Original yoga can never be the shit most people think of contemporary yoga, though.
Contemporary yoga has degenerated into bodily gymnastics divorced from its original spiritual purpose. The bodily exercises one does are but a part of the original yoga system,
and their purpose is to get the body fit to meditate, the poses are not the goal itself. The original yoga system, however, is very genuine and powerful.
Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word yukata, which means to connect (etymologically we see it in the word yoke, which also means to connect).
Through yoga, we connect with our original source (God, Allah, Krishna, Yahweh, etc.). Their path of yoga is one, though there are different rungs on this ladder according to where one is spiritual. However, the highest,
most effective and practical form of yoga is called bhakti-yoga, or the yoga of devotion.
Bhakti-yoga is a non-sectarian process, and many of the world’s major religions such as Christianity, Islam, and some sects of Hinduism follow the process of bhakti-yoga because devotion is viewed as the primary means for reawakening our connection with the Supreme.
Bhakti yoga is not a matter of the body like regular contemporary yoga – it is a matter of the heart. There are different spiritual practices one can perform in bhakti-yoga,
devotees are encouraged to follow the processes they resonate with the most and which are most in accordance with one’s natural inclinations
. By following these practices one can attain spiritual perfection and attain the never-ending stateecstasy.
After attaining this state, one also has the choice of entering into the spiritual realm where they never have to again be in this material world.
While this material world is full of miseries, the same spiritual world does not have such miseries and thus can enjoy an eternal life of bliss.
I’ve never paid for a regular yoga class, and incidentally, I haven’t had to pay a whole lot to learn the science of bhakti yoga either.
While bhakti-yoga is incredibly beneficial and contains a tremendous amount of wisdom – it tends to be very simple.
This is the only sadhana for this age which is very easy to do and also incredibly powerful.
It’s called mantra meditation. To practice mantra meditation, one meditates on the names of God, in whatever tradition one is accustomed to.
That being said, there is one particular mantra that is also especially powerful – the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. It goes Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
Here’s a video that explains mantra meditation in more in-depth: If you don’t have beads, you can also try downloading a counter app that helps you keep a track of how many times you’ve chanted the mantra.
A standard set of chanting beads has 108 beads, so you can keep chanting until your app reaches the count of 108. Or you can just chant for a certain amount of time in your routine if that works for you. Hare Krishna.