What is Yoga? Do you know where are yoga from?

He Was Just Watching His Owner Do Yoga...Til He Decided To Get In On The Fun

People doing yoga are generally trying to improve their flexibility or find a way to relieve stress. With its popularity growing each and every day, almost everyone wants to get in on the yoga praise. New students are signing up in droves and yoga mats are becoming ubiquitous.

Well, when this woman was showing off her newly acquired yoga skills, her dog had to show her up immediately and prove that he is the master yogi of the house.

Who knew dogs could find nirvana? Look at how nonchalantly that dog just lifted his leg over his head! I'm sure this dog's owner started taking notes from her four-legged, superior yoga student

ABOUT FULL MOON MEDITATION

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You're invited to join thousands of other meditators on all continents to sit with the meditation guide every full moon day right in your own home.

In the philosophy of yoga meditation, the mind is viewed as a universal field; its waves pass through us and become our individual minds. This universal mind is a radiant force and is also known as the universal guru within. When all sit together at the same time even in different locations, they connect to the universal guru mind and generate a strong field, like so many magnets being joined together and forming a much stronger magnet; the strength of each then equals the combined strength of all.

A meditation guide like Swami Veda Bharati, disciple of Swami Rama of the Himalayas (author of the classic Living with the Himalayan Masters), is trained to tune into the universal mind-field.

If you will sit in your own home every full moon day (see timings below) and follow the guidelines given here you will be guided into an inner tranquility which is your own deep interior nature.

Even people who have never learnt to meditate are benefiting from these sessions, so there is no prior experience necessary!

FULL MOON MEDITATION TIMINGS

7 AM in India (IST), surrounding countries adjust the time accordingly, for example Iran is 5 AM.

8 PM in East Asia, 8 PM Singapore time. Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand etc. adjust their times to coincide with Singapore time 8 PM.

8 PM in U.K. (Greenwich Mean Time). Those in all European, and all African time zones, please adjust your sitting time to coincide with 8 PM United Kingdom (GMT).

10 PM in New York, U.S.A., Eastern Standard Time. Surrounding countries and regions of South, Central and North America and the Caribbean to match their time to 10 PM, New York, (EST).

WHEN IS THE FULL MOON?

The calendars differ. The western calendar used to have ten months. Then two Roman emperors thought they were stars in heaven; they added their names, Julius and Augustus Caesar, so two months were added, July and August. But the Roman (Julian) computers were not programmed properly! They forgot to re-number the months. Sept means seven but September is the ninth month! Oct means eight but October is the tenth month! Nove means nine but November is the eleventh month! Dece means ten but December is the twelfth month! Even the Gregorian calendar did not make the necessary adjustments.

In the ancient civilizations, in which timings of sacred events were very important, there are two kinds of calendars, solar and lunar. "Year" and "month" are terms in astronomy. Same conjunction of stars, planets and constellations should occur at the same time to mark the start of a year or a month. Various festivals in ancient traditions, including in India, are held according to the solar or the lunar calendar. That is when the energies flow.

So the dates of the Full Moon Meditations are announced after our Ashram astronomologers (neologism here!) have worked out the hours and minutes as you will see in the attached announcements of dates.

Swami Veda and other teachers will sit with you according to these dates. Please do join in the shared Full Moon mind-field.

People often ask, how do we tune into the Indian time? That is not how it goes. On which ever continent Swami Veda is at any given time, he sits at the times announced for your continent. Swami meditates four times during the Full Moon 24-hour period to accommodate people at the designated meditation timings. So he actually has cycle of four sessions for different continents. Please meditate at the time for your continent-Swami Veda will be there.

METHOD OF MEDITATION

Till then, and till you have had the opportunity to take some training in correct way of sitting and correct way of breathing, the simple procedure to follow is:

Sit as straight as you can on an even, firm but cushioned surface.

Relax your forehead.

Relax your facial and physical musculature.

Bring your awareness to your breathing.

Breathe slowly, gently, smoothly, evenly; without jerk or sound in the breathing.

Now feel the touch and flow of the breath in the nostrils.

Let there be no pause between the breaths; as one breath is completed, begin to feel the next breath flowing and touching in the nostrils.

After a few breaths, choose:

A. whichever name of God is your favourite according to your tradition or religion;

B. or a sacred but short phrase or prayer word from your scripture or tradition

Some suggestions are as follows:

Those who wish to follow the Himalayan tradition may use the sound so in the in-breath and ham in the out-breath, without a break in the cycles of ham-so with the breath.

