Basic Yoga Session - Yoga Exercise and Pose (Yogasans)

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Set your gym equipment aside. Yoga exercises will only require you 30 minutes each day, a Yoga Mat or blanket, and a small exercise space.You might be surprised to learn that your body can actually do things you did not think possible. Take the wide range of Yoga Poses that can help an individual attain a high level of self-awareness, balance, and strength. The seven primary types of movements that your body can make through Yoga exercise are flexion, extension, hyperextension, abduction, adduction, rotation, and circumduction. You can do a combination of these movements to have a stronger, more flexible, and balanced body. 

Yoga is one good way of relaxation. It can ease the tension building in your muscles and joints without experiencing fatigue and overexertion. The Yoga exercise is also believed to make a practitioner look younger. The basic yoga moves involved in the poses and exercises will provide inner peace and radiant health. 

These are some of the things to keep in mind before indulging into Yoga Exercise: 

• Know your body limits.
• If you want to enjoy the activity, don't push too hard. This could also avoid hurting yourself in the process.
• It is advisable to start with a teacher so you will be guided on the yoga basic positions. If that is not possible, good books or videos on Yoga Exercise can help you get started.
• Consult a health professional before starting to do the exercises, especially if you have certain medical conditions.

The Asanas or the Yoga Poses usually start in breathing slowly and deeply, concentrating your mind, and making yourself centered. Remember that your body movements and breathing must be coordinated until such time that they are one and the same. Your breathing will also be your guide on when to start or stop the Yoga Exercise. Coming into a pose, holding it, and coming out of it must be continuously done with gracefulness. 

The Sequence of Yoga Asanas

Yoga Exercise - Corpse Pose (Savasana) The Corpse Yoga Pose is considered as a classic relaxation Yoga Pose and is practiced before or in between Asanas as well as a Final Relaxation. While it looks deceptively simple, it is actually difficult to perform. Learn more on how to do it with the help of this article. Easy Pose (Sukhasana) This is one of the classic Meditative Poses and is usually performed after doing the Corpse Pose. The Easy Pose helps in straightening the spine, slowing down metabolism, promoting inner tranquility, and keeping your mind still. Neck Exercises Many people hold tension in their necks and shoulders, leading to stiffness, bad posture, and tension headaches. Yoga practice can ease tension, increase flexibility, and tone the muscles. Learn some Neck Exercises in this section. Shoulder Lifts Many people hold tension in their necks and shoulders, leading to stiffness, bad posture, and tension headaches. Yoga practice can ease tension, increase flexibility, and tone the muscles. This section covers the steps on how to practice Shoulder Lifts. Eye Training Like any other muscles, the eye muscles also need exercise to be healthy and strong. By moving the eyes in every direction, without turning your head at all, these Five Yoga Eye Exercises will strengthen the eye muscles, help prevent eyestrain, and improve eyesight. Sun Salutation (Surya Namaskar) The Sun Salutation or Surya Namaskar is a Yoga Pose which limbers up the whole body in preparation for the Yoga Asanas. It is a graceful sequence of twelve Yoga positions performed as one continuous exercise. Learn how to practice Sun Salutation in this section. Double Leg Raises A Double Leg Raise is similar to a Single Leg Raise, only this time, you will raise both legs. In doing this Yoga Pose, make sure that the full length of your back is resting on the floor and your shoulders and neck are relaxed. This section covers the steps and guidelines on how to do this pose properly. Headstand (Sirshasana) Headstand is one of the basic postures in the world of Yoga and is considered as the king of Asanas because of its numerous effects on the entire body. Many Yogis believe that practicing the Headstand can help in treating illnesses. Shoulder Stand (Sarvangasana) In the Shoulder Stand, your body is resting on your shoulders. This Yoga Pose improves circulation, strengthens the abdominal area, and stimulates the thyroid gland. In this section, learn how the Shoulder Stand is performed. Plough Pose (Halasana) The Plough Pose stretches your spine, thus, improving spinal flexibility. It benefits the thyroid gland and abdomen, eases tension in the shoulders and back, and reduces stress. Learn how to practice the Plough Pose in this section.

