What Is Yoga?

Yoga isn’t rocket science – anyone can practice it and get an enormous amount of benefit in terms of health, well-being and personal development. However, if you want to dig deeper, there is a lifetime of fascinating study available for the enthusiast.

A yogi or yogin is anyone who practices yoga, no matter what form or style. In the West, most yogins (but by no means all) practice Hatha Yoga, the physical yoga of postures, breath work etc. In a weekly class, because of time constraints and other factors, posture work tends to dominate, with a relaxation session at the end and (often) at the beginning as well. It would be quite wrong, though to assume that Hatha Yoga is all postures and nothing else. There are many other physical practices (and many different styles), too numerous to describe in this short article.

Even the most athletic styles of Hatha Yoga are very much a mental as well as physical discipline. The postures and other practices stretch out and loosen the muscular tensions, which are often an unconscious expression of mental and emotional conflict and stress – hence yoga’s well-deserved reputation as a “stress buster”.

Raja Yoga is the yoga of mental mastery – mainly meditation and similar practices. This is the other type of yoga that is commonly practised in the West, though many people don’t think of it as yoga. Again, there are many different schools and styles, some overtly religious, others much more secular in approach. These, then are the two main yoga paths in the West but there are others, such as Bhakti Yoga – the yoga of religious devotion. Speaking of which, yoga is definitely NOT a rellgious practice, though you could, if you wish, call it a spiritual practice. (That’s a word I avoid using, as it can be rather meaningless). Yoga is underpinned by an entire philosophical system but you don’t have to take any of that “on board” if you don’t wish to. “Psychophysical exercise” would be a good way of describing it if you need a label, though yoga’s rather resistant to labelling.

It might be easier to list the things that yoga isn’t. It isn’t a religion, though its origins are embedded in the very ancient, early Hindu culture of India. It isn’t Indian gymnastics, either. Above all, it isn’t a sport. Yoga is not competitive. Despite all this, most fitness and sports centres have at least one well-attended class and often several. Yoga has escaped the Adult Education ghetto and entered the mainstream. Some yoga purists as aghast at this development but I’m personally all in favour. After all, the venue is only the outer shell and a competent teacher can easily bridge the culture gap.

Want to know more? Try the Yoga College or the Independent Yoga Network (they run a register of teachers, amongst other things) or e-mail me for a suggested reading list.

Jeremy Jones author is a yoga teacher, researcher and writer about yoga and related subjects.

Tweet This Tweet Me!