Yoga Wisdom - A Primer
Yoga is so much more than the poses we do on our mats.
True, authentic yoga is a codified system for personal transformation and spiritual growth.
The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit root yuj, most commonly translated as union: the union of the individual self (jīvātman) with the higher self (paramātman). And there are many, many paths to that union. The wisdom is vast, understood over time through study and practice, and your path should ultimately be your own.
Regardless of the path you chose, guidance is critical because this wisdom is so vast it can only truly be transmitted through a teacher's lived experience. Teachers strengthen the foundation, and we build from there.
Over 2000 years ago, a great sage named Patañjali articulated ancient wisdom and gave all humans a manual, a guidebook to transform our lives. Where yoga broadly points to union, Patañjali defines it more precisely as the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind. A different way of pointing at the same destination.
Patañjali’s Yoga is an excellent path to Yoga (capital Y), and a logical one for studio practitioners, because āsana (the physical poses) and prāṇāyāma (the regulation of prāṇa, our vital energy through breath control) are two of the eight limbs of Aṣṭāṅga Yoga, codified in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali.
Behind the poses is a vast body of wisdom, tools, and techniques to guide us to true personal evolution.
This wisdom has traditionally been handed down personally from teacher to student over millennia; it is both sacred and profound.
But even in the last 100 years, the world has changed immensely with exponential population growth and increasingly uncertain times. The world needs yoga's wisdom now more than ever, and with these changing times come new ways for that wisdom to reach more people.
A qualified teacher is still required for guidance, and the student has to be ready to receive the teachings. Both are super important for the teachings to produce transformative results.
As the yogic saying goes, when the student is ready the teacher appears. If you're here, you may be ready.
