What is Yoga?

There is no dearth of texts which define or explain what yoga is. Yoga has been described as the art and science of living a healthy life. Ancient texts on yoga philosophy mention it as a path to ultimate enlightenment, a state where the individual consciousness unifies with the universal consciousness and becomes free from the cycle of life and death, free from all the pain and suffering. That is the ultimate goal of yoga. “Yuj” which means union is the sanskrit root of the word Yoga and symbolises the union of mind and body, the jiva-atma with the param-atma. With all this said, lets understand yoga in the contemporary times.

While obtaining the penultimate goal of yoga may seem like far fetched idea, there is a lot to gain along the journey. When we understand the purpose and effects, and start bringing yoga into our lives, we come across many experiences. These are all subjective. You would really have to live and experience yoga to truly understand it.

With its holistic approach, it allows you to invest in yourself. Your body, your thoughts, your actions, all can be refined through its practice. Practice here doesn’t just refer to physical practice, or asanas or pranayama which of course, make the body healthier, stronger and energise it as well as the mind, but also includes practices of self introspection, of devotion to yourself or to the universe. This is what allows us to connect and see deep within ourselves , our truest emotions, sort the chaos inside us, and find calmness. When we are in connect with ourself, we understand everything around us better, and when we are able to make sense of the world, we are able to grow into more resilient beings. Yoga teaches us love, compassion, it gives us more will and power. And these are the learnings which matter, which have the power to transform us into better versions of ourselves.

I, for one feel that I truly found yoga at a time when I needed myself and it helped me with understanding myself, listening to myself and finding my purpose. This had been the biggest question in my mind, and even though I feel, it hasn’t completely been answered, I feel like I am in the right direction. And yoga has helped me choosing that path, it's path.