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Yoga

En Sanskrit, le mot « Yog » signifie « union ». Le yoga se veut une union harmonieuse du corps et de l’esprit. Élaboré en Inde au fil de plusieurs millénaires, le yoga aide l’humain dans sa recherche d’un état de paix. Il permet d’évacuer le stress tout en créant un espace-temps pour une meilleure prise de conscience de son corps et de son esprit. Cette  pratique  vise à discipliner l’esprit et à garder le corps dans un état de santé optimal.
 
Le yoga est composé de plusieurs dimensions essentielles, entre autres les asanas, le pranayama, la concentration, la relaxation, la méditation et l’alimentation. La pratique d’une série de postures (asanas) favorise la concentration et l’équilibre afin d’étirer, de tonifier et d’assouplir chaque partie du corps. Ce travail agit sur chacun des grands systèmes corporels (digestif, circulatoire, neurologique, endocrinien, etc.). Les exercices de respiration (pranayamas) servent à revitaliser toutes nos cellules. En relâchant les tensions physiques et mentales, les asanas et les pranayamas libèrent d’immenses ressources d’énergie. La relaxation, l’imagerie et la méditation, incluant les mantras, augmentent la clarté, la puissance et la concentration mentale. Ces apprentissages nous aident à prendre connaissance de nos émotions et entrainent notre esprit à être calme, serein et léger.
Postures

Asanas

Asana is a stable posture. "Asanas make you strong, release disease and make the limbs more flexible" from Hatha Yoga Pradipika. One shall not consider Asanas just as a physical posture. Asanas require the participation of the whole Being, physical, mental and spiritual (consciousness). When a person settles into a posture, the breath and the consciousness are solicited. Please note that a posture performed without consciousness is not "asanas". By practicing asanas, we relax the joints of the body, stretch and strengthen the muscles and remove toxins that have accumulated in different parts of the body. The nervous system is harmonized and all internal organs are massaged: the heart, lungs, digestive and abdominal organs, endocrine glands, blood vessels, etc. A healthy body helps to positively change our mindset and reduces stress. A positive attitude, joy and a balanced mind allows access to a greater energy field and better awareness. Asanas also allows an increased control of the mind, eliminates all parasitic thoughts for a better focus. A combination of health, harmony, balance of body and mind, our ego is dissolves into a greater consciousness, our True Nature. Asana practice is therefore the composition of many yoga techniques. The practice of asanas must be in a very quiet and calm place. We perform the postures slowly with awareness, aware of our limits, by synchronizing it with our breathing, in a non-competitive spirit. Relaxation is also a part of asanas.
Breathing techniques

Pranayama

Pranayama veut dire : contrôle du prana. Qu’est ce que le prana? Sivananda dit : «Prana est la somme totale de toutes les énergies contenues dans l’univers».

We exist as human beings in an ocean of prana. Yogis masters the ability to attract prana into oneself, then to accumulate it and transform it to act in the inner environment and in the outer world. The human body has a high capacity of accumulation and can easily transform its entrants. Our vitality depends on sufficient accumulation of prana and its correct use. The absorption of prana takes place through conscious breathing. Breathing is a process that we don't normally think about, it happens naturally. Our life and our breathing are intimately linked.

In fact, it is said of someone who dies, that he expires. It is written in the ancient Indian text, Hatha Yoga Pradipika: “Life is the period between one breath and the next; a person who does not breathe properly is only half alive. He who breathes properly, gains control of his existence ”. There are many factors that influence the way we breathe and in general we breathe shallowly. In yoga, the breathing has to be deeper and slower. This increases the body's oxygen capacity and expels more toxins. It also increases the ability of the muscles in the diaphragm to receiving more oxygen. The mind is closely related to the physical aspects. By soothing the breathing, we calm the mind. "When the breath gets lost, the mind is unstable. On the other hand, when the breath is calm, the mind is calm ”. From Hatha Yoga Pradipika.

Yogic breathing, the basis of all forms of breathing, involves the abdomen and diaphragm up to the collarbones to maximize inhalation and exhalation. Afterwards, several kinds of pranayama can be practiced. We can say that breathing has 4 phases: inspiration, retention with full lungs, expiration, retention with empty lungs. By playing with these different phases, we act on our physique, our mind as well as our consciousness. The most important thing is first to balance our sympathetic (action) and parasympathetic (rest) nervous system, alternating from one nostril to the other.

Several techniques of concentration and relaxation Mudras (sacred gestures), Bandhas (contractions) and Mantras.

Sounds, syllables, words or phrases that repeat

Mantras

The mantra is a sound structure that connects us to an energy. As sound is a vibration that has the power to heal just as it can break glass. Mantras are syllables, words, phrases that when repeated, lead to a higher state of consciousness. There are several kinds of mantras. The 2 main categories are: Saguna, invokes a particular deity or an aspect, a virtue, a quality of the Absolute * eg: "om namashivaya" one relates to Shiva and his qualifications. On the other hand, Nirguna, connects to an abstract form and allows the identification of the one who meditates with the Absolute ex: "OM" "SOHAM", we connect without figurative character, beyond duality.

Sacred gestures

Mudras

Les mudras sont des postures spécifiques pour sceller l’énergie. Les différents mudras ont une signification symbolique et le pouvoir d’invoquer des forces à l’intérieur de l’individu. On ferme des circuits subtils pour garder le prana dans le corps au lieu de le perdre, d’éparpiller l’énergie. BANDHAS Bandhas veut dire «fermer», «retenir». Ce sont des “verrous”. Ce sont des fermetures du corps, spécialement destinées à conserver et utiliser l’énergie produite par les exercices de respiration avancée. Ce qui permet de transformer le prana en énergie spirituelle. Le prana est ainsi redirigé. Le corps et le mental s’apaisent et on devient réceptif à des niveaux plus élevés de conscience.

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