What is Yoga?
Dictionary
- Merriam-Webster
- A system of exercises for mental and physical health
- A Hindu philosophy that teaches a person to experience inner peace by controlling the body and mind
- A Hindu theistic philosophy teaching the suppression of all activity of body, mind, and will in order that the self may realize its distinction from them and attain liberation
- A system of exercises for attaining bodily or mental control and well-being
- Cambridge Dictionary
- A set of physical and mental exercises….which is intended to give control over the body and mind
“Nothing but Yoga will make you better at Yoga, but Yoga will make you better at everything”
Etymology and Yogic Philosophy
The word Yoga comes from the Sanskrit root yuj meaning to yoke or to unite. This union is both at an individual level – body, mind and spirit / soul and on a universal level – The Self with The Supreme Consciousness:
- THE TRUE SELF (Atman) – According to yogic philosophy, Yoga is the challenge of finding your Atman. In an attempt to find the truth that underlies and pervades everything about you, we can begin to look at what you are NOT:
- YOU ARE NOT THE BODY: we are all in a state of delusion (Maya). We wrongly identify our bodies as being part of our True Self. We refer to the different components of our bodies as “ma hair”, “my hand”, etc. However, if you were to remove any body part, would you be any less of a person? Yoga teaches us to break through this illusion and to search out who that entity saying “my” is.
- YOU ARE NOT THE MIND: the thoughts and emotions that you feel are constantly changing. They are the product of your experience and your environment.
- SO, WHAT / WHO ARE YOU? By identifying with the body, emotions and thoughts, (“my” hand, strength / weakness”, house / car”, freedom / happiness) we develop a concept of separateness which can becomes a habitual way of thinking and feeling, bringing suffering. As we start peeling away these layers of ownership, who / what is left? This “True Self” is what we are attempting to discover through the Yoga practice.
- SUPREME / UNIVERSAL CONSCIOUSNESS (BRAHMAN)
- This is the absolute truth in the Vedantic philosophy, the basis of everything – eternal, infinite and unchanging. Different Hindu religions and philosophical schools have different names for this Universal Consciousness: Shiva, Vishnu, Adinath. We are part of Brahman and Brahman exists in us, too. When we refer to the Brahman within us, it is known as Atman.
- “YOGA Chitta VRITTI NIRODHA”
- “The restraint of the modifications of the mind stuff is Yoga” Patanjali, The Yoga Sutras.
- If we can bring both the body and the mind to stillness, we can see the True Self and thus we have reached enlightenment.
- Yoga AS ASCIENCE
- “Just like science says experiment, Yoga says experience. Experiment and experience are the same. Experiment is something you can do outside; experience is something you can inside. Experience is and inside experiment.” (OSHO)
- Yoga AS A METHOD FOR BEING HERE NOW
- It is common for our mind to reevaluate the events in the past, projecting imaginary ones in the future, and when the future time projected arrives as present moment, the story repeats all over again. Yoga teaches us how to diminish these tendencies and savior the present for longer and with more acknowledgment.
- Yoga AS A HEALTH MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
- Asana TECHNIQUES (Yoga postures) offer proven benefits to anyone regardless of their philosophical opinions or convictions. They help us keep an overall mobility in the body that otherwise would stiffen up with age. Maintaining a daily Asana practice will assure supple joints, long muscles, prevent degenerative conditions, also acting on the the cardio-vascular and nervous systems.
- Pranayama (breathing exercises) and DRISHTI (focused gaze) are crucial to obtaining the above mentioned results. Through focus and intelligent breathing techniques our mind becomes calmer and our physiological panorama more harmonious, leading therefore to a healthier body and more content mind.
According to my Yoga teacher, Dustin Horan, “Yoga is a practice which empowers one to overcome the obstacles of the mind so that the self can experience its own true nature.”