What the Heck is Yoga, Really?

Article by Paulette Bodeman

Yoga is a huge and ever evolving subject. Trying to define yoga and distill it down to one or two sentences is like trying to define one’s soul. Yoga, like a diamond is multi-faceted and spectacular. Plus, with the different schools of philosophical thought and the modern-day styles of hatha yoga, it makes it even more difficult to give it a pat answer.

The most commonly heard definition of the Sanskrit word yoga is union, union of the mind, body and spirit. Yoga though is layered. It’s not a one size fits all kind of thing. Though it’s more comfortable for our psyche to try and put a box around it.

While it’s accurate to say that yoga has shapeshifted over thousands of years we need to return to the beginning of when and how this whole phenomenon began to understand what yoga really is. It began when our collective ancient ancestors existed and evolved on the sub-continent of India. These people were tribal nomads that moved from place to place. They camped for a time until torrential rains, monsoons and inclement weather forced them to pack up what few possessions they owned and walk on. They were hunter/gatherers, concerned for their daily needs. Water, food, and procreation. In some ways we haven’t changed much from that survival desire.

They migrated under the blue sky of day and the dark depths of star lit nights. These ancient people lived under the constant threat of their environment and sought primitive answers to the question of their existence as they traversed the earth under their feet and the spaciousness overhead. We humans also have a lot in common with our animal relations such as: eating, sleeping, mating and defending ourselves. Mankind, like animals, has access to its instinctual nature. Yet, we’re the only species that has the capability to ask reflective questions about who we are? What our purpose of existence is? Why we’re here?

I use the word mankind because it comes from the Sanskrit word, manusha. It’s not referring to the male gender. What mankind means, in this reference, is that humans have “a mind of their own.” That’s what differentiates us and what influences our awakening to know that we’re more than our bodies.

You can think of yoga then as an evolutionary process that has followed the evolution of mankind. For instance, as proto-Europeans migrated into India from the steppes of Russia and the Ukraine, they brought with them a primitive language, agriculture and technology. And just like any incoming group of people from another land, they mated and shared cultures with the primitive Indian nomads of that time period. And as a burgeoning blend of peoples they continued to ask self-reflective questions. As the culture progressed and expanded, they sought to answer these deeper questions. That is the true beginning of what we call yoga.

Now what’s commonly thought of as yoga is actually hatha yoga or asana. That however is only one petal on the flower. “Ha” means sun and “tha” means moon. Hatha is referring to the union of the sun or masculine energy and moon or feminine energy. It’s also referring to the creative life force that runs through our bodies like a caduceus. Just think about its image for a moment. And visualize these crisscrossing energetic channels of power forces that rise upward in your body. For a multitude of reasons yoga is a viable alternative healing modality. Why? Because of what's actually happening in the brain, the nervous system, the stress response, the organs and the mind, emotions and spirit.

So, while yoga as I’ve defined it is thousands of years old, Hatha yoga, the physical practice, is relatively a modern phenomenon. While there are ancient cave drawings that can be considered or look like yoga poses, they aren’t what we see or practice in a yoga studio or gym today. The yoga as we know it is quite different than the ancient drawings.

Asana actually means seat. The seat of meditation. However, asana as we know it today was only created a little over 100 years ago. When India was still ruled by the British, an Indian sage, Krishnamacharya, witnessed a general malaise of the people in his country. Krishnamacharya observing the British army as they trained in wrestling, gymnastics, and calisthenics had the brilliant idea to develop what is now considered hatha yoga. Then of course, eventually it arrived in the west. And here we are today!

Yoga then includes the physical poses, mindful awareness of the breath and our senses, concentration, contemplation, the study of the self and the practice of meditation.

Yoga is much like an archeological dig, searching for long buried skeletons. And diamond treasures. You, of course, are the archeologist. While your mind, body, spirit, are the sacred cordoned off site. Yoga brings you home to yourself, and begins to answer the questions our ancestors asked, who am I? Why am I here? What’s my purpose?

Yoga also reveals your deep unconscious negative patterns as well as your intrinsic strengths and gifts. Yoga can indeed shift your thinking and help heal your body, mind, spirit. And set you on the path of what I call, legacy living.

“There is a true biological effect,” espouses Denninger, director of research at the Benson for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, one of Harvard Medical School’s teaching hospitals. “The kinds of things that happen when you meditate do have effects throughout the body, not just in the brain.”

The physical postures, the mindful connection to the breath, the psychology, and the philosophy of the mind, body, spirit connection is a never-ending process. Yoga is the ultimate map quest in that it provides you with guidelines for you to take responsibility and co-participate in your healing, be it physical, emotional or spiritual. Whether you roll out a yoga mat or not, you are a yogi if you choose to live with more conscious awareness. When you begin to pay attention to your thoughts, your beliefs, your speech and your actions you can honestly say you are a yogi on the path of legacy living.

Paulette Bodeman - [email protected], E-RYT 500 Anusara Certified Teacher Trainer, Integrative Life Coach, Amazon Best Selling Author