Everyone has an idea of what yoga means and these days it’s hard to find anyone who has not tried at least one yoga class. You might have done some yoga without being aware of it. If you’ve ever practiced mindfulness, you’ve done yoga. If you’ve taken a deep breath to calm down, you’ve done yoga. Have you tried Pilates, Feldenkrais, mindfulness based stress reduction, meditation, or visualization? All these practices can trace their roots back to yoga.
But what, exactly, is yoga?
While yoga can be defined in many ways, Patanjali is the first teacher to systematically define it. His teachings were transcribed about 2000 years ago in the Yoga Sutras, a series of 196 aphorisms about yoga. The Sutras are still used today as a seminal text for yoga teachers around the world.
Patanjali’s definition of yoga might surprise you…
“Yoga is the ability to focus the mind on one object without distraction.” (sutra 1.2)
But, wait. Why do all these yoga classes focus on downward dog, tree pose, and sun salutations? The physical postures of yoga, or āsana, comprise only one of eight limbs of yoga. They are a means to an end. Yoga postures prepare the body to sit in meditation, which in turn helps you clear away distractions and focus your mind. Āsana are particularly relevant for younger yogis who have a lot of physical energy to burn.
Vinyasa, ashtanga, Iyengar, kundalini, flow, hot yoga, yin yoga, restorative yoga, and all the various types of popular yoga classes today are built around āsana. I believe yoga has come to mean āsana because our society is more comfortable with the physical, material world, and our culture is youth-oriented.
The mind—a focused mind, in particular—is less tangible and, frankly, a lot harder to achieve than a downward dog. But how illuminating it is to know that as our bodies age, and even on our deathbed, we can continue to advance our yoga practice. So what if we can no longer do a downward dog? Yoga, in the way that Patanjali defines it, is really about helping our muddled minds become clear.