Illuminations on the perennial question: What is Yoga? Credit to my Teacher Swami Ambikananda for her salient remarks on this topic and for inspiring me to write about it.
By Sunil Kalsi | Yoga Teacher & Teacher Trainer | YogaWithSunilHertford.com
In this short discussion I will outline 3 aspects of yoga that set it aside from simply exercise in the hope of explaining ‘what is yoga?’ And why you might like to give it a go.
I always ask people who are new to my classes if they have done yoga before, quite frequently people reply ‘I’ve done Pilates.’ There are some similarities but the differences are greater between yoga and Pilates or any other exercise (weight training, cycling or Zumba etc.); yoga is a body-work but it is also something else.
To our modern sensibilities it can be tricky to grasp what the point of yoga would be if it wasn’t about stretching, balancing and getting stronger. I’ve even found that many Yoga teachers cannot explain the difference between Yoga and exercise. Common answers have been breathing, stretching, being compassionate/ kind. However these qualities are not unique to Yoga (thank goodness).
- Awareness
- A search for meaning and purpose
- Connection with self and environment
Exercise and sports have and end goal. Put the ball in the hoop, winning or achieving a new PB. Yoga is transcending the past, present and future and being free of time and space.
1) Awareness: Yoga as a means of self inquiry
According to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (an important text on yoga) there are 8 limbs of yoga, Pratyahara is one. Pratyahara refers to the withdrawal or mastery of the senses and it involves developing a heightened level of self-awareness.
In yoga philosophy, Pratyahara serves as a bridge between the external aspects of yoga, such as physical postures (asanas) and breath control (pranayama), and the internal aspects of yoga, such as concentration (dharana), meditation (dhyana), and ultimately, self-realisation (samadhi). It is considered a preparatory step for deeper states of meditation and introspection. For it to be yoga all of the above have to happen simultaneously.
Teaching Pratyahara in yoga involves guiding practitioners to turn their attention inward and develop a keen awareness of their senses, thoughts, and emotions without getting entangled in them. Literally, looking, listening and feeling inward. I find it anomalous that today yoga + therapy specialties are emerging and marketing themselves as “somatic yoga.” News flash: Yoga has always been somatic – but not just somatic. Yoga also includes interoception and exteroception.
According to Patanjali the postures of yoga are detailed as a preparation for meditation by gaining total mastery over the body, not by dominating it. Rather we find harmony and union with it. The postures of yoga are to be practiced as follows:
Sthira sukham asanam
Translating as, posture that is steady and comfortable. When the body is capable of holding a steady posture, with the spine upright; meditative inner exploration is possible.
Here are some key aspects of awareness and teaching Pratyahara in yoga:
- Meditation: Cultivate present-moment awareness. This involves paying attention to sensations, thoughts, and emotions as they arise without getting carried away by them.
- Breath awareness: Focusing on breathing can help practitioners to anchor their attention and bring their awareness inward. For example observing the natural flow of the breath.
- Sensory awareness: Observe the senses and their interactions with the external world without getting attached or being reactive to them. Stillness of body and awareness.
- Inner reflection: Reflect inward and observe thoughts and emotions. This could be described as witnessing or observer consciousness, where one becomes aware of the fluctuations of the mind without getting caught up in them.
Teaching Pratyahara requires skillful guidance from an experienced teacher who can create a supportive and safe environment for people to explore their inner world. It may start with simple practices and gradually progress to deeper levels of introspection and meditation.
Pratyahara is the first way that Yoga is different from exercise.
2) The search for meaning and purpose: The second way that yoga is different from exercise…
… Is that yoga is a means of self study. The postures of yoga bring up reaction, reveal habitual patterns of thought and so much more. In yoga we use the clarity that a single pointedness of mind brings to better understand ourselves. If that means we then change or address something then great: but that is not the point. The light of our awareness reveals all and so nothing more is needed.
Incidentally: This is also the reason why there is no such thing as advanced / intermediate yoga. Yoga is full, whole and complete. You cannot have advanced yoga, as you are either in yoga or not, there is no advanced version of Samadhi. Yoga advertised as such is at best; modern yoga(sigh), and at worst displays a weak understanding yoga. If you are a yoga teacher and want to study this then look into The Traditional Yoga Association Foundation Course.
