5 behaviors or tasks your partner does that you appreciate

These new doctrines did not abide by the ancient Vedic texts; This led to tantra yoga's popularity, which boasted unusual yet effective techniques to purify the body and mind from the ropes of our physical existence. Exploring these techniques of the mind-body connection led to Hatha yoga, which is now the Western world's most popular form of yoga. Modern Yoga: Between the late 1800s and early 1900s, yoga masters traveled to the West, bringing attention to yoga's benefits and garnering more followers. The first step in this process happened in the Parliament of Religions, Chicago, in 1893, following Swami Vivekananda's outstanding lecture on yoga practices and the universality of religions. Soon after, Hatha yoga was introduced by Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, an Indian scholar, teacher, and Ayurvedic healer who later founded the Hatha Yoga School in Mysore, India in 1924. Sivananda created the Divine Life Society on the banks of the Ganges river in 1936. Krishnamacharya taught three students who later carried his legacy of Hatha yoga: T. Committing to a daily practice accelerates the benefits while creating new neural pathways to support positive states of mind. If you miss a day or two, simply start again. Physical space: Find a quiet, peaceful, clean, and comfortable space where you feel safe, relaxed, and free of any distractions. Turn off any electronic devices. Body posture: Sit comfortably with a relaxed, body and tall spine, on a cushion or chair. Place your hands on your lap or thighs, and root your feet on the ground. Gently close your eyes or keep them slightly open with a soft gaze on a single object on the floor. Eyes open helps with mental focus, especially when you feel drowsy. Breath: Your breath is your anchor and friend and will help you settle, relax, and calm your mind. Breathe through your nostrils with your attention on your lower abdomen. As Dunning and colleagues (2003) note, although knowledge of your shortcomings can be humbling, it is often better than remaining blissfully unaware because you won't be motivated to take steps to improve until you realize you have gaps in skills or knowledge. Self-Perception Theory: Knowing the Self by Observing One's Own Behavior

According to self-perception theory (Bem, 1965), we often discover who we are in the same way that we form impressions of other people. In article 4, we talked about how you might form an impression of your new college roommate by observing her behavior. When her behavior doesn't seem constrained by her situation--when it seems freely chosen--you infer that it was caused by something internal to who she is, such as an enduring trait or preference. In the same way, we sometimes form impressions of ourselves by observing our own behavior and making attributions for how we act. If our behavior can be explained by factors in the situation, we attribute it to those external factors. But if no noticeable external factors seem to be controlling our behavior, we attribute it to an internal attitude or trait. Self-perception theory The theory that people sometimes infer their attitudes and attributes by observing their behavior and the situation in which it occurs. Desikachar, Pattabhi Jois, and the popular B. In 1947, Indra Devi (Eugenie Peterson) opened the first Hollywood yoga studio at 8806 Sunset Boulevard. Sri Patanjali's Philosophy and His Contribution to Yoga Sri Patanjali, also called Gonikaputra or Gonardiya, was an enigma. Little or no details exist about the life of the legend said to be the very epitome of yoga. Historians believe he was born in the 2nd century BC to Gonika, a virtuous yogini (female yoga practitioner), and he's said to be the reincarnation of the thousand-headed serpent god Ananta Shesha. This is the reason Patanjali is often depicted as half-human, half serpent. Some people claim Patanjali was a lawyer, others say he was a physician, while a few say he was a grammarian. It is crucial to clear up this misconception. The Patanjali credited with writing the yoga sutras differs from the one responsible for the commentary on Panini's grammar. Observe each inhale and exhale in a noncontrolling and nonengaging way. Become a neutral observer, as if you are watching a movie.

