What is Yoga?

A friend asked me to write a simple essay on "what is yoga?", 'simple' being the keyword. The following is an attempt:

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Today Yoga has come to mean many different things to many people.  It is a vast ocean that contains a plethora of different schools and styles of teaching.  The good news is that each of them seems to work and deliver results, for those who patronise them.  It is probable that there is so much tamas (lethargy) pervading all aspects of human life in these times - our lifestyles, the food that we consume, occupations, our recreation, that, when the body starts to move even a little bit, and we stretch hitherto unfelt muscles, and give ourselves that bit of quiet time and space, then no matter what Yoga we choose to call it, our bodies and minds seem to say “thank you” and sink into it.  

However, what is Yoga really?  Is Yoga only a set of aasanas and praanayaama (PY) breathing techniques to improve health?  Is one school of Yoga teaching a different Yoga from the other?  Is Yoga primarily to improve physical health, and thereby better the quality of life?

Let’s park these general questions for a bit and come to you and me.  What is Yoga to you?  What are your aspirations in life?  Do you want to be happy?  What does being successful mean to you?  Are you pursuing a passion with everything in you?  What is your purpose?  Do you feel that you need a purpose?  Are you in search of one?

Let me tell you a story.

The Breath Shoots the Arrow

Archery is a very ancient sport.  In Japan it is still practiced as an art very much in the same way as it was done many years ago.  The most important practice in this art is breathing.  One holds the big bow, notches the arrow, and bends the bow during the inhalation, holds the breath and waits calmly for the "perfect moment" when the arrow "shoots itself" and the breath comes out slowly.  The perfect shot is the one where the archer's breath is smooth and easy and his body shows no sign of strain throughout the shooting.  It took the archer years of practice before he could coordinate the breath with the shooting so that the whole movement was tranquil.  (- Raghu Anantanarayanan, Learning Through Yoga, Published by Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, Chennai)

A sutra in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra states this as,    

                Prayathnashaithilya anantasamaapatthibhyaam | II.47

                Mindful action flows with effortless ease

Have you noticed the phenomenon that you would have been searching frantically for something, and you wouldn’t find it; you would find it at some other time when you were making no effort to search for it?  Effortless effort.  That is Yoga.

Yoga is to do with one’s entire life, and every thought, feeling and action in it. 

It is to do with our relationships with ourselves and the world. 

It is to do with how your breath changes when you get angry.

It is to do with how your voice softens and the lines of your body flow when you talk to a loved one.

It is to do with how weak or energetic your body feels at the end of the day. 

And more.

There is an outer self that is engaging with the world and its problems, with life, constantly.  This self is getting hit, hurt, falling, struggling, feeling happy, sad, jealous, and so on.  There is another self that resides in your inner space, watching all the drama of life.  This is the anchored and coherent self that is able to watch and listen, and provide the space for the external self to act intelligently.  If we allow it to. People catch glimpses of it or are made aware of it all the time. 

An artist may tap into that self inspired by nature, and create works of brilliance. 

A tragedy may open the lock for an ordinary person and enable her to act with spontaneous intelligence and empathy. 

Laughter and play with an infant may dissolve all residues of fears and insecurities for those precious moments, leaving a mother crystal clear to reflect her child. 

This inner self just observes, and is vibrant and wise simply on the strength of that non-judgmental observation.  When one becomes alive to deeper and deeper levels of this self and space, outward action is gathered, coherent and intelligent. 

Becoming alive to that inner self every moment, is Yoga.  Hence Yoga is not an end, but a journey, a process.  So where does aasana and praanayaama come into this?  It could be a start.  For, the physical body is one of the primary indicators of overall wellbeing.  And working with the breath is key to this process.  The breath is the subtle connection between the mind and body and through the breath each works on the other.  Why do we say “take a deep breath” to someone who is agitated?  A lot can begin to happen in that space of one breath.  And that "lot" can be the start of true yoga practice.