The Indian yoga tradition has many paths or branches, and within these different branches there are many different schools or approaches.

Then there is yoga as it has evolved in the West, where alongside various offshoots more or less rooted in traditional Indian yoga we now find such yogas as ‘Laughter Yoga’, ‘The Yoga of Jesus’ and ‘Goat Yoga’.

What unity can we find in all this diversity? What actually is yoga?

At the highest level, yoga is indefinable, the sages say. It is a path that cannot be followed and a destination which cannot be approached.

Closer to Earth, however, the rich landscape of yoga is multi-faceted, many-hued, often wildly divergent, and sometimes inconsistent.

That’s probably what makes it so popular: it’s non-dogmatic and there’s something in it for almost everyone.

Every practitioner and teacher probably has a different view of what yoga is, and it’s probably safe to say that none of these views are entirely ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. It seems as fruitless to try to come up with a conclusive definition of what yoga is as it is to try to catch the moon in your hair.

Instead, I guess it’s up to each one of us to find our own fluid meaning — one that works for us and allows our yoga practice to grow — and to let others do the same.

I’ve put together the following string of perspectives representing a colourful diversity of views, to help you towards a fuller sense of what yoga might mean to you.

36 Perspectives on Yoga

1. Yoga is Connection.

The word yoga derives from the Sanskrit root ‘yuj’ — “to attach, join, harness, yoke”. From this etymology we get a sense of yoga as ‘connection’. So we could say that we are doing yoga whenever we are in connection with something, either through thought or word or deed. This is obviously a very broad view of yoga, but useful to play with. From this perspective, the practice of yoga might be seen to be something like ‘consciously cultivating awareness of connectivity’, and perhaps further, ‘consciously cultivating the quality of our connections’.

2. Yoga is Divine Union.

Following on from the above perspective, if the practice of yoga involves something like ‘cultivating the quality of our connections’ then we might come to ask ‘what is the highest quality connection we can cultivate?’ Yoga as ‘Divine Union’ expresses the goal of connecting with the ‘absolute’, or ‘supreme’, or ‘ultimate’ reality — the highest quality connection we can have.

3. Yoga is a Form of Exercise.

For millions of people today yoga has little to do with connecting with the divine. It is practiced as a safe and effective form of exercise. Yoga as exercise aims to improve physical and sometimes mental/emotional wellbeing through a series of posture-based practices focusing on strength, flexibility and breathing. Whatever its exotic origins and mystical applications, yoga as a form of exercise has been brought firmly into the modern world through celebrity endorsement, online courses, and dozens of scientific studies attesting to its many health benefits.

4. Yoga is an Ancient Practice.

Archeological evidence suggest that some form of yoga may have been practiced as far back as 12,000 years ago. The first textual reference to yoga is in the Vedic Scriptures, the earliest of which were written down around 5000 years ago. But the great Indian sage Patanjali is the first author we know of to have written down a comprehensive system of yoga. His seminal text The Yoga Sutras is estimated to have been written around 2000 years ago. But Patanjali did not invent the system of yoga. He merely worked an already existing body of yogic knowledge and techniques into a concise and coherent text.

5. Yoga is a Modern Invention.

Strangely enough, much of the yoga that is practiced today, especially in the west, was invented in the 20th century. Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (1888–1989) is generally considered “the father of modern yoga”, having created in his Mysore school “a marriage of Haṭha yoga, wrestling exercises, and modern Western gymnastic movement, unlike anything seen before in the yoga tradition.” Among Krishnamacharya’s leading students were people who became influential yoga teachers themselves: Pattabhi Jois, who founded Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga which in turn led to Power Yoga; and B.K.S. Iyengar, who founded Iyengar Yoga; the Russian Eugenie V. Peterson, known as Indra Devi, who moved to Hollywood, taught yoga to celebrities, and wrote the bestselling book Forever Young, Forever Healthy. Together they made yoga popular as exercise and brought it to the Western world. What they brought was not traditional yoga, however, but a modern hybrid.

6. Yoga is a Complete Path.

While in the West a lot of people tend to associate yoga mainly with physical postures, this is only one aspect of traditional yoga. In his Yoga Sutras Patanjali laid out a complete path of yoga consisting of eight graduated steps or ‘limbs’. These limbs are: yama (restraints), niyama (observances), asana (physical postures), pranayama (breathing exercises), pratyahara (withdrawal of senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (absorption). In this path the final step, samadhi, corresponds to ‘enlightenment’, ‘liberation’, nirvana, or ‘self-realisation’.

