The Yoga of Qiyoda. In essence Qiyoda is Yoga. There are just a few things added to broaden your idea of Yoga and make practice more practical and effective. Not to mention a literal spiritual practice. If I were to describe the style of Yoga presented by Qiyoda I would say it is a style that uses the standing posture as a foundation and guide for practice. Incorporates Chi cultivation and movement/dance to aid in opening the body, bringing it into proper alignment and making that alignment natural . By incorporating Qigong, one can cultivate Chi/Prana with awareness and use it to expedite the opening and strengthening of the body. By incorporating movement/dance, one can open and strengthen the body with a greater range of motion and train the body to move within that alignment. Also dance is a great way to connect to our creative side, increase intuition and cultivate Chi.

Qiyoda is also a goal oriented Yoga. Qiyoda’s first goal other than getting you relaxed and moving Chi. Ok third goal. Is to get you aligned. Not as easy as relaxing and moving Chi. Although practicing today’s Yoga focuses on alignment it has no template to work towards. People are just practicing blindly and maybe someday they will reach a degree of proper alignment. But will they even have awareness of the perfection of it when they get there? By using the a template and having a goal, Yoga becomes interactive, dynamic and motivating. So why not make that goal practical for life? And how do we move through life most of the time? Standing!

The funny thing is that Yoga was created to prepare people for sitting, while practicing long hours of meditation. The Hatha Pradapika mentions this. But who really is going to sit for 5 hours a day working toward ultimate enlightenment? I say for us modern humans, just getting to a place where we are happy, feel connected to life, can move with ease and are comfortable in our bodies and happy with ourselves and our roles in life. Understanding the power we have to affect ourselves and our lives. Understand something deep about our humanity and being able to practice that. This is enlightenment enough.

With the creation of a personal practice a person enters into a whole journey of self discovery and a symbiotic relationship with the world around us. As we make progress towards a goal it becomes motivating. Not only that, your practice will evolve as you progress. This process is where epiphanies happen, understanding grows and wisdom is cultivated. And when we want to succeed not only in our body but also our lives, life becomes Yoga. Where we learn from our mistakes and everyone we meet. With a personal practice you become the teacher, your body and life are your guides. In this way Yoga becomes a journey of discovery instead of just a practice. It is perfecting and mastering yourself on all levels.

Here is the foundational Yoga sequence developed for Qiyoda, anyone can use it to start creating their own practice. This sequence is malleable and can be added to or changed in order to suit an individuals needs or desired goals. It can be what ever you want it to be or need it to be or both. For me at least, that makes it more fun and interesting. Also I learned about 95% of the information in the book Qiyoda from my own practice.

Then in a few years of practice you may reach that goal, then you can practice anything else you want and master it faster. Or just enjoy the rest of your life feeling awesome!