Yoga has lost a lot of its meaning in modern times. Peruse the yoga section at any bookstore and you will find "Yoga For Dummies" "Yoga for a tight butt" "Power Yoga" "Gentle Yoga" etc etc. I am not at liberty to even try to define yoga. The more I attempt to do, the more the definition starts to encompass everything in my universe. In Geeta Iyengar's book "Yoga, A Gem For Women, she refers to Patanjali's definition of yogascittavrttinirodhah -- yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the consciousness. Even with my Masters in Psychology, I continue to have difficulty wrapping my mind around that definition.
The definition of yoga is not an intellectual question, but an experiential question. See the woman at the pottery wheel. She does not to appear to have any fluctutations in her consciousnesness. She may have never even set foot in a yoga class.
My personal defintion of yoga now is when I do asanas, I have glimpses of how I can align my body to some deeper truth that is not yet appearent to me. Tucking my tailbone in tadasana is hard, but in working it I see more clearly how I have always had a tendency to stick my buttocks out when I stand. By guidance of a good teacher, one can have many of these moments in class. But its the ability to recognizes them and integrate them into your practice which is the yoga. I would say I do yoga 1% of the time in class if I'm lucky.
Peace Within,
Yogiromero
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