What Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga mean?

Ha and Tha are two Sanskrit words that mean the Sun and the Moon and represent the two polarities, positive and negative. 

This name aims to underline the importance that should be given to the balance, that is that state of union that brings to the harmony of the opposites, as we said previously , that means the elimination of conflict of any kind.
Raja, also from Sanskrit, means Royal. This name emphasizes the importance of these systems and therefore it was given the name of the highest existing office at that time, the king.
Both systems are indivisible to each other (just as like the other systems that later had been called Karma, Jnana, Mantra, Kundalini, etc.).

Unfortunately, the passing of time has done nothing more than producing subdivisions and make the system less effective because it has been fragmented: the proposals more and more had to move away from its original set. So Yoga was linked to cults and religions, philosophies, lifestyles, traditions, ..... until today, when it is reduced to a semi-acrobatic gymnastics or a kind of stretching or a prenatal method.
The resume of the effective techniques from ancient systems is not evil: it can be useful, but they are not what Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga are, i.e. methods for improvement and evolution of body and inner growth, inseparably together.
Therefore it is essential to remember that the methods for Yoga have their beginning with the use of the body through exercises called Asana, which must be applied simultaneously with all the inner mechanisms that make up the complex machine that is the human being .

Do you know What Asana is? Some guidances in the next Post.

How to get to the Yoga state?

In their researches, the Rishis realized (and we can now realize the same, if we take a chance) that thought is highly elusive (an equal basis are the other sides as psychological, emotional, temperamental, etc.). Try to close your eyes and stand still for 10 minutes and see how many things, mostly unsolicited, crop in your mind. 

Since it is so difficult to manage these mechanisms (because evanescent), the Rishis initially thought of using the body as a vehicle to promote the use of mental processes. We are inside our body but it is the mind that dominates all mechanisms: i.e. using the body as the most concrete and helpful instrument available to get up to the internal mechanisms, some of them very subtle. Body and mind influence each other (nowadays the human being is defined as entirely psychosomatic). The Rishis began to "manage" the body in very specific and refined ways for accustoming – at the same time - the mind to to be managed in a more “easy” position. So it came to the fact that the increased management condition brought to the possibility to put all the inside-outside components in a balanced cooperation, from the gross to the subtle ones and producing that the entire system could acquire insurmountable states of equilibrium and harmony. The body, studied and trained in these ways, become healthy and free from unnatural conditions, conflicts and negative emotional states become overcome, the inner wellbeing is ongoing, vital energy circulate better, the conscious state reaches the highest levels, the mind becomes quiet, the spirit enters into states of higher consciousness.
These management methods (RAM, Rishi Ancient Methods for Yoga) over time have been divided into Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga, so also spreading to other countries , each culture took a small part in local traditions and introduced it giving some other names such as Vipassana , Thai Chi Chuan , Buddhism , Zen, etc. .
Now wee would like to see: What the Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga are? See you at the next Post!

So... what is Yoga?

The original practices for acquiring the Yoga state were developed thousands of years ago by the Rishis, the ancient wise men studying the human nature, who lived in the Indus Valley and who devoted their entire existence to the practical research of how to reach their maximum balance and consciousness. 

They found out various mechanisms and obtained important results; as they became able to expand their consciousness, they understood the mechanisms related to the Existence itself. All of may sound weird and impossible at a first glance, but the state of union, which was developed by the Rishis at the highest level, can bring to Awareness beyond the imaginable, till up to the highest levels.
Therefore, the Yoga state, namely union , conjunction and subjugation, may be the most important and decisive factor for our existence: it is the most complete path to gain physical and inner improvement, the best to feel good, as well as allowing us to put ourselves in tune with the whys of life.
 

Please follow me in the next post for some hints on: How to get the Yoga state?

Why Yoga is a state of "conjunction” ?

