Importance of Yoga

yoga is set of spiritual practices and exercises, which had originated in ancient India. Yoga is a very common term in Hinduism. Yoga has not only influenced Hinduism, but several other religious and spiritual practices across the world. Apart from India, Yoga is considered as an ancient art of exercise that was practiced by the means of asanas of Hatha Yoga throughout the globe. Hatha Yoga is a popular form of exercise within the Indian aesthetics and monks. There are some major branches of Yoga, which are Jnana Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga and Bhakti Yoga.

There are several ancient Hindu texts that had described the different postures of Yoga, which are included in the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Shiva Samhita, and many other Hindu texts. The practice of Yoga has eight different aspects known as the Eight Limbs of Yoga, they are
• Yama or the five abstentions: Truth, chastity, nonviolence, non-covetousness, and abstain from property attachments
• Niyama or five observances: Contentment, study, austerities, purity, and surrender to god
• Asana or seat: It is the seated posture for meditation
• Pranayama or lengthening the life force: It the form of vital energy or the breath
• Pratyahara or abstraction: Process of detaching the sensory organs from the external world
• Dharana or concentration: Focusing the mind on a particular sphere
• Dhyana or meditation: It is the highest degree of thoughtfulness about the particular sphere
• Samadhi or liberation: The merging of the meditation with the consciousness of the individual
Asana is an ancient form of exercise and inseparable part of yoga. The asana are related to the history and cultural traditions of India. There are various types of asana, which are practiced. Asana is an extension of yoga that depends on the anatomy of the human body and its different postures. The postures help the body to be fit and to maintain a high degree...