Did I really just join a yoga group?!

Hi, howzeverybody?

OK, my interest has long been Tai Chi, but where I live, there are no Tai Chi instructors, so no class to join.

My wife has been taking a yoga class for some months now, and she’s urging me to do the same. Don’t know why I’ve been resistant. I’m sure it would do me good, as I spend long hours working at a computer, and at my age, I could stand to take up a practice which could help me grow more relaxed and supple, in the physical way.

Here’s the really strange thing. I’ve been intrigued by Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras for many years. Recently, I’ve started back studying them, and want very much to get a good practice going, as far as meditation, stilling the modifications of the mind, and all that good stuff. As for Hatha Yoga… I realize that’s not really covered (much) in the Sutras. Maybe that’s why I’ve not been too interested in it until now.

Well, that’s my situation in a nutshell. I thought I’d join this pod and explore around; see what kinds of things are being talked about. Hopefully I’ll be inspired to take the plunge and join a hatha yoga class.

Question: How come so much emphasis in the yoga world on asanas, postures and so on, but rarely are the other limbs of yoga discussed? It seems to me the only serious discussion I find are in certain groups devoted to yoga as a tool for Christian spiritual formation. (See, for instance, christianspracticingyoga.com).

Well, happy to be here.

Re: Did I really just join a yoga group?!

The yoga of Patanjali's Sutras is Raja Yoga (Royal Yoga). It is meditation based. Hatha Yoga comes from the Tantric tradition of Yoga and later became the sort of stepping stone to Raja Yoga. Hatha Yoga asanas are to get the body back to wellness so that it is not an obstacle to meditation.
And at the time the yoga sutras were written there weren't very many asanas. I would say fewer than 100 if that at that time. Many of the asanas we know of today are the products of the research of Modern teachers like Krishnamacharya, BKS Iyengar etc.
Many traditions see the body as a hindrance to meditation. And so use Hatha Yoga to purify the body so that the deeper aspects of Patanjali's Yoga can be grasped and actualized.

I am more of a Tantric-Hatha Yogi myself. I don't see the body as a hindrance to mediation becauser the mind-body is one unit. So, the asanas, work on both levels at once and can be used as a meditation. One doesn't have to sit and meditate at all. You can practice asanas with focus and intent and that is by definition also meditation.