Yoga means complete evenness of mind.
-
Krishna
Again and again we come back to
this question: what is yoga? Maybe more
pertinently, is our modern version of yoga really yoga at all? The tradition of yoga as it comes to us from
India is deeply spiritual. It is about
discovering our true nature – beyond body and beyond the formulations of our
mind. It is about revealing our
essential being underneath the layers of illusion, confusion and delusion.
Unfortunately our modern Western
versions of yoga have little to do with this.
They seem to be almost completely focused on the body with perhaps some
lip service to a higher ideal. It is
yoga designed to appeal to the superficial, consumer mentality. “Never mind your inner, immortal soul. Let’s work on toning those glutes.” This is unfortunate because yoga is a means
to our spiritual evolution. When it is
misinterpreted, commercially packaged and commodified, it becomes something
more anti-yoga.
Dereck Beres has written an
interesting and valuable post entitled “The Schizophrenic Nature of Modern Yoga.” (https://medium.com/@derekberes/the
-schizophrenic-nature -of-modern-yoga- 8fe1d14f9b04) It is an insightful perspective on the yoga
industry that has arisen in our culture.
It is an industry that focuses on profits and seeks to credential
teachers through an expensive process that is essentially meaningless. As Beres puts it, “Consider a few aspects of
the 200-hour training program, of which there is extremely little oversight
from the organization itself. Basically, you mail in your curriculum, pay your
fee, they take your money and send you a logo. To stay registered, you keep
paying an annual fee.”
Then you open your studio, teach
physical postures and call this yoga. It
is a travesty. In truth it is hard to
define exactly what yoga is. There are a
variety of approaches, however the methods all lead to one supreme goal:
Self-Realization. Certainly exercise is
good for you but exercise is not yoga.
There has to be a deeper teaching, a reorientation of mind and a
pointing to the awareness that underlies all experience.
Although I was vaguely aware of
“postural yoga” in my younger years, I was mainly motivated by reading the
Bhagavad Gita, an exposition of yoga by Lord Krishna. The “Gita” does not even mention postures
(except in reference to sitting for meditation.) Instead Krishna focuses on meditation,
selfless service and devotion. This is
the true orientation of yoga: unifying the individual with the universal
spirit. This seemingly simple formula is
a means of transformation and transcendent bliss. Another book that impressed me deeply was
Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda. Anyone has read it knows that it is not full
of stories about the asanas he perfected.
Hatha yoga is the branch of yoga
that deals with asanas, or postures. It
also includes pranayama which is a means of working with the life-force or
prana through the breath. These
practices offer wonderful health benefits both physically and
psychologically. Within the yoga
tradition they are meant as preliminary practices for meditation. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, a classic treatise on
Hatha yoga states that it is offered “. . . solely and exclusively for the
attainment of Raja yoga.” Raja yoga is
the path of meditation.
The
practice of Hatha yoga is meant to reduce distractions such as pain and
illness, restlessness, lethargy, etc. that get in the way of sitting quietly
and focusing inwardly. The physical
benefits such as health, beauty, youthful vitality, etc. are considered
“side-effects” albeit very positive ones.
There are other important paths of yoga, while Hatha yoga is a
preliminary to Raja yoga, there is also Bhakti Yoga – the path of devotion,
Jnana yoga – the path of wisdom, Karma yoga – the path of selfless
service.
There are
also various types of yoga practice which incorporate aspects of these
paths. Kundalini Kriya Yoga for example
combines elements of Hatha and Raja yoga as means of awakening the Chakras
(centers of psychic energy within the body), Nadis (energy channels) and
Kundalini (the dormant energy potential which leads to spiritual
awakening.) A true yogic lifestyle
incorporates aspects of all paths to form Poorna, or complete yoga.
Interestingly
Beres dismisses the importance of the Chakras as part of yoga teacher training.
Actually the understanding of the elements of the energy body, i.e. chakras and
nadis is essential to yoga. The energy (prana)
body underlies the physical and imbalances in it contribute to both physical
and psychological diseases. Yoga helps
us to align the physical, energetic, mental and spiritual aspects of our
beings. It is a science of integration
and wholeness.
If yoga
has become schizophrenic in our modern culture it is because it has become
disconnected from its roots. It has been
misinterpreted and commodified for modern consumption. If people are coming to yoga classes
primarily for physical exercise they don’t really want yoga. They want Pilates, or Zumba or something
else. If we are going to call it yoga it
needs to have to depth to it and if we are students of yoga we have to look
beyond the physical form and be willing to look within ourselves. If not we shouldn’t be calling our practice “yoga.”
