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The great T.K.V. Desikachar30 taught that the spirit of yoga starts from where you find yourself. As everyone is different and changes from time to time, there can be no common starting point, and ready-made answers are useless. Yoga (therapy) should be offered according to aspirations, requirements, and the culture of the individual, and in stages, progressively.
Ancient yogis knew experientially how to deal with all levels of human existence and passed on this science verbally through generations, until, in 300 CE, Patanjali noted it all down in what is considered today the bible of yoga—Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras Darshana. Throughout millennia this and other ancient yogic texts became a roadmap for adepts in yoga to follow on the path to enlightenment.
But what exactly is yoga?
It seems that many people have many answers to this question. A great yogi from the last century, Paramahansa Yogananda, gave the following answer in his book The Essence of Self Realization: “Most people in the west, and also many in India, confuse Yoga with Hatha Yoga—the system of bodily postures. But Yoga is primarily a spiritual discipline.” Another great teacher, Shivananda, stressed,