Welcome to the Awaken Together podcast.
I'm Jen and I'm Kat.
And today we are going to extend off of our last episode and break down the paths of yoga.
So just to give you a little insight, last episode we delved into the eight limbs of
yoga, which falls under one path of yoga.
We went into the yamas and nyamas and today we're going to give you an even wider zoom
out of the different paths and then really break down where those eight limbs fit into
it with an emphasis on the asana practice, which is probably what you picture when you
think of a yoga class, just because that is how we have created yoga in the Western culture.
Kat, you want to break down our four paths and then we'll delve in.
Absolutely.
So yoga, it literally translates to the word yoke or union.
It's union of the body, mind, soul and spirit.
It's rediscovering who we are in returning to a life of joy, bliss and freedom.
And I like to break it down in a really simple way when it comes to the four paths of yoga.
The first path that we'll talk about today is raja yoga.
Raja yoga, it encompasses samadhi, which is doing nothing.
So that's like the goal of yoga, the final step of raja yoga.
Second we'll talk about bhakti yoga.
Bhakti is all about feeling.
It's all about love.
And we're really excited to talk with you about this one because it holds a special
place in our hearts.
Third, we will talk with you about karma yoga.
Karma is the action of yoga.
So it's taking yoga off your mat and actually doing things to serve.
And then finally, we will touch on jnana yoga.
Jnana yoga is all about thinking, knowledge and wisdom, studying yoga.
So to start us off with raja yoga, raja means the royal path.
It's the path of meditation, mantras and other techniques.
And really the basic theme of raja yoga is that your perception of the divine self is
obscured by the disturbances of the mind.
The body and mind can be made still and pure.
The self will instantaneously shine forth.
And it's the path that most of us here in the West favor because it can be practiced
pretty much by everyone requiring no belief or particular faith heading into it.
So Jen, do you want to start us off with asanas?
Absolutely.
I like to picture like a family tree and you can see all of these different families that
will fall into one path.
So raja yoga really is at like the base root of a lot of the practices that we hear and
see in kind of the more modern or westernized yoga.
So talking about asana, I think my original background before anything would have come
onto my path at all.
I went to a Bikram studio that was in town in Daytona Beach and it was the craziest thing
I had ever experienced.
I went into this studio not knowing what to expect.
I was in like a hundred and three degree room and I went through these 26 postures and you
leave and you just feel like you just went on the biggest journey and I was really hooked
to that.
So I started going all of the time.
I think for about two years I was Bikram heavy and the funniest part is because I just had
so little knowledge on what yoga actually was.
I didn't think anything else existed.
Like I thought that was yoga was going into the hundred three degree room doing those
26 postures with a teacher up front and I just didn't even know there was more to that.
I got invited to go to one other studio and I actually started seeing what is another
style which is called vinyasa.
That was completely foreign to me.
I think I did a few classes there and then really branched into ashtanga which is another
set series where you see 75 postures done really consistently.
So those were like the three types that were really at my origin and yeah that was really
where I first started connecting with the asana practice.
I do think when I went into ashtanga is when I also started learning a lot more about meditation
and chanting.
I think that lineage stuck a little bit more with what would have been one of the original
pasts.
It brought a lot of reference back to the origins of yoga which Bikram did not and if
you've seen there's definitely a Netflix documentary Bikram has a dark path.
I did not know until I entered the yoga world that Bikram actually the man who started it
is had really done some terrible things to his students.
It is definitely not a respected branch of yoga anymore but I think for me it got me
at least within the practice and I remember I really enjoyed it because you never put
weight through your hand so I felt like it was really accessible to other bodies but
I've also now learned that that was kind of the one of the worst probably starting points
for yoga and have since then definitely delved into some other styles.
What about you Kat?
Yeah yeah yeah we could talk about these different types of asana practice all freaking day.
To carry on with Bikram a little bit more I mean to give a little note I find that whatever
brings you to your mat is kind of how you're meant to arrive and yes Bikram's shitty like
he's a shitty man like not a not a good person.
Definitely watch the documentaries on Netflix.
I read this book called Hellbent which was all about from a student's perspective someone
who went to Bikram's yoga teacher training which costs thousands and thousands of dollars.
Just in person you have to take all your work off for like a full month at a time and he
he's you know he's just like a man and he he wants to be worshipped.
His ego.
The ego.
Yes it's wild it's really really wild.
A lot of toxicity a lot of sexual abuse so that's what we mean by he did a lot of bad
things to his students.
And the teachers were pretty intense on their students and I actually think it was funny
because I think for me I really liked that harsh discipline at the beginning.
