I was reading about Hinduism a few days back and I came across a quick summary of the 4 types of yoga used (sorry i lost source )

Bhakti yoga--path of devotion inclination of people who learn through emotion

jnana yoga--path of rational inquiry

raja yoga--path of mental concentration (meditative it said)

karma yoga--path of right action.

The article emphasised many paths one truth and said these were four meathods for finding spirtuality in hinduism and that there were was not one because there is more than one path to enlightnement.

It was a very eye-opening idea to a non-hindu. I want to ask the hindu's and others.....any experimentation with this, if so which ones and why did u choose the yoga style you choose?

Maybe that which Jesus teaches is a kind of raja-yoga, because the point was to concentrate everything one God, which is the hardest but straightest path to God.

well there's more than 4 styles, personally speaking I'd question the completeness of an article that fails to mention Ashtanga Yoga and other styles like Kundalini Yoga. Here's a site for you to look at http://www.yogamovement.com/resources/styles.html

Yoga, from what I gather, is not exclusive to hinduism...while some others may even associate it with buddism, it's a discipline on its own. If you wish to get deeper into this, try T.K.V. Desikachar's "The heart of Yoga" which contains some good facts on Yoga and even some practice exercises that are common to most styles. It also has some descriptions on what may be some differences across the different styles. Finally, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras are appended to the book.

To actually answer your question (wow I just realized I've never met a live hindu at school that practices yoga :bugeye: ), I haven't done Yoga in ages, but pretty much if you get well into it you might start experiencing some changes, but don't trick yourself into something you're not legitimately feeling...these changes come in time, be patient. One thing that might help you with your practice is to throw goals out the window. Do everything for what it's worth and don't expect anything to follow, then things will "fall in place"...cos they've always been there :D

Oscar thank your for the link and I will read it but the article I orginally read was referreing to yoga in use with hinduism. I found it curious because the religion is amazing flexable and I think that may be why is has been around for as long as it has. I figure I can read hindu stuff on the net till i am old but I was hoping to find a live one on here. I do have a hindu friend whom I talk to about 3-4 times a week. I am thinking of asking him ( he is relcutant in a christian country to talk about hinduism) if i learn anything from him I will post it.

thank you for the link though...I will read it (but not tonight)

The path that Jesus teaches is more like Bhakti yoga (devotion to god and everything).

Raja Yoga has more to do with meditation and pranic exercises that calm the mind and allow for enlightenment, there's also subsets of Raja yoga like Kundalini yoga and Hatha Yoga.

According to Hinduism, Bhakti yoga is the easiest for most people because it doesn't require you to give up many things. But Hinduism also says that all people are different, therefore different paths are suitable for different people. Some many find union with the Brahman through knowledge, others through action, some through will, devotion, etc...

Raja yoga is like the "direct" path to enlightenment. It incorporates spiritual science with exercises, meditation, diet, and your daily lifestyle. It doesn't matter which path you choose, they'll all eventually lead you to the samething.

If you want to know what paths will lead you what in the after you're dead you should look up Vedic Cosmology - http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/planetarium/ , which maps out all the places and dimensions of the universe you would supposedly end up depending on your actions.

According to Hinduism, the highest type of humans are the ones who have knowledge of the doctrine of ultimate impersonal oneness.

I've learned and practiced some Hatha Yoga -- the stretching and relaxing exercises. I have a lot of muscle spasms from nervous tension and just the little bit of yoga I know has changed my life. Back and neck aches that used to last for days and require massive doses of muscle relaxants and pain killer can now often be banished in an hour or two of on-and-off stretching. I can even tame my body into relaxing and falling asleep an hour or two earlier than what used to be customary.

I know a few people who practice transcendental meditation, which the teachers among them say is a yoga discipline as well. A couple of them feel that it saved them from a life of ruin.

I appreciate Hinduism's acceptance of what in ancient times was obvious common sense: that everybody is different and we must each follow our own path to whatever kind of enlightenment and self-actualization that we're capable of achieving. That follows naturally from a polytheistic model of the human spirit in which we have a couple dozen different mythic figures for role models instead of just one -- who happens to be male and automatically marginalizes half the population.

The Hindus have not quite distinguished themselves as the non-violent, vegetarian pacifists that Gandhi represented and their caste system is only a couple of rungs up the ladder from slavery. Still, considering that they comprise about fifteen percent of the world's population, they haven't brought nearly as much pain and grief to humanity as the Abrahamic religions have with their binary model of good versus evil.

