By Madi Eunis
@i.am.madgic
What comes to mind when you hear the term yoga?
Unless you study the path in depth, I’m sure a visual of a woman in tight yoga pants and a sports bra doing a warrior two comes to mind. A lot of people think they know what yoga is; why we practice, what it does, how it works. I thought so too, until I went to India and experienced the culture and the truth.
In the western world, we take studio yoga classes in our cute yoga pants and new sports bras. We take hot classes where we sweat to lose a few pounds, and to stretch for flexibility. Yet, the term ‘yoga’ does not mean ‘a yoga flow in a studio’.
Yoga; yuj meaning: union. Union of what? The union of all parts of the self with (your) God. In my understanding, it helps to see it as the union and harmony of the mind, body, and soul. It is learning how to weave these three aspects of our being to agree and communicate with one another—instead of the mind dictating.
So how do we unite these three aspects of our being? To understand yoga, is to understand that asana, or the postures, is a tiny percentage of the practice. One eighth of it, to be exact. The reason why we do these postures that open and strengthen our bodies, is so that we can sit more comfortably in a meditation seat to reach deep states of consciousness.
In order to understand what I mean, here are the 8 Limbs of Yoga in order:
Yamas
Niyamas
Asana (Yoga Studio-Type Flow Classes: Vinyasa, Hatha, Yin, etc.)
Pranayama
Pratyahara
Dharana
Dhyana
Samadhi
Limb 1 & 2: Yamas & Niyamas
To summarize the Yamas and Niyamas shortly, they are external and internal guidelines to life. You can loosely associate them with the ten commandments for a general understanding, but they are different.
The Yamas
The Yamas are typically how you interact in the external world. The Yamas include (in english): Non-Violence (Ahimsa), Truthfulness (Satya), Non-Stealing (Asteya), Fidelity/Celibacy/Moderation in devotion (Brahmacharya), & Generosity/Giving Back (Aparigraha).
The Niyamas
The Niyamas are essentially how we keep ourselves and how we take care of ourselves. They include: Cleanliness (Saucha), Inner Contentment (Santosha), Discipline (Tapas), Self-Study (Svadyaya), Surrender (ishvari pranidhana).
Asana
After all of these commitments, then begins the asana practice. Asana in Sanskrit translates to ‘seat.’ As you can see, too, it is only step three out of eight. After asana comes the awareness of our lifeforce energy: Pranayama. It’s the awareness and control of the breath. This essentially begins the process of deep meditation. Finding stillness in the mind and focusing it on the breath. That’s why ancient yogis did an asana practice: so they could sit in meditation for long periods of time without being physically uncomfortable.
When you can sit comfortably without being distracted by aches & pains, then you can go deeper. As you go deeper into your consciousness, you begin to focus on the non-physical: what’s happening internally.
Asana yoga, in my experience, was the door to the soul. When you start to move your body in weird shapes, your mind has to be present, especially when you haven’t done these movements before. The mind is present out of a state of protection– to protect the body from hurting itself. Since we’re present and focusing on the movements, our minds don’t have as much space to think of a million other things.
The more you mindfully move your body, the more in tune you become. The more awareness you build on the simple things: aches, pains, tension, etc. Eventually you start to understand your body: what’s working, what isn’t working, why your hips are tight, why your neck hurts. The puzzle pieces start to fit together. The bigger picture starts to form as you put the pieces together.
The Remaining Limbs
From Asana yoga, we begin to sit with ourselves to discover different levels of consciousness and layers of being. The following limbs of yoga are done seated in meditation to eventually reach "enlightment" or Samadhi.
Yoga: Awareness, Love, Ascension
Yoga, the art of self-awareness, self-love, and self-ascension. The art of putting your own pieces back together to discover who you are and why you’re here. We can learn so much from our bodies and souls when we tell our minds to listen. It teaches us that we are way more than just the physical. That when we move the physical, we can feel the things we can’t see. We can understand our energy and the world around us.
But don’t take my word for it. Commit to yoga for a month and notice what happens!
