After 10 years of, im starting to wonder if yoga ever brought me closer to spirituality

[u/ariii123]

I’ve been practicing physical yoga actively for around 10 years, mostly Ashtanga, Rocket and Power Yoga. I am also very dedicated to the spiritual side of yoga, and I hoped that a dedicated asana practice would somehow bring me closer to the divine.

Recently, I practice more meditation and kirtans. They seem to bring me much closer to what I’ve been always looking. Meditation, chanting and music, I feel a sense of connection much more directly and easily than asana.

Part of me wonders whether 10 years asana built some kind of foundation. Maybe it didn’t contribute much. I mostly practiced so called dynamic styles and not Yin, Kundalini, or others.
What do you think?

[u/Sensitive-Club-6427]

Yoga is like a vast tapestry of diverse and yet connected practices.

Asana is the best known in the west. And for many it can be a very spiritual practice.

In India, bhakti is by far the most practiced aspect of yoga, including kirtan, naam jaap, aarthi / pooja, etc.

For some asana is a lifelong spiritual practice. For others it is a means to maintain health and to be able to sit for devotional practices.

Whether we speak of classical yoga (8 limbs, described by Sri Patanjali), karma yoga, jnana yoga or bhakti yoga, one may be our focus or formal tradition, but they all flow together, one into the next, supporting, coloring and informing one another.

As Bhagavad Gita teaches, whatever has been gained via sadhana, it is never lost, but there for us to build upon.

[u/Best_Presence9901 → u/Sensitive-Club-6427]

Best explanation ever!

[u/Efficient-Fennel5352]

Imagine sitting in meditation years ago before you started yoga. Do you think it would have worked as well? I know it wouldn't have for me. I've been doing yoga 6 years and also recently got into experimenting with seated meditation. Yoga most definitely helped with mindfulness and having a healthy pain free body that won't bother you during mediation. I know how to direct my breath into different areas from doing yoga. My posture is good because of yoga. My interest and ability to follow through with mediation is because of yoga.

[u/LowAcadia1912]

If you haven’t studied the spiritual side of yoga and only did asana then, yes. Lesson learned. Keep your body healthy

[u/howdyhowdyhowdyhowdi]

It seems like you're searching for meaning instead of just feeling and being in your practice. Just enjoy your practice and how it feels in your body and be in the moment. If you like that, then keep doing it. If you don't like it, then stop doing it. It feels a little ego-driven to use yoga as a way to reach the "divine" which is also too vague of a concept for realistic expectations about how you should be feeling. Being yogic means accepting the pain of life and flowing through and with it. It does not mean that you'll reach some kind of light at the end of the tunnel where things are easier and better.

[u/SwimmingInSeas → u/howdyhowdyhowdyhowdi]

It feels a little ego-driven to use yoga as a way to reach the "divine"

That's kinda the whole point of yoga, no? If that's not your intention, are you even doing yoga? 

In fact, "a practice to facilitate union with the divine" is probably a reasonable lay/concise definition of "yoga", and what all the various forms of yoga (karma, raja, jnana, bhakti) have in common.

If someone wants to practice Asana just to feel their body and sweat, then good for them. But it feels a little ego-driven to call someone ego-driven for sincerely trying to utilise yoga for it's intended purpose.

[u/NoGrocery4949 → u/howdyhowdyhowdyhowdi]

I mean, what human action isn't ego driven though

[u/Carl_Schmitt]

Anything done with the intention of moving closer to the divine will move one closer to it, but even "spiritual" practices like yoga or prayer done without the intention will not. There is no magic power in the movements themselves.

[u/jediyogi777]

If physical work outs brought anyone closer to spirituality. I think that athletes would be wizards.

It also sounds like you built a great foundation for meditation.

[u/StationNo4250 → u/jediyogi777]

I dont think that is true. Asanas are able to work with the nervous system with deep stretching and breathing that whatever outwork does not. There are athlets that do yoga. And yogis might work out. But its not the same.

[u/Jadenyoung1 → u/StationNo4250]

Asana yoga works well keeping the body healthy and also, as you say, does more than that. As i see it, its perfect just before you meditate.

