I have chosen ‘The Lost Teachings of Yoga – How to Find Happiness, Peace, and Freedom Through Time-Tested Wisdom’ by George Feuerstein as the yoga philosophy book that I will read. Since I am already extremely busy with school, I have decided to listen to the book on Audible so that I can listen to it while doing others things such as working out, driving or doing housework.

This book speaks to the spiritual aspect of yoga, which has been slowly lost over many years as yoga has become more Westernized. Feuerstein says that many yoga teachers focus only on the physical aspect of yoga (Hatha yoga) and not at all on the spiritual, emotional and healthy mind side. Freuerstein talks about the five moral virues that have been lost overtime with yoga, and that these teachings could offer guidance with problems we are facing around the world.

The seven branches of yoga:

  1. Râja-Yoga (Royal Yoga) – liberation through meditation and deep concentration
  2. Hatha-Yoga (Forecful Yoga) – liberation through physical transformation
  3. Jnâna-Yoga (Wisdom of Yoga) – liberation through teachings from higher wisdom that discerns between the real and unreal
  4. Karma-Yoga (Action Yoga) – liberation through self-transcending service
  5. Bhakti-Yoga (Devotional Yoga) – liberation through self-surrender in the face of the Divine
  6. Tantra-Yoga (Continuity Yoga) – liberation through ritual, visualization, subtle energy work, and the perception or the identity of the ordinary world and the transcendental Reality
  7. Mantra-Yoga (Yoga of Potent Sound) – liberation through recitation of empowered sounds

The five moral virtues:

  1. Non-harming
  2. Truthfulness
  3. Non-stealing
  4. Greedlessness
  5. Chasity

These five virtues are interconnected and aim to develop healthy relationships between all beings including nature.

My thoughts…

While I appreciate learning of the original teachings of yoga and agree with the overall goal of a happy, kind and peaceful life, it will be hard for me to practice all of the branches of yoga and all of the virtues all of the time. However, Freuerstein did state to not kick yourself if you cannot practice all of these, but to just do your best and work toward them all of the time.

My practice with Yoga With Adriene this morning ended in a nice phrase that relates to this topic:

“…commit to something regularly so that you can be happy and healthy in body [and] in mind and spirit because when you feel good, you look good. If you want to have a good body or feel good in your body, you gotta tend to all parts” (Yoga with Adriene, 2017).

Overall, I think that it is so important to build a happy and healthy spirit as well as a happy and healthy body. Both are interconnected and should both be practiced!

References

Freuerstein, G. (2014). The lost teachings of yoga. Sounds true.

https://www.audible.ca/pd/The-Lost-Teachings-of-Yoga-Audiobook/B0719C292K

Yoga with Adriene (2017, April 9). Healthy body yoga – yoga with Adriene [Video]. YouTube.