What is yoga?

If only I had a £1 for every time I have been asked this question!

Put that question into your favourite search engine and you will open a real can of worms.

You will discover phrases such as

"Yoga is a meditative process of self-discovery and liberation. It is a diverse collection of practices that aims to control the mind, recognize a detached witness consciousness, and free oneself from the cycle of birth and death".

yogabasics.com

YES it's that

"Yoga is an ancient and complex practice, rooted in Indian philosophy. It began as a spiritual practice but has become popular as a way of promoting physical and mental well-being."

nccih.nih.gov

and YES it's that

"Yoga (union) implies duality (as in joining of two things or principles); the result of yoga is the nondual state ... as the union of the lower self and higher Self. The nondual state is characterized by the absence of individuality; it can be described as eternal peace, pure love, Self-realization, or liberation."

Wikipedia

and that

Let's look at some of the phrases often used to describe yoga, then I will explain the different branches of yoga, styles of yoga and schools of yoga.

Yoga means union

It does indeed mean union, the root of the word yoga is from the Sanskrit 'yuj'.

Yuj means to yoke, to harness, to team together. In the context of yoga as it is known in the west, this union has different levels.

Firstly, we are uniting our mind and consciousness with our physical body - developing our awareness of our own body and mind.

From this, we then develop awareness of our soul and then practice techniques to help us unite our individual soul consciousness with the universal cosmic consciousness, often referred to as God.

This is not so much us developing into a union but more a remembering where we come from. Gaining an awareness of our connection to everything and the underlying unity of all things - quite something to get our human minds around!

Stick with me, in weeks to come we will talk more about soul, consciousness, self-realization, awareness and so much more.

For now, take what resonates, leave the rest on the shelf to come back to later and ask any questions in the comments - start a discussion and let other souls converse with you.

Yoga is an ancient practice

Yoga is an ancient and complex practice, rooted in Indian philosophy.

Seals have been discovered that show human figures in various yoga postures in the Indus Valley. These seals date back more than 5,000 years.

There have also been findings in Egypt - check out Kemetic yoga, founded on claims that yoga in Egypt predates that of India. Hieroglyphics on the walls of the pyramids are said to depict Pharaohs in yoga poses.

Who knows, and let's face it we could discuss/argue forever, and it wouldn't take us any closer to our own union of soul and Spirit.

So, let's leave the origins wrangling to others and save our energy for our spiritual journey.

Yoga is religion, specifically Hinduism

hmm, here is another "if I had a £1 for every time".

Yoga is not a religion; it is not Hinduism. However, the more you dive into it, the more you will find Hindu influences. Depending on which branch and school of yoga you follow there will possibly be some strong Hindu influences, but yoga is not the Hindu religion. It is in fact a science....

Yoga is a science?

Yes, most definitely. It is the most ancient science and has links with Ayurveda the most ancient science.

BUT it is not Ayurveda.

Yoga postures (asanas) and breathing techniques (pranayama) are used in Ayurveda alongside other things such as dietary considerations and massage.

We work (experiment?) with the physical body through postures and breathing. We learn what strengthens, what relaxes and releases the muscles and joints.

This is known as hatha yoga - more on that later.

When we have relaxed and released the physical body, we can then sit for periods of meditation and explore (experiment?) the mind.

This comes under the banner of Raja Yoga.

Ah, so far I have mentioned Hatha and Raja, there is also Karma yoga, Bhakti yoga, Jnana yoga, Mantra yoga and then there are the schools of yoga such as Iyengar, Bikram, Viniyoga. I will explain each more fully in time.

BUT and this is a BIG BUT

I will not be discussing Gin yoga, Goat yoga, Puppy yoga or any other current marketing ploy. Including the latest rebranding of Somatic Yoga.

If they get people onto a mat and interested in learning more, then there is some benefit to these trends, BUT they are gimmicks and marketing ploys of the modern world.

I am not going to spend time and energy discussing how alcohol lowers consciousness when yoga is aimed at raising consciousness. Puppies and goats create distraction rather than peace and stillness.

If gin, goats, puppies are on your mat then I think it is safe to say that this conversation is not for you today.

The aim of all the yoga paths is to lead us to Self-Realization and union with God - at least that is how all the paths originated before humans started running off down tracks chasing goats!

But hey, let's not stand at the bottom of the mountain arguing over which path up is the easiest/fastest/best/most efficient.

We all find our own path and the walk that suits our current incarnation (more on that when we get to the blog on Karma).

For now, let's be thankful the ancient Rishis devised many routes with equal opportunity for us that allows for varying backgrounds and different intellects.

You may prefer one path or like me, you may find different paths helpful at different times in your life.

In coming blogs, I may look at each pathway a little more, for now here is a brief overview of the main pathways of yoga.

Hatha Yoga

Probably the most commonly known, and the one that most people are actually referring to when they say they do yoga.

Any practice that involves working with the physical body and the breath is a form of hatha yoga.

Within hatha yoga there are many branches and individual schools of yoga that all have their own way of doing things.