7. Yoga Brings One into Greater Wholeness.

Considering yoga to be whatever brings us into greater wholeness is another wonderfully broad view, expanding the range of yogic practice well beyond any particular tradition or system of exercises. Psychotherapy, conscious relationship, artistic expression, gardening, what we eat and how we eat it, to give just a few examples, could all be viewed in this light to be paths of yoga.

8. Yoga is a Means of Perceiving Ultimate Reality.

Written in Sanskrit in the 3rd Century BCE, the Brahma Sutras declare: atha tattvadarsanabhyupāyo yogah: ‘Yoga is the means of perceiving reality’. Sadguru Jagadish Vasudev, the popular guru made famous by youtube, reiterates this view today: “The word ‘yoga’ essentially means ‘that which brings you to reality’… Yoga means to move towards an experiential reality where one knows the ultimate nature of existence.”

9. Yoga is Restraint of the Senses.

The Katha Upanishad has this to say: “Reality is formless, and can never be seen with these two eyes. It reveals itself in the heart made pure through meditation and sense-restraint… When the five senses along with the mind become still and the intellect is not active, that is known by the wise as the highest state. Yoga is the firm restraint of the senses.”

10. Yoga is the Art of Being Spontaneous.

The idea here is not the cultivation of haphazard, thoughtlessly random action born of impulse and impetuosity. True spontaneity arises from self-mastery and long, conscious training. It is rising above the conscious mind into the realm of the super-conscious, rather than falling back into unconsciousness and unquestioningly acting-out our seething desires. Yoga training nurtures true spontaneity through self-discipline, increased self-awareness and the gradual purification of the unconscious mind, allowing over time the (paradoxical) development of spontaneity, the capacity for un-calculated, gracefully appropriate action.

11. Yoga is One of Six Ancient Hindu Philosophies.

There are six systems of thought considered to be orthodox in Hinduism. These six systems are rooted in the Vedic Scriptures and adhere to its fundamental principles. The six schools are called Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta, of which only Samkhya, Yoga and Vedanta have a mainstream following today.

12. Yoga is for Everyone.

Regardless of culture, religion, age, gender, shape, fitness level, financial means, available time or goals in life, there will be some form of yoga that can help you. Whether you want to improve strength and flexibility, de-stress and relax, boost energy and vitality, loose or gain weight, increase concentration and focus, become an ecstatic lover of the sweet divine, or for almost any other purpose whatsoever, there will be effective yogic practices for you.

13. Yoga is an Inner Journey.

While Yoga is rich in practices to better oneself both externally and internally, it is traditionally viewed as an inward path. It can certainly help with sculpting a body beautiful, just as it can sharpen the mind and will to enhance performance in any number of areas and bring about external success; but these are not yoga’s primary goals. Yoga uses the external (behaviour, the body, breath) to approach the internal (the mind, the soul) and ultimately aims beyond both, leading the practitioner into stillness, silence, and blissful union with naked existence itself.

14. Yoga is the Union of Shiva and Shakti.

Shiva is Absolute Being, Shakti is the Power of Becoming; Shiva is Changeless Reality, Shakti is the Phenomenal World; Shiva is Pure Consciousness, Shakti is Dynamic Energy; Shiva is Complete Equanimity, Shakti is Movement and Change; Shiva is the Un-manifest Substratum, Shakti is the Manifest Universe; Shiva is the Seer, Shakti is the Act of Seeing as well as What is Seen; Shiva is “I”, Shakti is “Am”. On this side of the veil of maya, where we are now, there is duality: Shiva and Shakti are two. The path of yoga, the union of Shiva and Shakti, leads finally to the piercing of that veil and its dissolution, whereupon duality disappears entirely without a trace and Shiva-Shakti is revealed to be eternally one undivided whole.

15. Yoga is Skill in Action.

These words were spoken by Krishna to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, one of India’s most beloved and revered scriptures and a manual of yoga: “You have the right to work but never to the fruit of work. Never engage in action for the sake of reward. Nor should you long for inaction. (…) Therefore devote yourself to the disciplines of Yoga, for Yoga is skill in action.” Krishna is advising Arjuna in the practice of karma yoga, the yoga of action. The essence of karma yoga is to endeavour to act as fully and skilfully as possible but without concern for the outcome of the work. This practice fosters an attitude of engaged non-attachment, or dynamic equanimity, which is as an excellent example of the union of Shiva and Shakti described just above.

