When someone tells me they’ve never tried yoga because they’re not flexible enough, it reminds me how narrow our understanding of yoga has become.
Many people associate yoga with stretching, strengthening, improving flexibility or relaxation. These can all be valuable aspects of practice, but there’s so much more to yoga.
Its roots lie in ancient traditions that explore our relationship with ourselves, others and the world around us.
Here are seven things about yoga that you might find interesting.
1. Yoga is more than movement
Physical postures are just one aspect of yoga.
Traditionally, yoga also includes breathing practices, meditation, sound, self-enquiry and principles that guide how we live.
What happens on the yoga mat can help us become more aware of how we respond to everyday situations.
We might notice how we react when something feels difficult, how we approach challenges or whether we’re able to recognise when we need to rest.
These observations can be just as valuable as developing strength or flexibility.
2. Yoga has a long tradition of individual teaching
Long before the large group classes we’re familiar with today, yoga was often passed from teacher to student through a personal relationship.
The teacher would consider the individual’s circumstances, experience and needs, adapting the practices accordingly.
This is an approach I particularly value.
Two people may come to yoga with similar difficulties, yet what helps one person may be quite different from what helps the other.
This individual approach remains central to Yoga Therapy, where practices can be adapted to support someone’s particular health, movement and wellbeing needs.
3. The word ‘asana’ means seat or posture
The Sanskrit word asana originally referred to a seat or sitting position.
In early descriptions of yoga, particular emphasis was placed on finding a steady, comfortable posture that would support meditation.
Over time, yoga developed a much wider range of physical postures, including many of those we recognise today.
Yet the original emphasis on steadiness and comfort is still relevant.
A posture doesn’t need to be complicated to be worthwhile. Sometimes the simplest movements and positions offer us the greatest opportunity to notice what is happening in our bodies.
4. There are many paths in yoga
Yoga has developed through different traditions, each offering ways to explore our relationship with life.
Some of the best-known paths include:
- Karma Yoga: The path of action and service, bringing awareness and care to what we do.
- Bhakti Yoga: The path of devotion, expressed through love, connection, prayer or spiritual practice.
- Jnana Yoga: The path of knowledge and self-enquiry, exploring the nature of ourselves and reality.
- Raja Yoga: The path associated with meditation, concentration and the exploration of consciousness.
These paths can overlap, and we may naturally be drawn towards different aspects at different times in our lives.
Someone who has never attended a yoga class may already be exploring principles of yoga through service, contemplation, devotion or meditation.
5. Yoga includes sound and breath
Breathing practices have been part of yoga for centuries, as have traditions involving mantra, chanting and sacred sound.
Our breath is closely connected with how we feel. When we’re anxious or under pressure, we may notice it becoming quicker or shallower. When we’re relaxed, our breathing often changes naturally.
Working consciously with the breath can help us become more aware of these responses.
Sound offers another interesting way to explore this connection.
When we hum or make a sustained vocal sound, we can feel the vibration within our bodies. We may notice how the sound changes with our breathing, or how different tones feel in different areas.
In Yoga of the Voice, we explore breath, sound and vibration through simple practices that anyone can try. There’s no need to be able to sing.
6. Yoga is about wholeness
The word yoga is commonly associated with the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning to join or unite.
Different yoga traditions interpret this in different ways, including the relationship between individual consciousness and a greater reality.
For me, this understanding of yoga also has a very practical meaning.
We can become so caught up in thinking, planning and responding to life’s demands that we lose awareness of what’s happening in our bodies.
Yoga gives us an opportunity to reconnect with our physical experience, our breathing, our thoughts and emotions.
As we develop that awareness, we may begin to recognise connections that previously went unnoticed.
7. Yoga continues to evolve
Yoga has a long and varied history, and the practices we know today have developed through many different traditions and influences.
Modern yoga classes often look quite different from the practices described in ancient texts.
I think it’s important to respect yoga’s origins while recognising that our understanding and application of these practices continue to develop.
Yoga Therapy is one example of how traditional practices can be adapted to meet contemporary needs, drawing on an understanding of the body, movement, breathing and health.
And perhaps that’s one of the reasons yoga remains relevant to so many people.
We can approach it at different stages of life, with different abilities, interests and needs.
Some people come because they’re experiencing pain or stiffness. Others are looking for relaxation, support through a difficult time or a deeper understanding of themselves.
Whatever brings us to yoga, there’s always something new to discover.
If you’d like to explore yoga for yourself, you’re welcome to join one of my online yoga courses, where we bring together movement, breath, awareness and relaxation.