Fraggle I took a stab at Hatha also for about 6 months. I was helping a guy who had studied for over 15 years with martial arts stuff and he in return presented his yoga knowlege. I am afraid it was not enough time for me to even really gain any knowledge from it but I could do the splits after working with him in that time period. The stuff he showed me was vey isometric and put a heavy emphasis on using gravity as opposed to kinetic motions to increase flexablity. Movements went for increased durations over time I remember being so relaxed at times it felt like I was in a trance.

As a footnote, he was about 45 at the time but his body looked like it was in his mid-20's. His face looked older though.....

I read some about TM when I was in college but only in books. I would love to hear if you experimented with it physically and if so what you learned.

Oscar do you have any physcial experience with yoga and if so what did you learn?

I've learned and practiced some Hatha Yoga -- the stretching and relaxing exercises. I have a lot of muscle spasms from nervous tension and just the little bit of yoga I know has changed my life. Back and neck aches that used to last for days and require massive doses of muscle relaxants and pain killer can now often be banished in an hour or two of on-and-off stretching. I can even tame my body into relaxing and falling asleep an hour or two earlier than what used to be customary.

I know a few people who practice transcendental meditation, which the teachers among them say is a yoga discipline as well. A couple of them feel that it saved them from a life of ruin.

I appreciate Hinduism's acceptance of what in ancient times was obvious common sense: that everybody is different and we must each follow our own path to whatever kind of enlightenment and self-actualization that we're capable of achieving. That follows naturally from a polytheistic model of the human spirit in which we have a couple dozen different mythic figures for role models instead of just one -- who happens to be male and automatically marginalizes half the population.

The Hindus have not quite distinguished themselves as the non-violent, vegetarian pacifists that Gandhi represented and their caste system is only a couple of rungs up the ladder from slavery. Still, considering that they comprise about fifteen percent of the world's population, they haven't brought nearly as much pain and grief to humanity as the Abrahamic religions have with their binary model of good versus evil.
Hinduism isn't really polytheistic, if you really read the scriptures and understand the philosophy. The caste system was more of an economical, governmental system than a religous system. Its just like in Ancient Egypt how only certain people were allowed to read and write. According to the scriptures, in this Kali Yuga, "No one follows the duties of one's own caste, and the four Ashrams or stages of life also disappear".

Oscar do you have any physcial experience with yoga and if so what did you learn?

*Uh-oh, the sensitive question* My experience with Yoga is brief, having taken only a semester of Ashtanga Yoga at school, twice a week for 80 minutes on each session. Don't ask, I did not feel it was enough.

One of the most meaningful things I learned during that time was Pranayama (breath control). I felt so relaxed after 20 minutes of doing Savasana and meditating as I focused on my breath, it's as if I had been praying for hours at a time. Also, I learned a bit of coordination since we mainly practiced sequences where one posture leads into another...at the time I finally excercised some muscles that I had not even known were there! :p As a result, my posture improved as well.

I don't think I lost weight during that time, and I also tried to gain some muscle tone but I didn't get that far into my practice to see any results (hence I had to learn to get rid of goals if I really wanted to enjoy it). I won't get into "personal changes" with this cos uhm...I'm still pretty much still learning the do's and don't of life, but I will assure you that a solid Yoga practice can prove to be therapeutical for everyone.

outline Pranayama for us and give us techniques used.....There is a fomula right?

well, it's mostly how you adapt it to yourself, in that sense it's not really called a formula

Pranayama (http://www.holistic-online.com/Yoga/hol_yoga_breath_home.htm)

Pranayama Institute (http://www.pranayama.org/)

I can look it on the net goofy...I wanted ur personal experiences..if you aren't comfortable though that is cool.....

The Hindus have not quite distinguished themselves as the non-violent, vegetarian pacifists that Gandhi represented and their caste system is only a couple of rungs up the ladder from slavery. Still, considering that they comprise about fifteen percent of the world's population, they haven't brought nearly as much pain and grief to humanity as the Abrahamic religions have with their binary model of good versus evil.

