What Is Yoga?

Sadhguru Dispels 3 Misconceptions About Yoga

Confused by all the noise around Yoga? Sadhguru gives five points on what Yoga really is and busts three myths about Yoga that are commonly believed.

Sadhguru: In the western part of the world, if you utter the word “Yoga,” people think of impossible physical postures. This is a very distorted idea of what Yoga is. Yoga is not about bending and twisting your body or holding your breath. It is a mechanism and a technology to get you to that state of experience where you see reality just the way it is.[/SadhguruImage]

The word “Yoga” literally means “union.”

As you sit here, your idea and your sense and experience of who you are is very strong. You are here as an individual. But what the trees are exhaling right now, you are inhaling; what you are exhaling, the trees are inhaling. In other words, one half of your lung is hanging out there. This is not just in terms of breath. Today, modern physics is proving to you that as you sit here, every subatomic particle in your body is in constant transaction with everything else in the existence. If this transaction stops, you will cease to exist. So, Yoga means to know the union of existence by experience.

Modern science is proving to you that the whole existence is just one energy. The religions of the world have been saying for a long time that God is everywhere. Whether you say, “God is everywhere,” or you say, “Everything is one energy,” we are talking about the same reality. It is just that a scientist has never experienced this – he has arrived at it through mathematical deductions; a religious person has not experienced it – he believes it because it is written somewhere or has been said by someone.

If you are such a hard nut that you are not willing to settle for deductions or belief systems, then you become a Yogi. When you know the oneness of existence like you experience the five fingers of your hand, then we say you are in Yoga.