A brief overview

'Yoga comes from the Sanskrit root yuj meaning union or joining. It refers to the joining of our ordinary or limited self, called jiva with our higher consciousnes, referred to as Shiva, or the Inner Self. It includes practices that bring us to the direct experience of that state being within; it is a personal, experiential process. This process is one of re-identifying or recognizing, over and over again, who we are on a deep and unchanging level. It is a process of unlayering and continually letting go of all the misunderstandings that get in the way of experiencing our true nature. The analogy is often used that the Self is much like the radiant sun, which always shines but is overshadowed by clouds, which are our illusions and wrong understandings. The quality of this state of being is classically defined as sat-chit-ananda or being, consciousness and bliss. As we identify with this inner state, all sense of anxiety and separation fall away.

There are many forms or paths of yoga, all bring us to the same realization of the Self. We are attracted to a particular form according to our disposition, karma, and needs. Although they may appear different in form, in essence all forms of yoga involve the dissolution of the ego and all bring us to the heart of the Self. The paths of yoga include karma, bhakti, jnana, and raja. Karma yoga is a path of service and action. It purifies one by learning to act selflessly without expectation of return or personal gain. Bhakti yoga is a simple and direct path of devotion whereby one sees everything as an expression of the Self or love. Jnana yoga is the yoga of knowledge. Raja yoga is the path integrating all paths of yoga. Muraja yoga is a form of raja yoga which specializes in kundalini meditation (energy transformation), mantra, hatha disciplines, and Indian drumming. Hatha yoga is used as a means to cleanse, purify and prepare the mind and body for the higher spiritual disciplines. All of these processes of meditation, chanting, and hatha help to balance our energies in the subtle channels within the spine so that the dormant spiritual force awakens and rises upward to manifest its potential.'