Ways of guiding and teaching have changed as societies developed. As East met the West, branches of practices have been branded, and yoga posture images sensationalized through media and marketing. Yet the essence of yoga remains: oneness. Oneness embodies whatever arises, is open to shifts, one with whatever is flowing in life. There is nothing to “do” because everything is already connected.
Patañjali, an ancient sage, said in his work of the Yoga Sutras: “Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence. When the mind has settled, we are established in our essential nature, which is unbounded Consciousness. Our essential nature is usually overshadowed by the activity of the mind.” How beautiful and refreshing is that?
What a divine river is yoga—not even a sense of ego on the riverbanks—only pure clarity that flows its soulful current between the heart and the brain, the hands and feet, that blurs the lines between where the skin ends and spirit continues, wrapping around mountains, rolling through cities, swirling and living.
Patañjali explains there are eight limbs of yoga or eight streams—which can be done separately yet are practiced together to attain divine river mind, or moksha (meaning an attained transcendent state).
The eight limbs of yoga are:
- Yamas (virtues/ethics).
- Niyamas (internal observances and self-discipline).
- Asana (yoga postures).
- Pranayama (breath control).
- Pratyahara (withdrawal of senses).
- Dharana (concentration).
- Dhyana (meditation)
- Samadhi (absorption/blissful state).
The first six are practices. The last two happen to us (because of doing the first six).
Current cultural impressions we consume often portray yoga as stretching. Devoted teachers and students of yoga understand that Asanas, the physical poses, are a part of a whole of the eight limbs of yoga. Yoga trends for wellness are a helpful gateway to liberating and freeing the mind of stuck patterns which cause disease, poor health and negative self-talk.
The essence of yoga, however, is whatever word you choose to use for mindfulness—nature, love, light, universe. Wherever you are, whatever you believe, start there. This is the essence of the famous Zen quote: “start where you are”. Yoga’s essence is not the latest mats or popular clothing.
Essence is a divine river flowing within you now: formless and ethereal.
I teach my students, yoga is a breathing practice. I use it as an object of meditation and focus. It brings us closer to our essence of fluidity. Returning to the breath in this way silences some of the static of the mind. Breath bridges the physical and spiritual worlds.
Eight limbs of yoga, every breath you take and each moment ebbs and flows, impermanent. I encourage you now, start where you are. I will meet you in the divine river.
Namaste
Andrea L. Wehlann
Andrea L. Wehlann is the visionary Founder & CEO of Ganga Moon Yoga & Reiki Skool. A bestselling author with a BA in psychology and a diploma in social services, she combines her extensive social services experience with her credentials as a Reiki Master and meditation teacher to offer transformative insights through her three impactful books.
