Bando yoga or Burmese yoga is a form of

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consci ...

from

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

usually taught alongside

bando Bando ( my, ဗန်တို, ) is a defensive unarmed martial art from Myanmar. Bando is sometimes mistakenly used as a generic word for all Burmese martial arts, but it is only one martial art; Burmese fighting systems collectively are ref ...

. It is probably based on the internal training of Indian martial arts and is often referred to as peasant or slave yoga. It was for the common man and also used by ancient warriors of northern

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

to maintain health and protect from illness and disease. Today it is practiced by ethnic Burmese in parts of

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Bando really spread in Burma when Japanese invaded the country in 1942. It is part of a collection of martial arts called

Thaing The traditional martial arts of the Mainland Southeast Asia are related to one another, and as a group to Indian martial arts. The most salient common feature is Mainland Southeast Asia kickboxing. The region of Mainland Southeast Asia is ...

. The discipline includes the fighting and defensive behaviors of animals such as the cobra,

python Python may refer to: Snakes * Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia ** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia * Python (mythology), a mythical serpent Computing * Python (pro ...

viper The Viperidae (vipers) are a family of snakes found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipers), hinged fangs tha ...

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on ...

, leopard, monkey,

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

and

scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always en ...

. Bando yoga is used for three main purposes. These are for maintaining overall health, resisting illness and disease, and restoring or recovering from illness and injury. It is not a yoga system for enlightenment but for developing and maintaining efficient functionality in our everyday life, whether it be as a worker/laborer, monk or warrior. There are three systems of Burmese yoga: List of Top Yoga Centres in Delhi
/ref> #dhanda yoga (decreased flexibility by using the staff) #lonji yoga (Development of flexibility by using cloth or rope) #letha yoga (Partner-assisted improvement of circulation and stimulation of joints) Image:Bando yoga0.jpg, ''Leg stretch'' Image:stretch_psoas1.jpg, ''Leg Stretch'' Image:dhanda0.jpg, ''Stretch of Dhanda yoga'' Image:longi0.jpg, ''Stretch of Longyi yoga''

References

Yoga styles Spiritual practice {{Myanmar-stub

See also

References