Meet your breath as it is without changing it. Notice your breathing without judgment. Is it light or heavy, contracted or expanded, shallow or full? Let the breath breathe you. There is no need to force the breathing pace. It will normalize by itself. Body scan: With each inhale, scan your entire body from head to toe for any tension or tightness. With each exhale, relax and release any tension stored in your body. We are most likely to learn about ourselves through this self-perception process when in new or unusual situations. Imagine that a friend invites you to go spelunking with him. You've never been spelunking, but you like the idea of exploring caves and trying something new. You are 30 feet into the cave and navigating a tight corridor when your heart starts racing, your palms start sweating, and you start backing out of the cave. Your friend is perfectly calm, and you had only a single cup of coffee this morning, so what could possibly be causing your behavior? You realize for the first time in your life that you are claustrophobic. This is the sort of self-knowledge that you gain only through self-perception. You found yourself in a new situation where the best explanation for your behavior is something about who you are and the traits (or in this case, phobias) you possess. In a less dramatic way, we often find ourselves relying more on self-perception when we come to transition points in our life. A freshman who just showed up on campus doesn't really know what kind of college student she is yet. Patanjali is said to be the father of yoga, but it is clear that he was not its creator. He is only seen as the epitome of yoga because he was an accomplished teacher who understood suffering and had mapped out a practical step-by-step guide to alleviate it.

Sri Patanjali codified yoga teachings into 196 aphorisms or sutras. The word Sutra in Sanskrit means string; This codification of yoga teachings made it easy to understand and pass on, unlike the old oral yoga instruction technique. The yoga philosophy by Patanjali is mostly dualistic. What this means is both the diving or Prakriti and the human or Purusha exist alongside each other, but they still maintain their separation, being completely different entities. In other words, everything in this world is entirely made of matter and spirit. The Categories of Patanjali's Sutras The whole point of yoga is to set us free from the stronghold of the world of matter and bring us closer and closer to the cosmos until we become one with the All. Breathe in and out. Scan your body and release tension. Focus on relaxing and softening your muscles, ligaments, and connective tissues, from your face, neck, shoulders, and back to your arms, hands, legs, and feet. Letting go of the gripping and tension from the day. With no effort, continue breathing in and out until you feel relaxed and at ease. A relaxed body creates a relaxed, calm mind. Breath counting: If your mind is restless and agitated, begin counting from one to ten with every exhale, then backwards from ten to one. Repeat this breathing cycle until your mind is calm. This helps train the mind to focus on a single object rather than wandering from your direct experience or moving into autopilot. If over time your mind is still restless, include a mind-body practice such as yoga or qigong to relax your body and settle your mind before meditating. If asked whether she is a punctual student, she can remember back to her most recent class and think, Yeah, I did show up on time to chemistry and was actually 20 minutes early to my Spanish class, so maybe I am punctual. Or she might think about whether she is punctual in other domains, such as her job, and generalize from that.

In either case, she can make this judgment about whether she is a punctual college student, but not without first engaging in a self-perception process of reflecting back on examples of her own behavior. By her senior year, enough of this experience might have built up so that now when asked if she is a punctual college student, she gives an immediate yes or no, without having to cobble together self-knowledge from observations (Klein et al. Using One's Movements to Know the Self Lift your chin up, drop it down, and repeat this motor movement. This is a pretty basic action, and we might not imagine that it would have any power to influence our judgment. But think about when we usually engage the muscles in our head and neck in this way. Often it is when we are signaling our agreement with something. Could this mean that our brain unconsciously uses this same sequence of muscular movements to infer agreement? Patanjali's 196 sutras educate us on self-discovery and the importance of understanding one's place in the universe. His sutras fall into four main categories, each with its unique purpose and focus: Kaivalya Pada (freedom from agony or affliction) Samadhi Pada (specifying what yoga and awareness is) Vibhuti Pada (diligence in the practice of discipline) Sadhana Pada (the link between the yogi and higher consciousness) The sutras are far from direct answers as they lack concise or universal meanings. They are a guide or compass for the yogi to understand that each earthly or spiritual experience is unique, and everyone will have their lessons to learn on the path of self-realization. To Sri Patanjali, the pain and heartache is part of the process. Like every journey, as you reach the peak of true self-discovery, the pain fades away. Drowsiness: If you feel drowsy or foggy, there are several techniques you can use to cultivate more mental alertness and activate the sympathetic nervous system: 1) stimulate the breath by breathing deeply through your nose to your lower abdomen; Notice where you are breathing in your body and the texture the breath (shallow or full, heavy or light, warm or cool).