What is Yoga?

In Reverand Vidya Vonne’s introduction to The Yoga Sutras of Pantanjali he starts off saying: “When the word yoga is mentioned, most people immediately think of some physical practices for stretching, and stress reduction. This is one aspect of the Yogic science, but actually only a very small part and relatively recent development.

The physical Yoga, or Hatha Yoga was primarily designed to facilitate the real practice of Yoga—namely, the understanding and complete mastery over the mind. So the actual meaning of Yoga is the science of mind.” So Hatha Yoga, or the physical postures or asanas represents what most people call “Yoga”, is actually a smaller more recent interpretation of what Yoga truly means.

With nearly 200 sutras, divided in 4 sections: 1st is Samādhi Pāda (Contemplation) 2nd Sādhana Pāda (Practice) 3rd Vibhuti Pāda (Accomplishments) and 4th Kaivalya Pāda (Absoluteness) the Yoga Sutras of Pantanjali make up-as Satchidananda would say: “the kind of yoga that will really help us.” And in his preface to the book, he also states: “And let that highest goal toward which Pantanjali’s Sutras point be our goal: that one day we should all obtain the highest Sāmadhi, the totally liberated state.

This liberation is not for the future for when we die it is to be lived in the very midst of the world.” So what we learned here today is that a true yogi understands that the 84 asanas or postures that have developed into millions of variations- all starts with the science of the mind, or what is called Rāja Yoga (mental science).