What Is Yoga?
Yoga is you. Yoga is alchemy. It is transformation at its highest form; you showing up for yourself.
Yoga is an inner thing. No one has to give it to you. You don’t need a mat, and you don’t need anyone else to do it with. No equipment necessary. Yoga is literally just you.
Yoga is about showing up and doing the work. Creating a spiritual practice that involves opening ourselves up to improvement and new ideas, rather than remaining stuck in the closed loops of deep subconscious patterns. Yoga is a lifestyle. It is spiritual wellness and all about cultivating inner contentment.
Yoga is restraint. In the book called The Path of the Yoga Sutras by Nicolai Bachman, I really resonated with the statement that yoga is having “a sharp sword and an open heart.” I enjoyed learning about the metaphors in which how a sword is used in Asia. The sword is suggestive of battle and the pose of a warrior. A true warrior, like the yogi, is not inclined to remove his or her sword just to wave it around for others to see, - like this weapon yoga is not for show. Instead, this sword is to be used mindfully and with great care. Not everyone and everything deserves to be slayed with a sword. Yoga is about mentally shifting our perception of what is seen as a weapon and how it is to be used. The mind is a weapon. Swords can come in many forms. Yoga is seeing the sword as an internal weapon for restraint.
Yoga is deep breathing. To consciously breathe with intent to heal. Yoga brings awareness to our breath. Yoga is calmness and meditation. It is spiritual discipline and a way to meet yourself where you are. To see you without judgement and tap into yourself for an experience of clarity and strength. Yoga is your mind, connecting with your body, connecting with your spirit. When we are in the state of yoga, our consciousness is quiet, and we experience the presence of our inner light of awareness.
Yoga is spiritual. It is ancient and so much deeper than the poses. In fact, according to Patanjali, less than 2% of the Yoga Sutras discuss the actual physical practice of asana. This is because yoga is a cosmic experience. It is connecting our individual consciousness to the universal consciousness. Yoga celebrates and honors our ancestors, by paying homage to them. Yoga is the practice of the Egyptian Gods, scribed on pyramids where it is one of the most spiritual places on Earth. And they still can’t figure out how it was all built. Yoga is the opposite of modern.
Yoga is preventative medicine and a form of healthcare. Yoga is Self-love and Self-care. Yoga is exercise. Yoga is church.
Yoga is what you make it to be, but this is what yoga is to me.