i have practised yoga for one month, but not find this feeling,
should i choose a religion in order to practise yoga
Results are not instant for most people. A practice should be consistent, and practiced for a long time. How far you progress will be affected by your dedication to the practice and the events which happen in your life external to yoga.
The peace of mind that can come with yoga is the result of practicing what is right and needed for your body and mind. What kind of practice are you doing? Do you have a teacher? Having a good teacher is the best way to progress, as they can see things about you that you cannot. They can also correct you so that you do not do things which will impede your efforts or cause you harm.
So, tell us more about yourself, so that maybe we can offer better insight. 
[QUOTE=suryadaya;68760]Results are not instant for most people. A practice should be consistent, and practiced for a long time. How far you progress will be affected by your dedication to the practice and the events which happen in your life external to yoga.
The peace of mind that can come with yoga is the result of practicing what is right and needed for your body and mind. What kind of practice are you doing? Do you have a teacher? Having a good teacher is the best way to progress, as they can see things about you that you cannot. They can also correct you so that you do not do things which will impede your efforts or cause you harm.
So, tell us more about yourself, so that maybe we can offer better insight. :)[/QUOTE]
wow, it’s very difficult to find a teacher who have deep insight into the spirit of yoga, yoga is not that natural now, there are too much promotions saying that yoga can help lose weigh and have pretty shape, etc… nowadays, the yoga world is a bit noisy, people just learn how to practise several yoga poses, and don’t know the term namesd yoga life style which is claimed to be a very healthy way to living:)
If you want to practice Yoga for spiritual purposes, like purification of mind, then you are best advised to do it through Hinduism. As secular-Yoga teachers are not interested in the spiritual essence of Yoga. They sometimes try to sell off doing postures as spiritual, but that is going to do nothing more than improve your flexibility and general physical health(which is also important on the whole)
The goal of Hinduism is purification of the mind, so studying it and practicing Hinduism meets your goals.
Surya Deva- so no secular teachers are devoted spiritually or interested in purifying the body mind and soul? And all Hindus and Hindu teachers are? Disagree. It could work, also, with the right teacher and if the student is ready.
Poster: There are yoga traditions which have evolved from the spiritual traditions of yoga and still give it the devotion and respect it deserves, while carrying it forward into the modern world. What place to you come from? What brought you to consider yoga? W
Dear Walz_hz,
Go to the website of Advanced Yoga Practices or AYP. I can’t add links because of the limitation but you will find it with google. This site was started by a fellow called Yogani. It’s free and you can learn simple yet good practices which help you to calm your mind
Surya Deva- so no secular teachers are devoted spiritually or interested in purifying the body mind and soul? And all Hindus and Hindu teachers are? Disagree. It could work, also, with the right teacher and if the student is ready.
Well, if you are truly secular, then you are not really going to bring the soul into it, are you? My point was that if you want to practice Yoga as a spiritual path, then you are looking more towards Hinduism, as Yoga in Hinduism is a spiritual path for spiritual development or self-realization, which is common to all Hindu schools. If that is your aim, then you are pretty much a Hindu.
If your aim is not self-realization, but just to reduce stress or improve your physical health, then there is no need for Hinduism. It is only when your aim is overtly spiritual that Hinduism becomes important.
Secular yoga is mostly about health, flexibility and relaxation through postures and some calming breathing techniques. There is nothing wrong with this, but the results are limited and will soon pass away after you stop practicing for a while. Many secular yoga teachers will be stuck forever practicing on this level and become addicted to the temporary benefits of this kind of practice. A yogi works on a deeper level and this includes Hindu mysticism, -morality, -philosophy and -metaphysics. It is not in my interest to convince anyone to practice yoga on that deeper level, just understand the difference between from what you can expect from YOGA versus yoga. It has come to my attention that in the west people pop up a holosync CD and lie down in a relaxing posture and call this meditation. This is not yogic meditation, but is called chilling out. There is also nothing wrong with chilling out, but don’t expect that it will have the same benefits of meditation. Meditation is not all that relaxing and takes a lot of discipline. It is just that to cater to as many people, smart businessmen are creating a version of YOGA Lite. Consistent peace of mind is not something that comes from lying in a soothing posture and listening to some tunes, it requires some hard work on a much deeper level.
