What is Yoga?

That Depends. It’s Complicated.

Yoga is about being interested. It’s about being continuously, authentically curious. It’s about learning how to learn. Yoga is how yoga unfolds for you.

Yoga is now everywhere and so many activities are associated with yoga or even called yoga. So I ask myself, “Can any action or endeavor be called yoga?”

The short answer: it’s likely that only you can answer that question. Engage yourself if you want to know what yoga means.

My experience tells me this question requires a patient journey of inquiry. What does yoga mean to me and does that matter? How am I in yoga, of yoga, and doing yoga? Am I doing yoga well? What does doing it well mean to me and what will yoga do for me?

I joke that if I could have made the Glo predominantly lectures I would have done just that — but that wouldn’t have been sustainable. I’m proud that very early on we slowly started to build our now vast library of lectures on yoga philosophy and history, most of which are taught by university professors, and that we offer a course on the history of yoga. My hope is that our service inspires one’s own journey of discovery. I hope we begin a conversation in your life about what it means to engage deeply our human potential.

Entire books are devoted to explaining yoga’s many usages. And every short definition of yoga is leaving out important parts of the story. Other efforts at definition abdicate the very idea of definition and so tell us why every definition will be inaccurate rather than merely partial:

“I think that it is clear from the wide range of material that I have discussed in the book why it can often seem hard to get a clear line on just what yoga, meditation and Tantra are about. … I think it is more useful to trace the genealogical connections of practices and ideas than to try to shoe-horn the variety of historical instances into a comprehensive definition.” Samuel, p. 342

What we need instead are definitions that serve to expand and include all that we recognize to be yoga. No definition can be comprehensive. Rather, definitions help us understand the complexity of the subject. In multiple definitions I not only discover something new, I gain a deeper appreciation of how much more there is to learn.

The history of yoga traditions, their underlying interweaving philosophical systems, are vast and bewildering. Complexity and volume can overwhelm us or, worse, lead us to believe that certain schools of thought are normative or that we should be anchored to one text, one school of thought, one era, one method, or one goal. We’re reminded again of the parable of the king, the blind men and the elephant. We’ll mischaracterize a portion of the elephant as being the elephant, which leads not only to misunderstanding but to false reduction, to over-simplification. If we think of yoga as something to be sufficiently reduced to one thing, or defined by but one definition or one type of practice, based on some rigid metaphysical or cosmological beliefs, then our yoga will be only that. If you claim that something is or isn’t “yogic,” you’ve decided in advance that there is no larger story. I encourage a deep dive into this material. You won’t be wrong when you identify a portion of the elephant but I promise you, there is more elephant.

The history of yoga is a history of its reinvention. This reading list will take you on that journey of that reinvention. Yoga reinvents itself wherever and whenever it goes. And it does so in plural. At any given time there have been and are multiple definitions, systems, processes, means, and goals. There has always been a plurality of voices, divergent and changing definitions, and changing emphases on what is or is not yoga: that’s an honest historical rendering of “yoga.” And it’s also not very helpful to think of it only chronologically. The tradition doesn’t organize itself very well that way and our efforts to organize through chronologically invariably lead to more guesses than facts. Yoga evolves through the texts and the oral traditions supporting them; the texts keep altering and advancing definitions, and like evolution, the process is cumulative and collective.

The historical sources themselves have often tried to reduce yoga to one thing or one fixed set of things. We should understand this as honest efforts to create an agenda, a perspective, a particular interpretation. But to understand and explain that one-thing-that-is-yoga will not explain the entirety of yoga. Whatever one interpreter has to say, another has more or something different to add. We must respect how people have explained yoga to suit their agenda: everyone has their own hopes and aspirations. But reduction is typically a pointer to an agenda and even to yoga as a commodity, that is, as something to be sold or advocated. When a given interpreter tells us about a practice or how to achieve goals they are taking a particular position. But these are the very same things that are at stake and are always up for grabs.

