Just last week, I had the joy of joining a new yoga class. Not a very classical yoga class (the B.K.S. Iyengar version), but a modified class, simplistic in its approach.
With yoga being the new or even old fad, it seems that every now and then springs a modified yoga practice!
With yoga, creative people seem to have started creating yoga flavours akin to ice cream, me thinks. Move over, Baskin-Robbins, the new varieties are already out. Hot yoga, cold yoga (the sadhus did that in the Himalayas many eons ago), power yoga, speed yoga, maybe even authentic yoga, and whatever else can be thought of.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I asked a woman what she thought yoga was. And the reply: "It’s a sport." Now, now, creating flavours of yoga may not sound offensive to the yogic (just as the plain vanilla may not mind adding on some colours or exotic tastes). However, changing the essence of yoga from what it is to a sport—well, that’s near blasphemic, perhaps.
Of course, over the many years that I have been doing yoga, it has always been with the understanding that the postures are only a part of the entirety of it. Nonetheless, I try and put forward some well-rounded explanations which should make it simple to grasp.
In essence, what does yoga mean? Yoga is nothing but a union—a tool to reveal the Self. It derives from Sanskrit, from an ancient Hindu philosophy.
The Sanskrit root "yuj" means to “yoke,” “bind,” or “join together.” It also indicates “union” or “oneness.” At the deepest spiritual level, yoga allows us to reveal the Self, the true essence of our being. Ultimately, it is the means by which we realize that there is no separation between anyone or anything. Everything is one. According to the Yoga Shikha Upanishad: “Verily, there is no virtue greater than yoga, no good greater than yoga, and no subtlety greater than yoga. There is nothing that is greater than yoga.”
And yet, the real essence of yoga is about transcending all limitations. Yoga is an empirical science and philosophy aimed at understanding life’s most important questions.
Of course, there are many branches—all aimed at uniting the self with the oneness of the universe (which Hinduism also explains is God)—meaning that Karma yoga (doing good karma), Bhakti yoga (devotion), Jnana yoga (pursuit of knowledge), and Hatha yoga (physical yoga), all of these are merely paths to the goal of uniting the self with the oneness, or the infinite energy of the universe.
So, to all the wannabe yoga practitioners—a little tip! With all that profound knowledge that is the foundation of this deep practice, it seems a shame to classify it merely as a “sport.” Akin to eating a dehydrated mango or fruit—you are barely tasting the puckered flesh, not enjoying its delectable scent, the look, or the flavour at all.
The same for yoga—delve deep, and relish the wholesomeness that you will experience, a new world for the mind, body and soul altogether!
Regards,
The AmblingIndian- The New Common Woman of India.
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