old and honoured yoga scriptures hail abandoning oneself wholly and leave things to Krishna and others. And in Indian scriptures there are other ways to proceed, favourable ways, that is.

So we say,

Let becoming self-esteem aided by sensible enough self-help yoga go on against all too many possible abuses; they are not just cognitive ones.

Cults find their ways into the lives of persons who are not on guard against losing control. Some leader abuse can grow by strong-looking but self-help maiming decrees from the onset. There is that nasty risk.

◎ Some ways of living may rise above isolated yoga practice, but why not let it become a both-and matter? Incorporate sensible yoga ways in your life if you feel for it. Then some things could become different.

Essentials

Beware of patience; it often suggests having to cope in unfavourable conditions. If you are in a setting where there is a need for lots of patience - unrewarding in the long run, it suggests you're trapped in a setting - something like that. Look to the cat.
The accumulative effects of believing this and that on slight or uncertain evidence may bring long-range troubles. Learning to calm down can be a good gate in itself in this context.

Sheared sheep

Cordell Hull was an extremely cautious speaker, striving always for scientific accuracy. One day on a train, a friend pointed to a fine flock of sheep grazing in a field.

"Look, those sheep have just been sheared," he said.

Hull studied the flock. "Sheared on this side, anyway," he admitted.

◎ Hull shows the realistic spirit that tends to make sane enough attainments possible in yoga and otherwise.

◎ The clever realist could have to show his good sides in daily life as well.

~ೞ⬯ೞ~

Widening Interests

If you learn mind-yoga, that is, methods of calm focus and holding the attention riveted in beneficial ways, you may discover after some months that your interests widen. That could be good for you. It often shows up. There is a need to take care as well, for some exploit people.

Yoga Teachings

Sensible Yoga

"Simply the best"

There are many good reasons for taking up yoga and meditation

Yoga in the West

Catlike Conduct