Thanks to the Yoga practice, gradually we will feel more united with what surrounds us; this condition creates harmony within ourselves, representing a non-conflict situation.
A few examples: it may happen to have disagreements with various people, often we think that it's their fault, but maybe also the other party thinks that the fault is ours. 

Achieving this interior state called "conjunction", we won't only think from our point of view and, also, don't let us go to reactions that come automatically.

Although it might seem strange, the state of conjunction allows us to better understand each other and therefore do not blame ourselves or other people (even in this case the reaction of conflict does not bring any kind of benefit, only makes us feeling badly). Someone will say: but then, I'll do whatever the others want? No, certainly not, we will follow our own choices as we want, acting more harmoniously.... without repressing, without striving, without undergoing ....

And so, by gradual steps, we will naturally get the harmony (in conjunction) with everything is around us, even with the Creation and what is Beyond.
The state of Yoga is, in fact, a augmentative becoming of interior and exterior harmonic states.
But how could be done practically ? In the next post you'll find: Why Yoga also means "subjugation" ?

What is this state of "union" for?

The state of "union" is explainable as a state of non-separation ... obvious and logical, isn't it? It's a state that the ancient methods of Yoga permit to achieve.
We will make an example - choosing among the so many factors on which the state of union is effective: the relation between the state of the conscious mind and that of the unconscious mind. Our unconscious is often called a mischievous little boy who behaves as he wants, escaping to our management. So often it happens that unconscious and conscious point in different directions, creating a state of disharmony in the person, which is also called conflict.
 

Some examples: I'm going to an exam, I know the subject quite well, but anyway my unconscious makes me have fear that sometimes could undermine what I know; or I find a streak on the bodywork of my car and I immediately know - consciously – that there is anything I can do, but my subconscious gives me uncontrollable anger and frustration which, by the way, I consciously know that are useless and make me feel bad (maybe you are asking yourself: is my unconscious working against me? Because it is not acting productively!); or I see from far away my girlfriend coming along with another guy: suddenly I feel a wave of jealousy within me, although I know consciously that she is really in love with me (and by the way I consciously know that if she had chosen another guy I could not do anything about it... but in any case my subconscious makes me sick!), or I get angry when a person makes a comment negative on my dress, when I consciously recognize that the other person may just have a different taste. And so there are a thousand examples that occur in our everyday life....

Too often we are accustomed to think that anger is dependent on external factors, but we do not think that largely depends on a conflict (state of no-union, which represents a no-harmonic condition) between conscious and unconscious.
Thanks to the ancient Yoga techniques, it is possible to get the unconscious to be collaborative and not reactive.
And how is possible to explain the concept: Why Yoga is a state of"conjunction" ? We suggest you some ideas on the next post!

What is the Yoga state?

Everywhere we hear and read that people "practice Yoga", but if Yoga is a state, a condition, how can you practice it? Yoga is the result of practices that prepare the way to get such a state. It would be like saying, for example, that people say that they "practice knowledge"; in reality people “practice the study” that afterwards will give them the state of knowledge .
Now someone might say that we're just quibbling over words!
In my view it is not so, because nowadays the great variety of results and the achievable effects related to Yoga are not taken into account because the methods are not used in the correct way to get them.
As I previously said, Yoga is a method much more refined than the ones usually proposed: if you follow them you could never get all the benefits connected with Yoga.

 It would be like saying, returning to the example given before, that my scope of studying is leafing through the pages of books or rip them up to make boats or airplanes or use them to light the fire, ... . 

 
After that I realize that it would be impossible to achieve the purpose that books have, which is mainly enjoying the benefits of knowledge.

 

If we know the goals that a system offers, we could definitely get used to recognize if we make things relevant and motivated to such purposes. We can certify if we are going in that direction for full effects or if we will get only a small slice of them. Thus, we must choose and pick what we want: a choice that leads to just a little and look for another one that brings better results .

So, now it is important to understand: What is this state of union for? Find out more on the next Post.