Author: Swami Sivananda
Publisher: Divine Life Society
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 164
ISBN/UPC (if available): 81-7052-008-8
Description
The Yoga Asanas have acquired an importance which has a twofold character. They are not only a set of all-round physical exercises but a preparatory stage for the practice of Yoga. Both the Hatha Yoga and the Raja Yoga prescribe these techniques of Asanas for the purification of the body and the setting of it in tune with the nervous equilibrium that is necessary for engaging oneself in the higher concentration.
Though the Raja Yoga of Patanjali mentions any particular pose as the requisite for the practice of meditation, the Hatha Yoga lays emphasis on the practice of different kinds of Asanas for maintaining a healthy condition of the body. Thus Yoga Asanas form the very foundation of Yoga proper.
In this volume Swamiji describes the Yoga Asanas in a homely way so that they may be intelligible even to a layman. Highly technical descriptions have been avoided to enable the common man to derive benefit from them easily and to introduce him to a realm above his usual worldly routine. Important postures are illustrated separately for practical guidance in Yoga Asana practice,