What is Yoga? I’ve had a few conversations lately that are based around certain ideas of what yoga is, or aspects of what yoga can be. Some of these conversations are about asana and the correct way to do postures, some are about meditation, some are about volunteering and service work, some are about jobs and the growing “industry” of Yoga. All of these conversations have made me question my own ideas about what Yoga is.
The other night I went to a talk given by a yoga scholar and teacher and he made a point to remind all of us aspirants that the exercise we practice with the postures is just a technique; nothing more than this and not to be confused with some kind of final goal or outcome. When practicing postures or breathing or chanting etc one is simply on the journey to yoga. Yoga is a destination that is a state of being, not an activity that someone does for a few hours a day or twice a week at the gym. In fact, to make the mistake of limiting yoga to a few simple activities is much to the detriment of the practitioner who may fail in striving to extend their practice to all (yes all) aspects of life, including (but not limited to) intentions, thoughts, actions, and relationship with other beings, earth, nourishment and self. And in much the same way that a scientist discovers the macro in the micro, the practitioner discovers oneness or divine union in all aspects of life. Now doesn’t that sound nice?
Sometimes it can be a daunting task to even crack a smile, let alone see the divinity in everything…
So if yoga is a state of being, then what is the journey getting to that state of being? Once we embark on a journey to Yoga does everything we do constitute part of the ultimate goal? What about the times we slip up and mistakenly desire a goal from our bodies, accidentally forget that everyone is divine (including the person that just made you angry for some reason), eat meat, drink alcohol, speak gossip, and forget to meditate? If we still make it to class twice a week and it really is our intention to grow our practice stronger and maybe even one day commit to practice as a whole way of living, or even become enlightened enough to go home for the holidays without getting into a family argument; are we still on the path even when we mess up?
It is, after all, a practice.
Ideally someday we will be able to see that no action is isolated and that everything and everyone is part of the same IS. Until then it’s my personal practice to just try and remind myself of that as much as I can and veer away from absolute ideas of who I am, what I do or what my practice is or is not. I find that the more I think of my speech, action, and intention as part of everything else in the entire cosmos, the more I am able to relax my criticism of the times I “mess up”, and also speak, act and intend in ways that are generally much more compassionate and positive.
Pattabhi Jois said, “Yoga is not for exercise. Yoga is showing where to look for the soul – that is all. Man is taking a human body – this is a very rare opportunity. Don’t waste it. We are given 100 years to live, one day you have the possibility to see God. If you think in this way it is giving you good body, good nature and health.”
If we make the intention and stay diligent, maybe it’s all yoga…
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