What is Yoga?

Today we tackle the question, what is yoga? The word is associated with such a spectrum of activity that it can be difficult to discern what it actually means. To some, yoga evokes images of peaceful souls meditating and living a sort of hippie style free soul life. I used to imagine sages or monks living in the forest wearing orange and meditating in caves. To some, it brings up images of very fit and flexible people doing incredibly challenging poses. In gyms and yoga studios classes are described with words like restorative, power, flow, or vinyasa.

Image Credit: Gemma Correll

We can travel back in time to learn the true meaning. Yoga is a Sanskrit word, and it means the reunification with ones highest self. The word yoga shows up often in ancient Vedic teachings (10,000 year old spiritual texts from India). Various paths of yoga are described, all with this goal of reunification with the highest self. Practicing yoga was really meant to be a guidance on how to live our everyday lives. In these early texts, the focus was not on the physical practice, rather various options were presented such as

• Karma Yoga- path of action, living in service to those around us

• Bhakti Yoga- path of devotion, living in devotion to the divine (which exists within all of us)

• Jnana Yoga- path of knowledge, learning the true nature of reality through self-inquiry

It wasn’t until the early 1900’s that the physical postures of yoga dominated the practice and was popularized throughout the eastern and western parts of the world. The details on this are a history lesson for another post.

Today I would like to focus on a metaphor that the buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh often used, the cultivation of a garden. We all know we have higher versions of ourselves that come out when we are feeling good. When we complete a challenge, find ourselves laughing with friends, or are in a state of flow in any activity. We also have lower versions of ourselves that come out when we are stressed or angry. Those times when we lose our temper, react unkindly, or say things we wished we hadn’t. Both of these, along with an entire spectrum of versions in-between, exist within us.

To me, practicing yoga means cultivating an environment in which our highest self can thrive. When we think of growing a garden, we cannot just go and buy beautiful flowers, put them in our yard, and expect them to flourish. We must cultivate an appropriate environment with daily watering, nourishing soil, appropriate sunlight, etc. We have to keep control of the weeds that continuously come up and adjust our gardening methods as challenges with weather arise. Keeping the flowers healthy and beautiful is a daily practice.

In the same way, yoga invites us to cultivate an environment within ourselves, in which our highest selves thrive. On a physical level this means tending to our eating, sleeping and exercise habits. On a mental level, this means creating times of quiet, and slowly learning to take control of our minds instead of letting our minds control us. Weeding out unhealthy habits and negative energy is a daily practice. As various challenges come up, we must learn to adjust in order to handle them. As we begin to focus on what nourishes us on the level of mind, body and spirit, we are able to create an environment in which our highest self is present most often. I believe it is part of the human experience to see life through all of our versions. There is no need to be ashamed of our lower versions because we all have them, however, we must be aware they can be destructive to ourselves, and everyone we come in contact with.

When we make a commitment to creating a personal environment in which the best version of ourselves can flourish, we are practicing the highest act of kindness for ourselves, and for those around us. I hope you will join me in this practice.