I understand there are many types of yoga. Is there a hierarchy to this? Like Buddhism
Yoga can be viewed as if it were a tree that has many branches. The types of yoga that have developed over the last 5000 or so years, and continue to be created today, stem from a similar source. Classical texts such as the Veda’s, The Yoga Sutras, Tantric Philosophy, The Bagahvad Gita and many others have been used and interpreted in different ways with the result of all the different styles found today.
Anna
This is a fascinating question. When referring to various types of yoga, yes there are many ways to study and practice yoga. It might appear hierarchical in relation to some paths involving a guru or master teacher. I am not familiar with Buddhism although Yoga and Buddhism have the exact same roots, so I won’t compare. In the unfolding of human dramas there may well be hierarchies that evolve based on the egos need for competition and other pointless pursuits however in essence the root teachings have little or nothing to do with this as the divine presence is found within not without.
I hope you are able to answer this question in a satisfying way also. I hope that helps.
Jennifer
hi Dean.
Yoga styles that you talk about DO NOT have any hierarchy at all…Yoga was really simple when it was in India… It was a lifestyle pattern to be followed to quieten the mind and body…There is a Teacher and a disciple…that’s it…But when Yoga was brought to North America (primarily by Swami Sivananda’s students, Bishnu Ghosh’s student, and Iyengar Ji Student’s) all hell broke loose…There are probably 9 or 10 students of Iyengar who have branched out from him and each started their own school…(like John Baron Bapiste, Kali ray etc.,with fancy names like hatha yoga, power yoga, lotus yoga, etc)…They all have the same teacher…there is no hierarchy…
The whole point of Yoga is to quieten the mind…It is hard sometimes because sometimes there might be an imbalance of your body prakriti’s (vata, pita, kapha)…The hierarchy that you talk about is probably because some forms of Yoga benefit you much faster than the others (meaning they work out the imbalance faster because the sequence of asanas)…So practioners/teacher claim their yoga is better or “Up in the Hierarchy”…
So re-iterating my point…no there is no hierachy in Yoga…it is a common misconception…hope this helps…
Yours truly
Viraagi
p.s: on a different note…Saying buddism has a hierachy is similar to saying Christianity has a hierarchy with Catholics (being Mahayana) and Protestants (being Hinayana)…that’s not right though…right???