	Bridge Pose (Setu Bandhasana) This Yoga Pose strengthens the spine and helps in building core and lower body strength. In this section, know how to perform the Bridge Pose. Keep in mind, though, that this pose should not be done by people who are suffering from serious back or knee injury.
	Bow Pose (Dhanurasana) The Bow Pose resembles an archer's bow. It strengthens the muscles in the back area, improvesposture, and helps in dealing with several gastrointestinal problems. Take note that this Yoga Pose is not for people who are suffering from serious neck or back injury.
	Locust Pose (Salabhasana) If the Cobra Pose works mainly on the upper back, the Locust Pose targets the lower part. This posture also strengthens the abdominal area, arms, and legs. Another thing that makes it different from many poses is that it entails rapid movement. Check out how it is done in this section.
	Fish Pose (Matsyasana) Doing the Fish Pose relieves stiffness of the neck and shoulder muscles and improves flexibility of your spine. It is the counter-pose of the Shoulderstand. Hold the Fish Pose for at least half the amount of time you spent in the Shoulderstand in order to balance the stretch.
	Seated Forward Bend (Paschimothanasana) Relax your body and mind, stretch your hamstrings, shoulders, and spine, relieve stress, and improve your posture and concentration by practicing the Seated Forward Bend. Learn how to do this properly and achieve maximum results.
	Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana) This Yoga Pose improves spinal flexibility and strengthens the muscles in the arms and back. In addition, it is effective in relieving menstrual irregularities and constipation. Learn how to perform the Cobra Pose in this section.
	Half Spinal Twist (Ardha Matsyendrasana) If done properly, the Half Spinal Twist lengthens and strengthens the spine. It is also beneficial for your liver, kidneys, as well as adrenal glands. Practice this Yoga Pose under the supervision of a Yoga instructor. In this section, learn how to perform the Half Spinal Twist.
	Crane Pose (Bakasana) Develop your sense of balance, coordination and concentration and strengthen your arms, hands, shoulders, and abdominal muscles by doing a Crane Pose. This Asana also gives an active stretching to the back. In this section, learn how to do this pose.
	Hands to Feet (Pada Hastasana) The Hands to Feet Pose or Pada Hastasana gives many of the same benefits as the Forward Bend - trimming the waist, restoring elasticity to the spine, and stretching the ligaments of the legs, especially the hamstrings. Learn how to do the Hands to Feet Pose in this section.
	Triangle Pose (Trikonasana) In Hindu art, the triangle is a potent symbol for the divine principle, and it is frequently found in the yantras and mandalas used for meditation. The Trikonasana or Triangle Pose concludes theYoga Postures in our basic session.
	Yoga Exercise - Final Corpse For you to appreciate the benefits of relaxation, you should first be familiar on how it is to be tense. This is what happens when you do the Final Corpse. Everything related to that position including suggestions on how to do it is discussed in further detail in this article.

Modern Period

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, yoga masters began to travel to the West, attracting attention and followers. This began at the 1893 Parliament of Religions in Chicago, when Swami Vivekananda wowed the attendees with his lectures on yoga and the universality of the world’s religions. In the 1920s and 30s, Hatha Yoga was strongly promoted in India with the work of T. Krishnamacharya, Swami Sivananda and other yogis practicing Hatha Yoga. Krishnamacharya opened the first Hatha Yoga school in Mysore in 1924 and in 1936 Sivananda founded the Divine Life Society on the banks of the holy Ganges River. Krishnamacharya produced three students that would continue his legacy and increase the popularity of Hatha Yoga: B.K.S. Iyengar, T.K.V. Desikachar and Pattabhi Jois. Sivananda was a prolific author, writing over 200 books on yoga, and established nine ashrams and numerous yoga centers located around the world.

The importation of yoga to the West still continued at a trickle until Indra Devi opened her yoga studio in Hollywood in 1947. Since then, many more western and Indian teachers have become pioneers, popularizing hatha yoga and gaining millions of followers. Hatha Yoga now has many different schools or styles, all emphasizing the many different aspects of the practice.

Post-Classical Yoga

Post-Classical Yoga

At this point, we see a proliferation of literature as well as the practice of Yoga. Post-classical Yoga differs from the first three since its focus is more on the present. It no longer strives to liberate a person from reality but rather teaches one to accept it and live at the moment.

Yoga was introduced in the West during the early 19th century. It was first studied as part of Eastern Philosophy and began as a movement for health and vegetarianism around the 1930's. By the 1960's, there was an influx of Indian teachers who expounded on Yoga. One of them was Maharishi Mahesh, the Yogi who popularized Transcendental Meditation. Another one is a prominent Yoga Guru Swami Sivananda. Sivananda was a doctor in Malaysia and he later opened schools in America and Europe. The most prominent of his works is his modified Five Principles of Yoga which are:

1. Savasana or proper relaxation;
2. Asanas or proper exercise;
3. Pranayama or proper breathing;
4. Proper diet; and
5. Dhyana or positive thinking and Meditation
Sivananda wrote more than 200 books on Yoga and Philosophy and had many disciples who furthered Yoga. Some of them were Swami Satchitananda who introduced chanting and Yoga to Woodstock; Swami Sivananada Radha who explored the connection between psychology and Yoga, and Yogi Bhajan who started teaching Kundalini Yoga in the 70's.


