Raja Yoga
Raja Yoga is codified from esoteric practices that are thousands of years old. It has developed several branches to accommodate different personality styles. The major yogas are Bhakti (a devotional approach that opens the heart, it is best for those who are primarily emotionally-oriented), Jnana (an intellectual approach that leads to wisdom, it is best for those who are primarily mentally-oriented), Karma (an active, service-oriented approach, it is best for those who are more extroverted and who find meaning mostly through relationship),
For those who are capable, Raja Yoga employs the most powerful and direct techniques for spiritual advancement, it provides a clear outline of the stages of progress along the path. These teachings were first systematised in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The eight traditional stages are:
Yama (social ethics of non-violence, truth)
Niyama (personal ethics of purity)
Asana (discipline of the body through posture to provide a sound base for taming the mind)
Pranayama (discipline of the breath to refine the base developed through asana)
Pratyahara (beginning mental concentration, this level brings mental control over the sense gates, so that one can withdraw from sense experience. This is useful because it allows one to further purify the mind and heart without the normal distractions of the mind and senses.
Dharana (intermediate mental concentration, holding to a single object for 2-4 minutes)
Dhyana (advanced mental concentration, holding to a single object for 30-40 minutes)
Samadhi (very advanced mental concentration, holding to a single object for 6 hours or more). The most advanced practitioners can remain in samadhi indefinitely.
The final practice of this meditational path is to connect the samadhi state with ordinary day-to-day consciousness so that a practitioner is in samadhi regardless of whether he or she is meditating in total isolation or performing daily chores in the normal bustle of people, places, and events. In this way, the accomplished meditator has quite literally passed beyond life's sufferings but yet remains in the world. A spiritual master of this stature experiences every moment as pleasant and peaceful regardless of what may be happening to her or his body and mind. For instance, such a person would be aware of the body's torment when suffering from some terrible disease, such as cancer, but naturally remain in a serene state anyway.
Tree Pose - Vrikshaasana
Come to stand in posture
Feel your weight equally on all four corners of both feet.
Begin to shift the weight over to the right foot, lifting the left foot off the floor
Bend the left knee, bringing the sole of the left foot high onto the right knee (Inhale and retain)
Press the foot into the knee.
Try not to let the right hip jut out. Keep both hips squared towards the front.
Focus on something that doesn't move to help you keep your balance. Exhale and come back to standing posture.
Repeat the move while standing on the left foot
benefits: Strengthens legs, improves balance
Good Reads
Easy Print In Sharm
The season is starting, and that means marketing, marketing, and marketing. The road race begins for businesses to get out there, and capture their required target markets. The common methodology for this, prior to the opening of Easy Print, was, let’s print flyers thousands of flyers, using offset printing techniques, so we can distribute them all over town town. Surely if one prints 5,000 flyers and distributes them, people will show up to their venue. Isn’t that how it always worked? At Easy Print, and in Europe and the States, that is considered an ultimate waste of money and paper.
Today in Sharm, there are new tools you can use, to ensure your print requirements are made Easy.
To Sharm Parents
I was fortunate enough to become a parent, and what I can say so far is, parenting is a tough job – tougher than any other job, let alone in a place like Sharm, with all its diversities. With this mind, I did a little bit of research. I spent the last 2 weeks having chats with different parents about what their take on parenting in Sharm is like. It was very interesting what I learnt.
My Daughter My Love
As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
(Solomon Ibn Gabirol)
Daughters warm your heart.
From the day they are born until the day you hand them over into someone else’s care.
A daughter is truly a blessing, a gift from God.
What do you do when a nervous young man asks your permission to marry your angel?
When you know her heart and wings have already flown into his nest. When you know this nervous young man is worthy of her love? You rejoice.
The happiness you feel is twofold, the first is recognition that she has finally grown up and chosen a partner to accompany her on the most important journey of her life.
Latest Reviews
Dear Lady
I don't know from where I can start I am an Egyptian lady living in sharm for 2 and half years. I am 23, and recently i am not feeling well here. I choose to write to you because I like what you always write, and also because you are in the same city, so maybe u will understand me. I feel that Sharm is full of russians and every time i look around me i find them with open clothes, and egyptian men around them holding their hands and maybe more! When I apply to any good position that suits my qualifications, the answer is, sorry we need a russian girl...i’m not saying they are all bad, some of them are my best friends, but some have to respect our traditions.
