YOGA TIPS

MYTH OR REALITY? WHAT CAN YOGA REALLY DO? CAN YOGA HELP YOU DEVELOP PSYCHIC POWERS?

Many people have misconceptions about what yoga can and cannot do for your well-being. Some, unfamiliar with the basic tenants of yoga, believe that the practitioner's goal is to so heighten their senses that they can manipulate the thoughts and emotions of other people. However, the individual familiar with yoga knows that this is founded in myth. Yoga can help improve your physical and spiritual well-being and, for those who have attained enlightenment, an inner peace that wishes no one harm.

There are very many mysteries associated with the practice of yoga and every experienced Yogi (instructor) seems to have unlocked one of them. The mysticism surrounding yoga is closely associated with meditation. Yoga as it is practiced by many in the United States, rarely delves very deeply into these topics, but for those who are more advanced, the spiritual side of yoga is the most fulfilling of all.

Through meditation, one can achieve spiritual enlightenment and there are even Yogis who dedicate their entire life to teaching their pupils the best way to meditate to open all of one’s chakras (points where energy flows throughout the body). Most common is the practice of meditation to open the Sixth Chakra, also known as the Third Eye or Ajna in Hindi, which is located in the middle of the brow. The Sixth Chakra is thought by many Yogis and in all related literature to be the link between the physical and spiritual worlds.

Opening the Third Eye can be an intense and time consuming process and many practitioners of Yoga never do. The Third Eye is also linked to intuition and Extra Sensory Perception (ESP). Intense study and meditation are generally required to achieve this level of enlightenment and there are even risks involved.

Kundalini Yoga teaches its students how to create a direct connection with the divine through meditation, awakening their Kundalini, which is the entity connected to spiritual awakening. Psychiatrist Karl Jung most famously noted the dangers of Kundalini Yoga stating that it can lead to psychosis. Other opinions suggest that the Kundalini is a heightened state of mind that has been unleashed. People who claim to have awakened their Kundalini have experienced what could only be classified as psychological disorders by the scientific community.

These are probably where certain misconceptions about what yoga can do have come from. True believers and practitioners surely believe that they will receive some level of spiritual enlightenment, but very few people who practice yoga for the mind and body believe that they will actually communicate with the spiritual world or develop psychic powers.

Scientifically, there is no definitive evidence that links the practice of yoga with paranormal psychic phenomena such as ESP and telekinesis. While others may come to the conclusion that these phenomena are very closely tied to the practices of yoga and meditation, yoga is widely accepted to be a great way to stay fit and is used by many to relax and separate themselves from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Christine Dignam

Click Here To Learn More About Yoga....