What is yoga?
I have had students come to class and ask me if yoga is a religion. I have had some approach yoga as an exercise program. Others have expressed concern that yoga is for skinny people that can bend their bodies into pretzel shapes. There are so many misconceptions about yoga, some very limiting and others very exaggerated, so let's clear up some of the misinformation.
Yoga is a lot of things with a deep history but in the interest of keeping it simple, yoga is a practice and philosophy. Its essence is to unite body, mind, and spirit and initiate the practitioner into a state of unity consciousness. Yoga is 5,000 years old and there are many systems of yoga. Just as there are many roads to Rome, there are many paths to unity consciousness.
The four main paths are Raja (Royal Yoga), Bhakti (Devotional), Jnana (Self-inquiry), and Karma (Skillful action). The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit root "yuj-" which means "to yoke" or "join". The essence of the practice of yoga is to unite individual consciousness to the bigger unity consciousness. For some this would translate as the soul connecting back to the spirit or God.
Everything is energy, even apparently solid objects, so with this realization comes the understanding that everything is one. There is no separation. Yoga addresses all aspects of energy and connection. It addresses the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual and integrates it into one whole.
How does this happen? Isn't yoga a bunch of poses? Well, yes and no. The practice of yoga is much deeper than that. Raja Yoga, which is known as the Royal Yoga because of its inclusive nature of all yogas, is based on the Eight-limbs or Eight-fold path of Pantanjali, the father of yoga. He codified his knowledge of yoga in a body of work called the sutras, which are short concise guidelines on how to live your yoga. To be authentic, yoga is a practice on and off the mat.
The Eight-limbs of yoga are as follows:
1. Yamas (Ethical guidelines): Ahimsa (nonviolence),
Satya (truth), Asetya (non-stealing),
Brahmacharya (self- restraint), Apragraha (non-
greed)
2. Niyamas (Moral Observations): Susha (purity),
Santosha (contentment), Tapas (austerity),
Svadhaya (study of the scriptures), Ishvara
Pranidhana (surrender to God)
3. Asana: Steady pose, posture
4. Pranayama: Control of vital energy through breathwork
5. Pratyahara: Withdrawal of the senses
6. Dharana: Concentration of the mind
7. Dhyana: Meditation
8. Samadhi: Enlightenment, union with the Divine
There is a Zen saying "Don't confuse the finger pointing at the moon for the moon itself". If we are busy focusing on one aspect of yoga, we miss that all the parts are the fingers pointing to unity consciousness. When taking up the practice of yoga, every part is as important as the next. The postures, breathing exercises, meditations, and development of witness consciousness, where we see ourselves as a witness to our own thoughts and actions, are yoga. When we view yoga as a multi-faceted vehicle for direct experience of unity consciousness, and subtle energy as the ground of existence, we are on the path. Yoga helps us find the balance that creates body-mind health and wellness. So, that's yoga.
I have had students come to class and ask me if yoga is a religion. I have had some approach yoga as an exercise program. Others have expressed concern that yoga is for skinny people that can bend their bodies into pretzel shapes. There are so many misconceptions about yoga, some very limiting and others very exaggerated, so let's clear up some of the misinformation.
Yoga is a lot of things with a deep history but in the interest of keeping it simple, yoga is a practice and philosophy. Its essence is to unite body, mind, and spirit and initiate the practitioner into a state of unity consciousness. Yoga is 5,000 years old and there are many systems of yoga. Just as there are many roads to Rome, there are many paths to unity consciousness.
The four main paths are Raja (Royal Yoga), Bhakti (Devotional), Jnana (Self-inquiry), and Karma (Skillful action). The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit root "yuj-" which means "to yoke" or "join". The essence of the practice of yoga is to unite individual consciousness to the bigger unity consciousness. For some this would translate as the soul connecting back to the spirit or God.
Everything is energy, even apparently solid objects, so with this realization comes the understanding that everything is one. There is no separation. Yoga addresses all aspects of energy and connection. It addresses the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual and integrates it into one whole.
How does this happen? Isn't yoga a bunch of poses? Well, yes and no. The practice of yoga is much deeper than that. Raja Yoga, which is known as the Royal Yoga because of its inclusive nature of all yogas, is based on the Eight-limbs or Eight-fold path of Pantanjali, the father of yoga. He codified his knowledge of yoga in a body of work called the sutras, which are short concise guidelines on how to live your yoga. To be authentic, yoga is a practice on and off the mat.
The Eight-limbs of yoga are as follows:
1. Yamas (Ethical guidelines): Ahimsa (nonviolence),
Satya (truth), Asetya (non-stealing),
Brahmacharya (self- restraint), Apragraha (non-
greed)
2. Niyamas (Moral Observations): Susha (purity),
Santosha (contentment), Tapas (austerity),
Svadhaya (study of the scriptures), Ishvara
Pranidhana (surrender to God)
3. Asana: Steady pose, posture
4. Pranayama: Control of vital energy through breathwork
5. Pratyahara: Withdrawal of the senses
6. Dharana: Concentration of the mind
7. Dhyana: Meditation
8. Samadhi: Enlightenment, union with the Divine
There is a Zen saying "Don't confuse the finger pointing at the moon for the moon itself". If we are busy focusing on one aspect of yoga, we miss that all the parts are the fingers pointing to unity consciousness. When taking up the practice of yoga, every part is as important as the next. The postures, breathing exercises, meditations, and development of witness consciousness, where we see ourselves as a witness to our own thoughts and actions, are yoga. When we view yoga as a multi-faceted vehicle for direct experience of unity consciousness, and subtle energy as the ground of existence, we are on the path. Yoga helps us find the balance that creates body-mind health and wellness. So, that's yoga.
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