16. Yoga Means to Bury All Your Ideas.

Yoga is a practical, experiential path. It is not an elaboration of some theory of transcendence, nor the pursuit of some idealistic vision of unity. It is the daily unmasking of ego and the pulling down of the walls we have constructed around ourselves — walls of ideas, beliefs, pain, fear, contraction — which separate us from what is. Ultimately, the idea of yoga itself is a construct which we must eventually tear down in order to go beyond all masks and touch the face of naked reality.

17. Yoga is a Spiritual Art.

While there is a thoroughly systematic aspect to classical yoga, it is not enough simply to mindlessly follow the system of practices. Great sensitivity must be brought to every aspect of the yogic path. It is a very delicate journey, the precise destination of which cannot be known beforehand and must be approached intuitively, with great skill and all the qualities of character required to excel in any art.

18. Yoga is a Powerful Relaxation Technique.

In many ways, relaxation is the highest spiritual art. Essentially, all we need to do is to relax — truly, deeply, completely — in order to realise the Supreme and Blissful Reality which even now pervades all that is, including our own experience. But true relaxation is anything but easy. We hold enormous tension at every level of our being, and we have come to associate this tension with who we are. To deeply relax and let go of that tension means letting go of much of who we think we are. This naturally brings up a lot of resistance. The path of yoga, the path of relaxation, is therefore graduated and structured the way it is to lead us carefully through the many layers of tension and resistance which can often be painful to release. At the end of that path, at the place we reach when relaxation becomes complete, when all the tensions have been let go, is profound, unfathomable bliss. That is why we make the journey.

19. Yoga is the Union of Atman and Brahman.

Atman is the innermost core of the individual self, that part of us which remains when all else drops away. Its nature is the same in all beings. Brahman is the all-pervading Supreme Reality. It is one and whole and completely unbroken. One of the central insights of the ancient sages of India — realised deep in meditation — is that, at the deepest level, these two, Atman and Brahman, are one. Yoga is a path to realising that unity.

20. Yoga is Separation from Suffering.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna: ”Know that which is called yoga to be separation from contact with suffering.” The Vaisesika Sutra elaborates: ”Pleasure and suffering arise as a result of the coming together of the sense organs, the mind and objects. When that does not happen because the mind is perfectly still, there is no pleasure or suffering for one who is embodied. That is yoga.”

21. Yoga is the Awakening of Kundalini.

Kundalini literally means ‘the coiled one’ and refers to an individual’s spiritual energy and latent potential for enlightenment. According to some yoga traditions, kundalini sleeps coiled at the base of the spine until awoken through yogic practices. This awakening is usually a gradual process in which the kundalini energy first becomes active in the base chakra before progressively ascending through the whole chakra system to arrive finally at the crown (sahasrara), bringing about the state of enlightenment. For some people, however, the kundalini awakening and ascent takes place suddenly and sometimes unexpectedly without yoga practices.

22. Yoga is the Activation of the Chakras.

The chakras are described as energy centres within the human body. There are actually many such centres, but in yogic practice seven main chakras are worked with. These lie along the central axis from the base of the spine to the crown of the head, and are activated by means of manipulation and control of prana. In yoga philosophy the chakras represent the full spectrum of consciousness available to human beings. The activation of the each of the chakras in turn makes available increasingly advanced levels of understanding, creativity, and morality. This progressive journey corresponds to the spiritual evolution of the individual and the development of higher awareness. The culmination of this process of chakra awakening is self-realisation, enlightenment, nirvana.

23. Yoga is Mastery of Prana.

Prana flows throughout the whole body in subtle channels called nadi. In yogic terms there are three main nadis in the body, located in the spinal column. These are called ida, pingala, and shushumna. Shushumna nadi is the most important of all. Now, the first main goal of yoga is strengthening and harmonising the flow of prana in the entire body. This brings health and vitality, as well as relaxation and focus. Asana practice and basic pranayama aim to bring this about. Next, the goal is to balance the flow of prana in the ida and pingala nadis, which flow one on either side of the spine. Asana practice also helps to bring this about, as does more advanced pranayama. When these nadis are in balance, prana can then flow in the central channel, the shushumna nadi. At this point, the more advanced meditative practices of yoga aim to guide the prana up along the shushumna nadi from the base of the spine through the entire chakra system and to the sahasrara at the crown of the head. As the prana ascends through the chakra system progressively deeper states of meditation are attained, until at the crown the state of samadhi (absorption) finally dawns. To so guide the prana requires tremendous yogic mastery.

