What is Yoga? International Yoga Day Retreat
The Himalayan Tradition is a meditative (dhyana) tradition. All the practices, including asanas are practiced to prepare oneself for meditation. Hatha yoga is taught as an integrated practice, which includes centering, correct breathing, breath-awareness, stretching sequences, joints & glands movements, asanas, subtle-body relaxations, pranayamas, and meditation. There is a focus on not only positioning the body correctly, but also on experiencing what is happening within. Asanas are performed with reverence and gentleness in the mind, moving from outside inwards.
Hatha Yoga, as taught within the Himalayan Tradition is understood as “a continuum” involving all the eight limbs of Raja yoga, especially Ahimsa.
As our beloved Swami Veda Bharati has said,
“What is this yoga? What is it? What are the signs of one practicing yoga?
On the very first sutra of the Yoga-sutras of Patanjali, Vyasa, the first and foremost sage commentator, defines:
Yogah samadhih
Yoga [means] samadhi.
‘Yogah samadhih’ is also in the logo of our organization AHYMSIN – the Association of Himalayan Yoga Meditation Societies International – with headquarters at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama in Rishikesh.
The most authentic ancient text of yoga speaks of it in these terms.
The most authentic ancient text of Ayurveda, Charaka-samhita, states:
Yogo moksha-pravartakah
Yoga is that which impels and grants spiritual liberation (moksha)
Sharira-sthana 1.137”
This International Yoga Day let us try to understand what truly and traditionally yoga is, beyond the asanas, as it is now popularly understood.
