Yoga: Facts & Fancies

by Alan L. Pritz

Years ago when training in and teaching martial arts, I found myself squirming in a movie theatre while a young, uncoordinated, and rather inept Ralph Maccio portrayed a klutz-transformed-to-boy-wonder in "The Karate Kid". Nobody asked me then, so I've patiently waited all this time to finally vent and say, PHOOEY!!! Maybe it's just me, but there's nothing that rankles quite so much as seeing something valuable misrepresented to a less knowledgeable public.

The same thing is now occurring with yoga. In April, Time Magazine dazzled all with a cover photo showing a young-lovely in a tricky yoga pose. They also had an inside story discussing various styles of yoga and how mainstream it's become in the west. Part of me was glad to see this; after all, I've been involved with yoga for years and know its value. However, then the purist rankle-factor set in. According to the Time article there are as many different varieties of yoga as personality types to practice it. Some emphasize soothing & centering, others "shake and bake". Yet these are but niche-marketing forms of one method of yoga, hatha, and the teachers who have generated these expressions.

Western audiences, by and large, like externals. They want quick results, trendy sweat, and glitzy, sexy representations of anything. Ironically, hatha yoga is a minor aspect in the broader science of yoga. I don't mean to say it has no value, it does. However, many advanced yogis may not practice it at all. Here's a story to emphasize my point:

"A proud hatha teacher once took his most advanced disciple to a nearby Master. After the disciple demonstrated his skillful attainment, the teacher announced, 'Now he is ready for seclusion to gain enlightenment'. The Master, who patiently watched the performance replied, 'Of what benefit is all this? Even a snake or cat is as limber!'
When Time did their yoga bit they were selling magazines, not attending to details nor philosophic accuracy. Yoga derives from the Sanskrit, yuj, which means "union". This doesn't just mean body/mind integration. That's almost insulting. Rather, it refers to the union of the soul with Spirit through scientific methods of meditation. Quite a difference!

In Hindu philosophy, Yoga is but one of six orthodox systems. It hosts various methods such as Hatha, Mantra, Laya, Karma, Jnana, Bhakti, and Raja. The last, Raja, means "royal" or complete yoga and integrates all the different systems for the singular purpose of attaining Divine union. In the holy Hindu Bhagavad Gita, the Lord as Krishna extols Raja Yoga to the spiritual seeker personified as Arjuna:

"The yogi is greater than body-disciplining ascetics, greater even than the followers of the path of wisdom or of the path of action; be thou, O' Arjuna, a yogi!" BG, VI:46, ("Yogi" here refers to anyone practicing a scientific method of meditation.)
In our sometimes crass, "firm-butt" culture, hatha is the most widely known and taught system of yoga because of its health and appearance benefits. But these are mere by-products of practice and not the ultimate goal. "Hatha" literally means "sun/moon" and refers to the flow of subtle energies within the body. It is the control of these energies that matters in yoga, not a contortionist's flexibility. Here's why.

In yoga the soul is known to be an individualized aspect of Spirit. Like the prodigal child in the Christian parable, it left the home of Spirit/Father in Cosmic Consciousness and descended into the limitation of form and ego, i.e. identification with a physical body and seeming separation from Spirit. That descent occurred sequentially through the seven chakras, centers of life energy and consciousness in the body and brain that radiate vital force to the astral and physical bodies. Thus the chakras and their energetic pathways are also the metaphysical route by which the soul must reascend to Cosmic Consciousness.

"In its conscious upward passage through the seven opened or 'awakened' cerebrospinal centers, the soul travels the highway to the Infinite, the true path by which the soul must retrace its course to reunite with God." (Man's Eternal Quest, Paramhansa Yogananda)

So the real essence of yoga is its definitive understanding of how to re-unite with God by scientific methods. Obviously this is a tad deeper than the hatha class taught at a nearby health club! Now that I've set the record straight, let me re-iterate that hatha yoga is wonderfully therapeutic, healthful, and spiritually beneficial. I've been certified to teach it, practice it to a certain degree, and regularly use it in my meditation workshops and retreat activities. However, I simply couldn't abide by the popular misconception that this is all of what yoga is about. Without proper information people could spend much of their time practicing "the trees without seeing the forest." The heart of yoga is meditation, plain and simple. Even those who practice the systems that emphasize devotion, service, and wisdom must ultimately incorporate meditation for greatest benefit. Communion with the Divine is the sole goal. As one saint put it, "God Alone". The great gift of yoga is that it can facilitate this end regardless of ones religious or spiritual orientation.