“Breathe in slowly, exhale calmly, clear your mind, and free your thoughts.” These are some of the things that may come to mind when one thinks about Yoga and Meditation and all that their practices entail. However, there is much more to Yoga and Meditation than calm breathing, squishy mats, soothing music and downward dog. “Yoga is a combination of both physical and spiritual exercises, entails mastery over the body, mind and emotional self, and transcendence of desire (hafsite.org).” Yoga, when combined with certain religious practices, like Hinduism and Taoism, takes a person places where they are able to see beyond their problems and fills themselves with inner peace and tranquility. The Yoga’s of Hinduism and Taoism play a very important role in their respective religions and how they help the individual transform spiritually, mentally and physically, as well as, achieve their ultimate goals.
The Yoga’s seen in Hinduism involves the typical exercise yoga, Raja yoga, one sees at gyms and fitness centers. Raja yoga involves “bodily postures and controlled breathing techniques combined with mantras and meditation (Notes).” There are three other types of yoga and meditation forms that are not as well-known as the Raja yoga. They are, Jnana yoga, “the way of wisdom (Notes).” This form of yoga uses rationality to overcome ignorance and to understand by studying and discussing texts (Notes). Many people in the world could benefit from implementing this form of yoga in their life. So many people jump on band wagons and are quick to disagree or judge people on topics that they really do not know much about. If one was to spend time researching and making a well informed and well thought out decision we could eliminate a lot of the ignorance in the world and make for a more productive society. Karma yoga, “the way of work,” revolves around a person’s charitable work and