The Truth About Yoga
by Ryan Leier

Yoga is one. God is one. Yoga means knowing God inside you. But using it only for physical practice is no good, of no use—just a lot of sweating, pushing, and heavy breathing for nothing. The spiritual aspect, which is beyond the physical, is the purpose of yoga. —Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois

Some yoga systems look like gymnastics, calisthenics, or contortionism. Other systems look like simple relaxation or meditation. When most people think of yoga, they think of stretching, flexibility, fitness, and relaxation. Contrary to popular belief, yoga is not just exercising, yoga is exorcising! With practice, we learn to exorcise all of the thoughts and beliefs that keep us separated and divided from each other. We can learn to join with our highest aspects, control our thoughts, and (co)-create a happy, healthy life.

The foundation of yoga is Ahimsa (non-violence). A physical practice that does not have non-violence as its root is closer to gymnastics than yoga.

Yoga practice, unlike most other physical cultures, takes into consideration the entire human being, not only the physical, but also the mental, moral, and spiritual aspects of their being. 

To be a Yogi doesn’t always have much to do with the physical poses. Many of the great Yogis did not practice postures (asanas). Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa did not practice asanas, but their practices of non-violence (ahimsa), selfless service, and unconditional love were monumental. The great Yogini Indra Devi did not do many advanced asanas, but her teachings are very profound. She said, “Yoga is about giving Love and Light to everybody: Those who love you, those who harm you, those who you know, those who you don’t know. It makes no difference, you just give light and love.” Her teachings echo the teachings of the Masters like Jesus and the Buddha.

The sages who developed yoga never had the aim of merely developing their physical body and relieving stress. While asana is not the goal of yoga it is very important to modern yoga practice. BKS Iyengar says, “Asana is a preparation for spiritual, but everything is inherent in it... It is through your body that you realize you are a spark of divinity.” The sages had the aim of bringing the body to its highest state of health in order to house the Living Spirit inside the temple of the body. Rather than neglecting or disregarding the physical body, they tuned it to become a fit instrument for spiritual development. The Yoga Master Iyengar says, “The Body is my Temple, the postures are my prayers.” 

The word yoga can have a few different meanings.

First, yoga means to join, to yoke, to harness, and to bring together, to become One. The Master Krishnamacharya says this joining is like salt and water. This joining can be described as union with God, or the highest self or union of the little, ego-self with the Infinite spirit. Yoga teaches us that at our centre, we are no better or superior to anyone, and also that we are no worse or inferior to anyone.

Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” This is one of Jesus’ quotes that Yoga Master Father Joe Periera uses, when he describes Jesus as The Supreme Yogi. Jesus’ teachings emphasize how to be “yoked with God” or how to experience “oneness or union with God.”

The second meaning is to converge the mind, as in meditation. According to my teacher, Nicki Doane, yoga is: “The intentional calming and quieting of all the self-limiting, self-judging, and self-defeating tendencies of the mind. It is the intention that makes all the difference, otherwise the practice of Hatha yoga is merely exercise. When we truly can live in the spacious realm that is yoga, which is where we are in control of our mind and not influenced by the agitations of it, only then can we recognize our true nature, which is, quite simply, God (any name you are comfortable with works as well). It is the realization that we are all One that defines the term God to me.” 

Yoga is a movement from distraction to direction, a movement from paranoia to pronoia. Controlling the body, mind, and senses is vital to self-realization. The Buddha taught that the mind is everything. What you think you become. This echoes the teachings of the Sage Patanjali whose Yoga Sutras are the basis of most yoga traditions including Krishnamacharya.

A third meaning of yoga is central to Krishnamacharya’s teaching. He felt it was yoga that enables us to reach a point we have not reached before. Through yoga, the unconscious becomes conscious, the invisible can be seen, the unknown becomes known. Through yoga the impossible becomes possible, we begin to create our dreams. Yoga helps one to realize their innermost potential. With practice the yogi learns to move from the centre and find guidance from the heart or the intuition. The heart does things for reasons that reason doesn’t always understand.

Most of these teachings say that at our centre we are the same. According to the Yogis, the centre of our being, often called the atma or soul, or God, or Guru, is located on the right side of the physical heart (Hridaya).

It seems that the Voice that the prophet Bob Marley speaks about, comes from the Hridaya: “People have a voice inside of them that talks to them—that is the voice that these people must listen to. Because in everything you’re going to do, there is a wrong way and a right way. And if you listen good, you will know the right way. There’s a voice inside talking to everyone.”

Through yoga practice we realize that we are intimately connected with the Most High, we realize that we are One.

Ryan Leier is primarily a student of Krishamacharya’s yoga. In addition to teacher training in the Vinyasa and Iyengar traditions, he continues to study with his main teacher Father Joe Pereira, as well as with Baron Baptiste, Dharma Mittra, Eddie Modestini, and Nicki Doane. Ryan has realized his vision of yoga through the foundation of his yoga studio, One Yoga, located in Saskatoon at 527 Main Street. For more information call (306) 612-2121, email: ryanleier@gmail.com, and visit www.saskatoonyoga.com.
You can also watch his video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIgmD8v21NM.