Back to yoga & exercise
When exercising we are repeating movements for an end goal like getting a muscle to grow bigger, having an elevated heart rate, or getting a ball into a net. In yoga there is no end goal, everything is entering and leaving our field of awareness. Whilst this is happening we are using the asana (postures) to look and enquire.
Where has this confusion come from? What is the the root of this difference?
One reason might be… over the last 60 years of yoga in the UK many dance teachers pivoted to yoga when they discovered the many wonderful health benefits of yoga. In dance constant correction, attention to alignment for purposes of presentation and performance is common and necessary. The dancers are expected to perform their roles/character with precision. Yoga is closer to the raw, uncut, primacy of experience that is life itself – in yoga we are not performing. It’s great that dancers take so long to ‘get it right’ but yoga has a different view.
Chapter 1 Verse 14 & 15
“Practice becomes firm and grounded only when it has been done over a long period of time with care and attention.
Through such practice the mind loses all yearning for that which is seen and heard and turns inward ~ such mastery may be called dispassion”
Pantanjali Yoga Sutras: Translation Swami Ambikananda
In all body-work there is a consideration of safe movement, after all we are at a yoga class to benefit ourselves and not to damage our bodies. Therefore attention must be given to alignment. For information about learning that see Yoga Foundation Course details.
However, as a teacher every time I go hands-on or even address a student specifically I know that I am drawing their attention. A wondering mind will benefit from that – but someone who is already engaged in the process of seeking their homeostasis will find such an intervention distracting.
So, I thank the dancers for their precision but I believe that yoga classes that only work on technical elements week after week are limited and closer to exercise than yoga.
Yoga is not a moment to find perfection of alignment – the best you’ve ever found – it is a moment to celebrate our connection as a group and also with spirit. Discovering meaning and purpose in the here and now. Developing inner mastery so that you are successful at your work, live a comfortable life in balance with nature, support your community, find peace.
3) Connection with self and other: What brings us to yoga isn’t always what keeps us there
There’s nothing wrong in finding yoga because of chronic backache, a broken heart or depression. There’s a growing body of research supporting the view that yoga can be an effective means for addressing these challenges. You just have to look at the amalgamation of yoga into psychotherapy and physiotherapy, even if yoga isn’t given the credit it should; lifelong students and those who truly understand yoga can spot it.
What brings us back to the mat, to a class or a retreat is the inner knowing that there is something more, intangible and ephemeral but there nonetheless. Community and endorphin release aside, experiencing whole body aliveness, the flow of vitality and the changing sensations when our awareness is sharpened is an engagement with life beyond repetitious thought and imagination. The knowledge that something I have been seeking my whole life is closer now.
Then it is possible to experience connection with our environment and this opens us up to the interconnectedness of all of life.
From interoception and exteroception comes what Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls ‘flow’ out of that emerges intuition. That silent voice speaks to us guiding us, giving us insight. Yogis calls it the teacher within. So you can be in yoga whilst doing sports but you cannot be doing sports and be in yoga.
Closing remarks
In some ways this could be an exploration into the differences between modern times and antiquity. The contemporary mindset is tethered to career advancement, achievement and incessant growth, (and look at what that has done to politics, education, justice, healthcare, the environment). The contemporary mind has been coached from childhood into valuing specific and measurable outcomes whereas the classical Vedic mindset challenges the aspirant to review their actions in relation to how integrated they are with nature and natural laws.
So someone looking at yoga with an exercise mindset would want to see improvement in their overall fitness. Over time they would seek greater complexity and physical challenge as a sign of their advancement in yoga. They have turned yoga into exercise. To a yogi, who has been seeking yoga in all its forms, s/he may notice that they are more flexible or better at responding to stressful situations but these are not the signs of progress.
The self beyond name and form – this is the ultimate goal of yoga. When we understand this, then freedom ensues, we disentangle ourselves from that which is unwholesome and no exercise can give you that.
If yoga can’t give me ‘the gains’ then what’s the point?
Discovering your true potential as a human – gaining the capacity to feel and live through all that life brings you and still keep an open heart, the ability to love and be creative.