Over the last few decades as yoga practice and spirituality have become more popular, the word ‘yoga’ has been interpreted to mean many different things. The word was first seen in the rig vedas, an ancient Indian text, and was used to describe the bringing together of an ox and a cart. So we know that the original meaning of this sanskrit word is ‘to yoke’ or ‘to unite’.
A teacher of mine, Michael Stone, was passionate about describing yoga as the practice of being very intimate with one’s life. ‘Intimacy’ being used here to describe a sense of closeness with what is actually happening in the present moment.
This might sound obvious or too simple, but when we start to explore this idea we notice that it is quite rare to actually be in the moment. Most of the time we are caught up in our thoughts, stories and plans; constantly giving away our attention to screens, news feeds and never ending messages.
We are very rarely paying attention to where we are, what we are doing, who we are with and how we are feeling.
A 2010 study by Harvard psychologists Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert, discovered that 47% of the time we are not actually present with what we are doing. In essence, this means that we are missing half of our days, half of our weeks and half of our lives.
So when we practice yoga, we are strengthening our ability to be in the moment. It’s less about pushing and forcing the body or breath to do something extreme, and more about learning how to really be there. Whether it’s in a pose that feels good or exciting, or in a pose that feels challenging or uncomfortable — we are learning how to be with it.
And the more that we train ourselves in oupractice, the more that we can do this in our life. Instead of missing out the moments — we start to wake up and really be in it.
When we open our eyes after sleep, when we are drinking coffee, when we are walking down the street, when we are in conversations with loved ones; when we are feeling love, joy, grief or pain. We are able to really feel it. To not hold on, to not run away. To be intimate with whatever is happening. This is yoga.