What is Yoga?
Most people associate the word Yoga with Asana, or specific poses or positions the body is placed into. While the practice of Asana offers many benefits and is in many cases a necessary step in the practice of yoga, it only represents one particular means of achieving Yoga.
To properly understand Yoga, we must first understand Samskaras. But since our Samskaras are essentially hidden from us, we identify with them extraordinarily closely--in fact, we mistake them for who we really are. This is called Prajna Paradha, the mistake of the intellect.
Fortunately, Yoga provides us with the ability to perceive Samskaras and ultimately transcend them.
As a practice, Yoga refers to the systematic techniques and methodologies which give us the realization of who and what we really are; all possibilities and all probabilities.
The aim of Yoga is Moksha, or liberation from the grip of Samsakara. In this state, our individual consciousness is expanded or elevated to the consciousness of Brahma, or totality.
Achieving this status, our actions are no longer based in limited ideas and beliefs; life becomes a process of spontaneous creation--in every moment.
"Knowing my true nature which is the Self, I create again and again."
-Bhagavad Gita 9.8