What a beautiful and comprehensive post. You should post this ton other blogs, youtube as well where people who think they know Yoga can see it.
No point of posting here as most things here are seen from the prism of Islamic vs Sanatan Dharm.
Thanks, but this is known to many of the serious practitioner.
Yoga is not theory, it is to be practised. There is no point in teaching the theory of Yoga, I posted it so that people can understand what it really means. Just to counter misinformation.
Ashtang yoga is not the only form of Yoga, its the most popular form of Yoga. The Philosophy behind Ashtang Yoga is known as Sankya. The real education is in Sankya and the practice is Ashtang Yoga.
The other methods of Yoga are -
2. Hatha yoga,
This means "Forced Yoga". In this the practitioner attempts to short cut the principles of Yama and Niyama of Ashtang yoga by forcing the mind to extremes. It does that by the practice of PranaYama.
It is a system designed for serious practitioners who can dedicate their entire live to this. So that means removing one from society and taking sanyas.
In absence of that, it become another form of physical exercise since the mind is not given sufficient time to develop.
Another form of this yoga is LAYA Yoga.
This is a powerful form of Yoga that focuses on awakening your Kundalini chakra and then forcing evolution to make you reach a higher state of consciousness. Again PranaYama is used to force evolutionary reaction in the body. Once the stage of Dyana is reached, then the Yogi focuses on one of his chakras using "Mandala Drishti" which is a tantric practice of representing your Chakras in geometric shapes.
He then proceeds to raise his consciousness by forcing the 'Naadis' to open. Naadi's are the energy path also used in Acupuncture / Acupressure. Its forced evolution. There is a practice called 'Nadi shodhana' which is a form of PranaYama that helps open the naadis/channels.
This is why its also known as Kundalini Yoga.
Laya Yoga has the same origin as Hatha yoga and is founded by the same ancient guru Matsyendranath.
3. Mantra yoga
This is a Tantric Yoga practice and is what people see in temples. Here the mind is forced to wake up by use of Mantras designed to invoke an external energy/power.
When I had suggested 'Japa' in my earlier post, it was to denote this type of Yoga. It is suitable for the simple minded and weak minded. Children or very old people. You will find a lot of this in Buddhist monasteries.
For e.g. chanting Maha Mrityunjaya mantra.
The Entire Temple practice and Agama practices are rooted in this yoga.
4. Shasta yoga or Shiva Yoga
This is a pure Tantrik Yoga practice and is also known as siddhaSana . In this the guru can help you unlock your Kundalini chakra (called shakti / power) and through a gradual step by stop process will help your reach Samadhi. In this the Guru uses his own shakti to help the student reach the samadhi faster.
The various steps in this practice are,
i. ) Kundalini Chakra Dhyana Kriya
ii.) Shiva Pranashakti Kriya
iii.) Sourabha Samadhi Kriya
iv. ) Shiva Jyoti Kriya
v. ) Om Samadhi Kriya
Here this will explain Chakkras to you in a simple language.
This is what Yoga does.
Just saw that, its pretty cool for kids. He calls the Kundalini chakra as the earth chakra. In many ways its an accurate description. It is the core of our existence on this earth. Pure instincts and base desires.