Complete Yoga

While yoga is a diverse system of practice comprised of many approaches to selfrealization,
many authorities on yoga concur that there are four major branches of yoga that
over time have served as a point of origin for developing a practice of yoga. In addition to
these four branches, there are several other systems of yoga that have gained widespread
interest and attention in building a yoga practice. These might be considered offshoots, or
mini-branches, of the main four branches of yoga. The following descriptions will help you
understand the four main branches of yoga, with some of their most important offshoots.
The Four Major Branches of Yoga
As most commonly presented, the four major branches of yoga are bhakti yoga, jnana
yoga, karma yoga, and raja yoga. Understanding the nature of each can help you incorporate
yoga into your life in the most meaningful way.
Bhakti Yoga: The Yoga of Devotion
Bhakti literally means “devotion” in Sanskrit. Bhakti yoga is known as the yoga of
devotion. Following the path of bhakti yoga requires one to surrender oneself completely to
a force or power greater than oneself. That power might be a deity, saint, revered teacher, or
a quality, such as love. Through the force of opening one’s heart with undivided love and
devotion to this higher force, one enters the grace of self-realization. Faith, grace, and love
are the hallmarks of bhakti yoga. Mahatama Ghandi and the Dalai Lama, with their open
hearts and unswerving devotion to serve, are excellent examples of a bhakta, the term that
describes a practitioner of bhakti yoga.
Jnana Yoga: The Yoga of Knowledge
Jnana literally means “wisdom” or “knowledge” in Sanskrit. Jnana yoga is known as the
yoga of wisdom. Of all the branches of yoga, this path requires the greatest concentration of
mental activity. Jnanins (“knowers”), or practitioners of jnana yoga, seek enlightenment through the power of mental discrimination and inquiry—learning to differentiate the real
from the unreal, and the limited personal self from the unlimited infinite self that is the
source of all being. Meditation is the most powerful tool used in the practice of jnana yoga.
Karma Yoga: The Yoga of Action
Karma literally means “action” or “cause” in Sanskrit. Karma yoga is known as the yoga
of action. Following the path of karma yoga involves seeking liberation through one’s actions
in the world. Devoting selfless service to others and practicing one’s tasks in life—
professional, familial, and otherwise—with perfect awareness and mindfulness without regard
for success or failure permits the practitioner of karma yoga to achieve enlightenment and
self-liberation. Through karma yoga, even simple and routine tasks such as driving a car or
mowing the lawn can be acts of yoga practice if they are offered selflessly and to benefit
others in an act of service. Many people associate yoga with asceticism and withdrawal from
the external world and the company of others. Karma yoga offers those who are interested
in pursuing its path a way of practicing yoga actively in the world.
Raja Yoga: The Royal Yoga
Raja means “royal” in Sanskrit. Raja yoga is known as the royal road to yoga, or the
yoga of enlightenment. Of all the branches of yoga, raja yoga is probably the best-known
approach to yoga in the West. The practitioner of raja yoga follows a carefully prescribed
path composed of eight practices, or limbs, known as ashtanga (“eight limbs”), to achieve
self-realization. These limbs include many of the best-known and most frequently engaged
yoga practices, including physical postures, breath control, and concentration. (These practices
will be described in much greater detail in the chapters that follow.) Raja yoga is
sometimes referred to as classical yoga because the practices that comprise it are detailed in
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, one of the earliest extant texts on the practice of yoga.
The four major branches of yoga form the overall umbrella under which all other yoga
practices are subdivided. Each branch, however, need not be considered mutually exclusive.
Some practices, such as meditation, are common to more than one branch of yoga. A
follower of yoga can also engage in practices from more than one branch—a man can open
the heart through bhakti yoga, engage the world mindfully and dutifully through karma
yoga, seek mental discernment through jnana yoga, and engage in the liberating practices
of raja yoga all at the same time. In fact, a devotee who follows the teachings of all the
branches of yoga will find in yoga a nearly perfect system leading to right living, thinking,
and self-realization.