Ultimately what’s at stake in the question “what is yoga?” has been at stake since time immemorial. How does one’s view of the world, one’s metaphysics and cosmology, one’s desires and ethics inform one’s commitments and actions. How one thinks about the world, what one believes that matters, what our place is in it and how we relate to ourselves, to one another, and to our planet, all of these issues raise the stakes and inform our actions. In summary, what’s at stake is fidelity to one’s belief system and how one engages with such a vision. Yoga sets out goals for creating a life of meaning.

Let’s take, for example, the concept of fulfillment. How we define “fulfillment” is always up for grabs. Not only is there no single or comprehensive definition, there are only more definitions. The onus is on us to continue to excavate, reveal, and to participate in an unfolding process, one that invites furthering our experience rather than reducing it. As a heuristic device, a mental shortcut, we at Glo refer to yoga as the invitation to live fully.

Most folks with whom I speak are surprised to hear how vast is the list to which “yoga” applies itself:

• Origin and nature of the universe
• As philosophy, deducing life
• Our understanding of the natural world, how we should interact with it
• Our relationship between the sublime/divine and the ordinary/material
• Somatics, human embodiment
• Ethics and human nature
• Wellness and fulfillment
• The unconscious, the hidden, the shadows
• The apportionment of resources, war and peace
• The cognitive and emotional process
• Mental health and intellectual development
• Supernormal powers
• Death, rebirth, and recursive reality

The meanings of yoga continuously evolve for me. The definitions I use only seem to grow. What continues to fascinate me is that yoga touches on all these facets of life. I don’t presume that everyone should or needs to take this journey. In the sources listed below there’s a lot to process, a great deal to learn, and not all of it is easy to digest. So much remains that is incomplete, unfinished, or uncategorized for me. But what worthy endeavor doesn’t baffle or overwhelm us for its richness and importance? I will happily list more sources but this is a good starting point. And don’t skip the introductory sections. They are often long, sometimes tedious, but they are also invaluable to understanding the author’s agenda and to unlocking the treasures of the text. Also, you’ll see these authors reference other sources and texts that aren’t listed below. Use these references as a stepping stone for further inquiry. There are worlds upon worlds in these bibliographies and references. Whatever bits and pieces of this vast body of work you explore, I believe you’ll become involved in something rich, beautiful, and worthwhile.

Reading List:

Anjali, G. (1993). Ways of Yoga. Vajra Print. and Pub. of Yoga Anand Ashram.

Banerjea, K. M. (2007). The Brahma Sutras With The Commentary Of Sankaracharya Bibliotheca Indica. Kessinger Publishing, LLC.

Bhagavad-Gita: The Song of God. (2002). Signet Clasic.

Brooks, D. R. (1992). Auspicious Wisdom: The Texts and Traditions of Srividya Sakta Tantrism in South India. SUNY Press.

Brooks, D. R. (2008). Poised for Grace: Annotations on the Bhagavad Gita from a Tantric View. Anusara Press.

Brooks, D. R., & Bhāskararāya. (1990). The Secret of the Three Cities: An Introduction to Hindu Sakta Tantrism. University of Chicago Press.

Bryant, E. F., & Patañjali. (2009). The Yoga sūtras of Patañjali: a new edition, translation, and commentary with insights from the traditional commentators. North Point Press.

Chapple, C. K. (2008). Yoga and the luminous Patañjali’s spiritual path to freedom. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Chapple, C. K. (2009). The Bhagavad Gita: Twenty-fifth–Anniversary Edition. SUNY Press.

Chapple, C. K. (2017). Engaged Emancipation: Mind, Morals, and Make-Believe in the Moksopaya (Yogavasistha). Motilal Banarsidass.

De Michelis, E. (2005). A History of Modern Yoga: Patanjali and Western Esotericism. A&C Black.

De Nicolás, A. T. (2003a). Avatara: The Humanization of Philosophy Through the Bhagavad Gita. iUniverse.

De Nicolás, A. T. (2003b). Meditations Through the Rig Veda: Four-Dimensional Man. iUniverse.

Desikachar, T. K. V. (1999). The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice. Inner Traditions/Bear.

Dyczkowski, M. S. G. (1987). The Doctrine of Vibration: An Analysis of the Doctrines and Practices Associated with Kashmir Shaivism. SUNY Press.

