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The most prominent
of his works is his modified Five Principles of Yoga which are:
Savasana or proper relaxation;
Asanas or proper exercise;
Pranayama or proper breathing;
Proper diet; and
Dhyana or positive thinking and Meditation
Sivananda wrote more than 200 books on Yoga and Philosophy and had many
disciples who furthered Yoga. Some of them were Swami Satchitananda who
introduced chanting and Yoga to Woodstock; Swami Sivananada Radha who
explored the connection between psychology and Yoga, and Yogi Bhajan who
started teaching Kundalini Yoga in the 70's.
Up to this day, Yoga continues to proliferate and spread its teachings,
crossing the boundaries of culture and language. In the West, hatha yoga
has become wildly popular as a purely physical exercise regimen divorced
of its original purpose. Currently, it is estimated that about 30
million Americans practice hatha yoga. But in the Indian subcontinent
the traditional practice is still to be found. The guru-shishya
(teacher-student) relationship that exists without need for sanction
from non-religious educational institutions, and which gave rise to all
the great yogins and yogis who made way into international consciousness
in the 20th century, has been maintained in India, Nepal and Tibet.
In India, whose Hindu population combines to a staggering 800 million,
Yoga is a daily part of life. It is common to see people performing
Sūrya namaskāra (a yogic set of asanas and pranayam dedicated to Surya,
the Sun) in the morning or body therapy based on Yoga or the medicine
system of Ayurveda. The age-old tradition of Yoga has continued
uninterrupted by its popularity in the west (although more established
schools like the Bihar School of Yoga work from within India to produce
Yoga texts to send abroad).
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