Beginning Yoga, Understanding Yoga
This Sacred Practice Will Open Your Body, Mind, and Heart
Nov 16, 2007
What is yoga?
There are many answers to this question, but the concepts of this ancient practice are best expressed through the words of a wondering baba in Rishikesh, India: "yoga is everything; everything is yoga." Yoga is a science and an art. Yoga is NOT a religion. It is not Hinduism or Buddhism. Yoga is a practice. Yoga is NOT exercise. It is not aerobics or gymnastics. Yoga has evolved in many forms throughout its 11,000-year-old history and there is no one path, technique, or system that is the "right way" to "do" yoga.
How will I benefit from yoga?
Whatever approach you personally develop to yoga, you will discover that it is a practice that affects all aspects of your life. By developing the ability to bring stillness to the body and the mind, we open ourselves up to awareness of both our inner worlds and outer worlds. We open ourselves up to the beauty and unity of all things, including ourselves. Ultimately, the various practices of yoga, which exercise the body, mind, and spirit, lead us to the realization that all creation, in its beauty and diversity, is a harmonious manifestation of one universal energy. The universe is a vibrating symphony expressed in sound, light, scent, matter, and emotion, of which you are an integral part. This is the central concept of yoga, which is literally translated as union.
We live in our illusions; this is the human condition. We see separations where there are none. We define ourselves in ways that blind us to our true natures. We see the body, but we are not the body; we hear the mind, but we are not the mind; we feel the emotion, but we are not the emotion. With yoga, we can begin to peel back the layers of perception and open ourselves to the realization that we are the embodiment of the same energy that has created all of existence. This knowledge can free you from our modern cycle of fear, doubt, and anxiety. In this truth you find your own perfection.
The inherent connectedness of all things also applies to the various aspects of ourselves. In yoga, we realize that psychosomatic phenomena create our reality, meaning that the spirit, mind, and body are all manifestations of each other. To be physically healthy, we must be mentally healthy and vice versa. To be happy, we must first be healthy.
No really. What is yoga?
As westerners, we want to be able to intellectualize all of this. We want to sit over a cup of coffee and discuss the semantics of this complex philosophy and come to educated conclusions. However, the most essential aspect of yoga is that it is a practice. It must be done to be known; no one can really tell you what yoga "is." True knowledge is gained through experiential learning.
Furthermore, it is through the physical, mental, and spiritual practices of yoga that we develop our awareness. Much of our days are lived in careless mindlessness. We are caught in a frenetic cycle of all the things we have convinced ourselves we must do and have lost our awareness of our bodies, our minds, our true selves, and our relationship to other beings. Through our practice, yoga brings us back to mindfulness, back to stillness.