• The Sikhs may use: Vaah-e-guru or Sat-naam

• Muslims may use the word Allah or any sacred phrase (such as La-Illah-Illillah, or Allaho or Allahoo), or one of the 99 names of God.

• Jews may use Ha-shem

• Christians may use one of these: Jesus or Yeshu, Hail Mary, Ave Maria, Maranatha (Aramaic) or Kyrie eleison (Greek).

• Mazdayasnians (Zoroastrians, Parsees) may use any of these: ahura mazda ahuu va-iryo esham vohu but for total beginners of the Mazdayasnian tradition the best recommendation is to use the phrase vohu-mano

• The Jainas may use Om, Om hreem, or Hreem arham

Those who prefer total nirguna, transcendental, trans-qualitative divinity may use only Om

The Buddhists may use the word Buddho to start with.

The Theravadin Buddhists may choose to use no word whatsoever only practice mindfulness of breathing.

If you do not believe in a form of divinity or spiritual incarnation and so forth, exhaling, think Oooonnne (One) inhaling, think Twwwoooo (Two) without a break in this count with the breath.

Exhaling, think that phrase; inhaling think that phrase. The phrase is not to come in the mouth nor on the tongue; it must me only a mentation.

Let there be no break between the breaths, nor between the incessant flow of the thoughts of the same phrase.

As soon as you become aware that you have lost the flow and other thoughts have begun to arise, re-start the same procedure from the beginning with number 1.

Sit for as long as you wish.

Let the quietness of the mind continue even after you rise.

If you practice this even for 2-3 minutes at a time many times in the day, you will notice subtle changes in yourself for the better.

Whatever you will do repeatedly with the mind, that will become the mind's habit; calming the mind repeatedly will return your mind to its calm nature.

Meditation Exercises

Meditation lies as a central method within Raja Yoga because it is highly effective at training the mind and emotions. If the mind comes under control and understood well it becomes an aid to achievements in life. Conversely a mind that is unfocused and whose internal functions are not apprehended correctly then it serves to distract and dissipate our potential.

The mind, with its thoughts and emotions, reaches into the physical body. They have a great effect on its condition depending if the thoughts and emotions are disturbed and conflicted or contented and harmonious.

Dhyana is the term of meditation in the Sanskrit tradition of India. In Pali, an older dialect and the language of Buddha, it is jhana. Teachers of meditation travelled the silk trade route and introduced the practices where it became known as chan(na) in Mandarin, seon in Korea, and zen in Japan. In Vietnamese dhyana is thien. All of these weave together into the broad range of meditational practice.

The psychological process occurs in space and time, the most elementary frames or limitations of our human perception and conception. Yoga meditation aims at piercing through the perceptual hold over the mind and liberating oneself from degrees of distraction, disturbance and inertia. This brings about an altogether new awareness both of oneself and the world.

The main effect of intensive meditation is samadhi, the experience of superconsciousness, an elated joyful state in which the fluctuations and operations of the mind are left behind by a method of self-control.

Along the way towards this achievement numerous subsidiary effects are gained by the practice of meditation. A significant amount of research has occurred in institutes in India, Europe and USA documenting these effects. A few of them include:

•   Lowering of the heart rate
•  Contributes to reducing stress
• Induces the "relaxation response"
• Improved control of the thought process
•  Acquiring ability to promote positive thoughts
• Awareness of the link between our state of mind and physical health

Raja Yoga Exercises

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RajaYoga is the umbrella for all the systems of Yoga. It is a path which incorporates the various streams together - the physical, spiritual, moral, educational, system of disciplines, system of energies, and the texts of yoga.

Raja Yoga is based upon raja-vidya, the knowledge of running a kingdom. Raja means royal or regal and in previous times the royalty of India practiced yoga meditation under the guidance of a kula-guru, the teacher of the family and clan.

Raja Yoga is called the royal path because the kingdom is actually oneself and one becomes a ruler of their mind and emotions. It is an organized method of yoga wherein the variety of techniques and methods are placed within a broad framework. Within its scope is ashtanga-yoga, the yoga of eight limbs, consisting of yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi.

Raja Yoga is a science of self-training which provides a refined way to develop the skills which are exactly the abilities required to live life-focusing your attention, lessening distraction, increasing energy, vibrant health, inspiration that induces creativity, and importantly unfolding your intuition which allows you to understand people and situations.

In essence one will have a calm and clear mind, which sees with clarity and comprehension.