An Introduction to Yoga
Monika Steiner Çelebi

Yoga is an old system of moral, physical and spiritual teachings from the east, whose aim is to help you gain spiritual unity and harmony. Its mythical founder is a sage called Patanjali, who lived some time between 200 BCE and 200CE. He is said to have invented Grammar (Sanskrit being one of the oldest written languages on earth), Aruveyic medicine and Yoga.

Pantanjali said: the aim of Yoga is to calm the fluctuations of the mind. It is this hope, which is so attractive to many people in the West. Because even though many books have been written and studied and commentated about Yoga, the good thing is that you don’t have to believe in it. You just have to do it. It is a philosophy of action. If you practice Yoga you will over time learn to be stronger, calmer and more at ease with yourself and your environment.

There are eight aspects (or limbs) to Yoga, which are all linked to each other. Moral behavior towards others like non-stealing and non-violence etc., reminiscent of the ten commandments in the Judeo-Christian tradition, is one (Yama). Personal hygiene and conduct towards self is another aspect (Niyama). Then there are the postures, called Asanas, often known under the name of Hatha Yoga. These are a set of exercises, which have a profound effect on the strength, flexibility, physical and mental health of the practitioner. Hatha Yoga was mentioned by Patanjali and further developed in the Middle Ages in the texts of Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Yoga in this context is meant to control and purify the processes of the physical body in order to transform their powerful energies. This is now the most popular form of Yoga in the west.

After this come Pranayama, breathing exercises, which can help to control and calm mind and body. The breath, being central to our existence, becomes an object for meditation, since it is both physical as well as spiritual, it being literally the breath of life, a phenomenon still little understood and therefore awe inspiring. The next stages are Pratyahara, a withdrawal of senses, similar to being absorbed in a book and forgetting the world around, Dharna, one-pointed ness, as in effort free total concentration, Dhayana, a state of extraordinary awareness and connectedness with the object of your contemplation and Samadhi, which is meditative union, when the practitioner feels at one with him or herself and with the universe.

There are many different schools of Yoga, who all emphasise different aspects of Yoga. In the UK the most common schools are Iyengar, Ashtanga, Wheel of Yoga, and Vini Yoga.

Ultimately all schools of Yoga come from the same source, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and all aim towards the same goal which is in the name Yoga, meaning to yoke or link, a state of wholeness and being connected within and with the world around.

Based on Principles of Yoga by Cheryl Isaacson