What Is Yoga - HOCKLEY YOGA

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What Is Yoga

Yoga is the unity of body, mind and spirit: the experience of UNION amongst this 3 separate parts of ourselves grant us an inner experience of ONENESS.

The underlying purpose of the practice of yoga is to reunite the “individual self” with “pure consciousness”. In fact, the word yoga means literally ‘joining’. Union with this unchanging reality liberates the spirit from all sense of separation, freeing it from the illusion of time, space and causation. When we focus on what is not essential, it feels as if something is always lacking in life – something that neither achieving a goal nor fulfilling a desire can satisfy. Yoga, by means of the practice of physical postures (asanas) and deep breathing exercises (pranayama) grants us the ability to connect with what is real within us, allowing us to realizing our true nature.

What Is Yoga

Our craving for happiness comes from not being able to see through the shell of all which is physical. To a yogi, body and mind are part of the illusory world of matter, with a limited life span; but the spirit is eternal and can allow us to experience inner peace by reuniting us with the Self within. Free from self-identification with name and form, you can transcend the body altogether and find the Self which is permanent. Yoga begins with the body and it ends transcending it.

Yoga is a holistic way to create inner balance. Working with the body we affect the breath, working with the breath we affect the mind, working with the mind we affect the emotional and personality components and so on.

What Is Yoga

When we access an asana often we face many challenges, the ego wishes to push, force, make things happen, change things… The practice of yoga teaches us to breathe into whatever it is we are feeling and to embrace it instead of forcing things to happen.

Only when we take that deep breath and validate it all, peace happens and we find more ease and flexibility in our movements. When we push muscles and ligaments, they contract; when we breathe in, validate and allow what is happening within as we access an asana; magical things happen and we can feel the structures starting to give in and truly relax… The exact same happens at an emotional level, if we try to control or fight what is, we contract and create tension; but if we allow things to happen, we create an opportunity for expansion and relaxation.

Through toning and relaxing our bodies and stilling the mind, you begin to glimpse a state of inner peace which is your true nature. It is this which constitutes the essence of yoga – this self-realization that we are all seeking, consciously or unconsciously, and towards which we are all gradually evolving.

Developing a Yoga practice sets a strong foundation for all of the activities in your life. It’s about developing a relationship with yourself and taking responsibility for your health. Whatever brings you to practice Yoga; as you embrace this path: you’ll feel better, you’ll look better and you will interact with others, yourself and respond to the world around you more effectively.