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Yoga: Yesterday, Today, And Tomorrow

Yoga: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Every generation before and every generation to follow has, or will, encounter moments of unsteadiness, impurity, pour judgment, or violence. The nature of our being is susceptible to these trite obstacles. But the nature of our beast has not simply accepted these difficulties, but rather found ways to avoid or overcome them. Since ancient times, India and the surrounding regions have been developing and designing spiritual disciplines to help clear the mind of distortions. These disciplines help to increase a desired state of balance, purity, wisdom, and peacefulness, known as sattvic (Fisher, 77). These practices to enhance sattvic are identified as Yoga. Through an inspection of the four basic types of yoga, I will examine the benefits of these spiritual practices from yesteryear, and decide whether these ancestral disciplines are relevant and useful today.  
The first strand of yoga to be examined focuses mainly on meditation. "Raja Yoga has been one of the most influential schools of the Yoga tradition. It is the high road of meditation and contemplation" (Feuerstein, 38). Feuerstein describes the importance of Raja Yoga with regards to its meditative and contemplative nature, suggesting it to be an inwardly practiced yoga focusing mainly on mental states as opposed to physical states. Fisher supports this notion in her text, reflecting on the nature of Raja Yoga. "The goal of yogic practices is to make the mind absolutely calm and clear" (Fisher, 77). These coinciding opinions reveal Raja Yoga's focus on meditative states helping to clarify reality. Around approximately 200 BCE, a yogi by the name of Patanjali, compiled a system to achieve the highest state of consciousness. This system, referred to as Raja Yoga, describes a transformation from "an identification with a physical body and mind into a comprehension of hidden, underlying bodies composed of energy and light. The raja yogi seeks nothing less than complete...