This question is often asked due to the increasing amount of online pics with very flexible and bendy people who use the hashtag "Yoga" to accompany their photos.
The question "What is Yoga?" is also tricky because there is not a single answer that would encapsulates its whole meaning. If the teacher decides to go with the simplest definition of Yoga, she or he would probably go with " Yoga means Union".
The practice has been designed, and adapted through the years, to lead the individual to the union with the higher Self. In this union participates, to a certain extent, also Nature and the Cosmo, the material and non material aspects of our universe, deemed part of our human existence.
Now, imagine this type of conversation happening after class in a Yoga studio, between people who have never interacted before.
You're guessing right, it does not happen, or if it does it's a pretty rare event, and its does also take up quite a bit of time.
In this context the most authoritative and comprehensive definition of yoga can also be mentioned. "Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.” –The Bhagavad Gita By using a series of movements, breathing exercises, poses, meditation and observation of nature you can come to know your Self, the changeless, eternal, shapeless part of you, that makes you a GEM like no other in this world. But for some reason, the most popular misconception I've heard about yoga is this: "It's a type of workout". I hear you, people do get fit by practicing it, but where does this process begin?
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