What About Yoga?
It’s an interesting conundrum that one of the things which has promoted the spread of yoga in the west, is the same thing that can sometimes prevent someone from truly exploring it and therefore experiencing its health benefits….
This thing is variety!
Sometimes when there is only one of something – such as one idea, or one language, or one anything – it’s hard for that thing to spread outside of the environment in which it exists.
Those who abide by this singular concept agree with it without question.
Yet when there are multiple ideas and concepts accepted within a group, the chances of these concepts spreading increase simply because there are just more people out there who will be able to access it, talk about it, and make it a part of their lives.
What does this have to do with yoga?
Well, there are many different types of yoga; and the reason for this, as we initially discussed, is that yoga isn’t a religion; it’s an approach to being alive.
As such, it’s very agile and flexible (no pun intended!) and carries well across cultural, country, and religious boundaries.
Thanks to its diversity and different facets and types, yoga has spread very swiftly through the western world over last 110 years or so, and is spreading faster now than ever before (many western companies will now pay for yoga classes as part of an enhanced health benefits program, so check that out if you have a health plan).
Yet this very diversity has led to some confusion; and people who have been exposed to one kind of yoga might accidentally think that they’ve seen it all.
This is more worrisome, of course, if you’ve been exposed to a kind of yoga that – for whatever reason – you didn’t like, or perhaps, weren’t quite prepared for.
So if you’ve experienced yoga, or seen it on television, read about it in a newspaper, or overheard a friend or colleague talk about it, then please be aware that there’s a very good chance that you haven’t been exposed to all that there is to know about this interesting subject.
Six Major Types
Yogic scholars Feuerstein and Bodian note seven major types of yoga. In no particular order, they are:
* raja yoga
* karma yoga
* bhakti yoga
* jnana yoga
* tantra yoga
