PATHS OF YOGA

Bhakti Yoga

Bhakti Yoga is the path of devotion, the method of attaining God through love and the loving recollection of God. Most religions emphasize this spiritual path because it is the most natural. As with other yoga's, the goal of the Bhakta, the devotee of God, is to attain oneness with the Divine. The Bhakta attains this through the force of love, that most powerful and irresistible of emotions. It is nothing else than following the First Commandment which says: "to love God with all your heart, mind and soul."

This is the Yoga of selfless love, compassion, humility, purity and the desire and serious intention to merge with God. It is in our day to day life that Bhakti Yoga is truly practiced. Are we loving, compassionate and fair in our dealings with others? Jesus stated the ideal of Bhakti Yoga when he taught, "As you have loved me, love one another." When true love reigns, there can be no barriers; then harmony and fulfillment rule.

Hatha Yoga

Hatha Yoga generally includes a series of "Asanas" or "postures" combined with breathing exercises. Its original purpose was to create the physical strength, stamina and concentration necessary for effective meditation, i.e.: provide a path to a spiritual life. Today most Americans practice Hatha Yoga for the unique sense of health and well being it provides, without reference to its spiritual content. Even so, Hatha Yoga is not an ordinary stretching and toning exercise. The focus and discipline provide a sense of inner as well as outer balance. Hatha Yoga itself can be a path to enlightenment. Meanwhile modern medicine is busy researching the extraordinary health benefits produced by these 5,000 year old practice.

Karma Yoga

Karma Yoga is the yoga of action or work; specifically, Karma Yoga is the path of dedicated work: renouncing the results of our actions as a spiritual offering rather than hoarding the results for ourselves. Karma is both action and the result of action. What we experience today is the result of our karma--both good and bad--created by our previous actions. This chain of cause and effect that we ourselves have created can be snapped by karma Yoga: we use the sword of Karma yoga to stop the chain reaction of cause and effect. By disengaging the ego from the work process, by offering the results up to a higher power--whether a personal God or to the Self within--we stop the whole process.

Karma Yoga is particularly effective at this since it won't allow us to use activity as an escape. By insisting that life itself can be holy, "Karma yoga gives us the tools of everyday life to cut our way to freedom", from the Bhagavad Gita, one of India most sacred text regarding Karma Yoga.

Kundalini Yoga

The dormant spiritual energy in all human beings lies waiting for release at the base of the spine. After awakening, this energy is the dynamic force behind meditation. 'Kundalini' literally means the 'coiled one". Awakened by meditation, it begins a spontaneous and irresistible inner journey through the six energy centers or Chakras of the body, towards its counterpart in the crown.. When Kundalini achieves Union, the seeker experiences Liberation.

Raja Yoga

Raja Yoga, is the royal path of meditation. As a king maintains control over his kingdom, so can we maintain control over our own 'kingdom' - the vast territory of the mind. In Raja Yoga we use our mental powers to realize the Atman through the process of psychological control. The basic premise of Raja Yoga is that our perception of the divine Self is obscured by the disturbances of the mind. If the mind can be made still and pure, the Self will automatically, through repeated practice, we can make the mind our servant rather than being its victim.

The Bhagavad Gita, one of India most sacred text offers this description:

"Patiently, little by little, spiritual aspirants must free themselves from all mental distractions, with the aid of the intelligent will. They must fix their minds upon the Atman, and never think of anything else. No matter where the restless and unquiet mind wanders, it must be drawn back and made to submit to the Atman alone."

Originally Hatha Yoga was a form of Raja or Meditation, but it has outgrown its roots and become a complex and distinct form of practice.

Tantra Yoga

Tantra Yoga suggests that sexuality is a very powerful force that can be harnessed for increased self-awareness. Thus, Tantric Yoga is unusual, in that it not only allows sexual feelings and contact, but uses sexual experience as a means to enlightenment.