Maybe if time and energy allows, I will write a blog detailing each school and their individual traditions more, but really all you need do is search the internet and you will find plenty of articles already explained Iyengar, Bikram, Yin, Dru, and so on.

Hatha yoga involves systematic positioning and control of body and mind.

The practices are designed to help bring balance and harmony to our body and open our mind to our unlimited spiritual potential.

Mantra yoga

Often referred to as the yoga of sound, although mantras may be chanted aloud, they can be used internally with no outward sound at all.

We will definitely be looking at mantra more, especially when I share Paramhansa Yogananda's teachings on affirmations.

Bhakti Yoga

The yoga of devotional practice. I always have an image of the Hare Krishnas you meet on the high street with this one. Spreading love, peace and devotion to Guru and God.

More on Gurus in a separate blog - gee I am creating a long list of more to come!

Jnana Yoga

The yoga of union by knowledge, cognition, wisdom, and intellect.

For me, this one sits alongside many of the other paths - kind of like the map. It can give us the knowledge and information for the direction to go, but we must actually have the experience of the walk and take the steps.

Karma Yoga

The yoga of union by service to humanity, self-sacrifice, selfless action. Awareness and wisdom in action as we live in the world.

Karma is the law of cause and effect and will have a blog all of its own.

It is a natural law, one that man, no matter how hard he tries, or how deluded he is otherwise, is unable to change.

All action has an effect. All karma must play out and all karma is fair.

Yeah - took me a few years to wrap my head around this one, but when I did, it was surprising how much clicked into place in my head.

If you cannot wait for me to get around to sharing a blog on karma, then I thoroughly recommend having a read of chapters 8, 9 and 10 of this book.

Prefer to listen/watch?

Asha has some great book studies on her website.

In this video she discusses the chapter on karma in Swami's book

So, karma, the yoga of action. You will read and hear a lot about karma and reincarnation if you stay in this Soul Conversation.

This lesson was the one that really shifted everything for me, the one that gives me so much peace in my everyday life, no matter what is going on around me or whatever trials and tribulations I am going through.

Raja Yoga

This one is called the Royal yoga - due to the Sanskrit translation of Raja.

For now, I am going to refer to it as the yoga of union by mental control.

This is the banner that meditation practices come under but it is so much more than just meditation, and when we start to discuss meditation we open up a whole other conversation.

In a nutshell, yoga is an ancient science, with many paths, styles, schools, traditions and techniques.

All with the ultimate aim of helping us unite our soul with Spirit and help us remember where we came from - whatever name/title/label you want to give that ultimate source of all creation.

Over the years I have worked with Iyengar teachers, mantra teachers, Viniyoga teachers, yin teachers, kundalini teachers and so much more.

My classes reflect all these different styles and traditions in varying levels that change as I change.

"What kind of yoga do you teach?"

My answer to this question is always, I teach Linda yoga.

I share whatever I have learnt and am currently practising myself and then I help others find their yoga, their own unique path home.

If you are curious and not sure what yoga you have been doing, post in the comments and let's see if we can trace the lineage of your practice.

"Yoga is a meditative process of self-discovery and liberation. It is a diverse collection of practices that aims to control the mind, recognize a detached witness consciousness, and free oneself from the cycle of birth and death".

yogabasics.com

Yes, yoga is meditation - see separate blog for what is meditation.

It is about self-discovery, discovering our true self.

It is most definitely a diverse collection of practices - this is where all the different branches and schools come in.

Different ways of practising the postures and breaths, different techniques of meditation.

All aimed at controlling the mind.

NO, not like that.

This is not some kind of outer mind control or hypnosis.

It is learning your own mind, remembering who you are without the conditioning of the outer world and the stimulation of your senses.

Becoming that detached witness.

What is the cycle of birth and death we are freeing ourself from?

Ah, reincarnation and Karma - that is going to get a blog and a conversation all of it's own in coming weeks.

A spiritual practice that has become popular as a way of promoting physical and mental well-being.

Yes, it is a spiritual practice but in some places the spirituality has been removed and it has become a physical class with the emphasis on spiritual reunion replaced by focusing on the physical and mental benefits.

Again, if it gets humans to engage, then there is benefit here. I personally had no spiritual inclination when I began. I was 19 years old, I just wanted to sleep better and not have to take anti-depressants. Talk of God, Spirit, Consciousness just closed my ears.

There are many physical benefits to practising any combination of the postures, breaths, or meditations.

In this blog I will share those benefits but the overall aim of Soul Conversations is to walk our souls back to God - see what or who is God blog.

Yoga can

Promote physical and mental well being

Help you sleep better

Reduce aches and pains

Calm anxiety

Improve concentration

The list is endless, if you have yet to try it - what is stopping you?

Union of the lower self and higher Self

Now this is the biggie, the whole reason yoga exists.

In fact it is the reason we exist.

To unite our individual (lower self) consciousness with our Spirit (higher Self).

The aim of it all is to get eternal peace, pure love, Self-realization, or liberation.

It has taken me over 30 years of practice and study to find the language to share this with others, will you join me in the conversation?