Yoga

The word "yoga" means union, or reunion with the ultimate sacred energy source. It's a way of reconnecting the material with the spiritual, the seen with the unseen. Therefore, yoga is really any training that helps us transcend ego attachment and connect to our innate pure spiritual energy.

Yoga, as both concept and training, is thousands of years old. During his lifetime, the Buddha was considered a yogi, as were the fellow seekers and ascetics he first met when he started on the spiritual path. In fact, in the larger sense, anyone who is trying to connect with the divine can legitimately be called a yogi. Yogi means spiritual practitioner; the emphasis is on practice, not theory or belief.

The classic ancient treatise on yoga, known as the Yoga Sutra, is attributed to a sage named Patanjali who lived in Northern India more than 2000 years ago. Patanjali outlines eight specific principles, each of which is a yogic practice, intended to help the seeker reunite with the divine. They are: (1) ethical behavior; (2) discipline; (3) bodily postures; (4) breath control; (5) withdrawal of the senses; (6) concentration; (7) meditation; (8) ecstatic absorption.

Here in the West, the word "yoga" seems to have become synonymous with "hatha yoga," a physical training design to cleanse, purify and stabilize the body. But yoga, properly defined, encompasses many different paths and styles of practice all directed towards (re)union with the divine...

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