Hinduism as a religion is not a very peaceful, non - violent one. The independance movement and Mahatma Gandhi changed the world's perception of Hinduism. Non - violence in India may be said to have Buddhist origins. One of the hindu trinity is Shiva, who as Rudra is the lord of destruction. Kali with her chain of human skulls and decapitated head in one hand and Durga are not what one would call pacifist.

oh...well...I already said everything I had to say about my personal experience...not much I guess.. :confused:

there's a thread going around named "The Arayashiki, what is it?" in this forum, it explains most of the curiosity I had for Yoga, meditation and Eastern thought. I've run into other things along the way but at a certain point it pretty much begins to stray from just Yoga. Thanks for the reminder though, I guess I could get back into Yoga again :)

Hinduism as a religion is not a very peaceful, non - violent one. The independance movement and Mahatma Gandhi changed the world's perception of Hinduism. Non - violence in India may be said to have Buddhist origins. One of the hindu trinity is Shiva, who as Rudra is the lord of destruction. Kali with her chain of human skulls and decapitated head in one hand and Durga are not what one would call pacifist.

True, but being non-violent and peaceful is encouraged in Hinduism:

“Be fearless and pure; never waver in your determination or your dedication to the spiritual life. Give freely. Be self-controlled, sincere, truthful, loving, and full of the desire to serve...Learn to be detached and to take joy in renunciation. Do not get angry or harm any living creature, but be compassionate and gentle; show good will to all. Cultivate vigor, patience, will, purity; avoid malice and pride. Then, you will achieve your destiny." - The Bhagavad Gita (spoken by Krishna)

"That is the whole purpose of human existence here on earth: to benefit other people through one's life, one's possessions, one's thoughts and one's words." - Bhagavata Purana

In order to attain Moksha, one has to practice ahimsa (non-violence).

Violent, non-peaceful action or speech, or thought is bad karma.

Ofcourse, there is a lot of violence in the mythology.

Perhaps Hinduism isn't nearly as pacifist as it is non violent.

I was reading about Hinduism a few days back and I came across a quick summary of the 4 types of yoga used ....

I want to ask the hindu's and others.....any experimentation with this, if so which ones and why did u choose the yoga style you choose?

My 2 cents...I practice Jnana Yoga but teach Hatha Yoga and sometimes Raja Yoga. I consider Jana Yoga (Understanding through Knowledge) as the best form. But different strokes for different folks....

Jnana Yoga is difficult since one must have current understanding about everything. That causes one to learn life long. Bhakti Yoga is easy...let the Lord guide you, Karma Yoga is semi-difficult - i.e. do what you are supposed to do.

kmguru how long have u studied...what is one or two things that you have learned ...from any style you mentioned?

I was indoctrinated to Jnana Yoga at age 14 just after high school. It happenes this way. A Swami (a holy man) came to see my Dad in India and wanted some favors for his disciples. My Dad wanted a return favor and asked him to teach me some Yoga because I was too hyperactive and getting into mischief a lot (who, me?).

So, the Swami asked me what I want to learn. I was cocky and said, teach me the most difficult Yoga (because I could do all regular Hatha Yoga stuff - too skinny then). He taught me Jnana Yoga with hypnotic suggestion (that I later learned). A dozen years passed by and the Swami later became famous in India (Swami Nikhilananda)

What I learned is difficult to explain. But my practice allows me to assimilate information very rapidly in most areas of our activities in this modern world. Which means I learned a lot and can discern junk from good stuff. They come handy doing Business Architecture using Systems Dynamic Science. I can do Powersim or Vensim type Business Modeling in my sleep etc etc...I am able to understand very complex structures with time-variant multivariables. And my health is pretty good for an old man.

That is good enough for me....but I feel, I have a long way to go. I am now focusing to solve some of the complex issues of our time - namely how to create mind challenging jobs for the disabled people and people who fall through social cracks, single mothers, prison recidivism etc etc for a truely vibrant and civil society.

Bhakti yoga--path of devotion inclination of people who learn through emotion

jnana yoga--path of rational inquiry

raja yoga--path of mental concentration (meditative it said)

karma yoga--path of right action.

...'if so which ones and why did u choose the yoga style you choose?


Excellent question which can open up the truth of Yoga !

Any one can do Karma Yoga - is just to do one’s duty as assumed by the family, culture and society one is born in to and assuming good deeds bring good results and help the man kind.

One who is not fully convinced about the above said even after practicing for many years try to find better answers by learning more about the involvement of mind in karma yoga – Raja Yoga.

When a disciple finds the Raja Yoga guru stuck (no answer) on many questions, he tries to find the truth from within (inner self) – Jnana Yoga

The reasons for only one Jesus Christ (or people like Jesus) is that he is a Jnana Yogi who is also in to the Bhakti at the same time.