1 month is nothing also to benefit most from yoga you need to do many steps i.e asana pranayama meditation. Actually meditation should be done at least 5-10 minutes per day to start with. 2 times per day even better and then you can extend slowly , dont go to fast so you get tired of it. Also you can not measure how you progress. You will know you have progressed when you are put to certain situations, after you have had some stress or something, you will understand that you had made more progress than you thought. Sometimes 6 months pass on and you think you are on the same step and kaboom something happens and you act totally different and more calm than you even thought you could be. First then you understand that those 6 months really gave result but you didnt see it then.
Yoga also works on a subtle level which we cant measure. Also what kind of yoga you are practicing could really matter. Do you have pranayama and meditation for example?
Well if you dont have you can always do those steps at home , or stay after the yogaclass if possible. Sometimes it is not possible as you can be disturbed if so try at least pranayama afterwards as we do pranayama to recover the prana after asanas. if you do yoga for 1 hour it is recommended to do pranayama for 15 mins. 1/4 of the asanas. But here you can start with only 5 minutes, in pranyama lungs should never be stressed. Then we wont have a good effect of it only sideeffect. So go slow start with 5 minutes till you feel comfortable. then its ok to extend it more.
[QUOTE=walz_hz;68754]i have practised yoga for one month, but not find this feeling,
should i choose a religion in order to practise yoga[/QUOTE]
The practice of True Hatha in it’s true meaning, the Union of the Sun and Moon, Ida and Pinagala, over the course of time will ineveitably impart the most profound peace to the mind.
An hour of asana topped off with the cherry of lying down dead/shavasana, corpse pose is “working towards.”
The practice of Asamprajnata Samadhi will impart peace of mind.
Let me loosly qoute some people…
“stop thinking. End all your problems.” - Lao Tzu
Asamprajnata Samadhi is without seed, “without seed is taken to mean that there is no object, or thing upon which you are focusing the mind, your not “meditating” on anything”
“The seedless or ‘asamprajnata’ samadhi is performed by the “alert” cessation of mental activity.”
“Don’t think of the past. Forget the future. Don’t try to meditate. Just be here now and rest in awareness”
Technical advice hints from somewhere:
Sit. Lie down. Be comfortable. But not lethargic or dull.
Then the Dude Abides - in awareness.
When a thought or image arises in the mind - SHARPLY - utter the word PHAT!!!
Which cuts through the thought and you are treated to a glimpse of your true nature, your natural state which is . . .
When not abiding in your true nature, you appear to take the form of the minds mental activity. and so you experience happy, sad, sorrow, fear, due to identification with the activity of the mind…
PHAT!!!
Look to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras with various commentaries for further information.
I totally agree with you. I used to think that just relaxing is somewhat equivalent to meditation, but it is absolutely not. Only after I decided to take up a meditation routine or discipline, I started unravelling all the nuances of meditation and I came to realize (or I am still realizing) what a process it really is. Meditation is totally not something you sit in for half an hour and then walk away from - it must start to sip into your daily life before you can really feel the difference and reap the benefits of meditation. It’s the same as with yoga really - at one point you start taking your practice from the mat to your life and to the world. I think that’s one of the first signs that you view yoga as more spiritual, you start viewing it as lifestyle or discipline of sorts.
We are what we think.
With our thoughts we make our world.
~Buddha
[QUOTE=bjoy;77054]We are what we think.
With our thoughts we make our world.
~Buddha[/QUOTE]
we become what we think
our thoughts become our reality
?our thoughts become our reality?
om, PHAT!!!
It is a common impression that yoga is an athletic skill and any other aspect of yoga, popularly meditation, is something as easy to achieve. In reality, unless you carry into this life a sumptuous spiritual legacy from past lives, we are talking of years and life-times of efforts.
It saddens the heart to hear about “samadhi” or even “meditation” from students for a few months in yoga encouraged by their equally unqualified teachers with whatever vested interest. A break-through stage called “pratyahara” is to be reached to be able to lock oneself into the inner domain at the exclusion of the exterior. That itself takes years of yoga sadhana consisting of yama, niyama. asana and pranayama. The states of dharana, dhyana and samadhi are even more fragile and extremely hard to achieve.
Yoga (of Yoga Sutra) is meant for the toughest with fiery aspiration who will be there for a very long howl. Such is to be found one in thousands. For the most, when mind is used to know mind, it retaliates with spiritual fantasies in place of material. Real peace of mind is achieved by suspending the mind. It is not easy.