What is Yoga? | Instruction | Yoga For Kids

The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning to yoke or direct and concentrate one's attention on; to use and apply. It also means union or communion. Yoga is fundamentally a practice of refining the fluctuations of consciousness. Using postures, meditation, mantras, and breath, yoga cultivates deep awareness in the body, mind, and spirit. Yoga is excellent for anyone wishing to create a clear sense of ease, alignment, strength, and vitality in the body.

Yoga means "the yoking of all the powers of body, mind and soul to God; it means the disciplining of the intellect, the mind, the emotions, the will. . . It means a poise of the soul which enables one to look at life in all its aspects evenly." (Mahadev Desai)

As the Bhagavad Gita says,

"When his/her mind, intellect and self (ahamkara) are under control, freed from restless desire, so that they rest in the spirit within, a wo/man becomes a Yukta - one in communion with God. A lamp does not flicker in a place where no winds blow; so it is with a yogi, who controls his/her mind, intellect and self, being absorbed in the spirit within him/her. When the restlessness of the mind, intellect and self is stilled through the practice of Yoga, the yogi by the grace of the Spirit within her/himself finds fulfilment. Then s/he knows the joy eternal which is beyond the pale of the senses which her/his reason cannot grasp. S/he abides in this reality and moves not therefrom. S/he has found the treasure above all others. There is nothing higher than this. S/he who has achieved it, shall not be moved by the greatest sorrow. This is the real meaning of Yoga - a deliverance from contact with pain and sorrow." (Bhagavad Gita, chapter 6)