New Feature: Yoga On & Off the Mat

What is Yoga?

By Brooke Hewes, 7-13-07

	Yoga On & Off the Mat

Ashtanga, Iyengar, Bikram. Jivamukti, Hot, Core. The choices today are many, and just as diverse as the types of yoga are the definitions of the word itself. To some, yoga connotes spirituality, religion, even science. To others, yoga is hip and modern and largely confined to their sticky mat. In general, though, yoga is something that we or someone we know does and seems to benefit from. But what exactly is it that millions of Americans are doing? Is it exercise? Is it relaxation? Or is it something more nebulous and divine?

Yoga is all of these things. And true to yoga’s pairing of opposites (think yin and yang, balancing the feminine and masculine), it is absolutely complex and utterly simple. Yoga is here and now just as much as it is lifetimes away. Yoga is Bhakti (yoga of love and devotion), Hatha (forceful or physical yoga), Jnana (yoga of widsom), Karma (yoga of action), Kundalini (yoga of tantra), Purna (yoga of integration), Raja (royal or classical yoga) and, among others, Mantra (yoga of sacred chanting).

	The Eight Limbs of Yoga according to the Indian sage Patanjali in his Yoga Sutra. (Note: Some versions of the Sutra have 195 sutras or “threads,” while others have 196). The Yoga Sutra is central to Raja (royal) Yoga or Classical Yoga, and is intended to support a deep practice of mediation. As such, and despite the fact that the Sutra is often of interest to the philosopher, historian or academic, it is only truly understood within the context of experience. In other words, the fruits of transcendence are beyond the capacity of the intellect. (Don’t think the irony of this statement escapes me; do think, however, that information – i.e. reading this column – informs practice and is therefore a good use of time.) The first limb consists of five universal moralities (yamas), or as William J.D. Doran writes in his online article The Eight Limbs, The Core of Yoga, five wise characteristics to deal with people around us. Included are compassion, truthfulness, non-stealing, moderation and non-greediness. Rounding out these universal morals are the self disciplines (niyamas) of the second limb: purity (of body and mind), contentment, self study and spiritual celebration. Together, writes B.K.S Iyengar in his book Light on Yoga, the first two limbs “control the yogi’s passion and emotions and keep him in harmony with fellow man.” The third limb refers to the use of asanas to open the practitioner to the incessant flow of spirituality through his or her physical body. Asana both prepares the body for meditation and, through coordinated breath and movement, is mediation. The fourth limb is measuring, controlling and directing the breath through the practice of pranayama (breath control). The fifth limb is pratyahara, control of the senses, which is enabled by the sixth limb of concentration (dharana). By shifting one’s senses inward and away from external stimuli, the yogi finds stillness, which enables concentration on the breath, and, eventually, consciousness. Dhyana, the seventh limb, is one of devotion—of meditation on the divine to realize the inherent divinity of the Self. Lastly, there is Samadhi, union with the divine, which occurs when, as Ian Whicher writes in his book The Integrity of the Yoga Darsana, “the yogin is left with nothing more to experience or know.” As his or her mind dissolves into the Self, the yogi is bliss. The first four limbs are internal practices; the last four are considered external, more worldly. Though presented sequentially, all eight limbs unfold simultaneously, just as a tree grows because of its ever-reaching branches. The above is a mere skim of Patanjali’s work. Much information has been written on the subject, including all or parts of the following websites and books: RainbowBody.net Online Translation of Yoga Sutra SwamiJ.com The Essential Yoga Sutra: Ancient Wisdom for Your Yoga, a book by Geshe Michael Roach and Christie Mcnally The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a book by Alice Bailey. The Tree of Yoga, a book by B.K.S Iyengar Wikipedia’s Yoga Sutra and Buddhist 8-Fold Path.

Of course yoga is different to different folks:

• “The practice of yoga is an art and science dedicated to creating union between body, mind and spirit,” writes artist and yoga teacher William Doran on Expressions of the Spirit.
• “Yoga is proper breathing, proper exercise, proper relaxation, proper diet and proper thinking and meditation,” according to the Sivananda Yoga Center.
• “Yoga is a way of living and being that makes real happiness possible [by reconnecting] to the original vastness and silence of the mind,” writes renowned yoga teacher Donna Farhi in Yoga Mind, Body and Spirit.
• More generally, yoga is “India’s particular brand of spirituality,” writes yoga scholar Georg Feuerstein in his book The Shambala Guide to Yoga.

