Yoga

What is Yoga?

Yoga is the family of Indian disciplines that aim to unite the individual self with the absolute. The word comes from the Sanskrit yuj, to yoke. Patañjali's Yoga Sūtras (c. 2nd century BCE) codify the path in eight limbs. Postural āsana is one of them.

The eight limbs

Patañjali describes union as the natural result of stilling the modifications of the mind. The eight-limbed path (aṣṭāṅga) is the method. The limbs are ethical observances (yama), inner disciplines (niyama), posture (āsana), breath-work (prāṇāyāma), withdrawal of the senses (pratyāhāra), concentration (dhāraṇā), meditation (dhyāna), and absorption (samādhi). Each limb supports the next.

Modern postural yoga is essentially limb three expanded into a fitness practice. This is not a criticism. The body is a real entry point. But the eight limbs are eight, and posture is one of them.

The four classical yogas

Indian tradition recognises four primary yogas, each suited to a different temperament. Karma yoga is the yoga of selfless action. Bhakti yoga is the yoga of devotion. Jñāna yoga is the yoga of knowledge, closely related to non-duality§. Rāja yoga is the royal yoga of meditation. Most lineages emphasise one and treat the others as supportive. Sadhguru's Inner Engineering draws on all four.

Yoga vs. adjacent concepts

Yoga is not the same as the postural class taught in Western studios. That class is āsana, the third of Patañjali's eight limbs, expanded for fitness and stress reduction. It can be a doorway to the rest of the path. It is not the path itself.

Yoga is not the same as meditation, though the two overlap. Meditation (dhyāna) is one limb of yoga. A meditator may use only that limb. A yogi works the whole eight.

Yoga is not the same as Hinduism§. It is a method that took shape inside Indian religion and travels through it, but Jain, Buddhist and tantric lineages all use yogic technique. Yoga is what the practitioner does. Hinduism is one of the worlds the practice grew up inside.

Yoga in the index

The yogi-author most present in the index is Sadhguru↗. His Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy↗ is the practical introduction. Inner Engineering Online↗ is the full course. Sadhguru on disability and spiritual practice↗ and Sadhguru on unlocking the mind's full potential↗ are short representative talks.

The classic Western entry into Indian yogic teaching is Paramahansa Yogananda's *Autobiography of a Yogi*↗. Steve Jobs read it. George Harrison recommended it. It introduced the word Babaji to most English readers. Yogananda was a kriya yogi, a more esoteric branch with techniques designed to accelerate spiritual evolution.

For the meditation-focused secular yoga that has become the West's largest contemplative practice, see Jon Kabat-Zinn's MBSR↗. It is formally a Buddhist§-derived programme. The postural and breath-work elements are pure rāja yoga limbs three and four.