What does Yoga mean?

When I say yoga, this is what you imagine right? But its not even the tip of the iceberg & here’s the tea.

Yoga comes from yuj & if you see the many meanings it has in the vedas, all of them mostly refer to margas or paths which help you concentrate to harness or unite yourself to your innner soul.

Yogas are basically just differents mods in the game of life which can help you reach level 100 which is moksha.

Karma yoga says you should continue giving your best at what you do without expectations to the fruits, while bhakti yoga asks you to lose yourself in God’s songs, dynana yoga asks us to keep being curious & seek knowledge, while raja yoga is the royal path of meditation to conquer the mind.

By combining aspects of some yogas, Patanjali in 200 CE developed 8-limbed yoga system, out of which asanas or the poses you see are just one part, often considered a foundation to prepare the body & mind to be flexible to bend enough to arrive at & focus on realizations.

In asana yogas, we have many styles developed like bikram, hatha & tantra yoga.

Alongside, we have the pillar of Yama which are ethical restraints on violence (ahimsa), lying (satya), stealing (asteya), control on sex (bhramacharya) & possession (aparigraha).

We also have the pillar of niyama or rules like cleanliness (shaucha), self-discipline(tapas), contentment (santosha), self-study (svadhyaya) & surrended to God (ishvara pranidhana).

When yam & niyam are followed, you can graduate to pranayama - the control of our breath & life force.

With control over the breath, mind & body, we move to pratyahara - withdrawal of our senses through dharana i.e. focus & this stream of focus leads to dhyana or meditative state.

When you are able to be in this state indefinitely, you achieve samadhi - or a blissful, peaceful onneess with God or the universe … and that is yoga for you.