In recent years yoga has become a big name. Maybe it has remained in favor for a thousand-years because it doesn´t compel anyone to believe in a particular viewpoint or require any argument about it’s principals. Yoga is often declared to be an exact science: research which cannot be done without practice and in consideration of each person’s experience.

The origin of the word yoga is from the sanskirt root Jug which indicates union, junction, unification.

Approximately 200 B.C. a sage Patanjali described yoga as a system and named this unique work Yoga Sutras. According to Patanjali, yoga consits of eight parts (in original Ashta – eight, Anga – limb, article, part), which are tied together and interact with each other:

Ashtanga yoga is also known as Raja yoga or the royal yoga.

Sometimes we all get into a situation when it´s not so easy to decide in which way to behave to others, or perhaps to ourselves. Whether it´s negotiating a business deal, child rearing or getting rid of some bad habit, it is often easier to obey time-proven recommendations instead of beating our brain and eventually reinventing the wheel.
Despite the fact that what brought fame to yoga in the west was asanas, it was the very recommendations related to the person‘s attitude towards oneself and his/her surroundings which the eight-point recipe to a content life begins:

The subsequent step, as mentioned above, is Asanas. Their practice greatly emphasises that some things should not be broken over the knee and when we do so, it more likely takes us futrther from the desired condition.

Some asanas look great. The look alone on a man in one of them is a thing that calls up the fascination and desire to try them out. But whether at home or at a lesson, whatever we do it´s just not possible to get into that dreamy asana. We snort, tighten our muscles and that it hurts somewhere just doesn´t matter now..
In the meantime we push at all the limits of our body’s current capabilities and unless we respect these limits it is possible to overextend just a millimeter which could then cause an injury (torn ligament) instead of our desired result. I guess there are such „asanas“ and „torn ligaments“ in everyone’s life.

If yoga was only about taking up the asanas it would unfortunately only be for those who are naturally more flexible and participation would be for a chosen few. But this isn’t the case – we have teenagers to eighty year olds, slim to muscular men and women and obese individuals who have as their only form of exercise a commute to and from work and to the television. On the other hand there are those who cannot actively pursue all of the postures due to their muscular inability.

Everyone of us has a different bodily disposition and that´s a fact which needs to be accepted.
Our flexibility can be influenced even by our emotions which we store in our bodies from earlier times or habits we have created at various times in our lives. But we cannot expect that after thirty or fifty years of cultivating habits (not only locomotive) and then try to make a 180° about face in two days. It´s through persisatnce and not force that we achieve these changes. Any such changes often take place inside, long before they unfold on the surface.

The practice of asana is aimed at mastering the body and mind. Namely in yoga, health effects are usually a side product to assist with obstructions – which the right body and mind – becomes the means. Nevertheless, the impact on health remains one of the main benefits and simultaneously contributes to it’s popularity.

Whatever the reasons are that we choose to start with asanas we won’t get far if we overlook the most important element – breathing. The breathing is what gives rythm to the entire practice and what pumps the body up with energy. Pranayma, breathing techniques or more precisely control (ayama) of vital energy (prana) influences our attention through concentrated breathing. The one who manages to perceive and regulate his/her breathing process will have enough energy.

With conscious breathing we redirect attention from the outside world to the world within, ourselves. If we simultaneously stop perceiving the flow of information to our senses, we are getting to a part which in yoga quarters is called Pratyahara.
Namely when we look at the rise of thoughts, we find out our senses are responsible for them – it´s enough to find these impulses interesting (diserable car, smelling the homeless, new song from our favorite band, etc.)
Of course, there is nothing wrong with thoughts arising, but the fun ends when we need to concentrate on something else or to totally switch off.

And this is where the Dharana – concentration – enters for.
Yoga is a collection of tips and tricks to stop the mind from wandering and the practice of concentration is one of them, but it’s not just a game of chance.
Surely each of us has already heard about some concentration technique. Even if they differ from each other they remain the same in principle – it´s not always more than one thing the mind focuses on. The mind needs to be fixed on it and thus reject all other thoughts. Sometimes the instrumentation is breathing, and at other times visualization can be used while focusing on a candle may be one’s choice.
Just sitting without movement (while lying, the body is more likely to get an impulse to rest) can initially be quite demanding. However, if we proceed according to Patanjali´s recipe and start with concentration it is not until we master our body with asanas and calm the mind with pranayama and pratyahara that such sitting will become a pleasant and frequent matter for us.
After a whole day full of heterogenous events or conversely in the morning before we start the day, dharana can be a moment when, in our mind, we review – let rise to the surface – all matters without identifying with them. It´s not about disclaiming them or restricting ourselves. It´s just that all that chaos melts away for a while and we can experience a big calm.

The last three limbs of yoga – dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (enlightenment) are called sanyama – a perfect mastering of the mind. Sometimes meditation is said to be a prolonged concentration and enlightenment a prolonged meditation. However, without one´s experience these words will always be just empty terms.

Let me finish this introduction with the words from a man who was a widely known teacher of ashtanga vinyasa yoga. These words, which are a mantra for beginners and is experienced by advanced practitioners:

In case yoga has impressed you, you can get straight down to practicing and if there is anything you need advise on and you can´t find the topic among the articles, please write me here.

Note: Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga is designed for healthy people. In cases of hypertension, disseminated sclerosis, cancer, diabetes or other serious illnesses, please consult this practice with your doctor. It should not be practised while pregnant.