Yoga, a millenary system once practiced only by renunciates, has spread across the globe and survived the test of time. Now one of the most popular practices for physical health in Western cultures, it is often seen only as a tool to stay flexible and relax the body—at best, a way to relieve some of the stress from our busy lifestyles. We know little about the depth, potential, and original purpose of this system of practices.

Yoga is for self-awareness, for attaining freedom from our compulsive habits, and for the dissolution of our sense of separateness from the ultimate, formless, and timeless all, also known as Brahman in the yogic tradition. While this may sound way too intense for a person looking to exercise at a yoga studio before work or wind down before bed, the potential that yoga has for us to deepen our self-awareness would probably come in handy for everyone, even, and especially, the modern-day layman. So why not try it?

There are many branches and schools of yoga, but it is not my goal to present and compare them all in this post, so I will focus on the one that I practice and teach—Hatha Yoga. In Hatha Yoga, it is taught that through the practice of mindful postures, controlled breath, inward concentration, deep relaxation, and a balanced lifestyle, one will inevitably attain inner strength and stability. We are complex beings and express and experience the world through different aspects; we have social, emotional, physical, and imaginative ways to reaffirm a certain narrative or belief about who we are, but we are not always fully aware of how we do this. Similarly, according to yogic knowledge, we have subtle energy systems that accompany our physical ones. However, because we live in a constant state of tension and are distracted and overstimulated all the time, we lose sensitivity (or awareness) to them. Here is where the beauty of the practice comes in: it teaches us how to intentionally look into ourselves, find that energy, experience and get to know it, and control it so it flows in balance. Since our energetic and mental systems are interrelated (because why wouldn’t they be?), attaining sensitivity to this subtle energy flow (known in yoga as prana) will result in an increase in our awareness of these mental and emotional patterns that we repeat. We kill two birds with one stone. And yes, we become more flexible and more relaxed, but more importantly, we become more self-aware.