24. Yoga is the Stilling of the Mind.

“If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear as it is, Infinite.” In terms of yoga, Blake’s famous quote applies as much to the mind itself as it does to the five senses. In yoga philosophy the mind is actually considered to be the primary sense organ, with the five external senses being mere tributaries to it. For the mind not only perceives through the other 5 sense organs but is able to create and perceive its own objects of perception: thoughts and other mental states. It does so continuously during all the time we are awake or dreaming. This relentless play of inner and outer sense perception is described by the sages of India as a veil which obscures our direct experience of reality itself. The agitations of the mind cloud our vision so that we see not what is but only a distortion of what is. Yoga aims to skilfully and systematically calm the agitations of the mind through controlling the prana upon which the mind rides. By stilling the prana the mind becomes still and silent, allowing that which transcends the mind to shine through undistorted. Pranayama and meditation are the tools to accomplish this.

25. Yoga is the Merging of Consciousness and Prana.

Within the microcosm of the human being, and similarly the macrocosm of the universe, yoga identifies two primary elements: Prana and Consciousness. Prana is the energy which forms all things, animates all that moves, and holds in being whatever exists — from thoughts to trees to galaxies. Consciousness can be described as the presence of that which is aware. Ultimately these two are indivisibly one: there is only one reality which is everywhere both existence and awareness. And yet, again, on this side of the veil of duality they appear to us to be two. In our own experience of life, “I”, the subjective centre of consciousness which experiences things like thoughts, trees and galaxies — and is aware of experiencing them — am over here. While the things of experience — the thoughts, trees, universe — are over there, separate from “I”. But we can overcome this separation. We can, within the microcosm of our own psycho-spiritual system, merge Prana and Consciousness in the supreme act of union. This is Yoga, in the highest sense of the term.

26. Yoga is Supreme Bliss.

Sages of every epoch and every tradition attest to the fact that the union of Shiva and Shakti, Consciousness and Prana, which is the summit of yoga practice, is a supremely blissful experience. This supreme bliss cannot be compared to any kind of pleasure derived from the experience of objects within the framework of duality. Such pleasures, however delightful, are considered to be mere shadows of the true bliss of divine union. The bliss of divine union is orgasmic, volcanic, cosmic — and endless. Wonderfully, if the nature of absolute reality is the permanent union of Shiva and Shakti, then beyond the flimsy veil of duality existence everywhere and always throbs with the supreme bliss of what we call divine union.

27. Yoga is a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry.

It is estimated that there are 36 million yoga practitioners in the U.S. alone, spending $16 billion on yoga classes, clothing, equipment, holidays and accessories each year. The number of practitioners globally is estimated at 300 million people, so annual global spending is likely to be well over $100 billion. Yes, yoga is big business.

28. Yoga is Hot.

In much of India during the summer months you don’t even have to move to get hot and sweaty. But hot yoga is not confined to tropical lands. Some forms of modern yoga are practiced in artificially created high-temperature environments. Bikram Yoga, to take one example, is generally practiced in 105 degree rooms (that’s 40 degree celsius). Why? It is claimed that the heat allows muscles to stretch more deeply and safely, and also promotes the release of toxins through profuse sweating. The majority of yoga styles, however, are practiced in more temperate conditions.

29. Yoga is Sweaty.

Hot yoga obviously gets people sweaty, but there are styles of yoga that are performed so vigorously as to make anyone sweaty no matter what conditions they are practiced in. Modern Ashtanga Yoga, as founded by K. P. Bois, and Power Vinyasa Yoga are two examples of athletic, physically demanding practices which in many ways are more akin to a workout than to classical yoga. The emphasis in these, as in many other modern schools of yoga, is on the development of physical strength and flexibility, alongside purification of body, mind and emotions. Sweating is obviously a part of that picture.

30. Yoga is the Death of the Separate Self.

In India the god Shiva is the god of destruction. He is also called ‘The Lord of Yoga’. But how are these two functions related? The answer is through the view that yoga is the death of the separate self. To anyone strongly identified with their ego — which is the great majority of us humans — this definition of yoga as the death of the separate self will sound troubling indeed and be highly unlikely to motivate many to practice yoga. But the full path of yoga is a process which dissolves the subjective experience of the egoic self into the infinite sea of Consciousness and Energy, and in so doing dissolves the entire universe into the same. For when the separate self dies the objective universe ceases to exist. The crucial thing to realise here is that the universe itself isn’t destroyed in this process, but only its objective existence to a separate subject. Shiva’s job as universal destroyer is not actually the destruction of the universe, therefore, but only the restoration of unity in the cosmos.

