Better Mental Health With Yoga
Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community. Studies have shown that a yoga program can be beneficial in decreasing anxiety, stress, and…
Most Common Misconception About Yoga
There are a lot of misconceptions about Yoga. One of the most popular misconceptions is that Yoga it is about Yoga poses or asanas. The popular narrative around Yoga has centered around Yoga poses/asanas. The most popular search queries around Yoga are centered around Yoga poses, studios. Hatha Yoga Yoga does certainly have a lot…
Who is the founder of Yoga?
A questions often asked by users is around the origins of Yoga. The debate around origins of Yoga and who exactly founded Yoga has had multiple explanations. To keep the answer simple, the founder of Yoga as it is known today including many of its off-shoots is Patanjali. Yoga in Vedas and Upanishads The word…
Which Veda Mentions About the Elements of Yoga?
The evidence of Yoga is mentioned in the oldest Vedic texts – The Rig Veda where the presence of Yogi-like ascetics has been mentioned. It’s only in the late Vedic age, the practices that can be related to classical Yoga have been described in texts – The Upanishads. The Upanishads place a greater emphasis on…
Independence – Swami Vivekananda
This is the last and final part of the series by Swami Vivekananda from his work – Raja Yoga. The work of Raja Yoga is essentially an explanation of the Yoga Sutras (aphorisms) by Patanjali. Most of the modern day Yoga in some form or the other originates from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. We’ve covered the…
Mystic Powers Of The Yogi – Swami Vivekananda
We have now come to the chapter in which the Mystic Powers of the Yogi have been described. This is the 3rd part of the Yoga Sutras (aphorisms) of Patanjali as explained by Swami Vivekananda. In the first two parts, Swami Vivekananda describes the spiritual uses of concentration. These are the first 51 sutras by…
Can Meditation Help With Anger? – Swami Vivekananda
We’ve at some point all experienced anger and even rage. We might have also encountered people getting angry and seen them doing ghastly things in the heat of the moment. It can almost be undisputedly said that anger is not good for anyone. Swami Vivekananda in Raja Yoga while deciphering Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras has clearly…
Concentration: Its Practice – Swami Vivekananda
The practice of concentration is the second part in Swami Vivekananda’s Raja Yoga and a continuation of the first part, which describes the spiritual uses of concentration. The first part has the first 51 sutras of Patanjali where the uses of concentration have been described. The second part discussed below has the next 55 sutras…
Which requires the greater strength, letting go or restraining?
In this post, I would like to share an excerpt from Raja Yoga by Swami Vivekananda where he is interpreting the second sutra from Patanjali’s 195 Yoga Sutras. He compares the mind with the lake and describes the states of mind. The bottom of a lake we cannot see, because its surface is covered with…
Concentration: It’s Spiritual Uses
This post is from Swami Vivekananda’s Raja Yoga and includes the first segment of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras interpreted and translated by Swami Vivekananda. This chapter from Raja Yoga essentially lists the first 51 Yoga Sutras from Patanjali’s 195 Yoga Sutras. Swami Vivekananda has explained these Sutras through four separate chapters in the book. The first…
