Yoga therapy coordinates particular yoga asanas for specific disorders. These poses (asanas) may change according to a person’s progress. Yoga therapy advocates the belief that since yoga is a holistic discipline teaching that the mind, body, and spirit are connected, yoga therapy can go beyond the results that are possible with physical therapy.

From this portal you can find information on yoga schools of thought. You will learn about the tools for yoga such as pranayama, how to do asanas for healing and the magic of mudras. Take your yoga class online. Learn how meditation, breathing and stretching can help with pain situations. Find our most comprehensive guide to yoga remedies. Discover how to live a yogic lifestyle, learn the healing practice of ayurveda and enjoy our featured products for yogis.

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Tools of Yoga

Hatha Yoga has four divisions or limbs: Asana (bodily postures), Pranayama (regulation of breath), Mudra (arrangement of fingers denoting mystic signs) and Nadanusandhana (hearing the inner sound). Practice of asanas increase muscle flexibility and tone while improving circulation, as they boost the immune system. Complimenting the the practice of asanas, are pranayama and a deeper understanding of the processes of yoga. Hatha yoga is one of the best-known yoga practices of western society. Practicing yoga is associated with establishing harmony, equanimity, balance. It has been well-publicized in mainstream media, recommended to patients by their doctors, and praised by its many practitioners.

Asanas

Asanas (yoga postures) are based on the sanskrit word “asana” which is derived from the root as which means to be present, to dwell in, to sit quietly, abide, to inhabit. Asana literally means to sit down or sit in a particular position. In the context of yoga, asana refers to the various postures or positions that are commonly identified with the practice of yoga such as the headstand (sirsha-asana) or the lotus (padma-asana), for example. In order to perfect the postures, stretching is done. Regular practice at approximating the asanas and using breath and gravity to allow you to relax further into the pose. This is Hatha Yoga.

Pranayama

Hatha is composed of the syllables Ha and Tha. The breath that rises from the heart and goes out of the body, is called the Prana and is denoted by the syllable Ha. It is always warm and is, therefore, also called the sun. The breath that is taken in, is the Apana and is denoted by the syllable Tha. It is cool and is therefore also called the moon. The right regulation of the action of these, sun and moon, or Prana and Apana is Hatha Yoga. Therefore, ha and tha symbolically represent the sun and the Moon or Ida and pingala nadis and establish the equilibrium from within.

Breath is life! Exchange of electrons. Flow of energy. Air is the primary nutrient. Survival without it is measured in minutes. It is so important that you do it without thinking. Your breathing is the voice of your spirit. It’s depth, smoothness, sound, and rate reflect your mood. If you become aware of your breath and breathe the way you do when you are calm you will become calm. Yogic breathing techniques are a vocabulary for communicating between the higher cerebrocortical (mind) brain, and the lower limbic and hind-brain autonomic structures. Conscious breathing initiates autonomic healing mechanisms.

The Magic of Mudras

‘Mudra’ means hand and finger postures. Like yogic body postures, it is also a discipline, to rejuvenate the body. Mudras are symbolic or ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism. Mudra is a ‘spiritual gesture’ and energetic ‘seal of authenticity’ used in yoga and spiritual practices of Indian religions and Taoism. Such finger postures not only have a therapeutic effect on the mind-body system but also accentuate mental keenness and acuity.

The most well-known mudras are probably the ones performed while meditating. Sit in lotus position (or with crossed legs) and either put both hands on the knees, the tips of the thumb and index finger joining, or in the lap, the fingers of the right hand resting on the left palm.

Examples of everyday mudras include the Christian crossing of the fingers for prayer, as is the Indian greeting gesture (that is also used while praying), where the hands are held in front of the chest, the palms touching. The Thai greeting of holding the palms of the hands together and bringing them to the tip of the nose with a bow in ‘Sawadi ca’ is a mudra.

Nadanusandhana

To hear our “inner sound” is considered the practice of listening.

The human energy field is a symphony of sound, frequencies and energetic matter. From our auric field and Chakra centers, bones, and organs in the body, all possess a different resonant frequency. When an organ or part of the body is vibrating out of tune or non-harmoniously, it is called “dis ease” or disease. A body is in a healthy state of being when each cell, each organ creates a resonance that is in harmony with the whole being.

Consider learning our listening meditations.

Understand the process of paying attention to your inner vibrations.

The Lesson

This list of sequences of yoga asanas is set as an easy, effective guide for you to follow. While practicing them, emphasize the integrity of each pose, let the breath flow smoothly through your nose as you feel each stretch. Each asana has a thumb nail sketch for you to view proper positioning. Follow the sequence as is, for it is set up to flow through each move.

