Yoga

Yoga (Sanskrit: , IAST: yóga, IPA: [jog]) refers to traditional physical and mental disciplines originating in India, to the goal achieved by those disciplines, and to one of the six orthodox (āstika) schools of Hindu philosophy. The Sanskrit word yoga has many meanings, and is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning to control, to yoke or to unite. A practitioner of Yoga is called a Yogi (unisex term) or Yoking (for female
Translations include joining, uniting, union, conjunction, and means. Outside India, the term yoga is typically associated with Hatha Yoga and its asanas (postures) or as a form of exercise.
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While the most ancient mystic practices are vaguely hinted at in the Vedas, the ascetic practices (tapas) are referenced in the Brāhmaṇas (900 BCE and 500 BCE), early commentaries on the Vedas. The Rig Veda, earliest of the Hindu scripture mentions the practice. Robert Schneider and Jeremy Fields write, "Yoga asanas were first prescribed by the ancient Vedic texts thousands of years ago and are said to directly enliven the body's inner intelligence. Certainly breath control and curbing the mind was practiced since the Vedic times. It is believed that yoga was fundamental to Vedic ritual, especially to chanting the sacred hymns Several seals discovered at Indus Valley Civilization (c. 3300–1700 BC) sites depict figures in a yoga- or meditation-like posture, "a form of ritual discipline, suggesting a precursor of yoga" that point to Harappan devotion to "ritual discipline and concentration", according to Archaeologist Gregory Passel. According to prof. Egbert Richter Ushanas, concerning the IVC seals he has said, "All the seals are based on Vedas -- Rig Veda and Atharva Veda.
In the Upanishads, an early reference to meditation is made in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, one of the earliest Upanishads (approx. 900 BCE). The main textual sources for the evolving concept of Yoga are the middle Upanishads, (ca. 400 BCE), the Mahabharata (5th c. BCE) including the Bhagavad Gita (ca. 200 BCE), and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (200 BCE-300 CE).

Tantric Yoga Style

Tantra Sansakrit "weave" denoting continuity, tantricism or tantrism is any of several esoteric traditions rooted in the religions of India. It exists in Hindu, Bönpo, Buddhist, and Jain forms. Tantra in its various forms has existed in South Asia, Burma, China, Japan, Mongolia Tibet, Korea, Cambodia, Indonesia and. Professor of Religious Studies, David Gordon White - whilst cautioning against attempting a rigorous definition of tantra - offers the following working definition:
Everything that we need in order to be complete is within us right at this very moment. It is simply a matter of being able to recognize it. This is the tantric approach. ...each one of us is a union of all universal energy.
Tantra is that Asian body of beliefs and practices which, working from the principle that the universe we experience is nothing other than the concrete manifestation of the divine energy of the Godhead that creates and maintains that universe, seeks to ritually appropriate and channel that energy, within the human microcosm, in creative and emancipatory ways.

Hatha Yoga

Sanskrit also called Hatha Vidya , is a particular system of Yoga introduced by Yogi Swatmarama, a sage of 15th century India, and compiler of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. In this treatise Swatmarama introduces Hatha Yoga as 'a stairway to the heights of Raja Yoga', hence a preparatory stage of physical purification that renders the body fit for the practice of higher meditation. . Hatha Yoga is what most people in the West associate with the word "Yoga" and is practiced for mental and physical health throughout the West.
The word Hatha is a compound of the words Ha and Tha meaning sun and moon , referring to Praana and Apaana, and also to the principal nudist (energy channels) of the subtle body that must be fully operational to attain a state of Dyane or Samadhi. According to the Monier Moneir-Williams The Asanas and Ramayana in Raja Yoga were what the Hindu Yogis used to physically train their body for long periods of meditation. This practise is called shatkarma. Sanskrit Dictionary, the word "hatha" means forceful. It is a strong practice done for purification. In other respects Hatha yoga follows the same principles as the Raaja Yoga of Paternal including moral restraint yama and spiritual observances niyama

Anusara Yoga

Anusara Yoga is a modern school of yoga started by Andre Friend in 1997; it is a popular hatha yoga style with a Tantric philosophy.
The emphasis of the school is on a set of "Universal Principles of Alignment" which underlie all postures, "heart opening" postures and the spiritual/meditative benefits of hatha yoga.
According to American yoga magazine, Yoga Journal, Anusara Yoga is "the ultimate American (western) yoga: It's upbeat, optimistic, entrepreneurial, systematic, and do-it-yourself-friendly, and...It's spiritual but not dogmatic.. And it appeals to Westerners' pioneering spirit by suggesting that there is yet another frontier to conquer—the one inside us. It creates a sense of community
Attainable bliss and joy in practice and everyday life are an important aspect of the underlying philosophy of this school. Many western students with a modernist bent find this school attractive.

Ananda Yoga

Ānanda was one of many principal disciples and a devout attendant of the Buddha. Amongst the Buddha's many disciples, Ānanda had the most retentive memory and most of the sutras in the Sutta Pataki are attributed to his recollection of the Buddha's teachings during the First Buddhist Council. According to the Buddha every Buddha in the past and to come will have two chief disciples and one attendant during his ministry. In the case of Gautama Buddha the pair of disciples were Sariputta and Mahamoggallana and the attendant Ānanda.
Ānanda was the first cousin of the Buddha by their fathers, and was devoted to him. In the twentieth year of the Buddha's ministry, he became the Buddha's personal attendant, accompanying him on most of his wanderings and taking the part of interlocutor in many of the recorded dialogues. He is the subject of a special panegyric delivered by the Buddha just before the Buddha's Parinibbana (the Mahaparinibbana Sutta (Digha Nikaya 16)); it is a panegyric for a man who is kindly, unselfish, popular, and thoughtful toward others. The word 'Ānanda' means 'bliss' in Pali, Sanskrit as well as other Indian languages. It is a popular Buddhist and Hindu name.