This might sound silly, but the truth about why no one is emerging in to that level what Jesus, Budha, or Allah achieved is that – not many have Bhakti after they master Jnana Yoga. Arrogance of knowledge makes them not see the power of Bkahti and stops them from knowing Atman (universe) and thus the nature makes sure the safe custody of its most guarded secret.

Bhakti – is nothing but the love that a person can assume and has no limits – the more it is the more powerful you are and more open – means far reaching – means universe.

I can say I love all those who read this line, and I am sure you get (know) what I am feeling now ! So it is the easiest but most difficult feeling that can take knowledge across worlds !

I vote Bhakti as the highest level of achievement that a Yogi (one who practice Yoga) can achieve and get blessed !

Let love (Bhakti) come to you all !

wow kmguru and rajagopals..could you two elaborate more on your posts for us laymen?

Ask away O' Rob of Texas...I will try to answer the best I can. The problem with these type of forums is that it is difficult to transfer large amount of knowledge with a few sentences and almost impossible to pass on tacit knowledge.

There is an interesting book by Jeff Hawkins (creator of the PalmPilot) called "On Intelligence" that is worth reading if you want to understand Jnana yoga in modern context...

rajagopals..could you two elaborate more on your posts for us laymen?

I pray if I could be so proficient in Yoga so as to explain in a layman’s language ! But sure I can give it a try.

Up to the stage of Jnana Yoga, I would say, it is quite easy. The reason is, if you are determined, destined or mere lucky, to find a KMGuru/book/friends who can lead you to Jnana Yoga, the rest automatically follows – I mean you surely makes some advance in Janana Yoga through ages. For mastering you need to restrict your life so hard that you will have deficiency of vitamins as well as kids :D ! But once you master Jnana yoga, or at least assume so since it only take few thousand years, you will still find far below certain mortal souls whom you will find so close to God and you tend to envy, secretly enquire about the reason for that. Then you find them only praying or just showing a bit of Bhakti. To your amazement you will again tend to ask yourself what the hell is kept in Bhakti that push these f**kers so close to God ! And then comes, if you are destined, the truth of the nature (universe), the existence of the universe is merely depended on the love that exists between molecules, atoms, etc etc be it micro or macro, all is put together in to this Pandora’s box so carelessly but still it remains with all the entropy trying to break it ! But still it remains were it needs to be ! If Himalayas were to move few yards I may not be able to send you these funny notes ! So does the ocean in some part of the world which if decides to come up a bit I am sure, our readership will again reduce ! :D

So the f**ing point is, wana break the cycle, first open up your mind, nope I am not quoting from the Matrix movie, but this is the truth. Understand that like God emanated his power though Jesus, Allah, Budha, Krishna etc etc he also is there within you, love that self ! Atman in Sanskrit means that Godly part of your inner self which knows everything. Tag on to that, so start loving, obeying, and accommodating the true self. Let that be as natural as it can be, with all the problem of a normal life, with all the inabilities of ‘You’, with all confusion, but make the love so steady and constant that what ever might come and go let the love (Bhakti) remain. And once you are Ok with your self and the Atman you can surely extend the same the rest of the universe. Stop killing animals to eat, since there is so much more out there, stop killing human beings (let the war on war begin), let love flow from you to all those whom you meet. Let there be no end to it, if you can simply purify yourself to that extend the truth will come to you.

Thannoon perukathukku than pirathu oon unpan
Enganam aalum arul - Thirukkural (in Tamil Language)

To increase once own flesh, if a person consumes another beings flesh,
How can he think of the divine ?

So how many f**kers reading this still eats flesh, I am ok if you are only chewing, cause I do, or else my gurl will leave me ! :D

elaborate more on the atman please
what is a kmguru?

elaborate more on the atman please
what is a kmguru?

I may not be the right guy to explain ‘atman’ in its fullest sense, as my knowledge is limited to my senses – Mastaka Jnanam (knowledge from the self) than Pusthaka Jnanam (bookish knowledge), but still I am dedicating the first few minutes (even an hour is just 60 minutes) of my busiest Monday mornings to this !

Atman - the self

A quote from Katha Upanishad - Nachiketas’ third wish is to know whether or not the Spirit continues to exist after death. Yama (God of death) tells him that there are two paths, a path of wisdom and a path of ignorance. The path of wisdom leads to the Self, to Atman. The path of ignorance leads to the pursuit of only worldly pleasures. (Do some homework to find what is this conversation about !)

