When was the last time you thought a hammer was a house?  Never, right?  One’s a tool and the other is a home.  There’s no way you would ever mistake one for the other.

The thing is, that is exactly what millions of people do.  They mistake the tool for what the tool is used to create.  They mistake the hammer for the house.

I’m sure you’ve already figured out that I’m not talking about hammers and houses.  I’m talking about postures and yoga.  Hammers are tools that can build houses.  Postures are tools that can reveal yoga.  Hammers still aren’t houses just as postures aren’t yoga but if someone says, “I’m going to yoga,” what comes to mind?  It’s postures, right?  Why?  We’re convinced that hammers are houses.

Part of the reason we believe hammers are houses is because it’s impossible to see yoga but we can see postures.  Do an image search for yoga and what will you find?  You’ll find beautiful images of postures.  Where are the pictures of the other 7 limbs of yoga?  Where are the pictures of non-violence or self-study?  Where are the pictures of breathwork or inward focus?  You’ll find one or two pictures of meditation but where is concentration or integration?  Aren’t all of these part of yoga?  No actually, they’re not just like a hammer is not part of a house.  They’re the tools of yoga and you really can’t take pictures of all of them either!

So, if yoga isn’t all the tools, like a house isn’t a hammer; then, what is yoga?

Jai Bhagwan