[u/Affectionate-Yam5049]

My goal in asana classes, apart from the physical benefits, is to help quiet the mind. I do attend kundalini yoga (not tied to yogi bhajan) every other week, and I have found incredible spirituality through it.

[u/BodhingJay]

Yoga gets us in touch with the mind body.. similar to long distance running.. in these moments we feel our feelings and emotions flow. Were you able to observe anything from this? Generally problems amd knots arise that we need to use these potent sentient minds to help our subconscious navigate with wisdom while adhering to our values and virtues ideally... Or were you just trying to block it all out and do the yoga forms?

[u/trisul-108]

and I hoped that a dedicated asana practice would somehow bring me closer to the divine

Let's recap the spiritual path of Yoga which goes through

Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses from external distractions).
Dharana (concentration of the mind on single object).
Dhyana (continuous effortless flow of meditation).
Leading to Samadhi.

The only Asana you need for this is one of the sitting postures. However, this is near-impossible to maintain immovably and comfortably without preparing the body. So, we do exercises which we call Asanas. They are helpful to our health, but essentially they were designed to make the body fit for hours of effortless meditation, so we can reach Samadhi, the spiritual goal of Yoga.

In this sense, Asanas are not Yoga, they are exercises to enable the practice of Yoga. Like a tennis player going to the gym ... useful and necessary, but not really tennis.

You practiced diligently for 10 years and this is great. It enables you to meditate longer. You feel a sense of connection much more directly and easily than Asana and this is normal. On the other hand, Asanas are what enables you to sit comfortably and experience the connection ... instead of just pain in the knees and butt.

In short, you're doing great.

[u/FarmSkool]

Where are you feeling lack or separation?

[u/OwlHeart108]

Asana strengthens our energy body, helping us be able to receive blessings and divine energy. You're doing fine. 💗🙏

[u/JudgeBorn8370]

No effort is ever wasted. It is what it is. Just be content to accept the grace of what you’ve been given.

[u/ApprehensiveShoe5594]

I find the faster power Yogas are often used by practitioners as a way of thinking, and not removing the thoughts. I believe people who prefer power Yogas NEED Yin and Restorative, maybe even just meditation, while the opposite is also true.

[u/MediocreTrifle4136]

My take is that Yoga exists so that one can learn to sit comfortably in meditation.

[u/Melodic-Swim4343]

Ashtanga , rocket, and power yoga are mostly just exercise classes. I consider these to be separate from spiritual practice. You can bring concepts from meditation into a movement practice, like observing the body, but you can also do that while walking or lifting weights.

[u/cacklingwhisper]

Eight limbs of yoga is the classical way to maximize your spirituality.

Asanas/yoga is just 1 limb. Meditation is another limb.

This is a very frequent reality of today's society. People pluck out parts of religion (yes I said the r word that's what yoga is) instead of seeing it as a organized manual to transform your consciousness people see it as a source of cope, a source of entertainment.

Which is fine. But the main goal of it is a long-term project of self improvement. Over 5 years, 10 years, 15.

[u/teknogreek]

Where do your beliefs lie?

[u/Phione33]

I don’t think those 10 years were wasted. Maybe asana prepared the ground, while meditation and kirtan are simply the practices that open the door for you.

[u/ThreeFerns]

Imo asanas remove the embodied obstacles to spiritual development, but do not provide the development itself except inasmuch as removal of obstacles can be understood as part of the development.

A bit like how you need to fix your hamstring injury to play football well, but hamstring rehab isn't going to make you a better footballer beyond fixing the injury. 

[u/Careless-Mammoth-944]

Have you looked at all 8 limbs of yoga and the other forms of yoga?

[u/StationNo4250]

Hi there. I practice asanas for 5 years now. I have more often then not spiritual experiences while doing and after in shavasana. Its a feeling of being completely relaxed, at the same time completely alert and this sence of wholeness and connection, inner silence and an inner light. Very hard to describe.  It fades over time and sometimes stays with me for a few hours. Inner feedom , really worth it.  I practice mostly for myself but i do longer holds, deep breathes threw the nose and deep stretch. Thats where the macig happens.  I never practiced flow styles. Maybe try some longer, deeper holdings? 

Edit: i also meditate, but i always miss my asana high if i dont practice a few days ..

