Sivananda yoga teaches 4 paths of yoga: karma, bhakti, raja and jnana yoga, and requests the student to practise all four and eventually to pick one as their main focus. Sivananda Yoga teachers are all graduates of the Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training Course. The Sivananda training system aims to teach an authentically Vedic system of yoga and believes that retaining the vitality of the body is a byproduct of the discipline and not the goal. The system philosophies are summarized in 5 principles: A session of training typically starts with every practitioner resting in "Savasana", and begins with Pranayama (breathing exercises) Kapalabhati
Brihad Bhagavatamrita khaëòa – Ascertaining the Glories of Çré Goloka. In the first part of "Brihad-bhagavatamrita" Sanatana Goswami has described a conversation between Parikshit and his mother, Uttara. It took place after Parikshit heard the "Bhagavata Purana" from Śuka. Uttara asked her son to explain the essence of "Bhagavata Purana", and Parikshit revealed to her the stages of confidential Bhakti. He told her a story about how Narada was looking for greatest devotee of Krishna. The Great Rishi began his search with devotees of Krishna whose Bhakti was mixed with karma and jnana (Brahma and Shiva), then went up to Shanta-rasa (Prahlada),