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Atman%20%28Hinduism%29 Good reference !

What ever I type below is my version of how I look at it, no reference to any material, book or source for that matter and any mistake (may be it stands away from many commonly practiced, well debated and better understood theories) in that is purely deliberate !

Atman is nothing but the logic (reason) for your being. That logic is the only (physical) presence of God in you. When a person takes birth, this is the only thing that gets in to the same and motivates itself (molecules/atoms etc) to exist as a living being (for the first stage of understanding lets limit the scope of this discussions to living beings!). This explains for the presence of God in Jesus, Alla, Budha and Me ! :D and You too Brutus ! And if you are able to find the logic behind this logic (atman) you crack it ! So for you to reach this logic (atman) first you need to identify a way to approach it, the best route is Bhakti – devotion, love etc for something, and let that something be – a deed (karma yoga), meditation and results (Raja Yoga), knowledge (Jnana Yoga), or Atman (Bhakti Yoga) in the form of Bhakti to a God.

Remember, Jesus, Alla, Budha, Krishna everybody had a small share of atman from the Almighty but not the whole Almighty itself. So when I say God you need to pray to that bigger logic from whom that small logic came to all humans including the above four. I consider Lord Shiva as the God, almighty and I find him as the logic of logics, the reason of reasons, the Guru of gurus, and the Atman of atmans.

I consider the atman in me, is more conscious about the small affairs of my tiny life on earth than all the godly (and worldly) affairs ! So I tend to remind him constantly of the things (material and physical) that I want in my life in the form of a pray. And I make it easy for him to achieve by requesting things in the most simplest and normal way. For me to come to office quick, I will pray that let the roads be as clear as possible. Its achievable and doesn’t hurt some one, and does not stands away from the nature and it’s natural cause. So do I achieve the result. So it was just a prayer come true. Make it simple and let that prayers be natural. So all your prayers tend to fulfill. Now slowly start to forget things, or let the atman take care of things as this body, deeds, and results belong to him, let what ever happen the way it has to. So now you are ahead of atman, and you can focus on the route to the bigger atman (the source). Now you have Bhakti, belief, love in yourself, the God and atman (small one as well as the big one).

And I think the route ahead is purely based on your interest and lets save other peoples valuable time by taking it offline.

Thus explained Hamsa, the Atman :D

Kmguru is a friend of mine who’s posting on Jnana Yoga you can find here if you can use your mouse and keyboard a bit intelligently.

Thank you Rajgopalji... :m: :D :m:

Thank you for sharing such a useful thoughts and information about the yoga and its types. Yoga is the best exercise which helps to develop healthy mind and body. Have you heard about yogasuppliesonline.com. I use them to get complete information about the yoga and its types. You can visit this to get more information's about yoga...

I am a believer in the philosophy that all Yoga paths increasingly become the similar paths as progress is made on the path and become one path just before the end of the journey.






This might sound silly, but the truth about why no one is emerging in to that level what Jesus, Budha, or Allah achieved is that – not many have Bhakti after they master Jnana Yoga. Arrogance of knowledge makes them not see the power of Bkahti and stops them from knowing Atman (universe) and thus the nature makes sure the safe custody of its most guarded secret.



My own hunch is that many have and continue to emerge to the level of Jesus and Buddha but that the situation does not call for them to or does not enable them to have roles like the roles that Buddha and Jesus and Mohamed have had in mass culture. Would Jesus be remembered were it not for the perfectly imperfect flawed but usable personalities of Peter and Paul?

The jewel that is the sweet, loving and profound teachings of Jesus was passed forward in time by a disgusting, violent, idiotic, perverted religion that had the qualities needed to thrive and endure in the social climates in which it found itself and thereby was able to pass forward those sweet, loving, profound teachings of Jesus.

In the past India was not as much of an inhospitable place for deeper spiritual exploration as Europe was. Who knows what the future will bring.

Yoga; what a silly game to make an effort to transform ourselves so that we can experience that everything was already perfect and blissful as it was. But is there any better game?

My own hunch is that many have and continue to emerge to the level of Jesus and Buddha but that the situation does not call for them to or does not enable them to have roles like the roles that Buddha and Jesus and Mohamed have had in mass culture. Would Jesus be remembered were it not for the perfectly imperfect flawed but usable personalities of Peter and Paul?