This was before I had done a lot of self reflection and I wanted to like prove to the teachers
I was worthy so there was a lot coming up on the mat.
I know yeah wanting to impress those teachers I think in retrospect looking back yeah there
was definitely a lot of issues I saw back.
Yeah it's a super interesting lineage because like not only is it named after its creator
Bikram it's there are a few other types of yoga as well that follow suit but this one's
very particular.
It follows a script so everyone who participates in yoga teacher training they have to memorize
it and teach the same you know 26 postures in the same order on a carpet carpeted floor
in front of a mirror.
So there's like definitely particular parameters that you need in order to be able to call
it a Bikram studio.
Absolutely that's our two cents on Bikram.
Moving into Vinyasa.
Vinyasa is my preferred like lineage of yoga of asana practice.
It literally translates in Sanskrit to to place in a special way.
Vinyasa and I just love how many different variations of Vinyasa practice there are.
There's power Vinyasa there's you know hot yoga but really Vinyasa yoga for me it's what
I love about it is it's syncing up your breath and movement and having some sort of flow
in between.
It really feels like a moving meditation for me and my dance background I find really gets
happy when I'm when I'm flowing in a Vinyasa class and there's all the flexibility for
freedom.
There's no prescribed movements really just like flexible to choose what you want with
what music you want and yeah it's very expressive and I think that's why it's become.
Quickly the most popular type of asana practice here in the West.
Yeah and then one other type to go into so I would say I teach rather than a Vinyasa
style I think I have a little bit of that but I really was inspired by Iyengar who really
helped hit he had a lot of issues growing up he had a lot of physical pain in his body
he went through a lot of disability and for him when he tried to do these traditional
postures he was very limited and being able to grow from the asana practice so he started
really being the first teacher that was factoring in like walls and stools and straps and blocks
and blankets and bolsters and really using those equipments to find what works for each
particular body and what you need to get into an alignment that feels good in your body
but also doesn't stir up so much physical pain that you aren't really able to get into
that flow state because you're worried and I think because of my physical therapy background
I am very prop heavy when I teach and I am very and very much watching my students to
make sure the form is somewhat there just because I know so much about injury and so
much about how people even have experience going to yoga class and having it hurt them
and thinking that they shouldn't do it anymore when in reality it has been made very accessible
and there are so many options and variations and a lot of those we can thank Iingar for
being the door to making it accessible for all body types as well yeah incredibly alignment
focused and I think that just makes complete sense why that's your jam Jen I can't let
it go I'm a watchful eye whether I want to be or not yeah I think that's so great and
it's really we share all of these practices with you so that you can explore them and
really recommend that you try them all on we'll share a couple more with you but really
tap into that headspace of like which have I tried what did I really like about each
one's what's what's my best fit so you can further explore that and find your joy so
my style is more so like I do cue a lot of different alignment you know focused things
but I am really focused on like do what feels best in your body and give my students total
freedom to do different things you know if it's different than what I'm sharing which
is very different from other lineages of yoga you know like you wouldn't go to a big crumb
class and do your own thing like that's just not you would get right right and so if you're
someone who needs that like discipline and wants to be shown exactly what to do and how
to do it and be corrected you know maybe that would be right for you and if you're more
so wanting to just show up how you are and take what you need and leave what you don't
and have total creative freedom maybe vinyasa is a better fit all of these really stem from
Hatha Hatha yoga that's like the parents limb of asana and Hatha translates to effort or
force and it's about moving your body slowly and deliberately into different poses that
really challenge your strength and flexibility so another type of yoga is Kundalini and Kundalini
translates to it's a Sanskrit adjective meaning circular or coiled and it totally makes sense
because the idea with Kundalini yoga is that there's a dormant snake residing at the base
of your spine and through circular movements through breath work through poses you awaken
this vital life force of the serpent and as it awakens it spirals around your chakras
your energy bodies that reside along your spine all the way up to the crown of your
head and when this happens you feel a surge of energy and ecstasy and very pleasurable
sensations and your whole spirit so really special yeah and I just to share I you know
I learned about all these lineages in teacher training but I really didn't get to explore
all these asana styles until I started going to yoga festivals I think now with YouTube
growing so much you can find a lot of access to being able to try these classes out but
I would go to festivals and get to work with teachers that specialize in each of these
I remember my first Kundalini one I was like what does this even mean like what is this
gonna be and I felt like elated at the end of class and I was like whoa that was a wild
energy shift and it was so much more breath work than I think the average class like it
had tons of focus on really hefty and quick breaths which really yeah inspired a very
big energy change for me I also think when I started going to festivals was when I also
