What is Yoga ?

Lord Shiva is the Primal abhyasi (practitioner) The yogi par excellence.
After having experimented on the Self innumerable times, after dexterously recording His findings in His own mind, He carefully guided his snake from the Karakotaka tribe, in all the eight limbs of the yoga that He had himself developed. The snake became the great Rishi Patanjali in his next birth. Remembering sincerely what his Lord had taught him, Patanjali laid down Shiva's teachings as the Yoga sutras for seekers to practise. It is also known as Ashtanga yoga, or that which has eight steps.
Yoga begins with Yama ( Moral restraints or " do nots " )
Next is Niyama (Moral observances or the" Dos" )
The third limb is Asana. These are the various poses we learn in Hatha Yoga.
Asana is a gateway , and can be understood as 'seats' for this great flight to the Divine Self.
We get to the subtle heights by more subtle steps, to the fourth stage called Pranayama-the training of the prana or breath,
Fifth is Prathyahara-the cessation of outward distraction by isolating our mind,
The sixth step is Dharana, focusing the mind on a single stream of thought ,perhaps on an object that is Divine, like God or Guru.
Shiva teaches that next we must reach the highest peaks of yoga, the seventh realm called Dhyana ( meditation)
and finally the Kailash of yoga, the highest eighth realm called Samadhi ( absorption into Supreme consciousness)

“So do you get all these deep wisdoms in your Yoga abhyasa? I’ve been seeing you do all sorts of postures; Asanas as you call them.” asked Sati one day.

“Yoga asana is only a seat for the great flight to the self. meditation can be as synergized, as natural as my rides on Nandi, or as tumultuous, with the energy of an untamed beast of the natural order.
All of Nature’s things are like that; You need to be completely at oneness with them before you even start to mount the ride. Else you will just be overturned, which too is an important part in the process of learning, Sati,” replied Shiva.
“It’s simple,” He said. “Yoga is not about your body. Yoga is about discovering your soul.”


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