Yoga and Buddhism

I just finished my week long class on The Yoga Sutra by Master Patanjali (200AD). There is so much wisdom in this old ancient book that is applicable today and I am really privileged to understand the first cornerstone of the Yoga Sutra better.

Yogash chitta virtti nirodhah ~(Sanskrt) Yoga Sutra 1.2
We become WHOLE by stopping how the mind turn

In Buddhism, many monks goes into retreat, and yoga is incorporated into their practice as a form of achieving enlightenment. Yoga is also part of the daily practice to form the physical body in union with our breath, our inner winds (prana), our thoughts and or karma seeds.

The ultimate goal of all yoga practice is to transform our bodies into the vehicle of ourenlightenment.

In Tibetan Heart Yoga practice we learn to use our bodies, through Asana practice,and our breath, through Pranayama practice, to affect our body at the level of prana,or inner wind.

This in turn, affects our mind.

Ancient Tibetan philosophy teaches us lung sem jukpa chikpa: the prana and the mindare one. In other words, if our prana flows smoothly, so will our thoughts. Throughyoga practice we can make ourselves a happier, more compassionate person.In this series of yoga workouts we will learn how the inner body is related to our outerbody; how all the problems, pain, and sickness we experience in our outer physicalbody is mirrored in our subtle, inner body, and then how we can use outer practice(asana) and inner practice (meditation) to affect both our outer and inner bodies tofree us from all of our pain and suffering.

Many translate Yoga as 'union'. Yoga is not just 'union'. It is 'uniting'. Yoga is not a noun. Yoga is a verb. Yoga is not an end result. Yoga is a process.

Yoga is what you have to be, without expectations and without attachments. It is not doing but being.


In the west, Yoga is sold as a product; either a cheap or expensive product depending on where the teacher is located. If you practice this asana, they say, you will be cured of this and that. It has become a prescription medicine. Many people have told you that Yoga will cure you of asthma, it will cure you of chronic pain, it will cure you of high blood pressure and so on. Perhaps it does as a by-product; but not because of what you practice, but because you believe in the practice itself..


It is the process of Yoga, the practice of Yoga that unites the mind-body-spirit system.

It is essential to start any Yoga practice with a clear intention of what you wish: it may be health, it may be enlightenment; whatever it is make a positive intention. Before you perform the asana, the exercise, with full awareness of that intent visualise the posture you plan to adopt. Go through in your mind every single step of that asana. Then practice that asana.

Just by sitting comfortably in any position with your spine erect to allow energy flow you can derive the result of any asana through intention and visualisation. Start with a clear intent, visualise all steps and do the process. You need nothing more to Be in Bliss!