The Essence of Yoga

This post discusses the essence of Yoga. Information here will help you (as a beginner to Yoga) to understand what Yoga really is in its essence.

Basically, the science and philosophy behind Yoga says that you are just a small fragment of really enourmous universe that we live in. When you as a human being learn to live in a communion with the previously mentioned enormousness, you are able to achieve and live in union with that something that is much bigger than you.

There is a special term for the previously mentioned achievement or living in union: To attach yourself or tap into something bigger (universe). This tapping or attachment enables you to walk the true path of happiness.

So, whenever you are in the union with the universe or whenever you live in a communion with the universe, you are basically flowing along with the force, which enables you to discover the real truth.

And when you are able to discover the real truth, you come close to realization. But realization is only attained after your words, thoughts and deeds are based on previously discovered truth.

Perhaps the best thing to do is to conclude with the sayings of Tim Miller. He says that people go to Yoga lessons and studios to learn and benefit from Yoga, but that is not the essence. The essence begins when you actually leave the lesson or studio. In Tim's words: "it’s all about being awake and being mindful of your actions".

Until next time: Have fun and see you around.

Read what Yoga is not

If you read my previous blog posts, then you know how Yoga can be and in fact is easily misinterpreted in today's world. This is mostly due to common stereotypes about Yoga that are alive out there.

Besides stereotypes, Yoga can sometimes be confused with other things and activities as well. Because of that, I think it is appropriate to make a blog post about What Yoga isn't too.

This way I can explicitly tell you what Yoga is not, which will hopefully help you as a beginner to further understand the Yoga.

Yoga scholars like Feuerstein and Bodian also helped me understand Yoga by telling me what Yoga is not. So here are a couple of things that Yoga is not:

• Yoga is not calisthenic exercise, where you make headstands, lotus postures or some other pretzel like poses. It is true though that Yoga has many postures (Hatha Yoga is the most known for that), but they are there only to make you connect yourself with your inner feelings.


• Yoga is not a religion or a system of meditation. While meditation certainly is part of the Yoga, but it is only the part of the process of bringing ourselves into the realm of the spiritual. Why Yoga is not a religion has already been explained in my previous blog posts, so you might want to read those too (in case you have not done that already).

As you can see, there are many things that Yoga is not. It is easy to confuse Yoga with any of the things mentioned above, so hopefully this post helped you with the overall understanding of what Yoga is and what it is not.