Yoga

What is Yoga?

Yoga is an ancient wisdom and one of India's most comprehensive traditions that helps us to understand ourselves and the human condition. Yoga means "yoke" to unite; return to wholeness. Patanjali, author of the Yoga Sutras defines yoga as "the ability to direct the mind exclusively towards an object and sustain that direction without any distraction". TKV Desikechar says, "The state of Yoga is one of a mind that's not agitated, to know the truth and be able to communicate it without hurting someone." Swami Kripalu wrote,"The ability to know all parts of ourselves with compassionate, self awareness", and to Krishnamacharya "Yoga was a means to improved health; to restored well-being in the face of illness; and to emotional balance and enhanced mental clarity. It was also the accessible path of progression toward union with the Absolute-whether conceived as God or a nameless Truth. The aim of Yoga as described in the Bhagavad Ghitta(ancient Indian story) is how to resolve conflicts, and presents Yoga as part of human life, and that in our life, and all that happens, Yoga has a part to play. The three definitions of Yoga according to the Bhagavad Ghitta have to do with attitude, action, and emotion, and it is to be undertaken for the sake of Truth itself, for the sake of what the Buddha termed "unshakable deliverance of heart."

For me, the starting point is always the need of the students. As there is not just one approach for everybody, and as Krishnamacharya said, "I must create an atmoshphere in my classes in which a student can find his or her own way to Yoga. I have to realize that each of my students is not the same person today as they were yesterday and not at all the same as when they came last week". This is the most important message he passed on, and what I hope to preserve. It is CHAYAYOGA'S vision that Yoga is also a way of being in the world that is a holistic practice of healthy lifestyle and integrity.