What is yoga? Exploring the unity of breath, body and mind
Yoga is not a religion or a workout routine. It’s not something you practice for an hour and then leave behind when you exit the studio.
You may have heard a yoga teacher say yoga translates to “yoke,” as in bringing things together. Or yoga means unity. And that’s true, but what exactly are we connecting?
Yoga isn’t just linking breath to movement. It’s about connecting breath to body, body to mind, and mind to present until we transcend into the universal consciousness. But usually, before we can do any of that, we have to tear it all down, separate the pieces and connect with each individually.
Consider, first, The body:
What is your relationship with your body like? Do you criticize it? Do you wish it looked different, behaved differently? Do you feel safe in it?
To have mixed feelings about your body is to be human. From injuries to illness, our bodies don’t just deal with hardship, they can carry trauma from it. Everyone can see them and too many of us form opinions when we look at them.
Yoga helps us find safety in our bodies. Just noticing the sensation of your foot on the floor is grounding—noticing the sensation takes you out of your thoughts and into body awareness. Yoga is about taking the time to do just that, connect your body to your surroundings and itself. We learn to appreciate our bodies just as they are and to utilize the body as a tool for connecting with the present.
The breath
B.K.S. Iyengar, an influential yoga teacher, compared the mind to a chariot being pulled by two horses, breath and desire. When desire is the more powerful horse, it pulls the mind in different directions. When breath is in control it steers a clear and consistent path.
The breath, like the body, is a very physical, very tangible point of focus. When our mind is pulled in different directions by emotions, relationships, and desire, the breath can help steady the chariot.
The breath also has a very clear connection to the body. When our body starts reacting to emotions or experiences that might fluster us or raise our heart rate our breathing might become shallower and we fall into a cycle of agitation. But when we regain control of the breath and focus on longer inhales and exhales — exhales can be especially soothing to the nervous system — we slow our heart rate back down, we signal to our bodies to relax rather than react.
The breath alone can calm a tense body.
The mind
It’s easy to feel like thoughts, feelings, emotions and memories are a part of us, like they are the sum of our mind. But those too are external, like body and breath, and not made for our possession.
The way we view the world, literally and metaphorically, the information we take in (experiences, sensory information), and our reactions are all shaped by our personal worldview and past experiences.
It’s human nature to internalize these things. Through yoga we separate the emotion from the experience. We gain awareness of our own perceptions, we become the observer to what happens around us rather than a participant in it. When we are able to step back and observe, interactions that were once challenging become opportunities for growth. That awareness takes time to build and it might not even be there all the time, but once you see it, it’s always there waiting to be found again.
So back to the question: What is yoga?
Fundamentally, yoga is the cultivation of awareness–awareness of how our bodies, breath and minds react to thoughts, feelings and experiences.
Through our practice we can begin making those connections, ultimately recognizing that everybody is perceiving the world in their own unique way and sometimes in a way that diverges from our own.
This can help us discover our shared humanity, freeing us from the tendency to take what happens in the world too personally.