That is a great explanation. You, see, we all have our roles in this world - each one is no greater or no less important than the other. For example, the person who developed fire allowed us to develop our society in the beginning. Key persons one after another gave their time to find solutions to complex problems that mankind faced at a given juncture for the continuation of the humankind.

However without Knowledge (Jnana) you will not be able to "Know" anything and therefore you will not be Buddha (the enlightend one). It is definitely hard to reach moksha or nirvana - I do not care who says what! If you did not get your nirvana, according to Hinduism and Buddhism, you come back until you learn enough not to come back.

Now, some paths are defined by the Godhead (universal intelligence) in the sense that if you have a contribution to make in this world, and the Godhead feels such is the case, then you voluntarily come back to finish the job. Then join (Yoga) the Godhead. Here assume the Godhead is the plurality of the intelligence of the organic lifeforce on this planet that may or may not be connected to the Galactic intelligence which is connected to the Universal Intelligence of an order we can not comprehend (anymore than your blood cells are aware of you!)

You are welcome Kmguru, for a 5 year old (mature) thank you :D. People are still reading and responding to this post?!

all Yoga paths increasingly become the similar paths as progress is made on the path and become one path just before the end of the journey.


I totally disagree. I think the destination is same but it never becomes one until the journey is over.

Pranayama (meditation), done within Raja Yoga practices, directs the practitioner to discard visualizing God or any other higher entity separately and specifically motivate the practitioner to discover the God or divine within. This exactly contradicts Bhakthi Yoga which is only about finding and devoting to the God outside you.

Similarly a Karma Yogi will never find time for Raja Yoga or even Bhakthi. They are strong believers of action and materialistic world.

many have and continue to emerge to the level of Jesus and Buddha but that the situation does not call for them to or does not enable them to have roles like the roles that Buddha and Jesus and Mohamed have had in mass culture.


Again I totally disagree. I think this is the most appropriate time (or even late) for Jesus to come back and save all of us from this Kali Yuga. If Jesus or Budha could save the world from war, global warming and what not of 20th century then the whole world would welcome them back. Current state of our world does call for the appearance of the next world Guru at the earliest, so as to save the humanity from disappearing.

Would Jesus be remembered were it not for the perfectly imperfect flawed but usable personalities of Peter and Paul?


:) Yes. Jesus would be remembered regardless of Peter, Paul or Harry.

In the past India was not as much of an inhospitable place for deeper spiritual exploration as Europe was. Who knows what the future will bring.


Don’t worry the entropy (chaos) is only increasing and we are maintaining it well in India :D Now every Indian is going to get a Social Security number and I hope in future you will be able to search and find for real Yogi’s and saints in that database.

But is there any better game


Yes there is. Read “Yoga Vasishta Sara” this will accelerate ‘understanding’ (learning the essence). Quoting the opening verse (in a poor English version of Sanskrit) from Yoga Vasishta Sara,

Divi bhoomou thadhaakase bahirandascha me vibho
vibhathya vabhasathma thasmayi sarvathmane namah

“Salutations to the one who is endless and unlimited, present and full, inside and outside this earth, space and beyond the pure consciousness which can be known by experience only”

I only have one type of yoga, the one I don,t practice.

I was thinking about doing a yoga training course and I came upon a site that does yoga teacher training. It claims that the training is non-sectarian but I'm wondering if that's even possible. Has anyone here heard of non-sectarian yoga before? I mean, I would think that whatever postures you do would belong to one type of yoga group or another. Anyway, I thought it might be interesting to have a yoga holiday on the Baja Peninsula.

Anyway, I thought it might be interesting to have a yoga holiday on the Baja Peninsula.

That sounds interesting. As to getting a certificate to teach yoga, get to a place that is really cheap, once you have the certificate, you can do whatever. I am grandfathered in as a teacher before they were passing out teacher certificates because I passed them out with my signature as a teacher in various U.S. colleges in 70's.

Who is regulating Yoga teachers? Are the states doing that?

Is there a Yoga teacher or Yoga schools lobby pushing state governments into creating a Yoga guild? Massage seems to have gone down that path.

States never seem hesitant to expand the scope of their regulations whenever some group asks them to.

In America, everything is regulated. It started with the Yoga Journal. Then there were copy cats. States need revenue, so the first groups approached the states and got licensed to teach which means certification process.

I knew a group in Utah that started a college (like home schooling) got accredited by the state and gave out PhDs for $5000 tuition fees. Then 3 years later they dissolved the college.

These things happen...buyer beware...