This Yoga class is good for beginners, as well as, the advanced practitioner. The degree of difficulty comes as to how much further and how much longer you can hold a pose, work deeper, longer, even more concentrated.

This list of sequences of yoga asanas is set as an easy, effective guide for you to follow. While practicing them, emphasize the integrity of each pose, let the breath flow smoothly through your nose.

~Andrew Pacholyk MS, L.Ac.

Sun Salutation

1. Using the lesson above, stand in (Tadasana), take a deep breath, clasp thumbs in front of you and raise arms in front of you over head.
2. Arch back from the waist. (Hasta Uttanasana)
3. Now, fold over at the waist as you exhale, placing palms on the floor (Uttanasana)
4. From this position, simply take a deep breath and look up, keeping finger tips on the floor (Ardha Uttanasana) (see image #4)
5. Step your right leg back into Lunge, step your left leg back to Plank (Chaturanga Dandasana)
6. Flow through into upward facing dog (Ūrdhva Mukha Svānāsana)
7. Move into downward facing dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) Optional variations: move back into upward facing dog (Ūrdhva Mukha Svānāsana) then step your right leg back into Lunge, step your left leg back to Plank (Chaturanga Dandasana)
8. OR step your right leg forward into Lunge, step your left leg forward for Uttanasana. From this position, simply take a deep breath and look up, keeping finger tips on the floor (Ardha Uttanasana) (see image #8)
9. Fold back over at the waist as you exhale, placing palms on the floor (Uttanasana)
10. inhale straight forward in front of you, arching back from the waist. (Hasta Uttanasana)
11. Return to Tadasana. Repeat on the other side, stepping your left leg back into Lunge…

“Life on and off the Mat”

Music for Sun Salutation

Music is an integral part of any yoga or spiritual practice. As music speaks and moves us on many levels, it is essential for any practice!  “Oh rise of sun please come my way, with light and love and carefree days…I reach and fold and bend to you, like leaves and flowers, worship you. As you are truly nature’s force, I find the best through your great source…”

3. Yoga Nidra or conscious sleep is a powerful healing tool that is fundamental to yoga therapy. This is because yoga nidra is an ultimate method of inducing profound relaxation and deep rest. Resting the body-mind is the basis on which true and deep healing takes place. Most people find it very difficult to rest deeply, especially when they are ill. Many will not take time off from work during an illness because of commitments, or because they are so driven. This reluctance to slow-down may lead to more complex and difficult to manage illnesses.

4. Your Meditation Practice is the foundation for cultivating awareness. Whenever awareness is present in a part of our life, that part can improve. Awareness is the key to health, greater intelligence and intuition, higher knowledge, and to uncovering our hidden abilities. Through regular meditation we develop our powers of perception and begin to see things as they really are. Awareness, which is cultivated in meditation, allows us to manage life, with its joys, sorrows and difficulties, with greater intelligence and creativity. To develop meditative awareness we need to learn a range of skills that cultivate our internal abilities. Each skill brings its own benefits, including relaxation, introversion, concentration, self-reflection, contemplation and the capacity to generate higher states of mind and being. All of these processes have one main aim, to cultivate greater and more stable awareness of who we are. We can then use meditation to benefit our physical, psychological and spiritual well-being.

6. Brings Awareness: Through your yoga practice, you can gain a broader perspective in self awareness. Being able to open up your mind, allowing a free flow of thoughts and ideas can be liberating. Welcoming a new opinion or way of doing something can bring new meaning to your life. If you give up your closed thoughts and make way for a different opinion, you may be surprised at the outcome. Through your yoga practice, you learn to strive to meet difficult goals as you are pushed to stretch the horizons of what you think is impossible. You can then share the ways in which obstacles and challenges have made you stronger, and given you confidence to continue setting goals and dreams in your adventures, your business, and in your day to day life. This is conscious living.

7. Improves Nutrition: The source of fuel you find to nourish you on a daily basis changes as you become a yogi. The demands for a healthier diet make your journey more important. The Ayurvedic science of food is based on incorporating the 6 flavors (pungent, salty, sweet, bitter, sour and astringent) into each meal. The Three Humours or Tri-dosa are Ayurvedic body types that tailor a diet and digestive routines that are best for you.

8. Betters Your Sex Life: As mentioned earlier, a healthy heart and the proper flow and circulation of blood in our arteries is one of the most important things we can do to maintain good health and a satisfying sex life. Not only that, just think how much more limber you will be. Not to mention, stamina.

