What is the point of doing yoga?
The purpose of yoga is to accept yourself completely, “as-is,” integrating all parts of the self. The word “Yoga” means “union.” One self: body, mind, spirit, happiness, sadness, humanness, successes, hip pain, bad hair days, everything. Every yoga technique is a tool for clearing inner pathways to that kind of wholesale self acceptance. Yoga techniques include the body movements (asanas) that are pictured in magazines, as well as paying attention to sensation, controlled breathing, meditation, and thousands of other techniques. All of them are tools to use in personal development. back to top What role does spirituality play in yoga? There is no need to subscribe to any doctrine in order to take a yoga class, though it is good to know that yoga originated in India and has ties to Hinduism. The chants that are sometimes sung during yoga classes use Hindu names for god. Standard yoga practices like the Sun Salutation have been used as a form of prayer. Here in the United States, many yo