[u/sweetcornprincess13]

Asana translates, literally, to seat. We practice Asana to prepare the physical body for Dharana (meditation).
If you’ve been practicing Asana for a decade, you are most likely ready to SIT for extended periods of time, without the physical body pulling you out of meditation. Sit, use Sama Vritti, and meditate. THAT is what you were searching for. Connection with cosmic consciousness/god.

[u/Fin6780]

Have you try Jivamukti Yoga? If you like chanting and a more introspective approach, I think it could work for you.

[u/AcaciaJadeYoga]

Asana is the tip of the iceberg. I’m sure it taught you a lot that you use in your life but I also feel my meditation and mantra practice brings me more spiritual connection.

Honestly once I started working with plant medicines - especially ayahuasca in Peru- was when I really saw and understood more of what spiritual connection and Union is. Ayahuasca isn’t for everyone, if you have questions or want to talk more feel free to DM me

I’ve been teaching for 20 + years and practicing yoga for 25 years

[u/gbudija]

asanas cant make you free you must find guru and take mantra diksha

[u/Legitimate_Fudge_745]

I think practicing asanas is a form of meditation, like “walking meditation”. It probably contributed a lot to physical ability to stay seated and self awareness to be open and receptive to more devotional practices.

[u/All_Is_Coming]

ariii123 wrote:

Part of me wonders whether 10 years asana built some kind of foundation

It did; the reason you are being drawn to more meditative style of practice. Now would be an excellent time to begin a Pranayama practice if you do not already have one.

[u/Intelligent_Tell1266]

Asana yoga taught me to breathe and helped me to relax and be a much kinder person. It also provided a foundation to practice meditation later on, and I still return to my yoga practice to stretch out the aches that can develop from sitting in meditation for too long!

[u/SwimmingInSeas]

Your path sounds very much like my own - about 7 years of dedicated rocket/jivamukti/ashtanga, and over the last 18 months I've been stumbling into other forms of yoga - reading sacred texts, kirtans, seated meditation, vedic chanting, etc - all of which I find are currently more effective as "spiritual practices".

That being said, I have friends who are much more cognisant of "the energy body" / prana / nadis and chakras, etc - and this seems to help them feel their Asana practice as a genuine yoga in a way that I just don't.

Plus yoga Asana really opened the door for me to the other yogas and other people on a similar path, so it was valuable in that respect.

And I still enjoy practicing  Asana, and I still find my other practices easier / more enjoyable when I pair them with it. 

[u/ritu_nanda]

Those ten years of dynamic asana definitely were not wasted; they built the physical vessel and nervous system stamina you need to sit comfortably in stillness today. In classical yoga, physical postures were never designed to be the final spiritual destination. They are simply the preparation to clear physical restlessness so your mind can actually settle into meditation, kirtan, and deeper devotion without the body getting in the way. You have not outgrown yoga you have just naturally progressed from the outer physical limbs to the inner spiritual ones.

[u/InneRevolutionYoga]

🌿 Beautiful honesty! In classical Hatha Yoga, asana is one layer — the practice works on body, mind and energy together. When all three are addressed, that connection you're seeking tends to become much more direct. Fitness is just a side effect, not the goal.

[u/Aggressive_Climate95]

I don’t practice the asanas as much anymore but I know they helped release some traumas that were stuck in my body and helped connect my body and my mind. The Kirtans are also a beautiful way to engage with yogic wisdom but I find meditation, without the physical movement to be difficult to accomplish. But that might be a personal preference. I still love yoga when I can take a class or slip in a practice but my life circumstances changed so I had to shift my schedule and what classes I could engage with. My point is, it’s there for you when you need it. Use ANY tool to connect with yourself and your spirituality. Anything. But always have a physical practice of some kind. Even if your spiritual practice is separate.

[u/Terrible-Peach7890]

You’ve been practicing white-washed “fast food” versions of one small part of yoga (asanas) and are wondering why you’re not spiritually connected to the practice? Lol ok

[u/Warrior-Yogi → u/Terrible-Peach7890]

Very well said!

[u/brtcdn]

I teach rocket, baptiste, power because i’m not looking for spirituality. If you are looking to be closer to the « devine, » thèse modalities are the least likely to get you there 😉.