Truth about 10 Reasons for Yoga according to Yoga Day USA

Yoga Day USA lists "Top 10 Reasons to Try Yoga for Life" on their website www.YogaDayUSA.org Unfortunately, most of their reasons have little to do with authentic, traditional Yoga.

THE TRUTH ABOUT YOGA:

Most people in the West, and also many in India,
confuse Yoga with Hatha Yoga, the system of
bodily postures. But Yoga is primarily a spiritual
discipline.
(Paramahansa Yogananda)

Yoga has become the health and fitness system
of choice. This is odd because it is the mind -
not the body - that is the main target of all genuine
Yoga practices .... To regard Yoga primarily as a
set of practices for increasing strength and
flexibility while calming the nervous system is
to mistake the husk for the kernel.
(Pandit Rajmani Tigunait)

Like many arts and sciences that are profound,
beautiful, and powerful, yoga has suffered from
the spiritual poverty of the modern world--it has
been trivialized, watered down, or reduced to
cliches. The deep and eternal essence of yoga
has been misrepresented and packaged for
personal profit by clever people.
(Bhole Prabhu)

In ancient times hatha Yoga was practiced for
many years as a preparation for higher states of
consciousness. Now however, the real purpose
of this great science is being altogether forgotten .
The hatha Yoga practices which were designed
by the rishis and sages of old, for the evolution
of mankind, are now being understood and
utilized in a very limited sense.
(Swami Satyananda Saraswati)

Yoga is not mere acrobatics . Some people suppose
that Yoga is primarily concerned with the
manipulation of the body into various queer
positions, standing on the head, for instance, or
twisting about the spine, or assuming any of the
numerous odd poses which are demonstrated in
the text-books on Yoga. These techniques are
correctly employed in one distinct type of Yoga
practice, but they do not form an integral part of
the most essential type. Physical posture serve
at best as an auxiliary, or a minor form of Yoga.
(Swami Chidananda Saraswati)

Many false and incomplete teachings have been
propagated in its name, it has been subject to
commercial exploitation, and one small aspect
of Yoga is often taken to be all of Yoga. For
instance, many people in the West think it is a
physical and beauty cult, while others think it
is a religion. All of this has obscured the real
meaning of Yoga.
(Swami Rama)

Through the discipline of Yoga, both actions and
intelligence go beyond these qualities [gunas] and
the seer comes to experience his own soul with
crystal clarity, free from the relative attributes of
nature and actions. This state of purity is samadhi.
Yoga is thus both the means and the goal. Yoga
is samadhi and samadhi is Yoga.
(B. K. S. Iyengar)

The main objective of hatha Yoga is to create an
absolute balance of the interacting activities and
processes of the physical body, mind and energy.
When this balance is created, the impulses
generated give a call of awakening to the central
force (sushumna nadi) which is responsible for
the evolution of human consciousness. If hatha
Yoga is not used for this purpose, its true
objective is lost.
(Swami Satyananda Saraswati)

The goal of Yoga is Yoga itself, union itself, of the
little self and the True Self, a process of awakening
to the preexisting union that is called Yoga.
Yoga has to do with the realization through direct
experience of the preexisting union between Atman
and Brahman, Jivatman and Paramatman, and
Shiva and Shakti, or the realization of Purusha
standing alone as separate from Prakriti.
(Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati)

You use the body as a medium to bring the mind
back to the brain. Perfect marriage between body
and mind. Then, you can reach and knock the
door to the spirit....
Yoga is free. It belongs to the earth. It's a god.
(Bikram Choudhury)

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  Education

[wickie2222]

Swami, If I may,

Is it possible that this debate could be about How people practice. May I suggest that a person performing Hatha Yoga Spiritually (even if in ignorance of asanas place in Yoga practice) they are one step closer to a realisation of the true meaning of Yoga than if the were not practicing at all. May I suggest that for most people what you are saying may be too far of a reach.

[yogabindu]

Yes, of course you may make these suggestions. In fact, you just did make those suggestions. However, the fact is that many, if not most people are not prepared or interested in practicing Yoga as Yoga truly is. As you say, Yoga "may be too far of a reach." Therefore, Yoga is distorted by such deluded people for their own benefit. But, does that distortion change the true nature of Yoga, or just the consensus opinion. But, let us all have at least a few reminders of the true nature of Yoga.

[wickie2222]

Thanks for the reminders of the True nature of Yoga. But I of course cannot know the true nature. The Words to describe the nature of yoga only give me a glimpse. But I do like what I see.

Thank you Swami.

[yogabindu]

Best wishes with your seeking a "glimpse" of the true nature of Yoga. Here, we are dealing with the nature of the process of Yoga, not some ultimate sense of "Truth." Through persistence, one really can know what Yoga is about in the traditional sense, compared to the modern distortions. Then, one can actually follow Yoga. It may be true that most people will not choose to do this, but it is there for the few who wish to seek it.

[yogabindu]

If it is true that authentic Yoga is "too far a reach" for "most people" that just means that they are not ready to practice Yoga. That requires preparation, not distorting Yoga. If you want a PdD, then first finish high school and don't bitch because the PhD program has prerequisites, as does Yoga.

[YogaJoeYogaJoe]

I agree with the distinctions made here. However, I do not see the polemical presentation as constructive, i.e., this is Yoga and that is not Yoga. My understanding was greatly enriched by reading David Frawley's "Yoga and Ayurveda" wherein he clearly distinguishes between Yoga done for physical health and wellbeing (applied Ayurveda) and Yoga done for spiritual evolution (Raja Yoga). I agree wholeheartedly that the Yoga most Americans are encountering is Ayurvedic, NOT spiritual.

[yogabindu]

This "polemical presentation" is highly "constructive" in having its desired effect. Your comment is clear evidence that this is so. Thanks for seeing the message so clearly.

[222eileen222]

Spiritual discipline, yes that's what yoga is. Most people do not know this, they only go to yoga classes completely numb about spirituality. Thank you for clarifying the truth about yoga.

[yogabindu]

Yes, you are right to point out that their reasons are "incomplete." That is quite an understatement. Their "incomplete" reasons are like holding a brick in your hand and calling it a house, or referring to a wheel as a car. It is totally confusing the part with the whole. As Pandit Rajmani Tigunait says, "To regard Yoga primarily as a set of practices for increasing strength and flexibility while calming the nervous system is to mistake the husk for the kernel."

[yogabindu]

Regarding "what's bad about doing it anyway?" As Swami Satyananda Saraswati says, The main objective of hatha Yoga is to create an absolute balance of the interacting activities and processes of the physical body, mind and energy. When this balance is created, the impulses generated give a call of awakening to the central force (sushumna nadi) which is responsible for the evolution of human consciousness. If hatha Yoga is not used for this purpose, its true objective is lost.

[yogabindu]

Regarding "so what are you even saying?" What I am saying is that, as stated clearly in the description, "Unfortunately, most of their reasons have little to do with authentic, traditional Yoga."