What is yoga for? It seems like a straightforward question. Everybody knows what yoga is for, right? Well, maybe not.
For a moment, let’s forget about complicated arm balances, ongoing debates in the media about the safety of asana practice, and how tight your hamstrings still are after 8 years of dedicated practice. Let’s get to the real issue.
What is Yoga?
In essence, what is yoga? What unites the multitude of schools and branches that now exist all around the world?
The beginning of the answer is just that: unity. The word yoga means union; in more philosophical terms, it means liberation from duality. But just what are we trying to unite?
A Psycho-Spiritual Tradition
We have all heard of the ego. In the West, many are raised on Sigmund Freud’s model of the mind. A pioneer of modern psychology, Freud argued the mind was divided into three parts: the id, ego, and superego.
Well, just like Freud set out to map the psyche, so too did the ancient yogis of India. The yogic idea of unity — of spiritual liberation from duality — was the answer to the same question that preoccupied Freud: namely, what are the fundamental conditions of the human mind, and how can we find mental health and happiness?
What sets yoga apart from Western psychology is yoga’s assertion of the fundamental role of spirituality in psychology. Hence, yoga is a psycho-spiritual tradition in the sense that, through an exploration of the mind (psychology), we discover a profound spiritual connection with the universe (spirituality).
Just like Freud, the ancient yogis discovered that, while there are numerous levels of consciousness, everything can be simplified down to two dimensions: our transcendental self and our ego-self.
The ego-self can be thought of as our mind, while the transcendental self represents a deeper state of awareness beyond time and space — a connection to the divine.
Leaving Home
The ego-self is where most of us live, most of the time, without being aware of it. Often we don’t even realize there is an alternative.Imagine if you had never left your house, you wouldn’t know what you were missing. Indeed, you wouldn’t even realize that there was anything else to experience in the world.
The ego-self thinks incessantly; it is scattered, anxious, self-obsessed, and focused on object reality. The ego-self functions in a linear idea of time, social mores and emotional reactions. In short, it’s pretty much where we all hang out and live our lives for most (if not all) of the time.
Deep Still Waters
The transcendental mind is like the calm water deep underneath the volatile currents of the ego-self. The transcendental mind is seen as a constant state of bliss or ecstasy. It is the place where there is neither self nor other; neither viewer nor viewed; neither conscious subject nor mental object. Instead, the transcendental mind represents a unification of dualities into one state of ecstatic being.
Yoga, and all the practices and ideas that have flourished since its humble beginnings, are based on the quest for samadhi: a state of ecstatic union between the fickle mind and stable consciousness. Practiced now for reasons ranging from superficial beauty to ego-driven ideals of success, the yoga of today has strayed dramatically from its original intents and concerns.
So, before you get back on your mat, consider reexamining the reasons why you do yoga and be honest. Try exploring the real purpose of yoga, and never stop asking that fundamental question: What is yoga really for?