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topdog82
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Why is hatha yoga so amazing?
#22411339 - 10/20/15 09:21 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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So I have been rediscovering yoga recently. While I knew it was awesome before, I never truly realized HOW awesome till I began doing it daily instead of sporadically. It has greater increased my sense of well-being, and my recovery from strength training is through the roof
So my question here is; WHY does yoga have such a profound effect? I don't fully understand auyurveda, and I assume some on this forum do. Could you please explain? Whatever hatha yoga is, it seems to be doing something much more/different than simple strength excercise or stretching. I have done stretching and excercise daily for years and not yielded these type of results in both mental/physical/spiritual awareness. Simple stretching and excercise hasn't boosted my immunity and vitality nearly to the extent that yoga has. So what is it?
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Psilosopherr
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Re: Why is hatha yoga so amazing? [Re: topdog82]
#22411480 - 10/20/15 10:03 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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topdog82
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Re: Why is hatha yoga so amazing? [Re: Psilosopherr]
#22411510 - 10/20/15 10:09 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Im hoping specifically for that mark dude to chime in. He seems pretty well read 
Anyone else feel free to chime in if you happened to know. I am ridiculously curious and the internet doesn't seem to give me much
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deff
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Re: Why is hatha yoga so amazing? [Re: topdog82]
#22412663 - 10/21/15 08:38 AM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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i don't know much about the dynamics of it, but i think hatha yoga is supposed to work also with the subtle energy body - the nadis (channels), chakras, etc... perhaps this could be the reason for the effects you're noticing?
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yogabunny
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Re: Why is hatha yoga so amazing? [Re: topdog82]
#22413697 - 10/21/15 01:20 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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No words can really describe why yoga works better than the actual transformation you're experiencing right now!
 
Check out "Light on Yoga" by BKS Iyengar & The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali translated by Swami Satchitananda.
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Middleman

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Re: Why is hatha yoga so amazing? [Re: topdog82]
#22413762 - 10/21/15 01:43 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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I've been doing asanas for about a year now. At first it made me super horny until I started doing pranayam at the end to pull all that energy upward. I bring it to the belly before hiking, to the heart before socializing and to the throat before writing or making music. It also helps to greet the 4 directions to balance things out.
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Swarupa

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Re: Why is hatha yoga so amazing? [Re: topdog82]
#22414051 - 10/21/15 02:52 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Fundamentally i feel like Haha Yoga brings consistent awareness to different parts of the body and that consistency is what sets it apart so much, as you get to know your own body more intimately but also begin to become aware of a deeper aspect of yourself as an awareness/consciousness that is more consistent than the changeful body, so perhaps ultimately not of the body.
The depth of an asana can also help to release mental tensions which have manifested in the physical body, vice/versa. Yoga is quite focused on the spine aswell which is very central to all of our physical body.
I've also noticed that when i exercise pretty tough then later on relax my body feels lighter than it did before, like a tension followed by release effect. I feel this really applies to Yoga too, and as it hits so deeply the release afterwards is even more pronounced.
Yoga
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topdog82
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Re: Why is hatha yoga so amazing? [Re: Swarupa]
#22415144 - 10/21/15 07:03 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
deff said: i don't know much about the dynamics of it, but i think hatha yoga is supposed to work also with the subtle energy body - the nadis (channels), chakras, etc... perhaps this could be the reason for the effects you're noticing?
Ya I have read a little into auyurveda, but is it as simple as tension in the body closes up your chakras? Seem a little too simple...stretching=open chakras?
Quote:
yogabunny said: No words can really describe why yoga works better than the actual transformation you're experiencing right now!
 
