Be Infinite| What Is Yoga?
Yoga means to join. To unite.
The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning “to join” or “to unite.” This meaning carries the idea of wholeness: a connection between the body, the mind, and our inner experience.
Yoga has its roots in India’s philosophical and spiritual traditions, where it developed as a path of self-knowledge and liberation. Its teachings explore how the mind works, how attachment and habitual patterns shape our experience, and how practice can lead to clearer perception.
Within Patanjali’s eight-limbed path, ethical principles and self-study sit alongside posture, breath, concentration, and meditation. Ahimsa (non-harming) reminds us that practice also concerns how we treat ourselves and other living beings. From this perspective, yoga reaches into everyday life: our actions, relationships, choices, and the attention we bring to each moment.
A global yoga community
Yoga Alliance is a nonprofit professional association for yoga teachers and schools worldwide. Its work includes standards for teacher training, professional development, and ethical practice.
Its introduction to yoga extends beyond movement to include breathwork, meditation, study, service, and connection with others. This broader perspective aligns with BeING’s approach to understanding yoga and its place in everyday life.
Understanding ourselves
At BeING, we approach yoga through a question: How can this knowledge help us understand ourselves more clearly and live with greater awareness?
Within spiritual traditions, yoga’s highest aim is described in terms of liberation, profound insight, and enlightenment. Different schools understand this path in different ways.
In BeING’s philosophy, we begin with understanding what happens within us: how our thoughts and desires arise, why we make certain decisions, what we consider important, and where those beliefs come from.
This leads to deeper questions: Who are we beyond our careers, appearance, social roles, and expectations? What do we mean by our true selves? How do we come to know and accept ourselves?
From understanding to practice
Practice allows us to explore these questions through observation and firsthand experience. Over time, we learn to distinguish what we actually feel from what we have grown accustomed to believing about ourselves.
We begin to recognize our needs, possibilities, and inner contradictions—and to accept ourselves while remaining open to growth.
This understanding becomes part of everyday life: how we respond, what we choose, and how we relate to ourselves and others.
Yoga, psychology, and mindfulness offer different ways to explore ourselves.
These books provide starting points for a deeper understanding—from philosophical foundations to everyday choices, relationships, and habitual responses.
Patanjali — The Yoga Sutras
A foundational text of yoga philosophy exploring the mind, practice, concentration, and liberation. Comparing translations and commentaries can help deepen your understanding.
Read the full text — Project Gutenberg
Free English translation and commentary by Charles Johnston.
Rolf Gates — Meditations on Intention and Being
Daily reflections on bringing yoga and mindfulness into everyday life, with attention to intention, compassion, and our relationships with ourselves and others.
Explore the book — author’s website. Gates Yoga
Eric Berne — Games People Play; What Do You Say After You Say Hello?
Two related books exploring recurring patterns in relationships and the life scripts that shape our behavior. They invite closer attention to familiar roles, underlying motives, and the ways we interact.
Games People Play — publisher’s website
What Do You Say After You Say Hello? — library catalog. www.penguinrandomhouse.com
B. K. S. Iyengar — Light on Life
An exploration of yoga’s inner dimensions and the relationship between body, mind, emotions, and spiritual inquiry.
Explore the book — publisher’s website. www.penguinrandomhouse.com
Jon Kabat-Zinn — Wherever You Go, There You Are
An introduction to mindfulness meditation and bringing greater awareness to everyday life.