The practice of engaging spiritually and devotedly to the Almighty is known as Bhakti Yoga. This aspect of Yoga stresses the importance of love and devotion that a devotee has for his God. Though this appears skewed towards religion and spirituality, Bhakti Yoga does not demand that a practitioner of this type of Yoga must be an absolute believer in God or profess allegiance to any specific religion. It only lays emphasis of developing a positive frame of mind and an attitude to suggest that a life of contentment and peace is only possible when you recognize the fact that you need to co exist with other living creatures. The quality of compassion and to some extent detachment is the attributes that it encourages in a practitioner. This is the essence of Bhakti Yoga and has helped many people to lead a peaceful and contented life.

There is no hard and fast rule to practice Bhakti Yoga. Every person can decide for himself the path he wants to tread. Some take to reading books on religion, while others prefer to watch special programs on religion on television or view movies that talk about religion and the omnipresent power of the Universe or God. There are some who take immense joy in the practice of meditation by just chanting the name of God, which helps them to maintain their focus and concentration on the divine. Indulging in community singing of prayers or visiting holy spots is yet another way of expressing devotion to the Almighty and all these are part of the practice of Bhakti Yoga.

The most striking aspect of this kind of Yoga is its obvious simplicity. There exists no compulsion to master a specific technique or method and since it empowers the practitioner with so much liberty, the compliance or allegiance to this form of Yoga is very wide spread. There is positivity in the manner in which the individual perceives Bhakti Yoga and that reflects in the way he behaves in normal life as well. This attitude of live and let live, while showing compassion and understanding for other living creatures rubs off on the people around the individual as well and this leads to overall harmony.

Practitioners of Bhakti Yoga experience and exude positive energy and they are also able to face the travails of life much better, secure in the knowledge that the Almighty will protect them against any danger. It is this faith and belief that provides the thrust and motivates them to maintain discipline in their allegiance to a particular God or faith. The other significant advantage that people following Bhakti Yoga claim is the fact that due to the immense faith and undiluted devotion to a particular object, their emotions are no longer suppressed and this result in a feeling of bliss. People who thus suffer from a severe sense of inferiority or angst over something will do well to practice Bhakti Yoga to bring about a cleansing of their inner self and lead a more contented life.

This type of Yoga first brought to the fore by Yogi Swatmarama in the 15th century is regarded as one of the most important type of Yoga. Other types of Yoga like Power Yoga, Bikram Yoga, Kundalini Yoga and even Ashtana Yoga owe their origin to Hatha Yoga. ‘ Hatha,’ the word itself has been derived from the mother of many Indian languages, Sanskrit. It means a blend of opposites, the ‘ha’ meaning Sun and ‘tha’ meaning Moon. It signifies the unification of both the currents – positive and negative and finds its concentration principally in the 3rd and 4th breathing techniques or Pranayams. This Yoga is practiced with the objective of attaining that critical harmony between body and mind by following the physical body postures called Asana, a process of purification called Shatkriyas, some gestures called Mudras, breathing techniques called Pranayams and meditation by learning to relax the mind.

The Asana as well as the Mudras help to provide flexibility to the body and loosen the body muscles such that all stiffness disappears and the person feels the relaxation coursing through his body. Bone strength and muscle density is improved. In addition to the Asana and the Mudras, proper breathing techniques form an integral part of the Hatha Yoga activity. Since ancient times, it has been well known that it is not enough to just have a good physique and one must complement it with a sound and alert mind. It has also been known that the key to controlling the mind is through proper breath control. Hatha Yoga as a package therefore helps you unravel your physical and mental capabilities. Once you are able to control your mind, the meditation process completes the activity enabling you to experience a huge surge in your ability to concentrate and focus on a specific theme or purpose for a long time.

Hatha Yoga has been known to be very effective in providing great relief to persons suffering from scoliosis, which is a muscular-skeletal anomaly. The physical exertions stimulate the endocrine glands and boosts immunity while improving the circulation of blood. Internal organs are fine tuned and bone related conditions like arthritis is combated very effectively. The mental faculties of a person are greatly enhanced through regular Pranayam and respiratory related diseases like asthma and bronchitis are kept at bay.

