Ishta Yoga

ISHTA yoga was created by Yogiraj Alan Finger and his father, Kavi Yogi Mani Finger, in the late 1960s in South Africa to acknowledge and celebrate the many different lineages of yoga that passed through their doorway. They sought to bring clarity to these different systems by relating them back to the individual through one fully integrated system. (from http://www.ishtayoga.com)

More specifically, ISHTA is an acronym for the "Integrated Science of Hatha Tantra and Ayurveda" and Alan Finger claims in his page at www.yogazone.com/about.htm that it is "a physical and spiritual form of yoga that addresses the individual needs of each student who practices it." (From Introduction to yoga: A beginner's guide to health, fitness and relaxation)

Like most forms of yoga, Ishta yoga relies on a series of asanas that "strengthen stretch and align the body"

Ishta yoga also relies heavily on a mental focus and acute observation of the body through breathing - also known as pranayama.

Ishta Yoga as defined by Finger in his Introductory book says that "The Sanskrit word ishta means 'individual' or 'personalized'" and that consequently like the ishta devatas (individual gods in the hindu religion), "we feel everyone who practices yoga needs an "ishta sadhana" which is "an individual daily practice that enables [people] to look after themselves.

Ishta yoga was developed by Finger's father, Mani, in his native South Africa, which he brought to the United States. Finger developed this style of yoga with his father after collaborating with several well known yoga teachers which includes: Paramahansa Yogananda, Swami Venkatesananda, Swami Nishraisanada, and finally Tantric Master Bharati.

According to Finger, "ISHTA yoga embraces elements from a variety of styles and seeks to help its students discover the exact blend of postures, breathing, and meditation techniques necessary to bring out their fullest potential."

What this translates into when comparing Ishta yoga with other forms of yoga is this: Some forms of yoga stress alignment of the body in practice, others stress the building of core body heat, still others focus on the breathing and one or several of these points may be stressed over the others. Ishta yoga is a balanced practice where a student learns to tune into themselves and build a balanced practice of yoga according to the student's needs, not the needs of yoga itself.

The Hatha Yoga portion of Ishta yoga "create [s] strength, increase [s] flexibility, and realign [s] the body". Another part of Ishta yoga is known as Vinyasa. There is a continuous focus on breathing no matter what the practice is emphasizing at any given moment.

Hatha Yoga is essentially the physical practice of yoga in this style.

The Tantra portion of ISHTA is the guiding philosophy behind it. For the purposes of Ishta, we can imagine the self as a layered onion and at the center of all of those layers is a perfect self, a state of complete and perfect bliss (also referred to often as Samadhi. Other terms related to Tantra that should be studied includes Chakras, Prana, Aura (paranormal), Meditation, and Mantras (are just a few).

The final portion of ISHTA Yoga is Ayurveda. Ayurveda briefly put is the ancient Indian science of healing where "Ayur" means life and "Veda" means science. Referring back to the onion example, if we have a perfect center, then our experiences create an outer exterior that is different from our perfect center. When our exterior is not balanced with our interior, that is when imbalance enters into our lives. So, Ayurveda is the practice of bringing harmony between our outer self and inner self.

Ishta yoga classes otherwise are not structured differently than other forms of yoga. There are warm ups, and a variety of asanas that stretch parts of the body.

Like other yoga classes, ISHTA yoga classes conclude with Savasana and then the teacher acknowledging the students with Namaste (pronounced N-AH-MAH-STAY) which students return.

----Reference

Finger, Alan, (2000). [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0609804057 Yogazone: Introduction to yoga: A beginner's guide to health, fitness, and relaxation.] Three Rivers Press. New York.

http://www.yogazone.com/about.htm

http://www.ishtayoga.com