Essay

My topic was Yoga. I chose yoga, personally, because it has always been a mystery to me. Every time I thought of yoga I always wondered, did it really work? Does it relieve stress? How does it work with your mind? I figured this project would be a great time for me to figure out those questions.
For my project I read a book called Yoga The Greater Tradition, by David Frawley. I honestly enjoyed this book. It was a short read but very informational. The most interesting thing I learned was from this book, actually. I learned that in yoga there is chanting. I always thought chanting something went with witches or something to that sort, but in yoga there is also chanting. For my interaction I went to the Trussville Civic Center and took a yoga class. The class was taught by Laura Thorton. I enjoyed this class very much.
I learned a lot about yoga because of this project. I learned that yoga is actually split into different types. I always thought that yoga was one thing but ,actually, it is many different types, such as: Pratyama, Pratyahara, Ashtanga, Asana, and Pranayama. These different types focus on different things such as: your breath, your senses, and your body. My final opinion about yoga is that yoga really does help you and your mind. It helps connect the two so that they will work as one. When I went to the class I already felt more intune with my body.
I wish that I had gone to the yoga class more than one time. If I could do anything differently it would be that. Showing up to one class, sure it helped a bit, but if I had mabey gone two or three times I could have felt more intune and been able to talk more about my personal experience with yoga.

Live - Interaction...

For my live - interaction I went to a yoga class at the Trussville Civic Center. The class was taught by Laura Thorton. When I first got there I felt a bit uncomfortable becuase most of the people there had their own yoga mats and new what the teacher was talking about. At the beginning of the class Ms. Thorton went through the different ways of breathing. Then she immediatly went to the different poses. Most of them were fun but some were quite difficult. The class was just an hour long but it was a lot of fun.
I really enjoyed going to this yoga class. I actually plan on going to the next class. I learned so much, and I have never felt so in tune with my body and senses before. I on the other hand did not like how excluded I felt in her class, but I ,in essense, feel that if I go more I will eventually be accepted and find new people to mingle with. It was a great experience and a real eye opener to new things.

Yoga and Samadhi, or Unified Awareness

In "Yoga, The Greater Tradition" by David Frawley, he talks about Samadhi. He says that "Samadhi is one of the special terms of yoga that refers to a state of absorption in higher awareness, a kind of bliss or inner ecstasy"( Frawley 77). he says that for many it may seem little more than a yogic high, but it is more like a state of deep and unshakeable peace (Frawley 77). Samadhi is a state of meditation so deep that the barriers between yourself and the object of your experience disappear. Frawley also says that "it is when you feel at one with everything at the core of your being"( Frawley 77).

This chapter in Frawley's book was very different. I was used to reading about the different styles of yoga and what they mean, but this one was not about a different style of yoga, it was more about a fragment of one. Samadhi sounds like something that everyone should try to reach. If we all had higher awareness and the things that come with Samadhi we would all live a better, less stressful life. I would, personally, love to experience this higher awareness, and learn more about it.

Frawley, David. "Yoga and Samadhi, or Unified Awareness." Yoga The Greater Tradition. 2008. Print.

Pratyahara Yoga

In Yoga the Greater Tradition by David Frawley, He talks about Pratyahara. Pratyahara is known as the "forgotten limb" of yoga. Today very few teachers know what it is or include it in their classes. "Pratyahara is about the right use of the senses, just as Asana concerns to the right use of the body and prarayama is the right use of the breath"(Frawley 67). In the yoga system, our five types of sensory impressions are the five subtle elements and they correspond to the gross elements. Our senses are as followed: sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. The five elements are: fire, ether, earth, air, and water. Frawley says, "The gross elements build our mind through the sensory impressions we take in"( Frawley 68).
I really enjoyed this chapter of the book. It made me want to stop and listen to what my senses were telling me. When Frawley made the list of our senses and elements that went with them it really surprised me. I did not expect or even consider fire to go with sight, but after I read it, it made perfect sense. I also liked the sentence where he talked about the gross elements and the subtle elements. It made me think and I was able to learn something new.

Frawley, David. "Pratyahara: The Yogic Internalization of the Sense." Yoga, The Greater Tradition. 2008. Print.

Ashtanga Yoga: Pratyahara- Multimedia

(Once again the video did not work...it will not let me paste or embed it on here...

Peter Pandoer in "Ashtango Yoga: Pratyahara", talks about how when you're listening to your senses it is like a turtle inside of its shell. He says that "you are turning yourself for answers" (Pandoer). He also talks about how when you listen to your senses, it can be the most relaxing and calming exercise possible. We are also stressed because of the society we live in. Pandoer talks about how our society bombards our senses; he says that all the sounds of cars and the smells of the factories are hurting our senses and inner thoughts. He also says that more people these days are nervous. He blames it on our senses; he says that our senses run through nerves and when our senses are bombarded it can make our nerves go hay wire, thus causing nervousness.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video. It was a lot longer than most, but it was informational. I agree with everything that he said. It all made perfect sense. My favorite thing that he talked about was how nervous we are as a nation. I know that I am nervous a lot, especially lately. Now that I know that when I am home I should try and center my senses and it will help with what is to come when I walk outside.