Check out "Light on Yoga" by BKS Iyengar & The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali translated by Swami Satchitananda. 
Lol I just ordered this. I go through books like toilet paper. Its on my reading list
Quote:
Swarupa said: Fundamentally i feel like Haha Yoga brings consistent awareness to different parts of the body and that consistency is what sets it apart so much, as you get to know your own body more intimately but also begin to become aware of a deeper aspect of yourself as an awareness/consciousness that is more consistent than the changeful body, so perhaps ultimately not of the body.
The depth of an asana can also help to release mental tensions which have manifested in the physical body, vice/versa. Yoga is quite focused on the spine aswell which is very central to all of our physical body.
I've also noticed that when i exercise pretty tough then later on relax my body feels lighter than it did before, like a tension followed by release effect. I feel this really applies to Yoga too, and as it hits so deeply the release afterwards is even more pronounced.
Yoga 
I hypothesize that the spine is the center of "lifeforce" (basically its a bigass bundle of fibers), that strategically massaging it may do something powerful to it
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once in a lifetime
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Re: Why is hatha yoga so amazing? [Re: topdog82]
#22415277 - 10/21/15 07:27 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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the most simplest answer is because you do it 
have done an admixture of yoga & aikido from a early age, or fairly early. . . remember reading along the way - both a zen master and a martial arts master can see spirit; an interesting concept i kept at h'art an' meditated upon over the years.
yoga means union/ specifically, union with the divine, so that is the ultimate goal, sort of, maybe not in oneness or maybe- ramakrishna often wrote, the servant-i is much better than oneness, so the union can be of that kind, god and the individual soul unified by love..
as lun ar eclipse beautifully put it, oneness would be lonely!
btw am dancing with love and bliss
mi gi dem burning spear!
-------------------- Innocent, Oldfield & Hegerland Julia Delaney, Bothy Band Rasta Girl, Sister Carol Genesis, Jorma K I Wish You Peace, Lawrence Laughing Do Your Thing, Moondog large . . music garden . . veryall peace them hiStarhouse - main Time Traveler's Guide
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topdog82
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Quote:
once in a lifetime said: the most simplest answer is because you do it 
have done an admixture of yoga & aikido from a early age, or fairly early. . . remember reading along the way - both a zen master and a martial arts master can see spirit; an interesting concept i kept at h'art an' meditated upon over the years.
yoga means union/ specifically, union with the divine, so that is the ultimate goal, sort of, maybe not in oneness or maybe- ramakrishna often wrote, the servant-i is much better than oneness, so the union can be of that kind, god and the individual soul unified by love..
as lun ar eclipse beautifully put it, oneness would be lonely!
btw am dancing with love and bliss
mi gi dem burning spear!
akido sounds badass. With the newfound bodily and spacial awareness yoga is giving me, I am hoping to get into this type of gymnastics
Either way, sounds awesome!
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deff
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Re: Why is hatha yoga so amazing? [Re: topdog82]
#22415362 - 10/21/15 07:45 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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looks difficult
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topdog82
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Re: Why is hatha yoga so amazing? [Re: deff]
#22415393 - 10/21/15 07:53 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
deff said: looks difficult 
Lol it probably is. But thats the fun part. Once my spinal injury heals I want to get the handstand, handstand pushup, pushup, pullups, one legged squats, and bridge down. Yoga has me obssessed with how the body moves through space. Truly amazing stuff...
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deff
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Re: Why is hatha yoga so amazing? [Re: topdog82]
#22415430 - 10/21/15 07:59 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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yeah i've recently taken up yin yoga which i love and a dvd called qi flow yoga which is kind of like qigong/tai chi - really enjoyable and beneficial stuff i love the feeling of holding a deep stretch and relaxing into it, letting go it's a very enjoyable practice
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MarkostheGnostic
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Re: Why is hatha yoga so amazing? [Re: topdog82]
#22415563 - 10/21/15 08:28 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Yoga is a transcendental science, meaning that its techniques have originated in states of consciousness characterized by præternatural insight, prajna (wisdom). Those insights were transformed, (metaphorically, like a step-down transformer such as the one which supplies a laptop computer with 12 volts stepped-down from 110-115 house voltage) into systematic techniques which engage the mind-body, and which prepares it for the direct reception of transcendental states. Namaste. ॐ
-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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Psilosopherr
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doing yoga stretches?
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topdog82
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Re: Why is hatha yoga so amazing? [Re: Psilosopherr]
#22415941 - 10/21/15 10:10 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
MarkostheGnostic said: Yoga is a transcendental science, meaning that its techniques have originated in states of consciousness characterized by præternatural insight, prajna (wisdom). Those insights were transformed, (metaphorically, like a step-down transformer such as the one which supplies a laptop computer with 12 volts stepped-down from 110-115 house voltage) into systematic techniques which engage the mind-body, and which prepares it for the direct reception of transcendental states. Namaste. ॐ
thats beautiful