Up to this day, Yoga continues to proliferate and spread its teachings, crossing the boundaries of culture and language.
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Classical Period

The Classical Period is marked by another creation - the Yoga Sutra. Written by Patanjali around the second century, it was an attempt to define and standardize Classical Yoga. It is composed of 195 aphorisms or sutras (from the Sanskrit word which means thread) that expound upon the Raja Yoga and its underlying principle, Patanjali's Eightfold path of Yoga (also called Eight Limbs of Classical Yoga). These are:

Yama, which means social restraints or ethical values;
Niyama, which is personal observance of purity, tolerance, and study;
Asanas or physical exercises;
Pranayama, which means breath control or regulation;
Pratyahara or sense withdrawal in preparation for Meditation;
Dharana, which is about concentration;
Dhyana, which means Meditation; and
Samadhi, which means ecstasy.
Patanjali believed that each individual is a composite of matter (prakriti) and spirit (purusha). He further believed that the two must be separated in order to cleanse the spirit - a stark contrast to Vedic and Pre-Classical Yoga that signify the union of body and spirit.

Patanjali's concept was dominant for some centuries that some Yogis focused exclusively on Meditation and neglected their Asanas. It was only later that the belief of the body as a temple was rekindled and attention to the importance of the Asana was revived. This time, Yogis attempted to use Yoga techniques to change the body and make it immortal.

Pre-Classical Yoga

 The creation of the Upanishads marks the Pre-Classical Yoga. The 200 scriptures of the Upanishads (the conclusion of the revealed literature) describe the inner vision of reality resulting from devotion to Brahman. These explain three subjects: the ultimate reality (Brahman), the transcendental self (atman), and the relationship between the two. The Upanishads further explain the teachings of the Vedas.

Yoga shares some characteristics not only with Hinduism but also with Buddhism that we can trace in its history. During the sixth century B.C., Buddha started teaching Buddhism, which stresses the importance of Meditation and the practice of physical postures. Siddharta Gautama, the first Buddhist to study Yoga, achieved enlightenment at the age of 35.

Later, around 500" class="related_products_container" B.C., the Bhagavad-Gita or Lord's Song was created and this is currently the oldest known Yoga scripture. It is devoted entirely to Yoga and has confirmed that it has been an old practice for some time. However, it doesn't point to a specific time wherein Yoga could have started. The central point to the Gita is that - to be alive means to be active and in order to avoid difficulties in our lives and in others, our actions have to benign and have to exceed our egos.

Just as the Upanishads further the Vedas, the Gita builds on and incorporates the doctrines found in the Upanishads. In the Gita, three facets must be brought together in our lifestyle: Bhakti or loving devotion, Jnana which is knowledge or contemplation, and Karma which is about selfless actions. The Gita then tried to unify Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, and Karma Yoga and it is because of this that it has gained importance. The Gita was a conversation between Prince Arjuna and God-man Krishna and it basically stresses the importance of opposing evil. 

Vedic Period

The existence of the Vedas marks this period. The Vedas is the sacred scripture of Brahmanism that is the basis of modern-day Hinduism. It is a collection of hymns which praise a divine power. The Vedas contains the oldest known Yogic teachings and as such, teachings found in the Vedas are called Vedic Yoga. This is characterized by rituals and ceremonies that strive to surpass the limitations of the mind.

During this time, the Vedic people relied on rishis or dedicated Vedic Yogis to teach them how to live in divine harmony. Rishis were also gifted with the ability to see the ultimate reality through their intensive spiritual practice. It was also during this time that Yogis living in seclusion (in forests) were recorded.

History of yoga

We might already have an idea of what Yoga is but to understand it better, we have to know what it has become as well as its roots and beginnings. A quick look at the history of Yoga will help us appreciate its rich tradition and who knows, it might help us incorporate Yoga into our lives.

Although Yoga is said to be as old as civilization, there is no physical evidence to support this claim. Earliest archaeological evidence of Yoga's existence could be found in stone seals which depict figures of Yoga Poses.


For a better discussion of the history of Yoga, we could divide it into four periods: the Vedic Period, Pre-Classical Period, Classical Period, and Post-Classical Period.