There is a huge misconception in what we think yoga is. Many view it as an exercise program meant to help get you “fit” with the added benefit of calming you down and bringing you inner peace. What we usually think of when we think of yoga, are the postures associated with it, downward dog, plank etc. These postures are also known as Asana and ASANA IS NOT YOGA. Asana is one piece of a much larger practice and to truly practice yoga, It cannot stand alone.

Imagine apple pie. The crust is delicious buttery, flaky, golden brown. Inside the chunks of apples are perfectly sliced and the texture is just right, surrounded by ooey, gooey filling that has the perfect amount of sugar, butter, cinnamon and vanilla. Together these ingredients create the perfect balance. Now Imagine that I have promised you this delicious apple pie and instead, hand you an apple. I insist this apple is in fact an apple pie. I may even cook the apple with some butter and sugar to get it a little closer, but still, I insist what I am handing you, is indeed, apple pie. Now imagine that everyone selling apples starts to call them apple pie. Eventually, the meaning of apple pie entirely changes to mean one singular ingredient from a long-forgotten recipe. Maybe you taste the real apple pie and from that day on, you only want a real Bonafide apple pie. Every time you see a sign for apple pie you go in with the hopes that you will finally get your pie, and every time you get handed an apple and the person giving it to you insists it’s an apple pie. You wonder if you’ll ever be able to find that taste again. You settle for an apple because that’s really all you can find, and people really love apples so maybe your expectations are just too high. This is what yoga is for me. Asana is the apple and Yoga is the apple pie. We have been programmed to think of yoga as only being one tiny ingredient in what used to be a whole balanced pie and we are also told that the end results will be the same.

There are eight limbs of Yoga and Asana is one of those eight limbs. Unfortunately, Asana has become the major focus and all too often, it’s the only part of the full practice that is presented as what is now being called yoga. If you would balk at the idea that an apple and an apple pie are the same thing, you should also be questioning your “yoga” practice if it only incorporates one or two limbs of the full practice of yoga. Im our busy hectic world, it is an important part. Many need the movement to get to the place where they can quiet their minds, but is your class giving you the tools once you’ve prepared yourself, or is that where your class ends? Even in typical classes, savasana, the time to really incorporate your practice and get to the silence. is sped up leaving only a few minutes (2-4 minutes) for this important part of the practice.   

As part of my own practice, I try to lead with observation not judgment. This observation is not to attach any value on Asana based practices. Anything that gets your prana moving and gets you to a place where you can shed the outside world for a little while is beneficial. The problem is, the distinction, or lack thereof between Asana and yoga. The practice of yoga is getting lost because in our external driven society, the focus is on the physical almost entirely. Yoga does not offer the promise of a fit, young body, Asana does. Yoga wants you to slow down in a fast-paced world that does not value stillness, U.S. Asana wants you to sweat and “workout” your issues. Asana has its purpose and its value, but if it is the only part, are you actually doing yoga?  

The practice of Yoga teaches us that when we learn how to truly connect with our breath and body and calm and quiet the distractions, we begin to understand the things that do not serve us and let them go. The more we let go, the more we can hear our true Self. It is there that we are the most powerful. 

We cannot have apple pie without the apples, but apples alone do not make for a balanced pie.

If you are interested, the following are the eight limbs of yoga as described by Pantanjali in The Yoga Sutras

Asana- The physical postures of yoga

Yamas- Restraints or moral disciplines

Niyamas- Observances

Pranayama- Breath control

Pratyahara- Going inward

Dhyana- Meditation

Dharana- Focus/concentration

Samadhi - Union

Enjoy the Journey, whatever part of it you are on!