Yoga
"Yoga makes us realise that we cannot pluck a flower
without disturbing a star"
Swami Gitananda
Yoga seems to be everywhere these days, from glossy magazines to food products,
and there is much confusion about exactly what the meaning of yoga is.
It seems to be commonly understood that yoga is just another form of exercise,
however this is both a gross over simplification and misconception of what
generations of wise and enlightened sages of India have passed on to us.
The word Yoga comes from the Sanskrit root 'yuj' which means to join or
yoke together, referring to the union of the body, breath, mind and spirit.
Developed as a logical step by step process and pragmatic science, yoga
is in its broadest sense a way of living which can help us to realise our
full potential.
Yoga originated in the Indian subcontinent more than 10 thousand years ago.
These centuries of knowledge were codified by the sage Patanjali in the
Yoga Sutras which are still used as the map for the exploration of yoga
today. The yoga teachings as laid out in the Sutras teach us how to travel
through life with wisdom, awareness and true understanding whilst uncovering
the roots of disharmony, unhappiness and frustration. Yoga is an extraordinarily
effective system for physical, emotional and spiritual health and is used,
along with its sister science Ayurveda, as both prevention and cure for
countless health problems.
Although there are many branches of yoga, from devotional practice to more
intellectual methods, from schools which emphasise physical purification
to those whose main practice is to serve others, Patanjali's 8 limb path
is the structure underlying all of them.
The wonderful thing about yoga is that the practices can give direct and
tangible benefits to everyone regardless of their spiritual aim. For most
people yoga is a means to cultivate a healthy body and a feeling of well
being in an increasingly stressful society. The postures can help to relieve
physical discomfort which builds up during an average working week in the
city (hunching over a computer or steering wheel, sitting in a chair), the
breath awareness and relaxation techniques help us to create more space
and time for ourselves and to quieten the mind. Yoga provides a way for
people to discover their own way of connecting to their true selves. It
is an aid to establishing a new way of life, achieved not through intellectualising
but through simple practice and experience.