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Aṣṭāṅga Yoga

920 bytes added, 5 years ago
Eight Stages: ++more on Pranayama..
#Yama (social code)
#Niyama (personal code)
#[[Asana ]] (sitting pose)#[[Pranayama ]] (control of prana)
#Pratyahara (sense withdrawal)
#Dharana (concentration)
'''Asana''' as per Patanjali is a steady and comfortable sitting position. Asana in Ashtanga Yoga includes only the meditative postures, such as Padmasana, Siddhasana, Vajrasana, etc, unlike various Asanas in Hatha Yoga. Here the purpose is to balance the different nerve impulses, feelings of pain and pleasure, heat and cold and all other opposite sensations which distracts the mind, body and soul.
'''Pranayama''': As per Patanjali [[Yoga Sutra 34]], to control the Prana and its energies, we need to control our mind, also the mind needs to be pure and steady. Human Mental Structures can be divided into four kinds, such as dynamic, emotional, mystic and rational. For the dynamic person, Karma Yoga is best suited. The Emotional ones should prefer Bhakti Yoga who can surrender to God; and most people belong to this category. The mystic people are in favour of practicing Raja Yoga and the allied practices of Hatha Yoga, Swara Yoga, Kriya Yoga, Nada Yoga, and trataka, etc. And the Rational people are Jnana Yogis, who read the Upanishads, the Gita, and other philosophies to know the deeper aspects of life, the universe, the Supreme Being and meditation. Also many have the mixture of these four tendencies, and they can practice a variety of sadhanas or which are best suited for them recommended by [[Patanjali]]. So in Pranayama, one should first practice full exhalation (rechaka) and retention of the breath outside (kumbhaka) which also constitutes the ''maha bandha'', which includes performing the three bandhas together; jalandhara, uddiyana and moola bandha while doing kumbhaka. But a beginner should start with repeated exhalation, upto 100 times and more, after daily prolonged practise for several years, one may start practicing Maha bandha. Just by practicing rechaka, kumbhaka and the three bandhas, the mind can be brought to a state of stillness. As per Yoga Sutra 2.49, Prana means breath, ayama is lengthening or widening through control. When breathing is controlled so as to retain the breath, it is pranayama. Puraka, Rechaka and Kumbhaka, are also known as three types of Pranayama. The fourth type is called kevala kumbhaka, is of two types: antaranga and bahiranga.
==References==
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