9. Improves Your Quality of Life: You are now breathing better, are more flexible, have found a new sense of purpose, drive and direction in your life. Welcome change! Through this gateway, your idea of nourishment has changed. Not just what you put in your body, but what you allow or don’t allow in your life any more. Yoga is like the lotus flower. It teaches us to unfold one petal at a time in order to reveal the raw beauty underneath.

10. Brings You Closer to Nature/Spirit: Finding spirit and a higher sense of purpose comes to you as you evolve in your yoga practice. It can show us what is truly important in life. Allowing all those things that monopolize our time, to begin to have less value and stress inducing effects on us. Especially as you grow as a yogi.

“No greater calm can be felt than when we are at peace with ourselves.”

Schools of Thought

Yoga has taken root and grown to unparalleled heights. There are now as many branches of yoga as there are apples on a tree. A testament to its quiet strength. The schools of yoga listed below are seven of the most famous, rooted in deep tradition.

I have associated each of the seven main chakra with each school of thought to give the reader a little more of an energetic connection to its way of thinking.

Kundalini yoga: yoga of awareness

Kundalini yoga is a physical, mental and spiritual discipline for developing strength, awareness, character, and consciousness. Practitioners call Kundalini yoga, the yoga of awareness because they claim it expands sensory sensitivity, enhances intuition, and merges individual consciousness with the infinite consciousness of God. Considered an advanced form of yoga and meditation, its goal is to cultivate and harness the unlimited creative and spiritual potential that exists within every human being.

The Kundalini is untapped energy (prana) at the base of the spine that can be drawn up through the body awakening each of the seven chakras. Full enlightenment occurs when this energy reaches the Crown Chakra. Kundalini energy is often represented as a snake coiled at the base of the spine.

The earliest known written mention of Kundalini Yoga is in the Yoga-Kundalini Upanishad, which is the eighty-sixth among the 108 Muktika Upanishads, associated with the Krishna Yajurveda, originating from India. Some have estimated that the composition of the Yajurveda texts date as far back as between 1,400 and 1,000 BC.

According to some traditions Kundalini techniques are only communicated from master to disciple once the disciple is deemed ready. In 1969, Yogi Bhajan founded 3HO (the Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization) to introduce Kundalini to a broader population. Although Kundalini had not previously been taught to the public, Yogi Bhajan felt that everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy its benefits.

Tantra yoga: yoga of sensuality

Tantra yoga is much more than the commonly understood “yoga of sensuality”. Tantra is actually a philosophy which emerged in India approximately 2,500 years ago. It has a modern counterpart in the worship of the “goddess,” as tantra honors the feminine principle of cosmic existence. Tantra yoga teaches that one can use the power of this feminine energy, shakti, to facilitate a state of liberation. Various rituals and meditations awaken shakti energy, sometimes called kundalini energy, by which the practitioner of tantra enters a new state of consciousness.

“The tantra yoga student uses the energies of the body to transcend worldly attachments.” -Swami Rama

Unlike traditional yoga, tantra yoga does not reject the experiences of this world as hindrances to wholeness. Rather, tantra techniques are designed to help the student see the Divine as She exists in all aspects of the world. While the yogi may attempt to control the body, for example, the tantra yoga student uses the energies of the body, sometimes the sexual energies, to transcend worldly attachments.

Traditionally tantra yoga is divided into two schools; one is the “right-hand” path, which consists of more conservative practices. The “left-hand” path consists in part of ritualized practices such as sexual intercourse and meat eating (unusual in the vegetarian culture from which it sprang). Both paths are designed to bring the student to liberation. Under no circumstances did the student attempt only the sexual practices out of context with the other disciplines, and never without years of training under an experienced guru or teacher. In fact, it was assumed that the student of tantra was adept in the basic yoga practices of asana and pranayama as well. We honor the tantric spirit in several ways. See sex, the art of Tantric massage, and Tantric schools of thought.

Jnana yoga: of knowledge/wisdom

Jnana yoga is the part of yoga that focuses on self-inquiry and remembering one’s true nature. “Jnana” means knowledge or wisdom. It employs the philosophy of Vedanta which is found in the Upanishads, the concluding portions of the oldest Indian scriptures or Vedas. It is said to be the most difficult path because one must be established in the other paths before one can use the mind to transcend its own false identifications and attain knowledge of the Self. Jnana yoga states that the individual soul is identical with the cosmic soul, and all other identifications such as “I am a doctor, I am a woman, I am young”, are viewed as illusory.

Jnana yoga explains that the the self is without attributes. The Self is seen as absolute existence, knowledge and bliss. Absolute existence means without beginning and end or birth and death. Absolute knowledge means without any ignorance or having universal consciousness. Absolute bliss means without pain or suffering.

