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The word “yoga” comes from the Sanskrit meaning to join, unite or connect and is generally attributed to Patanjali, a wise sage who lived around 2,000 years ago. However, how yoga has evolved is very different to the wisdom Patanjali offered humanity. Yoga has become about physical postures, and yet Patanjali said nothing about putting the body into physical contortions or fancy poses. Yoga is about stillness and connection.
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Over my lifetime I have participated in different forms of yoga practice, from Iyengar Yoga, which I privately came to call “warrior yoga” because it demanded so much of me physically, it felt very competitive, and in fact did a great deal of damage to my body, to gentle Hatha yoga practices and Yogalates, which is a fusion of yoga and Pilates exercise. All these practices are about developing either strength or flexibility in the body, or both.
The problem with yoga as it is taught today, is that it focuses more on postures than it does on connection. It has moved a long way from its origins in the teachings of Patanjali.
In more recent years I have been introduced to Esoteric Yoga, which takes us back to the original meaning of yoga, which is about stillness and connection to our inner essence.
Esoteric Yoga asks you to be still and aware in your body, as you move from a seated position to lying down. It asks you to move gently and with awareness, connecting deeply to your body as you lie still and as you move, bringing harmony and awareness to how you are in stillness and in movement equally. In this way it is deeply nourishing and healing to the body, which for most of us, has experienced the wear and tear, tensions and hardness of daily life over many years. It supports you to take this stillness and connection into your daily activities.
By allowing the body to come to stillness, nervous tension and muscle tightness release and the mind becomes clearer. I’ve noticed that even my eyesight is clearer after a gentle Esoteric Yoga session.
Esoteric Yoga is the yoga of stillness. It makes no attempt to build physical fitness or agility in the body, but rather to bring focus and gentleness to the whole of the body. It is deeply relaxing, re-connecting you to the stillness and harmony that are naturally within. This is the true beauty and benefit of Esoteric Yoga.
Judy F., Australia
Here is an insightful overview of the history of yoga
The problem with yoga as it is taught today, is that it focuses more on postures than it does on connection. It has moved a long way from its origins in the teachings of Patanjali.
In more recent years I have been introduced to Esoteric Yoga, which takes us back to the original meaning of yoga, which is about stillness and connection to our inner essence.
Esoteric Yoga asks you to be still and aware in your body, as you move from a seated position to lying down. It asks you to move gently and with awareness, connecting deeply to your body as you lie still and as you move, bringing harmony and awareness to how you are in stillness and in movement equally. In this way it is deeply nourishing and healing to the body, which for most of us, has experienced the wear and tear, tensions and hardness of daily life over many years. It supports you to take this stillness and connection into your daily activities.
By allowing the body to come to stillness, nervous tension and muscle tightness release and the mind becomes clearer. I’ve noticed that even my eyesight is clearer after a gentle Esoteric Yoga session.
Esoteric Yoga is the yoga of stillness. It makes no attempt to build physical fitness or agility in the body, but rather to bring focus and gentleness to the whole of the body. It is deeply relaxing, re-connecting you to the stillness and harmony that are naturally within. This is the true beauty and benefit of Esoteric Yoga.
Judy F., Australia
Here is an insightful overview of the history of yoga