The Eight Limbs of Yoga
Raja yoga is frequently described as the scientific path to yoga. This is because it lays
out in a very clear, simple, and systematic way a series of steps that a practitioner of yoga
can follow to achieve enlightenment. These steps, which are detailed in Patanjali’s Yoga
Sutras, form a sort of ladder, each practice building sequentially on the practice that precedes
it. The eight limbs, or rungs, of raja yoga, presented from the first to the eighth are as
follows:

1. Yama. Yama means “self-restraint” or “self-control” in Sanskrit. The yamas are
a set of ethical practices, somewhat like the commandments of the Old Testament,
which form the basis for spiritual development. In order to be liberated,
the yoga aspirant first must abstain from engaging in behavior that will
be detrimental to his well-being and that of others. Patanjali prescribes five
yamas that are to be observed: nonviolence (ahimsa); not telling lies, or being
truthful (satya); not stealing (asteya); not wasting one’s sexual energy, or literally,
demonstrating “brahmic conduct” (brahmacarya); and not being greedy
(aparigraha). By practicing these five yamas, one develops the self-control
necessary for the pursuit of the highest goals of yoga.
2. Niyama. Niyama means restraint in the sense of “discipline” or “moral observance”
in Sanskrit. The niyamas are a set of ethical principles by which the
practitioner of yoga is advised to conduct his life. Patanjali details five niyamas
that are to be practiced: purity (saucha), contentment (santohsa), asceticism
(tapas), study (svadhyaya), and surrender to a higher power (Isvara-pranidhana).
Taken together, the niyamas provide a prescription for right living.
3. Asana. Asana means “seat” or “posture” in Sanskrit. The asanas are a prescribed
set of physical postures, or poses, that are meant to purify and steady
both the body and mind. For many people, yoga is synonymous with these
postures, which form the basis of what is known as hatha yoga, which is
derived from the system of raja yoga. The asanas play such an important role
in yoga that they have given rise to many approaches to practicing them.
Much of the confusion as to what yoga is in the West is caused by these
various approaches to executing the physical postures of yoga. Because of the
importance that these poses play in yoga and the diversity of ways in which
they can be practiced, the first few sections of Yoga for Men are devoted to a
description of the various styles of yoga that have developed in response to the
practice of raja and hatha yoga.
4. Pranayama. Pranayama means “control (or extension) of the breath” in Sanskrit.
The breath (prana) is more than just the air we take in and exhale,
however. Breath is also synonymous with vital energy, or the life force. Without
breath there is no life. Practitioners of yoga believe that it is essential to
learn to control the breath in order to still the mind. Consequently, detailed
practices have been developed to enhance the flow of breath, or vital life force.
These practices include various ways of inhaling, retaining, and expelling the
breath. The practice of pranayama is so vital to yoga that you will find a
separate section detailing the most frequently practiced of these breathing
techniques in Chapter 16.
5. Pratyahara. Pratyahara means “withdrawal” or “starving the senses” in Sanskrit.
The practice of pratyahara entails withdrawing the senses from sensory
objects, as in sleep.
6. Dharana. Dharana means “concentration” in Sanskrit. Once the practitioner
of yoga has withdrawn the senses from external objects, he practices concentration, for instance, by focusing single-pointedly on an object of
awareness, such as a mental image or a sound.
7. Dhyana. Dhyana means “meditation” in Sanskrit. As the practitioner’s concentration
develops, it deepens into meditation.
8. Samadhi. Samadhi means “bliss” or “ecstasy” in Sanskrit. Once the aspirant
has perfected the preceding steps on the ladder of yoga, he enters into a state
sometimes referred to as superconsciousness, in which the individual self merges
with the infinite consciousness of the universe. This state of bliss is the ultimate
goal of raja yoga.
These eight practices comprise the eight-runged ladder referred to as ashtanga yoga.
Taken together, they form a kind of guide to developing self-control. The first two sets of
practices prescribe how to establish self-discipline over one’s conduct and behavior toward
others through a system of do’s and don’ts of ethical behavior. The next two practices teach
how to achieve self-discipline of the physical body. The last four practices provide detailed
instruction on how to gain mastery of the senses and mind, leading to self-realization.