Jnana yoga recognizes that individuals are constantly becoming attached to false impressions of who they are, but gradually through the practice of self-inquiry and remembrance of one’s true nature these false identities, like veils, become thinner and the Self shines through. This experience of self-realization is one of unity or oneness with all beings.

Bhakti yoga: emotions to devotions

Bhakti yoga is the practice of converting the emotions into devotion or unselfish love.

The philosophy of bhakti yoga suggests that just as one may have a feeling of love for another person, a favorite place, a rewarding type of work and so on, one may also develop a feeling of love for all humanity. Prayer, chanting of mantras both verbally and mentally, singing of hymns, study of sacred stories, service of devotees, worship and meditation on one’s chosen form of divinity are some of the practices of bhakti yoga.

In the yoga tradition the ancient Indian scriptures, the sanskrit language and the Hindu symbols of the cosmic being are commonly used; however, yoga recognizes the languages of all religions as leading to the same goal of loving all.

Hatha yoga: physical yoga

In the West, yoga is associated largely with the physical practice of body postures and breathing techniques known in Sanskrit (the language of yoga) as asana and pranayama. The postures, along with breathing practices, are part of the hatha branch of yoga, and are but one aspect of the varied field of philosophy and practice known collectively as yoga.

Within the hatha yoga branch there are numerous schools and lineages. Most of these schools have certain guiding principles formulated by a particular teacher or guru. These branches of yoga schools where notably defined and named after their creators: Ashtanga Yoga, Bikram Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, Restorative Yoga, Sivananda Yoga, Viniyoga.

Hatha Yoga has four divisions or limbs: Asana (bodily postures), Pranayama (regulation of breath), Mudra (arrangement of fingers denoting mystic signs) and Nadanusandhana (hearing the inner sound).

Raja yoga: of physical/mental control

Raja yoga is the process by which one learns to control the mind and body. This mental and physical control allows one to live more effectively, achieve inner peace and attain Self-Realization. The ancient scripture of Patanjali Maharishi, known as The Yoga Sutras, is accepted by the yogis as the most authoritative, comprehensive and concise description of the mind and the practices by which one can gradually gain freedom from identification with the thought process. The yogis claim that a person can achieve clear mental vision and peace of mind only by detachment from turbulent thoughts and emotions. This detachment does not come by allowing the mind to wander aimlessly, but by learning to direct its scattered rays to one point.

Raja yoga begins with guidelines for ethical living, which help to purify the mind and prepare one for meditation. Its central practice is sitting with the spine straight, regulating the breath and focusing the mind on an uplifting sound or image. Hatha yoga (postures and breathing exercises), besides having tremendous physical benefits, is the perfect preparation for meditation, and is seen as the physical foundation of raja yoga.

Karma yoga: yoga of action

The yogis say that any work may be transformed into karma yoga by developing the attitude that the work is done for the peace and harmony of all. Karma yoga is the selfless service of humanity without the expectation of reward, compensation or any personal gain other than the delight of helping another. The word karma has several meanings. In a broad sense it means action. According to the doctrine of karma yoga, every action has a reaction, whether in the current lifetime or a future one; therefore one is constantly experiencing the results of past actions and creating the seeds of future experience. One breaks the chain of negative actions that have created suffering and led to more negativity by practicing karma yoga. Also, one develops the feeling of connection with others and attains peace.

Examples of karma yoga are doing volunteer work for a worthy cause, helping a family member or friend by encouraging the person’s spiritual growth, and providing food, clothing, shelter, medicine or education to those in need. You may very well be practicing karma yoga already, without even knowing it!

Yoga Adornment: Jewelry with Purpose

Eating Like A Yogi

Eating healthy and nourishing meals are the best way to reward your body and therefore, your practice. When your body is filled with foods that serve you, you have good energy, healthy skin, better assimilating and eliminating capacities and you honor the mind and spirit. An Ayurvedic diet should reflect the needs of an individual’s constitution, or dosha imbalances.

5 Poses to Calm the Inner Mind

Our daily mind is a labyrinth of thoughts, tasks, and to-do lists that never seem to go away until we “check them off the list” and move on to the next set of problems. But at the end of the day, if we don’t clear our minds from these ruling factors, we take them to bed with us. Try these 5 simple, but effective yoga poses for calming the inner mind.

Ayurvedic Herbal Remedies

Finding A Mentor

A teacher or mentor in life is important!  They say the mentor comes when the student is ready. “Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.”  Some of my greatest mentors have been my parents, dance teachers, yoga teachers and colleagues. In this article you will find my own personal journey from the mentors in my life!  ~ From my book, The Crystal Teacher Manual…

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