What is Yoga?
As of 2022, it is estimated that 300 million people around the world practice Yoga in some form, and it's a $80 billion industry. In America alone people spend $16 billion per year on Yoga classes and equipments. Today, the world is looking at Yoga to promote physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being; however often restricting the understanding and practice of Yoga to Yoga-Asana (postures).
Thinking of Yoga to be Yoga Asana is equivalent to thinking of New York as America. Sure, lots of people live there and it's a highly filmed city, appearing in many movies and sitcoms but again it's a part, not the whole country. Similarly Asanas are performed by many people and due to it's tangible nature it often gets filmed, photographed and showcased as Yoga, but it's just one aspect not the complete or whole definition of Yoga.
We will understand Yoga through Maharishi Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.
योगः चित्त वृत्ति निरोधः
Yoga Chitta Vritti Nirodha
Meaning: Yoga is to restrain the modulations or fluctuations of the mind.
Patanjali described mind to have the following 5 modulations & yoga is to restrain the mind from these states:
1) Pramaana: Proof. Mind is engaged in wanting proof. The proof can be of 3 types. a) Pratyaksha: which means direct or obvious. Like, if you see Eiffel tower it is obvious to prove you're in Paris. b) Anumaan: which can be deduced by some logic. If you're driving at 60mph and it took you 1 hour to reach, the journey must have been 60 miles. This can be deduced. c) Aagamana: the scriptures. Or in modern times, we can say trusted sources. If Harvard research paper says "Yoga is vital in improving your overall well-being" then it is an accepted proof.
2) Viparyaya: Wrong or incorrect understanding. Thinking of things the way they are not. We can think or even be convinced through logic that someone is being rude or arrogant towards us but it could be a result of our own insecurity or inferiority complex, the other person is just fine. There can be many examples of this, but it basically means projecting our own views and ideas on to things and having an incorrect understanding of what is.
3) Vikalpa: Hallucination or dreaming. Thinking of what could be, or what could have been. Having baseless thoughts or fears. One can spiral into thinking what if I were to die tomorrow, this fear stems out of nowhere and grips the mind. Another example could be fantasizing what if they won a billion dollar lottery, how life would be and what'd they do. What would I say if I met a long lost friend walking down the street. What if I was born a dog. What if I was a foot taller than I'm. The list of things mind can hallucinate with goes on.
4) Nidra: Sleeping. When mind is in none of the above states it is sleeping.
5) Smriti: Memory. Last modulation of the mind is to dwell in memory. We may go through pleasant, unpleasant or neutral experiences and the mind has a tendency to revisit those experiences.
When we are able to restrain the mind from the above modulations then yoga happens and we can abide in the self / seer.
तदा द्रष्टुः स्वरूपे अवस्थानम्
tada druste swarupe avasthanaam
Meaning: Then there is abiding in the seer's own form.
We often limit our experience of being to our mind; and tend to think of the world and the way we perceive things as solid, as permanent. But the world is very fluid, full of possibilities and probabilities. When our mind limits and fixes it's ideas & views about people, places, things, events and quantifies it as definite it gets stuck in the 5 modulations. Seeking for proof, having a wrong understanding of what is, hallucinating, sleeping or dwelling in the memory. This is not Yoga! So how do we get over this tendencies of the mind, how does Yoga happen?
Patanjali says:
अभ्यासवैराग्याभ्यां तन्निरोध:
abhyasa vairagyaabhyaam tan nirodh
Meaning: Yoga happens through practice and detachment.
The practice that brings you to the present moment & recognizes the fullness, freshness & freedom that lies in it, is Abhyaasa. This moment, again and again and again is Abhyaasa.
And detachment is a conscious, subtle art of not giving a damn; of the pleasant or the unpleasant. Seeing a rich creamy chocolate cake and being able to turn away and say well I don't care for it today! Or going through a heartbreak and bearing a witness conscious and detaching yourself from the experience and not associating with it. This is very subtle and not be confused with ignorance or unacceptance. Detachment is that armor which does not let opinions, things, people, places or events from having a grip over us.
We still haven't looked into how to practice Yoga holistically, the way it was originally intended by Patanjali. We'll study this in the next article.
Extra reading about the history & origin:
Yoga is known to have existed since the dawn of the civilization and was practiced even before the Pre-Vedic times. This period had a secretive nature to it's teachings and was orally passed on leaving no documentation. The earliest mention of the practice is in the oldest surviving literature Rig Veda. Later Maharishi Patanjali structured and collated the existing practice of Yoga, it's meaning and the related knowledge. In the modern era, Ramakrishan Paramhansa, Paramhansa Yogananda, Swami Vivekanand, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar, and many others have whole heartedly contributed to the development of Yoga and played a key role in gifting the entire world with the Yoga practices and it's benefits.
Thankful:
I'm eternally grateful to my spiritual teacher, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar and his teachings and commentary on Maharishi Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.