got to yeah sit with teachers that didn't even focus on an asana practice it was the
first time I was like okay this is the actual this is my my chance to actually get to experience
these other paths of yoga and get to see what that looks like too so it was really beautiful
to get to yeah go to a space where I was really getting to see the full encompass idea of
yoga and what that looked like festivals are so great they're like a gathering of the vibes
it's like a little poo poo platter of tastings of all different kinds yeah I love love for
music too yeah and you know sometimes the town that you live in may not have all of
these different offerings for you to try out so a festival of course is a fantastic option
you can also search on YouTube there's lots of great different teachers from all different
styles that you can explore right there for free to so definitely lots of ways to plug
in and one more type of asana that we'll share is yin yin yoga and this is a very slow moving
practice yin is can be translated to the moon so there's yin and there's yang the sun the
fire the moon the cooling side it's more restorative and it encourages your body to really melt
and relax so that you can have your nervous system completely release and let go and reap
all of the benefits that come with that like lowered stress levels better sleep increased
mood you know all the beautiful stuff that we all want so that really concludes what
we want to talk about with asana and just to summarize where this all fits from our
last episode where we talked about the yamas and the nyamas and the eightfold path asana
is the third and the remaining limbs are pranayama pratyahara dharana dhyana and samadhi we promise
that next season later in the fall we're going to do a whole episode on pranayama and dive
into the rest of the limbs a little bit more to to to make it feel like you have a deeper
understanding of what this all means and tie a bow on it the next path of yoga that we
want to dive into and share with you is bhakti yoga so bhakti was once again first introduced
to me actually at a festival i knew it was the path of like love and it was very centered
around music but i had never experienced anything like it and it was so beautiful to get to
see teachers that have focused purely on this path it's we would just sit in a circle and
we just like sing and chant together a lot of harmoniums which is like this um kind of
like a little mini organ it creates this beautiful vibrational sound and we would just sing chants
together and it was it was really powerful it felt like it was creating a very big energy
shift as well but without having to do any movement really just using that voice and
vibration and that collective community centered around love and gathering and i love it and
i feel like i need more of it in my life yes it's it's the yoga of love of devotion um
and it's it's really beautiful it can initially be involved with like yourself maybe you share
this path of yoga with your friends or family and the idea is that it creates strong emotional
ties this is where like community feels so important this is completely like living yoga
off the mat um because you know in the chaos of everyday life it can feel really difficult
to just focus on love and be with our hearts and yeah it's it's really the easiest path
of yoga when you think of it that way but it also can be hard to just like arrive at
and understand what it is and one of the the first line of a Fleetwood Mac song i think
says it really really well to help you understand like the feeling of bhakti yoga and it says
drowning in a sea of love where everyone would love to drown this is bhakti yoga it's drowning
in love i love it and yeah i i think the music element that is usually brought into that
is something we're very much lacking now that we're kind of more of an individualistic society
we're not really coming together to do group chanting group expression group singing group
dancing and i think um yeah this path really kind of brings that element back that we need
to be in gathering together and yeah that can look a little bit different in the modernized
world of just expressing love and finding a sense of community but i also really like
the idea of bringing it back to gathering and singing together and i got to do a lot
of the different sanskrit chants this is where i really learned a lot of what i would
end up bringing more into my own personal meditation practice too and i think it's beautiful
it really is using our voices to channel all that love that we have inside of us and just
like bring it out into the world share it yes yeah so moving into um our third path
of yoga this one is karma yoga and karma translates to action maybe you've heard this word before
it is one that's thrown around a lot even in our everyday western society it's performing
an action without attachment to the outcome it's the path of selfless service and in yoga
we call it seva and um i just think back to like all the different yoga studios that i've
been a part of and how they channel this karma yoga and they do that by offering donation
based classes free classes um different benefit classes that donate the proceeds to charities
to to give back in those ways yeah and i was taught in yoga teacher training first of all
we definitely spent a few of the days of our training like going out and planting a bunch
of trees and plants that was our like representation of karma yoga and yeah we were always taught
that as teachers to try to offer some form of community class that's accessible to people
that maybe yeah don't have the means and resources to pay to come into a studio to make sure
that our practice is encompassing giving back to the community and so i've definitely tried
to make sure that i offer a free class as a teacher on occasion so that yeah i can help
help people get into this without having to have necessarily the means to do so yeah and
you may already do be doing your own form of karma yoga um think about volunteering
even just donating your time donating some money or even just giving thanks to someone
