Yoga, the oldest science of life, is a practice supporting complete wellness for your body, mind, and spirit. Proceeding from a philosophy of an Eight-Limb Path, Yoga is so much more than stretching and bending. In fact, the bendy part is only one small aspect of this ancient yet remarkable science.
Being an ancient science, Yoga is given in one of the world's oldest languages, that being Sanskrit. But don't worry its all been translated into English, although learning and chanting the vibrations of the ancient Sanskrit words is quite fun and peace-filling.
The Yoga that we practice at Awakening JOY Ministries®, is a combination of what we have learned over 15 years of being with this practice. A certified Yoga Teacher in Sivananda yoga, Rev. Andrea Sassa Archuleta, RYT, our primary spiritual counselor, has also extensively studied Integral yoga, Anusura Yoga, and Iyengar Yoga. For those who are interested, Rev. Andrea incorporates yoga practices into the spiritual counseling methods she uses.
Yoga's eight-fold path is a practice of refining and balancing the energy within the subtle (energetic) bodies we all have. This energy is called prana and it flows within the chakras. For more information about chakras, click here.
The Eight-Limb Path
Yamas: The Five Moral Restraints or Virtues - for thoughts, words, and actions in our relationships with others and the earth
Ahimsa - nonviolence, non-injury
Satya - truthfulness
Asteya - non-stealing
Brahmacarya - moderation
Aparigraha - non-hoarding, non-clinging
Niyamas: The Five Observances - for physical appearance, actions, words, and thoughts in our relationship with our self
Sauca - purity, cleanliness
Santosa - contentment
Tapas - zeal, austerity, burning desire for reunion with God
Svadhyaya - self-study, self-inquiry
Isvara-pranidhana - devotion or surrender to a higher power
Asana - Postures - the physical practice that tones our body and calms the mind
Pranayama - Mindful Breathing - breathing to calm the mind, purify the body, and enliven our awareness of the prana/chi giving life to our body, mind, and spirit
Pratyahara - Turning Inward- withdrawing our senses from focusing on the world and instead turning our focus to the inner self
Dharana - Concentration - a deep focus achieved when our body, mind, and senses are calm and liberated from worldly distractions and desires
Dhyana - Meditation - uniting our conscious mind with Oneness
Samadhi - Union of the Self - ecstasy, merging with the Divine, a knowing of Truth and Oneness beyond the rationale mind
When the energy simply flows through us,
just as it flows through the grass and the trees and the ravens and the bears and the moose and the ocean and the rocks,
we discover that we are not solid at all.
If we sit still like the mountain Gampo Lhatse in a hurricane,
if we don't protect ourselves from the trueness and the vividness and the immediacy and the lack of confirmation of simply being part of life,
then we are not this separate being who has to have things turn out our way.
-Pema Chodron