31. Yoga is the Cultivation of Awareness.

Through practicing moral restraint and self-disciplined behaviour we cultivate awareness of our actions and how they affect both ourselves and those around us. Through practicing asanas we cultivate awareness of our body, the earth that supports it and the space in which it moves and is still. Through practicing pranayama we cultivate awareness of the breath and the heartbeat, which helps to bring us more fully into awareness of the immediacy of the present moment. Through practicing pratyahara we cultivate awareness of the contents of the mind. Through dharana we cultivate awareness of the continuity of consciousness, the unbroken substratum of which is like the ocean compared to the wave-like formations of the mind. Through dhayana we cultivate awareness of awareness itself, becoming present to the presence of that which is eternally aware. In samadi there is no longer anything to be aware of — we become pure awareness itself without object.

32. Yoga is the Cleansing and Purification of the Mind.

The yoga sages tell us that our natural state is peace and bliss. The disturbances and distortions of the mind cloud that natural peace and bliss so that we find ourselves in all kinds of states, some relatively pleasant, others more or less painful. Through yoga we can cleanse the mind of these disturbances so that it becomes like a clear, still lake and our natural state shines undistorted through its pure waters. This natural state is the pure “I” devoid of name or form or identification with any kind of mental distortion.

33. Yoga is Surrendering to Love.

One of the branches of yoga is loving devotion, Bhakti. On the path of Bhakti one falls in love with a particular form or aspect of the divine. Yoga then becomes an ever-deepening relationship with the divine in that particular form. In India the path of Bhakti is full of colour, music, singing, prayer, worship and selfless service. It is the path of the heart, in which ardent emotion is the rocket-fuel which propels the soul beyond the realm of worldly attachments into sweet surrender to loving and being loved by the divine.

34. Yoga is a Treasure Hunt.

Often we are like sleepwalkers as we go about our lives, pursuing this or that goal, seeking happiness here and there, chasing what is pleasing to us and trying to elude what is painful, often vaguely aware of a deeper meaning underlying our world but rarely — if ever — in direct contact with it. A yogi is someone who is in the process of waking up from this haphazard situation. A yogi knows that there is a deeper meaning to life, a priceless treasure buried just beneath the everyday surface of things — and is intent on finding it.

35. Yoga is a Prison-Break.

The prison that yoga tries to free us from is not the world or the senses, but the deluded mind. According to one Sanskrit saying: “As the mind, so the person; bondage or liberation is only in your mind.” For example, a life of restraint and simplicity in nature might be paradise to one person, and absolute hell to another. The difference lies only in the mind. This is not at all to say that hell is an illusion — it is certainly real to the one who is bound. The point is that freedom is not to be found through trying to change our life situation, but through gaining control of our mind so that whatever situation we find ourselves in we can choose to experience it as a blessing and embrace whatever growth-potential is in it. In this way we are freed from the mind-wrought prison of suffering.

36. Yoga is Renunciation.

All contact between the “I” and the world is a form of yoga, the union of consciousness and energy. And yet, most contact between the “I” and the world only reinforces the deep separation between the “I” and its objects of experience. This becomes a very painful cycle, as the more the separation is felt and repeatedly reinforced the more we try to overcome it in the only way we know how — more grasping after contact with objects of experience. That is why renunciation and non-attachment is often emphasised in higher yoga — because before the bliss of true yoga can be approached, the lesser yoga with things must be abandoned.

37. Yoga is What We Are, Not Something We Do.

Yes, yoga is essentially a state of mind, one characterised by the qualities of awareness, equanimity and joy. We cultivate these qualities through practicing yoga, but we also progress in yoga by bringing these qualities to our practice. Which came first, yoga or the yogi?

Who cares what we say about it anyway?

There are of course so many more things that could be said about yoga. And of the little I have managed to say here most of the views I’ve expressed would be contested in different ways by yogis from various outlooks and traditions.

And at the end of the day, who cares how we define the term?

Still, I hope the reflections above have given some food for thought and, better still, some inspiration for practice. For one thing almost every yogi agrees on is that consistent practice is the key to yoga.

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti