A small, friendly yoga studio in the Upper Monroe neighborhood,

beneath the wooded slopes of Pinnacle Hill

pinnacleyoga@hotmail.com      www.pinnacle-yoga.com      (585) 747-2718

99 Crosman Terrace   Rochester NY 14620

 

Just what is yoga?  This is a very interesting question.  The standard traditional definition of yoga is “calming the fluctuations of the mind” so that you can know your true self, or “abide in your essence.”  This definition is from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra (The Thread of Yoga), which is the authoritative text of yoga philosophy.  Patanjali teaches that there is a great calmness at the core of our being.  We quiet our minds so that we can recognize that stillness, and thus truly know ourselves.  Otherwise, the text says, we get too engrossed in our daily concerns.  As Wordsworth said, “The world is too much with us.”

 

What is the purpose of yoga?    Originally, yoga meant meditation, either to attain supra-normal powers or to achieve liberation (possibly to the point of extinction) or enlightenment.  The well-known Bhagavad Gita, which is interested only in the latter goal, widened the definition to include many techniques.  In this view, it’s the mental attitude that is important, so anything from selfless action to the study of sacred texts can be a path to liberation, and therefore a form of yoga.  Thus one hears of yogas of good works, devotion, meditation, and knowledge.  The physical yoga we practice is often referred to as hatha yoga.

 

The Yoga Sutra refers to eight stages or limbs of yoga.  Hatha yoga focuses primarily on three of them: pose or position (asana), breath work (pranayama), and turning inward (pratyahara).