What is Yoga?

Yoga literally means “to yoke” or “to bring into union.”  Therefore, action that brings forth our true self or unites us with our true self is yoga.  To practice yoga is to seek an end to suffering and gain enlightenment.

Yoga has been sought since the beginning, as we have long searched for truth, meaning and happiness in our lives.  The formal practice of yoga began over 4000 years ago in the hills and remote valleys of India.  For centuries small groups of men gathered to learn the techniques of yoga from their teacher, a Guru.  During the second century CE a treatise of 196 verses, the Yoga-Sutra, was written by Patañjali.  The Yoga Sutra describes in terse detail a structure by which we may let go of suffering and become enlightened.  Nearly all yoga we experience today can trace its roots back to the Sutra.  The Sutra presents eight areas of study and practice to progress toward enlightenment:  The Yamas, restraints, behaviors to refrain from doing; the Niyamas, observations, behaviors to encourage doing; Asanas, postures, taking control of the physical body; Pranayama, control and harnessing the breath;  Pratyahara, withdrawing the senses; Dharama, developing concentration; Dhyana, meditation on our connection with universal consciousness; and Samadhi, liberation, transcending the distinction between self and the divine.

Patañjali explains that while practicing any of the eight, we are enhancing the others.  Thus today there are many schools of yoga, each focusing on a particular combination and manifestation of these eight areas of study.  The causes of our suffering are a common theme throughout yoga.  According to the Sutra the roots of suffering are our; cravings, aversions, illusions or not seeing things as they are, and fears - particularly our fear of extinction.  Yoga practice teaches us to examine these causes, non-judgmentally witness them, and then let them go.

Hatha yoga, which focuses primarily on the development of the Asanas (postures), first appeared in the ninth century.  Hatha yoga implies that it takes strength, discipline and effort to unify our opposing forces and bring together the mind, body and spirit.  Hatha yogis strive to transform the physical body into the subtle, divine body and thereby attain enlightenment.