Yoga: the essence of the teaching.
Yoga as a teaching originated in India thousands of years ago. And all these millennia, a large number of people have been constantly engaged in it, but only recently has yoga received such a wide number of adepts all over the world. Yoga classes affect all facets of a person’s personality – on his physical, mental and emotional state. At first, only a few people in India, such as philosophers and hermits, strictly adhered to a lifestyle based on the principles of yoga. These people were called yogis or gurus, they passed on their knowledge only to selected students. Gurus and their followers lived in caves and dense forests, sometimes yogis became hermits and led a secluded life.
The foundational principles of yoga were described by a yogi named Patanjali, who lived around 300 BC – he was a guru respected and revered by his contemporaries. His classification of yoga is still used today, it was Patanjali who divided the teaching of yoga into eight sections. The first two describe the yoga lifestyle. A serious foot practitioner should lead a calm, measured life, maintain friendly relationships with others, maintain personal hygiene, and spend their days meditating and learning the basics of yoga. The yogi should avoid anything that is associated with greed, envy and other feelings that are harmful to others. The third and fourth sections of yoga deal with its physical aspects, in particular, contain a description of exercises designed to promote physical development and the flow of vital energy into the body and mind of the yogi.
The remaining four sections are devoted to the improvement of the soul and mind. For this purpose, the yogi must learn to move away from the troubles of life with all its difficulties and worries, be able to plunge into a state of meditation and train mental abilities by comprehending the universal consciousness of “samadhi”. This state involves the implementation of fundamental changes in mental activity, allowing you to fully comprehend the meaning of life. In recent years, an increasing number of people in India from various walks of life are devoting themselves to the study of yoga and its teaching – yoga lessons have even been introduced in mainstream schools.