What is yoga?

Here in the western world, we often see yoga advertised as a wealthy upper class activity with fancy tight pants and extreme postures. This is not only an extremely colonized version of the activity, it is, in my opinion, damaging to the deep benefits of the wholistic practice. I’m not saying finding yoga through these means or taking a class on alomoves is “bad,” I actually think it can be a beautiful gateway, or even just a place to simply relax the nervous system. But, I implore us to peel off a few more layers. Layers that lead us deeper into our own being and understanding of the universe that holds us. “Yoga” is often translated to mean “union.” Union meaning that the individual’s consciousness unites with the universal consciousness, the consciousness within all beings. Some may call this “God,” “the Divine", “the Universe.” I invite us to view this as a bit of the opposite, instead yoga is a “de-union” process. We peel back the layers of our own egos. That voice within our head that says things must be this way or the other way, or that we are not good enough, or that we are too good for that, or that we must have control over what is. We peel back these layers like an onion until we find that universal consciousness within ourselves. Because it is there, it is already connected to the divine, we are just so clouded by our own humanness sometimes we don’t see it.

As mentioned, the “asana” or physical practice of yoga is only one of 8 limbs of the yoga tradition. This post does not seek to explain the full history of how yoga came to be, but for some scope of background I will lay out what the 8 limbs of the practice is and the aim of the full practice. My goal here is to emphasize for us what actually is important in the practice. It, shockingly ;), isn’t the fancy pants or handstands, but rather a tuning into our inner knowing of connectedness with all things. Our inner knowing that we are here as the universe simply experiencing itself with all the pain, bliss, anger, beauty, sorrow- all of this as a tool to love everything deeper. The 8 limbs of yoga are Yamas (restraints/moral vows), Niyamas (observances), Asana (postures), Pranayama (breath), Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation, Samadhi (oneness with all living things). That one-ness is the eventual goal- it is infinite consciousness. I would argue this one-ness isn’t a final destination, but a space we can all access within this current moment. Inevitably, this connectedness is interrupted by our own human predicament. The ego loves to creek back in with insecurity, anxieties, doubts, anger, resentment. The truth is we are still having a human experience, and in my heart I don’t think this state of one-ness is necessarily a final destination to remove us from this human experience. Our human experience is meant for our growth, for our learning, for our deeper understanding. Imagine infinite consciousness existing as simply one loving, all knowing energy with nothing to do or learn. Quite frankly, that would be boring. Our consciousness seeks to understand deeper to experience the depths of human emotion fully. The yoga practice teaches us to come back into this space of one-ness. To see truth within it, the infinite beauty that it is. And then, to bring this infinite connectedness and beauty into our relationships and our life. This state of consciousness is deeply peaceful, loving, and a clear view of what is. Accessing this state allows us to approach the world around us from a space of loving calm clarity. From here, we can serve those around us and freely exchange loving energy with others as well as ourselves. We can love ourselves as we see the beautiful light that lies beneath all of the stories we tell ourselves about who we are. The physical asana of yoga is simply a tool to help prepare the body for meditation which is often the initial gateway to experience this Samadhi state of being. Physical asana helps initiate the quieting of the mind (often simply through altering our nervous system). Which, when the water starts to settle, we can see below it into our inner most being.

Photo from Poonhill, Nepal in the Annapurna region of the Himalayas