Hatha Yoga is at the forefront as one of the Yoga types with its spotlight a lot on Asana and Pranayama to infuse energy into the channels or Nadis. In doing this, the focus of Hatha Yoga is primarily on the 3rd and 4th rungs of the 8 – rung structure of Ashtanga Yoga. This enables followers of Hatha Yoga to overcome hurdles that they might confront going ahead with Pratyahara or Withdrawal, Dhyana or Meditation and even Samadhi, which is Balance.

Hatha yoga can be practiced by people of all ages. Through the Asana and breathing techniques, critical and clogged energy channels within the body get liberated. The flow of energy is smooth resulting in a relaxed mental frame of mind free from anxiety and stress. The only discipline that needs to be followed is regularity, patience and perseverance to reap the benefits of Hatha Yoga.

Hatha Yoga is thus a complete exercise package aimed at boosting the physical and mental strengths of an individual.

Jnana Yoga is one type of Yoga that is different, in that it represents the pursuit of true knowledge and the never ending search of the practitioner in trying to recognize the dissimilarities between real and the virtual, the enduring and the transient. This Jnana Yoga was holistically referred to as the only straight but difficult path to knowledge. This type of Yoga lays great emphasis on the tenet that you can attain salvation only through detachment from material and other things that are temporary and the importance of controlling the mind and senses through faith and concentration.

It is well known that Jnana Yoga has its moorings in the philosophy of non dualism espoused by Hinduism. The holistic approach of Yoga made it possible for it to gain acceptance even among Zen, Islamic Sufism, Buddhism and Jnana Yoga was no different. This type of Yoga extols the human mind to look beyond its boundaries to seek knowledge that is pure and unhindered. Individuals practicing Jnana Yoga gains a lot of self control over his emotions and is able to detach them selves from all things surreal and transient.

The escape to true knowledge that this type of Yoga seeks to achieve is through the process of gaining that knowledge without getting into the chores of rituals and mundane ceremonies. Individuals seeking success combine the practice of this Yoga along with reading of ancient scriptures, which gives them the maturity and sense of awakening to understand them and weigh them against their own experiences. The rigorous practice of Jnana Yoga prepares the individual and equips him with the insight to be able to discern truth from falsehood.

Jnana Yoga helps an individual to attain a lot of mental peace and makes him a calm and composed person. No adversity or trouble can get the better of such individuals and the fact that the individual is always in control of his emotions ensure that he is never flustered. Jnana Yoga also teaches the art of cessation, where in the individual stops pursuing activities that do not contribute to overall health and spiritual enlightenment. Practicing Jnana Yoga over a sustained period of time enables a person to develop endurance such that he is unaffected by external play of forces and is able to deal with unforeseen turn of events in a much better fashion. Jnana Yoga also teaches a person to engage himself in his duty without any expectation of profits or rewards and that is a reflection of true renunciation.

To summarize, Jnana Yoga can be described as the pursuit of knowledge such that it helps us develop control over our senses and through the realization of our true nature, we achieve liberation from the cycle of births and rebirths. The holy book of Hindus, the Bhagavad-Gita has identified the path of knowledge espoused by Jnana Yoga as one of the most significant pathways to true liberation, the others being the path of devotion and the path of action. Jnana Yoga has been recommended for people of intellect and such people are able to experience swift equanimity of mind through better mental discipline achieved by the regular practice of Jnana Yoga.

Modern living presents a lot of stress and many of us are continuously on the lookout for something healthy that can provide us with peace of mind and soothe frayed nerves.  While Yoga has been around for a long time and many people have started practicing it, the curiosity about what it actually is and how it manages to offer succor to its practitioners has always engaged the thought process of the very people practicing this divine form of activity.  Though the physical and mental benefits are all too well known, Yoga is generally associated with a lot of stretching and difficult body poses and this has also prevented certain people from engaging themselves in this exercise.  Yes, Yoga does involve a lot of stretching and body poses, but there is much more to it, which we will try and understand in this article.

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