Attending a yoga class is so much more than just seeing how far you can bend. Most good yoga teachers in Phuket will also enlighten you with the history behind the practice and how it not only helps your body and health but can also lead to a better and clearer spiritual understanding and wellbeing also. As you learn more and more about yoga you should also learn about the six branches of yoga and how they all relate to the exercise as a whole.
The six branches are as follows:
Yoga of postures
Hatha Yoga is perhaps the path of Yoga you are most familiar with since this is the most popular branch of Yoga in the West. This is what you pick if all you want is a peaceful mind and a healthy body to go along with it.
Yoga of devotion
This is the path of the heart and devotion. Yogis who practice this branch sees the “One” or the Divine in everyone and everything.
Yoga of self-control
This path is considered to be the King of Yoga and this may be due to the fact that most of its practitioners are members of religious and spiritual orders.
Yoga of the mind
This path deals with the mind, and as such, it focuses on man’s intelligence. Jnana Yogis consider wisdom and intellect as important and they aim to unify the two to surpass limitations.
Yoga of service
It is believed that your present situation is based on your past actions. So by doing selfless service now, you are choosing a future that is free from negativity and selfishness.
Yoga of rituals
This path is about using rituals to experience what is sacred.
You can now understand why yoga means to achieve a goal when you look at the six branches that on offer. However there are still some popular misconceptions still associated with yoga. For example people believe yoga is a religion, this is not true and is in fact practicised by many people who come from different religions.
Another popular misconception is that yoga is used to keep fit. Actually this is not true entirely. It does keep you fit but also makes your body stronger as a weaker one can be a hindrance to spiritual growth, it does not just focus on the physical but is also focuses on the mental and spiritual aspects also. As you can see from all of the above there is much more to yoga than most people realise.
As mentioned, there are many great classes you can take to learn yoga if you are based in Phuket but start off slow and gradually progress more as you develop and learn more about what both you and your body really are capable of. You will be amazed at just how well you feel and how much better you seem to be able to focus and how much more energy you have and these are all byproducts of yoga and the benefits that it can provide.