Los Angeles Yoga

•Los Angeles Yoga Retreats, Workshops & Classes - Hemalayaa

•Northridge / San Fernando Valley - Purify • Yoga
- Debra Morehouse

Santa Barbara, Ojai & Ventura Yoga

Santa Barbara Yoga Center - Santa Barbara's Original Yoga Studio

•Santa Barbara Yoga Instructor - Diane Feingold

•Santa Barbara Yoga Teacher - Dr. Lizzie Clapham

•Santa Barbara Yoga Classes, Poi and Dance Lessons
- Transformative Healing Arts with Romi Cumes

•Santa Barbara Yoga Instruction - Ninaya Strandberg

San Francisco Yoga

•San Francisco Bay Area Yoga Retreats & Classes - Nikki Estrada

Colorado Yoga

•Yoga & Tantra Classes in Crested Butte, Colorado - Monica Mesa

Definition and History of Yoga
From Wikipedia

Yoga (Sanskrit) refers to traditional physical and mental disciplines originating in India; to the goal achieved by those disciplines; and to one of the six orthodox (astika) schools of Hindu philosophy.

Major branches of yoga include Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Hatha Yoga. Raja Yoga, compiled in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and known simply as yoga in the context of Hindu philosophy, is part of the Samkhya tradition. Many other Hindu texts discuss aspects of yoga, including the Vedas, Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Shiva Samhita and various Tantras.

The Sanskrit word yoga has many meanings, and is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning "to control", "to yoke" or "to unite". Translations include "joining", "uniting", "union", "conjunction", and "means". Outside India, the term yoga is typically associated with Hatha Yoga and its asanas (postures) or as a form of exercise. An accomplished practitioner of Yoga is called a Yogi (gender neutral) or Yogini (feminine form).

History of Yoga

The Vedic Samhitas contain references to ascetics, and ascetic practices known as tapas, are referenced in the Brahma?as (900 B.C. and 500 B.C.), early commentaries on the Vedas. Even earlier, seals from Mature Harappan (c. 2600–1900 B.C.) contexts depict figures in postures suggesting "a form of ritual discipline" taken as a "precursor of yoga" by some commentators such as Gregory Possehl.

Techniques for experiencing higher states of consciousness via meditation were developed by the shramanic traditions and in the Upanishads. An early reference to meditation is made in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the earliest Upanishad (approx. 900 B.C.). The actual term "yoga" first occurs in the Katha Upanishad. The Buddhist texts are probably the earliest texts describing meditation techniques.

Important textual sources for the evolving concept of Yoga are the middle Upanishads, (ca. 400 B.C.), the Mahabharata including the Bhagavad Gita (ca. 200 B.C.), and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (300 B.C.-200 B.C.).

Hatha Yoga

Hatha Yoga is a particular system of Yoga described by Yogi Swatmarama, compiler of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika in 15th century India. Hatha Yoga differs substantially from the Raja Yoga of Patanjali in that it focuses on shatkarma, the purification of the physical body as leading to the purification of the mind (ha), and prana, or vital energy (tha). Compared to the seated asana, or sitting meditation posture, of Patanjali's Raja yoga, it marks the development of asanas (plural) into the full body 'postures' now in popular usage. Hatha Yoga in its many modern variations is the style that many people associate with the word "Yoga" today.

Los Angeles Yoga Retreats, Workshops & Classes
- Hemalayaa