What is Yoga?

The word 'Yoga' comes from a Sanskrit root 'Yuj' which means 'to join'. In its spiritual sense, it is the process by which the identity of the individual soul and the Supreme Soul is realized by the Yogi. Although many people think this term refers to union between body and mind or body, mind and spirit, the traditional acceptance is union between the Jivatman and Paramatman that is between one's individual consciousness and the Universal Consciousness. The human soul is brought into conscious communion with the Divine Reality. Just as camphor melts and becomes one with fire; just as a drop of water when it is thrown into the ocean, becomes one with the ocean; the individual soul, when it is purified, when it is freed from lust, greed, hatred and egoism, when it becomes pure (Sattvic), becomes one with the Supreme Soul. The science that teaches the way of acquiring this occult knowledge is called 'Yoga Sastra'.

1. Yama or Eternal Vows:
Ahimsa (non-violence)
Satya (truth)
Asteya (non-stealing)
Brahmacharya (continence) and
Aparigraha (non-avariciousness)

2. Niyama or Observances:
Saucha (purity)
Santosha (contentment)
Tapas (austerities)
Svadhyaya (study) and
Ishvarapranidhana (surrender to God)

3. Asana (firm, comfortable meditative posture)

4. Pranayama (the regulation of the Vital Force)

5. Pratyahara (abstraction of the senses and mind from objects)

6. Dharana (concentration)

7. Dhyana (meditation)

8. Samadhi (superconscious state or trance)
Today most people practicing yoga are engaged in the third limb, asana, which is a program of physical postures designed to purify the body and provide the physical strength and stamina required for long periods of meditation.

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