The term yoga first appeared roughly 3,500 years ago in the sacred Hindu scriptures the Vedas. Derived from the Sanskrit verb “yuj” meaning to yoke or to join, yoga translates as “union” and refers to the path of uniting with God. And because these texts were written with the non-dualistic premise that all reality is an articulation of divine love, you, me, Jack and Jane are all connected. We are all _______ (fill in the blank: Spirit, God, Energy, Goddess, Universal Light, you choose). So while one yogi’s path may differ from his or her neighbor’s, the yogic realization is always one of union between the ego-identity “self” (ego identity) and the authentic, divine “Self.” (Omnipresence and omniscience warrant a capital letter).

Yoga, then, is liberation of the self into the Self.

To those unfamiliar or uncomfortable with such existentialist talk, how about this: No matter the practice or definition, yoga is one’s personal journey to joy. It is the steps taken to realizing that joy is not “out there” or contingent upon others, but in our own hearts.

My first encounter with yoga was nowhere near a sticky mat. It was more than 10 years ago, nose-deep in translated Sanskrit scriptures for college classes I was taking on Buddhism, Tantric Yoga, and East Asian art. Indeed, that my first downward dog was years after I began studying yoga is atypical. Most folks I know bend first, then contemplate the bending. My academic-then-athletic approach, however, more resembles yoga’s historical evolution than had I done postures prior to flipping through the Yoga Sutra. While yoga is and has always been an active path, the physical postures (asanas), were not emphasized in early on. In fact, Hatha Yoga, which uses postures and breath to prepare the body for spiritual enlightenment, developed thousands of years after the Vedas. And because of its emphasis on the physical form in a tradition that aspired to move beyond such mundane constructs as flesh and bones, Hatha Yoga was initially deemed heretical.

Most scholars and writers on yoga delineate four periods of development: the Vedic period, characterized by the Vedas; the pre-classical period, marked by the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita; the classical period as defined by Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra; and the diverse post-classical period since. And while the texts and teachers of each period differ, each provides paths to and pontification on divine unification.

You may have heard mention of the Vedas, Upanishads or the more-lyrical Bhagavad Gita in a Hatha Yoga class. Some teachers reference them regularly, usually at the beginning of class or at the end as students relax in savasana (corpse pose). More often, though, and if texts are read from at all, one hears from the Yoga Sutra.

The Yoga Sutra was scribed roughly 2,000 years ago by the ancient Indian philosopher Patanjali and paints a dualistic picture of reality. Yoga, says the Sutra, is about relinquishing the ego and all material attachments so that God can enter. It is at this point that the small-“s” self dissolves into the big-“S” Self. In contrast, most other traditional yoga texts (like the Vedas and Upanishads) assume a non-dualistic reality where we are already, inherently divine. Having said this, however, Patanjali’s dualistic path leads to the same united transcendence as yoga’s non-dualistic varieties. In fact, writes Linda Sparrowe in the Yoga Journal’s online history (which, by the way, is a fabulous resource), most modern yogis who revere the Yoga Sutra do so through a non-dualistic lens.

Patanjali’s work is considered the first systematic approach to yoga. In his 195 sutras (translated as “threads,” meaning aphorisms or tenets), the sage puts forth an eight-limbed path to enlightenment. Woven together, writes yoga scholar Barbara Miller in her book Yoga, Discipline of Freedom, these threads create a design “for radically altering our conception of the world and the structure of thought through which we relate to it.” See sidebar for more on Patanjali’s eight limbs of yoga.

Yoga is a journey whose end is no end at all. It is right here, right now. The path of yoga is only as long as it takes practitioners to realize their inherent divine Self. Having said this, most of us also know the hardships of this course. Mainstream society is dualistic and linear, and charting a life of compassion, mindfulness and devotion isn’t always easy. Luckily, there are many paths, replete with many tools to help yogis on their way. And for most Americans — with yoga studios, yoga magazines, yoga clothes, heck, even yoga-for-your-mouth— those resources tend to be within the context of Hatha Yoga.

Next week’s column explores Hatha Yoga, a tradition that focuses on the body as a vehicle for enlightenment.

Check back each Friday for Yoga On & Off the Mat with Brooke Hewes. Bookmark www.newwest.net/yoga.

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