What Exactly Is The Purpose of Yoga?

I was watching an interview with Deepak Chopra about the Science of Yoga on the Yoga Is Online Conference. Deepak made a statement that resonated with me: the final destination of yoga is to know yourself.

Deepak did not say that yoga’s ultimate purpose is to twist your body up into some complicated posture. Sure that can be a fun part of the process, but it’s not the intent of yoga, though this is not always clear in mainstream yoga which glories the asana or posture practice. Often times when I hear someone’s definition of ‘good’ yogi- it has to do with the person’s ability to get into some glamorous, challenging posture rather than the knowledge of self gained from the practice. 

Deepak reminds us that yoga is meant to teach us about the complexities of our self, not just complicated postures.

Yoga philosophy holds that we are multi-dimensional and we each have a physical, mental, emotional, energetic and spiritual aspect. As you peel back the layers to your innermost core, you discover this unbounded, eternal, blissful part of you that is deeply connected to infinite potential. We forget about this timeless, creative part of ourselves because reality tell us a more limited story. Trust me, I know it’s hard to feel eternal when your body is weak and tired or to feel expansive when you have the responsibilities of a family, job, etc.

Yet yoga tells us that we are than our physical bodies, our professions, our emotions,
and even our thoughts. By learning to go within, quiet our minds and explore the depths of ourselves, we can access vast creative energy and potential and use it to transform our lives. Mind-body-spirit practices like yoga give us tools to work with our mental, emotional, physical and energetic aspects so we can Live UP as I like to call it.

Living UP is all about living your unlimited potential – accessing the seeds of potential within and using them in a meaningful way in your life. Who doesn’t want that? The problem is that it’s not as easy as it sounds because we get distracted by our current ‘reality’. That’s why we need mind-body-spirit practices to help us focus our minds, strengthen our bodies, balance our emotions, and energize ourselves. I intend to Live UP and that means I must continue my own inner journey to know myself and move beyond my limitations. Through this blog, I will share my journey along with mind-body-spirit practices and information that you can add to your toolkit so you can live your unlimited potential.