🚂 What Is Yoga Anyway?

Abir Alzenate
Jun 5
3 min read

Not just stretching. Not just incense. Not just for the flexible.

Let’s be real. If your only exposure to yoga was via romantic comedies or awkward gym flyers, you’d be forgiven for thinking yoga is all about tight pants, impossible poses, or whispering “namaste” with a green juice in hand. But yoga is weirder. Older. Wilder. Wiser. And so much more than meets the mat.

The Oldest Self-Help System in the Galaxy

Yoga is a 5,000+ year old science of self-realization. That means it predates TikTok trends, Peloton memberships, and even your favorite Vedic astrology meme account. It comes from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning “to yoke,” “to unite,” or “to join.”

Join what? Body and breath. Breath and mind. Mind and soul. You and the everything.

It’s less about touching your toes and more about touching your truth.

So... Is It a Religion?

Short answer: no.Long answer: not exactly, but kind of — if brushing your teeth or watching the sunset is a religion. Yoga is more like a philosophy or a practice of inquiry, born in the spiritual traditions of India (primarily Hinduism, but also Jainism and Buddhism).

It includes ethics (yamas and niyamas), postures (asana), breath (pranayama), and meditation — all the way to samadhi, the blissful silence of union with the universe. You can practice yoga and believe in any God, no God, or just the sacredness of your coffee ritual.

Yoga doesn’t require a conversion. Just a conversation with yourself.

Sacred Geometry, Sacred Body

When you step onto your mat, you’re stepping into a living altar. Your arms make triangles. Your spine draws spirals. Your breath expands like a sphere. Every shape we make in yoga is a dialogue with the ancient geometry of the universe — fractals, mandalas, infinite Fibonacci flows.

Your body is not a mistake. Your breath is not an accident. You are a portal.

Yoga and the Modern Myth

Let’s address it:Yes, Western yoga sometimes looks like a beauty pageant meets a fashion shoot meets a smoothie ad. And yes, it can get overly focused on flexibility, abs, and influencer aesthetics.But beneath all the noise, the real yoga is patient. It waits for you behind the pose, behind the ego, behind the doubt. It waits where your breath shakes a little. Where your eyes close without planning to. Where your heart aches to come home.

Why We Keep Coming Back

Yoga isn't just something you “do.” It’s something that does something to you.

It strengthens and softens you at the same time. It reveals where you're gripping too hard — in your body, in your mind, in your relationships. And it gives you tools to release.

Maybe you're grieving. Maybe you're a perfectionist. Maybe you're just tired of pretending you're fine.Yoga doesn’t judge.It whispers: “Try lying down.”It asks: “Can you feel that breath?”It reminds you: “You’re already enough.”

Welcome to the 8-Limbed Wonderland

Yoga is not just poses. The physical shapes are one-eighth of the journey. There are eight limbs, like rungs on a ladder — or portals in a multidimensional quest game.

Here they are in simple terms:

Yama – How you treat others
Niyama – How you treat yourself
Asana – How you live in your body
Pranayama – How you channel your energy
Pratyahara – Turning inward
Dharana – Concentration
Dhyana – Meditation
Samadhi – Blissful awareness (aka, God, Source, the Big Peace)

You don’t have to master all eight. You just have to start showing up. The rest unfolds like a scroll or a dream you forgot you were in.

TL;DR — Yoga Is:

Ancient, not trendy (though trends can be fun)
A lifestyle, not a stretch class
A practice, not a performance
A mirror, not a mask
A bridge — to yourself, to spirit, to stillness, to sweat, to sacred geometry, to community

🎟️ Next stop: You.Climb aboard the see-through train to wherever-you-truly-are.You don’t have to be flexible, perfect, or spiritual to begin.You just have to breathe.