in a really deep authentic way um or giving someone recognition for something amazing
that they did that you valued that maybe they didn't even know about before and thinking
about love languages you know like uh karma yoga is considering your partner's love language
and um if it's something that even doesn't come naturally to you like my partner's is
uh words of affirmation whereas mine's is acts of service something that we're currently
working on right now we have a lot an alarm set in each of our phones every day and mine
says say nice things to kyle literally simple as that funny cat too because that is the
same problem i have in my relationship is danny's top one is words of affirmation i'm
a quality time girl so i assume if you're sitting beside me that we're all good and
i have to intentionally let myself say nice things to danny because otherwise he doesn't
feel loved and i've decided to learn that and that is part of karma yoga absolutely
so simple simple ways to like think about this in your everyday life absolutely and
then our final limb is giana yoga sorry final path and giana yoga you can think of this
it's um the path of knowledge or wisdom it means um trying to achieve enlightenment through
the process of reason deciphering what's true for you versus what's not true unboxing yourself
through self-study and self-inquiry things that we talk about a lot here on the pod absolutely
i think yeah the the what would fall into shadow work and like wound healing looking
at the depths of yourself and kind of thinking through it i think i've spent a lot of time
on this and it is a way yeah to release the ego and it's just yeah self-reflection and
we teach we've taught a lot of tools on the podcast for how you can delve into why you
do what you do and kind of think about the root behind certain actions and behaviors
and that intentional way of thinking it can be it can be tiring to have to go into that
kind of reflection but the result of doing that type of work ends up leaving you a lot
lighter a lot more intentional and a lot more conscious as you move through your day to
day yes and it's funny with giana yoga it's said to be the most difficult path because
it uses your mind to go beyond yourself to realize that you're one with the divine so
it's acknowledging the ego noticing when it creeps up and gets really loud and kind of
gets in your way saying like oh this isn't fair why me it's smashing that belief it's
identifying it first and then moving beyond it and understanding that like we are all
one we are all here together as a collective moving through the the same things and unlearning
so that we can return to what's true uh so that's kind of the over summary of the four
paths of yoga just keeping it kind of brief i think you know i think it's important to
know these original paths i think yoga has so often shifted towards a kind of physical
practice that it's really important to know as you start a practice which we both obviously
highly recommend to get on your yoga mat and start exploring some of these concepts because
it can make such a profound benefit on your life but i think it's important to know that
there is ways to do yoga without actually doing a asana class and that there is these
different lineages that deserve to be looked at reflected upon and it's important to know
that we don't want to lose in the evolution of yoga we don't want to lose these roots
because these roots are really where the practice has been brought to us in the here and now
yeah the evolution of the origins of these four paths is really really cool to see how
it's all transpired and all of these paths lead to quote unquote enlightenment peace joy freedom
and they're like four different strands woven together to form the same rope they're all
strengthened by the others it's not to say that one is better than the other and you get to choose
which aspects of each path really resonate with you and begin to incorporate them into your greater
life and just look for joy in your daily practice and let it guide you yep so get on youtube start
playing with some of these types let us know how it is working for your life or which ones like
actually resonate with you and why we'd love to hear from you and we hope that you're starting
to get a bigger picture of what this yoga thing is all about yes and um if you are looking for
ways to deepen your practice we are super excited to announce our newest retreat together
we're so lame i love it so in october columbus day weekend october 7th to the 10th we will be
hosting a retreat the second official awaken together retreat in st augustine florida we are
going for a witchy theme or we're going to explore chanting magic goddess energy is so many of the
beautiful shadow sides incorporating that with the light we have like the most fun schedule planned
and st augustine is such a cool area because it is believed to be kind of like haunted that there's
like some fun energy there so we're gonna really explore a lot of different concepts and even with
the fun witch theme we're still gonna do a lot of self-reflecting you can always leave a retreat
feeling a little bit lighter and that you connected more dogs for your life that is our goal yes it's
gonna be really really incredible like we're super excited about it the airbnb that we've rented is
beautiful so please check it out we'd love um to hear what questions you have and um you are hearing
it first here on the podcast we have not yet opened it up to the public and we're expecting
this one to fill up pretty quickly because there's been a lot of interest so you can check it out on
our instagram pages mine is katerina o erickson um and then jen's is at sensible wellness and we
have the links in our bio you can uh check it out it goes right to my website catalyst living and
the booking section right there so you can learn more see what it costs how to sign up and we're
here for you if you have any questions and we'll love to learn your thoughts and as always go and
rate the podcast continue to help us get the message out we appreciate all of the love and
support and we will see you next week thank you thank you you