The real Yoga and the misconception behind Yoga

It might not sound good to the ears of Yoga enthusiast when somebody informs them that the yoga they are doing is the wrong yoga. Yoga is not what you and I have been taught. People mistake the postures and breathing exercise for Yoga especially westerners. They are also not to be blamed because they weren't guided rightly by the authorities of yoga. They are not wholly right nor wholly wrong because postures and breathing exercises are a part of yoga but not Yoga as a whole. For eg, studying graduate level in literature is the gateway to PHD (Doctor of Philosophy) in literature but the graduate level is not the whole Doctor level. It is just a part of the whole system.

The question now arises does one become Yogi by performing those postures and breathing exercises. The answer is quite simple. It can be explained through the analogy of Khaki dress and an Army person. Any individual who wears a khaki doesn't become an Army, the khaki is the symbol of army. Similarly one who does the postures and breathing exercise isnt an yogi, it is the pathway to being a yogi. Its the army who wears the khaki and not a person wearing khaki becomes an army, it is also the yogi who does the postures and pranayama and not an individual who performs postures and breathing exercises.

To perform the postures and breathing exercises one has to become yogi first, if not then the real essence of Yoga will always remain hidden. The objective of yoga is just not bliss and peace infact bliss and peace are such negligible term. The main purpose of yoga is to connect with your inner self and the instruments like postures and pranayama serves as an instruments to make your journey easy. The instruments aren't the  process but it serves as a catalyst for a yogi.

To learn the true yoga one must find a guru. If one is performing yoga to be fit and healthy then its fair enough because yoga makes you fit and healthy too. But if you want to go to the depths of Yoga then it like going to the depth of your existence. It takes a little bit of research. I  hope the readers will try searching for the real yoga in the days to come.