Adapted from Yoga: A Yoga Journal Book, by Linda Sparrowe.                   he word yoga comes from the Sanskrit root yuk, which means to join, unite, yoke, or hitch up. Yoga throughout the millennia has worked to "join" the mind, body and soul to help the yogi achieve union with his or her own divine nature. In the 3rd century B.C.E., the Bhagavad-Gita, India's most revered yoga text, yoga meant the action or discipline it took a practitioner to achieve the goal of liberation. Today, yoga is a system of specific asana (poses), pranayama (breathing exercise), and behaviors designed to purify, heal and awaken the practitioner. Yoga, above all else, means the process of transformation opening to the true Self. Several paths can lead to that transformation.                         arma Yoga: The path of service and action, made its debut in the Vedas, the most ancient texts of Hindu and yogic thought. Current Karma yoga philosophy derives from the original belief that our actions help free the world from suffering.             Jnana Yoga: The path of the sage concentrates on scriptures dating back to the Bhagavad-Gita and the Upanishads.             Bhakti Yoga: The path of devotion believes that faith in God leads to ultimate liberation. The Bhagavad-Gita says, by "awakening in the divine person of Krishna" the yogi attains suprapersonal liberation.             Raja Yoga: The path of meditation or the royal path, follows Patanjali's eight-limbs of the Yoga Sutra. For raja yogis, stopping the fluctuations of the mind, is the way to achieve samadhi, the state of peace and oneness with the universe. The word "raja" means king; hence he who has conquered his mind is a "raja yogi".             Tantra Yoga: The path of ritual is often misconstrued by westerners as a bizarre sexual practice. This branch of yoga practice, the most esoteric and secretive of all, simply sees the sacred in the mundane. To awaken to your divine nature in tantra yoga, you must learn to control the flow of cosmic energy within the body.             Hatha Yoga: This path uses asanas as a vehicle to pursue liberation. Hatha yoga is the union of the sun ha and moon tha or the joining of solar and lunar energies within the body. The word "hatha" also means forceful. The object of hatha yoga is to transform the body so that it becomes a worthy vehicle for our divine nature. The practice of asanas, and pranayama arise out of this yogic path.                         oga asana, the physical postures we practice, began as a way to sit in meditation. The word "asana" originally meant the actual seat upon which the meditator sat and later came to mean the act of sitting. Patanjali, compiler of the Yoga Sutra in the 2nd century C.E., translated asana to mean "posture" and gave it a prominent position in his eight-limbed yoga path, Ashtanga yoga, not to be confused with the Ashtanga style of yoga widely practiced today. Now we can choose among hundreds of postures, all of which serve the same purpose as the ancient seated postures. The poses have myriad physical and psychological benefits, including increased strength and flexibility, as well as improved overall health and reduced tension.                         he second chapter of Patanjali's Yoga Sutra offers a systematic approach to liberation and freedom from suffering which combines practices to strengthen the body with austere meditation practices to quiet and control the mind. He says that daily living bombards humans with constant chatter or mental fluctuations called cittavrtti. Listening to this chatter gives rise to ignorance, a feeling of separateness, attachment to objects and outcomes, and profound sorrow. The only way to control this cittavrtti is through a rigorous yoga practice. For Patanjali, a rigorous yoga practice meant more than going to class everyday, or sitting in meditation every morning. His ashtanga yoga or eight-limbed path, begins by giving prescriptions for living in the world and then turns increasingly toward ever deeper meditation practices. His path includes:             1. Yamas: Five "restraints" serve as the basis for all ethical behavior. They teach a single truth — do no harm — and include nonviolence, truthfulness, non-stealing, abstinence, and non-greed.             2. Niyamas: Five "disciplines" concentrate on the positive actions and attitudes of cleanliness, contentment, austerity, self-study, and devotion to God, which promote freedom from suffering and a deeper connection with the outside world.             3. Asanas: Yoga Poses             4. Pranayama: Control of the breath             5. Pratyahara: Withdrawal of the Senses             6. Dharana: Concentration on a single object (Ekagraha) to control the mind.             7. Dhyana: Meditation leads to consciousness that we are all connected             8. Samadhi: Liberation brings together the knower, the act of knowing, and that which is known. Samadhi is the state of total absorption, of exquisite balance; the state in which a yogi becomes one with the single point of meditation.                         ost asanas in today's classes came into the yoga canon recently (within the last 120 years) and owe their existence as much, if not more, to British gymnastics, martial arts, and wrestling as they do to Patanjali or the Bhagavad Gita. The individual most often associated with the birth of Western yoga is T. Krishnamacharya, an Indian who ironically never set foot in America. Krishnamacharya initially established classes in a gymnasium at the Sanskrit College in Mysore, India, to introduce the power of yoga to as many students as possible. However, Krishnamacharya's students — mostly able-bodied, athletic, young men — were more interested in building strength and fitness and performing near impossible feats than in any spiritual dimensions of practice. So Krishnamacharya created sequences that focused on athleticism by incorporating the power of the breath and the element of meditative gaze (drishti) in a dynamic flow of poses called vinyasa, using all the props and disciplines at his disposal. He tailored his yoga message to all capabilities, belief structures, and lifestyles, much as Western yoga teachers do today. Four of Krishnamacharya's most famous pupils emerged from his years in Mysore and further changed the face of yoga — Pattabhi Jois, who went on to develop the school of Ashtanga vinyasa yoga; Indra Devi who became known as the "First Lady of Yoga" in America; B.K.S. Iyengar, Krishnamacharya's brother-in-law, who created his own unique brand of asana practice, which is known for its attention to body alignment as a way to bring greater awareness and for its extensive use of props; and TKV Desikachar, Krishnamacharya's son, who has devoted his life to his father's work and further developed Viniyoga, which emphasizes the healing power of the breath.                         arshana Yoga draws its original inspiration from B.K.S. Iyengar, now in his eighties. A master of therapeutic yoga, his intuitive, almost uncanny ability to heal through asana and pranayama practice is legendary. Along with his daughter Geeta, and son Prashant, he has trained thousands of teachers at their institute in Pune, India. Best known for its precision and close attention to proper body alignment, the Iyengar approach takes the body through the full spectrum of movement. Hundreds of poses including forward-bends, back-bends, twists, arm balances and inversions are taught. Use of props assist students in achieving the poses comfortably and safely. Benefits of Iyengar-style yoga practice include increased energy, strength, and flexibility, reduced tension, and a general feeling of health and well being.