Thanks for the info!Quote:
rbalzer said: doing yoga stretches?
As I mentioned in the first post, its MUCH more than stretches
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MarkostheGnostic
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Re: Why is hatha yoga so amazing? [Re: Psilosopherr]
#22416107 - 10/21/15 11:05 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
rbalzer said: doing yoga stretches?
Postures in Yoga, of which there are 84 basic ones, are called Asanas. Asanas are the 3rd 'limb' of 8-Limbed or Ashtanga Yoga (also called Raja or 'kingly' Yoga in Swami Vivekananda's system). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_Sutras_of_Patanjali ; The word Yoga has the same Indo-European root as the word 'yoke,' and is usually translated as Union. The postures follow two ethical preparatory stages, but in the West they have become fetishized and competitive displays by acrobatically gifted individuals, and they've become adapted by the 'body beautiful' "culture of narcissism." Ancient Asanas are intended to condition the body-mind for the influx of higher levels of bio-electric energy or Prana. High pranic states or "hyperpranic" states are attributed to the surging of energies referred to as Kundalini-Shakti in Hindu Tantric Yoga, or the gTummo in Tibetan Buddhism, or by other names in different esoteric traditions. Psychedelic states also liberate these energies. I could never have tolerated high doses without performing certain Hatha Asanas to move the energy upward (The Bow is a particularly important one for this, Dhanurasana). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asanas
The design of the Asanas are each geared to specific nerves and nerve centers (ganglia) in the physical body, but they are also geared to the subtle nerves (nadis) and their centers (chakras) of the Subtle or Astral body (Sukshma karira). The physical body has, interpenetrated with it, a subtle body. The Causal body is not a body with form, strictly speaking, but is more like a plane or expanse, yet it is a more refined aspect of the human being which borders on the Ultimate Source, which in Hindu Vedantic thought is called Atman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Bodies_Doctrine_(Vedanta) These categories are a matter of experience, not speculation/fabrication.
Bottom line: Hatha (Sun-Moon) Asanas are not and never were merely physical stretches because we are not merely physical bodies.
Edited by MarkostheGnostic (10/21/15 11:10 PM)
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MarkostheGnostic
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Re: Why is hatha yoga so amazing? [Re: topdog82]
#22416112 - 10/21/15 11:06 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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Psilosopherr
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Quote:
MarkostheGnostic said:
Quote:
rbalzer said: doing yoga stretches?
Postures in Yoga, of which there are 84 basic ones, are called Asanas. Asanas are the 3rd 'limb' of 8-Limbed or Ashtanga Yoga (also called Raja or 'kingly' Yoga in Swami Vivekananda's system). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_Sutras_of_Patanjali The word Yoga has the same Indo-European root as the word 'yoke,' and is usually translated as Union. The postures follow two ethical preparatory stages, but in the West they have become fetishized and competitive displays by acrobatically gifted individuals, and they've become adapted by the 'body beautiful' "culture of narcissism." Ancient Asanas are intended to condition the body-mind for the influx of higher levels of bio-electric energy or Prana. High pranic states or "hyperpranic" states are attributed to the surging of energies referred to as Kundalini-Shakti in Hindu Tantric Yoga, or the gTummo n Tibetan Buddhism, or by other names in different esoteric traditions. Psychedelic states also liberate these energies. I could never have tolerated high doses without performing certain Hatha Asanas to move the energy upward (The Bow is a particularly important one for this, Dhanurasana. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asanas
The design of the Asanas are each geared to specific nerves and nerve centers (ganglia) in the physical body, but they are also geared to the subtle nerves (nadis) of the Subtle or Astral body (Sukshma karira). The physical body has, interpenetrated with it, a subtle body. The Causal body is not a body with form, but is more like a plane or expanse, yet it is a more refined aspect of the human being which borders on the Ultimate Source, which in Hindu Vedantic thought is called Atman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Bodies_Doctrine_(Vedanta)
Bottom line: Hatha (Sun-Moon) Asanas are not and never were merely physical stretches because we are not merely physical bodies.
very interesting. gonna have to read more about this in the morning.
interesting that it helps you tolerate high doses too
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topdog82
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Re: Why is hatha yoga so amazing? [Re: Psilosopherr]
#22416232 - 10/21/15 11:47 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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I 100% agree with that. I have had much more clairty in my psychedelic trips ever since doing yoga daily. It is a habit that I am going to keep up for life hopefully. Its surprising how powerful it is
And I have also mixed yoga with light doses of psyches. Its amazing
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