Patanjali had included ‘Yama’ and ‘Niyama’ as element of yoga. Are we not moving away from such objectives? Discuss.
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Answer:
The word ‘yoga’ is understood differently by many of us; for some it’s purely a physical exercise, a way to get stronger, healthier and more flexible; for others it’s meditating each day, and for others still, it might mean chanting mantras or worshipping a deity.
If there’s one thing to be sure of though, it’s that yoga – meaning ‘unity’, offers us a way of life that can be much more transformational than a 60-minute yoga class once a week….
Beyond asana
While all the stretching, twisting, balancing and occasionally falling over (or a lot of falling over) is very beneficial, and certainly opens the gateways to a healthier, more vibrant and ‘alive’ sense of being, it is just one branch on a very big tree of yoga. Ancient texts such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and The Yoga Sutras focus very little on physical yoga postures (asana), and in fact when Patanjali speaks of ‘asana’ he is in no way at all referring to Headstand or Warrior II; he’s talking about the position you choose to sit in while meditating – your ‘seat’. It’s the tantric traditions that focussed more on what the body could do, and these texts show more evidence of where the postures come from…
The Yoga Sutras
The Yamas and Niyamas originate from the very well known text ‘The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali’, which many yoga teachers or teachers-in-training will have attempted to decipher at some point. Patanjali is known as a sage, but it’s very unlikely that one man wrote these texts – and far more likely that the texts are the culmination of what a group of Patanjali’s disciples wrote over a period of time.
Without going into too much detail – the Yoga Sutras are essentially less of a deep and philosophical book like many may think, and more like a guide or instruction manual on how to live in order to advance along a spiritual path towards enlightenment.