Ashtanga Yoga: Pratyahara. Peter Pandoer. YouTube. 14 April 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G1NUiFAFyM

Yoga, The Greater Tradition

In Yoga The Greater Tradition, by David Frawley, he talks about the different types of yoga and how they help our daily lives. He also talks about the five different primary yoga paths. The first is Jnana Yoga( the yoga of knowledge); second, Bhakti Yoga( the yoga of devotion); third, Karma Yoga( the Yoga of service); fourth, Raja Yoga( the royal yoga); and lastly, Hatha yoga( the yoga of technique). Hatha yoga took up most of the book because inside of Hatha yoga there are four different types of techniques. Those techniques are Asana, Pranayama, Mantra, and meditation. "Asana is said to prepare the body for deeper yoga practices"( Frawley 58). It is the "seat" of yoga. "Pranayama is the term for our connection through the breath with the unlimited and inexhaustible universal life force"(Frawley 62). So basically Pranayama is the practice of how we breath. "Mantra is the most common tool of all yoga teachings. All yoga paths have their different Mantras( chantings or prayers)"( Frawley 89). "Meditation is the most commonly thought of form of yoga"( Frawlye 72). Meditation helps discover what is within our selves.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. David Frawley did great research and he helped me learn a ton. I think my favorite section of this book would have to have been the Mantra section. Mantra was just very different for me and reading about it made me look at yoga in a whole new light. Just the thought of chanting things kinda weirded me out but after reading it I loved it.
A few of things i did not like about the book were how he set it up and how he wrote it. Frawley set the book up weird for me. If I had wrote it I would not have put it in the order he did. It was not that the book was out of order, it was more that it could have been set up in a better, easier to understand, order. He divided it into two different parts, and some of the things he put in one part I would have put in the other and vise versa. Frawley also wrote it in a very superior way. It was hard to understand. While I was reading it I had to keep a dictionary beside me so I could look up most of the words. He also did not word it in a usual way. It was all backwards, kind of like Yoda off of star wars, you kind of had to interpret what he was saying.

Yoga Weight Loss-Multimedia

In the video, Yoga for weight loss, by Tara Stiles shes demonstrates the different poses you can do to help you loose weight. "She came up with this exercise herself to help people after the holidays to loose five or ten pounds"(Stlies). Some of the positions she uses are downward dog, plank pose, a lunge, jump switch, high lunge, and chair pose. Combining all of these poses you will create a nice healthy non-time consuming work out.
As shown, yoga can help you in many different ways. I enjoyed this video because it was very helpful with actually letting you have a visual of what was being talked about. Stiles did a great job of explaining it and if you do the exercize with her you could actually tell that you were getting a nice workout in.

Stiles, Tara. "Yoga For Weight Loss." YouTube. Web. 11 May 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvdnMLc8ohg

Modern Yoga

* This is the Lotus pose that is mentioned*

In David Frawley's book, Yoga The Greater Tradition, Frawley talks about how every country has modernized yoga. "Over time yoga has become a movement of its own,related to, but often different from, classical yoga"(Frawley 25). The first major yoga guru to live in the United States was Paramahansa Yoganada, and he settled in 1920, but yoga was first introduced in 1893. When yoga was first introduced it was mainly a spiritual practice allied with devotion and meditation. Asana, the physical aspect of yoga, appealed to the outer-minded western audience. Asana became the face of yoga, and its most popular pose is the Lotus pose( as pictured). Yoga is more about how it benefits you physically now and many yoga teachers have forgotten its deeper, more spiritual meanings(Frawley 26).

I think that what Frawleysaid is very sad. Yoga is supposed to help you connect to other parts of you and, I believe, to God, but we have made it all about physical benefits. I did not know, though, that it was a spiritual practice. I'm glad that Frawley said something about it being spiritual because I learned something new. If more people new its real meanings and reasons they could probably get more out of participating in this practice.

Frawley, David. "Modern Yoga." Yoga, The Greater Tradition.2008.Print.

Pranayama: Developing the Power of the Breath

According to David Frawley in ,Yoga The Greater Tradition, " yoga teaches us how to develop more energy inside ourselves, one that doesn't require depending upon anyone external to receive it"(62). Being free from the bonding of other people and their support provides us with unlimited internal resources so that we can be truly happy. Prana is a yogic term for our connection through breath. Prana is said to be the vital energy that enables both the body and mind to function not only individually but correspondingly. The breathing exercises that one would do in a yoga class are an important mean of developing prana. For higher yoga practices one must have more energy, or prana. Frawley makes a great point when hes say, " Note that whenever we make an important effort in life, we usually take a deep breath first"(63).
I love how Frawley talked about breathing and yoga. I have always heard about how breathing is an important part of yoga but never really got why. Now I understand that it helps focus and center ones self to a point of relaxation. I especially loved how he said that we take a deep breath before we do anything important in our life. I never really thought about it until now but we do, and usually its to focus our minds on what to do and how to handle it.



Frawley, David. "Pranayama: Developing the Power of the Breath." Yoga, The Greater Tradition. 2008.print.

Yoga for your mind, on and off the mat

Bill Hifschmidt states that "Yoga is said to be a calming practice to help relax your body. It is also used to alleviate pain and tightness, to become more flexible and to become more in control of your body". What most people do not know is that yoga can not only do that but it can do the same to your mind. It gives people the opportunity to explore their mind and how they would respond to certain elements. Yoga can, also, help how you live and respond when off the mat. When you move and position your body into the different positions you are, in essence, creating different small-scale stressful situations. As you hold the position and concentrate your mind on your breathing you can observe the thoughts that run through your head. Eventually, Hufschmidt says, we will be able to notice when our mind creates reactions that are not the ideal first response. Once you reach that point you can then decide between different responses. One of them would be the automatic first response or the second one, one that is probably better, is more a loving or thoughtful response.

I personally agree with Hufschimdt. Yoga is said to be a calming practice to help center your thoughts so that you can think rationally. I am a technically trained ballet dancer so from my few experiences of participating in yoga-like positions I have felt what he is talking about. Even though I have not joined a class I would like to join one to get the full effect of its centering power. I do not really disagree with anything that Hufschmidt said.

Hufschmidt, Bill. "Yoga for your mind, on & off the mat." New Life Journal. BNET, Feb.-Mar. 2004.web. 25, Mar. 2010.