Purpose of Yoga Practice

Photo Credit : Flickr ~ Andrew Kalat

To action alone hast thou a right and never at all to its fruits; let not the fruits of action be thy motive; neither let there be in thee any attachment to inaction.

Fixed in yoga, do thy work, O Winner of wealth (Arjuna), abandoning attachment, with an even mind in success and failure, for evenness of mind is called yoga.

With the body, with the mind, with the intellect, even merely with the senses, the Yogis perform action toward self-purification, having abandoned attachment. He who is disciplined in Yoga, having abandoned the fruit of action, attains steady peace.

~ Lord Krishna in Bhagwad Geeta


Sometime back I was wondering and doing a little bit of self introspection about why I practice Yoga. I discovered that I do it for two reasons - Maintaining fitness and I like the feeling and calmness after the practice. Apart from these two I also feel some sense of achievement when I make progress in some tough or new pose.

I think when we find the reason or try to find the reason for any action or habit we experience deeper understanding behind our action. If the habit is a good habit we can enjoy it more, and it can also help us get rid of a bad habit.

I decided to ask in forums about what could be the purpose of Yoga practice. I got various responses and I am trying to summarize the responses here.

1. Recovery from Injury.

Some people started their yoga journey trying to recover from injury - In this group are the people who had some injury and started practicing yoga to recover from, or control the effects of injury. In due course of time they started enjoying the peace and calm it produces and continued the practice.
2. Lot of people associate Yoga with goodness and various positive themes.

Here are some words I got as response about Yoga.

- beautiful
- deep
- graceful
- philosophical
- good value system
- energizing
- relaxing
- challenging
- spiritual
- always available
- takes little space and almost no equipment
- meet cool people
- love the music
- love the mantras
- empowering
- mind expanding
- opens the chakras
- changes/improves my frame of mind
- never boring

Personally, out of the above list I relate a lot with the words - deep, mind expanding, beautiful and challenging and relaxing.

3. Cope with Major Illness
Third group are the people who undergo heavy treatment for diseases like cancer and yoga practice provides them inner strength to deal with the disease and side effects of the treatment.

4. Relaxation Another group of people practice it since they find it immensely relaxing and helps them to focus better and helps in their work and family life.

5. Spiritual Reasons
Last group of people are the ones who practice this for spiritual progress. As per the books and yoga philosophy this is the real purpose of Yoga. It should help in the union of the self with the supreme spirit, union of our soul with supreme soul and leads to liberation of the soul.

Technically speaking, physical postures will not lead to salvation, but this practice makes the body strong and pure and disease free. Once we master the physical aspects of Yoga, it is easy to still the mind and get ready to jump to next level towards the supreme goal. Till then let us practice, practice and practice what ever may be our motive at present.