Yoga retreats and yoga holidays - improve your yoga practice in Egypt & Morocco

Yoga and Spirituality

What is the meaning of life? Why are we here? Who am I? It might be surprising to many western yoga students that these are all perfectly respectable yoga questions – albeit in a very different form to physical exercise.

The word 'yoga' means union. But union with what? In the Indian tradition, it means understanding we are all part of the same larger whole, or Brahman. To put it in terms of physics: we are all made of atoms. These atoms flow in and out of us (our body will change 'it's' atoms 50 times over the course of our lifespan). 'We', therefore, do not exist as separate beings – we're all part of a larger whole. The goal of yoga, or union, is to understand this and join – unite- with it.

Yoga teaches many ways to do this. The Western yoga approach has been through asana or physical practice. Through investigating our bodies (as well as meditating) we come to understand our temporariness and place in the universe. Death holds no fear for a true yogi. By being here and now we transcend ourselves – and find our true identities underneath.

Other approaches might be those practiced by the Dalai Lama, Gandhi or Mother Teresa. This is Karma yoga or the yoga of selfless service. By serving others, it is believed, we can find our way to happiness. A more traditional approach is devotional yoga, or bhakti yoga. The idea here is to love and surrender to the universe. Bhakti yogis practice prayer, chanting and ritual. Many are the orange-wearing sadhus wandering in their millions on the streets of India.

Indeed, far away from the studios, gyms and village halls of western yoga, in India many yogis may never do any physical exercise. Asana, or postures, is seen as a junior level for many high-level spiritual seekers.

Yet asanas are just as much part of a spiritual path as prayer or chanting. An awareness of yourself is a giant step towards understanding our place in the universe. Most of the time we spend thinking about the future or the past; physical yoga teaches us to be here in the present. And it's only when we are fully here now, aware of emotions, thoughts, feelings and sensations, that we can really come to start thinking about the big questions.