Activism as Yoga
The other meaning of “realization”
It may seem that a protest shares no common ground with a yoga class. We associate the former with chaos and tension, anger and outrage, and sometimes even violence. The latter, we associate with peace and tranquility, health and calm. But as countless yogis have taught for centuries, yoga is much more than what happens on the mat.
The word yoga, of course, comes from Sanskrit. The root word is yuj, meaning to join, to unite, or to yoke — like a horse to a cart. The typical studio yoga class will focus primarily on the asana practice of yoga — the physical poses and stretches — but this is only one of many practices. Yoga, as Patanjali writes in the Yoga Sutras, is “citta vrtti nirodhah,” or calming the fluctuations of the mind’s experience. Its goal is union — to unite the perceptions of the mind with the truth of ultimate reality (Brahman), and thereby experience moksha, or liberation.* Ultimate reality is oneness, harmony, balance, peace.
Meditation is a yoga practice — calming and quieting the mind’s thinking so that the experience of ultimate reality can arise. Presence or mindfulness are similar practices. In some “New Age” spirituality, consciousness and self-awareness are used as yoga practices; in coming to completely understand the self, and in learning to act consciously, the experience of the…
