Often people ask me what kind of yoga I practice. This question always puzzles me a little. It sounds to me like yoga is a product with many brand names, sort of like yogurt, and that one brand may be a little better than the rest. However, I do realize that this is often the way yoga is perceived in the west, and that my questioner normally is referring to my asana practice, so my general answer is hatha yoga. If I go on to explain that I follow the Sivananda format, then I go the risk of really confusing the poor guy.
Actually hatha yoga is only one part of my practice. For the record, I am a yoga teacher who teaches and practices classical yoga, the way Indian’s have practiced for centuries. My training is through the Sivananda Vedanta tradition.
Yoga is a way of life that includes helping others selflessly, devotional practices, intellectual studies and a scientific approach to attaining self realization. The bending and stretching are part of this scientific approach. Swami Vishnu Devananda, who is the founder of Sivananda yoga, simplified and summed up this scientific approach with five points:
proper exercise
proper breathing
proper relaxation
proper diet
positive thinking and meditation
Recently I came across a short video on YouTube with Krishna Darshan from the Yoga Farm ashram in California. In this video he explains the yogic way of life and the Sivananda practice. I think this is a beautiful explanation. So here then is the kind of yoga I practice.
Actually hatha yoga is only one part of my practice. For the record, I am a yoga teacher who teaches and practices classical yoga, the way Indian’s have practiced for centuries. My training is through the Sivananda Vedanta tradition.
Yoga is a way of life that includes helping others selflessly, devotional practices, intellectual studies and a scientific approach to attaining self realization. The bending and stretching are part of this scientific approach. Swami Vishnu Devananda, who is the founder of Sivananda yoga, simplified and summed up this scientific approach with five points:
proper exercise
proper breathing
proper relaxation
proper diet
positive thinking and meditation
Recently I came across a short video on YouTube with Krishna Darshan from the Yoga Farm ashram in California. In this video he explains the yogic way of life and the Sivananda practice. I think this is a beautiful explanation. So here then is the kind of yoga I practice.