Edgerton, F. (1972). The Bhagavad Gītā. Harvard University Press.

Evans-Wentz, W. Y. (2000). Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines, Or, Seven Books of Wisdom of the Great Path, According to the Late Lāma Kazi Dawa-Samdup’s English Rendering. Oxford University Press.

Feuerstein, G. (1998). Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy. Shambhala Publications.

Feuerstein, G. (2001). The Yoga Tradition: Its History, Literature, Philosophy, and Practice. Hohm Press.

Freeman, R. (2012). The Mirror of Yoga: Awakening the Intelligence of Body and Mind. Shambhala Publications, Incorporated.

Freeman, R., & Taylor, M. (2016). The Art of Vinyasa: Awakening Body and Mind Through the Practice of Ashtanga Yoga. Shambhala Publications, Incorporated.

Gandhi, M. K. (2011). The Bhagavad Gita According to Gandhi. Wilder Publications.

Horton, C. A. (2012). Yoga Ph. D.: Integrating the Life of the Mind and the Wisdom of the Body. Kleio Books.

Iyengar, B. K. (1996). Light on Yoga: The Bible of Modern Yoga. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

J. A. B. van Buitenen. (1981). The Bhagavadgītā in the Mahābhārata text and translation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Jung, C. G. (1999). The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga: Notes of the Seminar Given in 1932. Princeton University Press.

Mallinson, J. (2004). The Gheranda Samhita: The Original Sanskrit and an English Translation. YogaVidya.com.

Mallinson, J., & Singleton, M. (2017). Roots of Yoga. Penguin Books.

Marjanovic, Boris. (rājānaka. (2004). Abhinavagupta’s Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita: Gītārtha-saṁgraha. Indica Books.

Mascaró, J. (2003). The Bhagavad Gita. Penguin.

Muller-Ortega, P. E. (1989). The Triadic Heart of Siva: Kaula Tantricism of Abhinavagupta in the Non-dual Shaivism of Kashmir. SUNY Press.

Patton, T. L. (2008). The Bhagavad Gita. Penguin Books Ltd.

Radhakrishnan, S. (1992). The Principal Upanisads. Prometheus Books, Publishers.

Radhakrishnan, S. (2015). The Bhagavadgita. HarperCollins Publishers India.

Ramanujan, A. K. (1973). Speaking of Śiva. Penguin.

Rāmānuja, & Van Buitenen, J. A. B. (1968). Ramanuja on the Bhagavadgita.

Samuel, G. (2008). The Origins of Yoga and Tantra: Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century. Cambridge University Press.

Singleton, M. (2010). Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice. Oxford University Press.

Smith, H. (2009). The World’s Religions, Revised and Updated: A Concise Introduction. Harper Collins.

Smith, J. D. (2009). The Mahabharata. Penguin Books.

Stoler Miller, B. (1986). The Bhagavad-Gita: Krishna’s Counsel in Time of War. Bantam Books.

Stril-Rever, S., THE DALAI LAMA & SOFIA. STRIL-REVER, Xiv, D. L., The Dalai Lama, & Sofia. (2018). A Call for Revolution. Random House UK Limited.

Swami Svatmarama, & Akers, B. D. (2002). The Hatha yoga Pradipika. YogaVidya.com.

Thera, & Nyanaponika. (2014). The Heart of Buddhist Meditation: The Buddha’s Way of Mindfulness. Weiser Books.

The Rigveda: 3-Volume Set. (2017). Oxford University Press, Incorporated.

The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali. (2012). Integral Yoga Publications.

Vasugupta, & des Divākara Bhāskara, S. (1992). The Aphorisms of Siva: The Siva Sutra with Bhaskara’s Commentary, the Varttika. SUNY Press.

Vivekananda. (1982a). Rāja-yoga (Rev. ed.). New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center.

Vivekananda, S. (1955). Jnāna-yoga. Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center.

Vivekananda, S. (1982b). Karma-Yoga and Bhakti-Yoga. Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center.

White, D. G. (1998). The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India. University of Chicago Press.

White, D. G. (2011). Yoga in Practice. Princeton University Press.