| How much of the spiritual aspect of Yoga should be | | | | Spiritual awareness is developed through a variety of |
| incorporated into Yoga teacher training? Swami Vishnu | | | | avenues, but even an atheist would become more |
| Devananda, founder of the International Sivananda | | | | spiritual, if he or she practiced Yoga regularly. Samadhi |
| Yoga Vedanta Centers, believed that spiritual and | | | | - the eighth limb of Hatha Yoga is absorption with the |
| physical aspects were the two most important, in | | | | "Supreme Being," God, Universal energy, or the |
| relation to Hatha Yoga. | | | | Supreme entity. |
| Yet, most Hatha Yoga teacher training courses offer | | | | If everyone in the world practiced Yoga and |
| only a small "taste" of the Vedas, Upanishads, or Yoga | | | | meditation, we would have a much better chance at |
| Sutras. In a 200-hour Yoga teacher training course, | | | | mutual tolerance of each other and world peace. It is |
| "The Hatha Yoga Pradipika," by Swami Svatmarama, | | | | futile to try to force others to live or worship by a |
| (which was written in the 15th century), might be | | | | narrow view of what we consider to be right. Yoga |
| skimmed over or not mentioned at all. | | | | does not endorse violence, and teaches us to accept |
| Since its beginning, approximately 5,000 years ago, | | | | what we cannot change. |
| Yoga has been attached to Hinduism. (Hinduism is the | | | | Therefore, spiritual health is enhanced with a universal |
| oldest of today's major religions.) The many forms of | | | | moral code and faith in a higher power. There is no |
| Yoga were created for mental, physical, spiritual, and | | | | need for any of us to have a conflict, when we are |
| emotional health. | | | | just trying to raise children, earn a living, and worship |
| Today, Yoga has many more branches, and many of | | | | God. |
| the branches of Hatha Yoga, outside India, are no | | | | The hardest task any of us have in life is to make |
| longer attached to Hinduism, but the spiritual aspect of | | | | friends with a perceived enemy, yet each religion tells |
| Yoga is still readily apparent. Most serious Yoga | | | | us to forgive our enemies. Look into the scriptures of |
| practitioners are spiritually aware, and spiritually healthy, | | | | your own religion and you will see. |
| as a result of their own Yoga practice. | | | | Now that mankind has the power to destroy himself, it |
| Even though, Yogic philosophy does not conflict with | | | | is very important for us to open a rational dialog with |
| any religion; moral codes such as Yama and Niyama | | | | those who we perceive to be our enemies. We may |
| exist within most religions of the past and present. | | | | just find out that we have more in common than we |
| When moral codes are similar to other philosophies | | | | ever thought possible. |
| and religions, they do not conflict with any of them. | | | | |