Yoga, a process of intense enthusiasm !

Many translate Yoga as “union”. Please understand, Yoga is not “union”. It is “uniting”. Yoga is not a noun. Yoga is a verb. Yoga is not an end result. It is a process of intense enthusiasm.
Krishna says in Gita clearly that Yoga is what you have to be, without expectations and without attachments. It is not doing but being.
There is nothing to achieve by practicing Yoga. You will be shocked to hear this. Many people have told you that Yoga will cure you of asthma, it will cure you of chronic pain, it will cure you of high blood pressure and so on. Perhaps it does; but not because of what you practice, but because you believe.
Especially in the West, Yoga is sold as a product; either a cheap or expensive product depending on where the teacher is located. If you practice this asana, they say, you will be cured of this and that. It has become a prescription medicine.
I saw an advertisement for an instant Super-luxury Kundalini Yoga offered at thousands of dollars. Patanjali, who formulated the technique of Yoga, will roll in his samadhi if he comes to know about it ! The only person who benefits is the advertiser, not the user.
It is the process of Yoga, the practice of Yoga that unites the mind-body-spirit system. What unites is not the exercises the you perform. This again will shock you. It is the intention. You create a memory in your muscles and that gets embedded.
It is essential to start any Yoga practice with a clear intention of what you wish; it may be health, it may be enlightenment; whatever it is make a positive intention. Before you perform the asana , the exercise, with full awareness of that intent visualise the posture you plan to adopt. Go through in your mind every step of that asana. Then practice that asana.
Just by sitting comfortably in any position with your spine erect to allow energy flow you can derive the result of any asana through intention and visualization. This is the truth. However, that is too simple for you to believe. You need something more tangible, more strenuous to prove to yourself that Yoga works.
Then, practice Surya Namaskar, the most integrated of all Yogasana. Start with a clear intent, visualise all steps and do the process. You need nothing more. This is what we teach in our Nithya Yoga programmes. Be in Bliss.

-- Paramahamsa Nithyananda.
(As published in Economic times)