What yoga actually is
The word doesn't mean postures. It means yoke — the union of the individual being with the absolute. Patañjali's Yoga Sūtras describe this union as the natural result of stilling the modifications of the mind, and lay out an eight-limbed path (aṣṭāṅga) to reach it: ethical observances (yama), inner disciplines (niyama), posture (āsana), breath-work (prāṇāyāma), withdrawal of the senses (pratyāhāra), concentration (dhāraṇā), meditation (dhyāna), and absorption (samādhi).
Modern postural yoga — the yoga most Western practitioners encounter — is essentially limb three, expanded into a fitness practice. This is not a criticism of postural yoga; the body is a real entry point. But the eight limbs are eight, and posture is one of them.
The four classical yogas
Indian tradition recognises four primary yogas, each suited to a different temperament: karma yoga (the yoga of selfless action), bhakti yoga (the yoga of devotion), jñāna yoga (the yoga of knowledge — closely related to non-duality), and rāja yoga (the royal yoga of meditation). Most lineages emphasise one and treat the others as supportive. Sadhguru's Inner Engineering uses elements of all four.
Yoga in the index
The yogi-author most present in the index is Sadhguru, whose Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy is the practical introduction and whose Inner Engineering Online is the full course. Sadhguru on disability and spiritual practice and Sadhguru on unlocking the mind's full potential are short representative talks.
The classic Western entry into Indian yogic teaching is Paramahansa Yogananda's *Autobiography of a Yogi* — read by Steve Jobs, recommended by George Harrison, and the book that introduced the word Babaji to most English readers. Yogananda was a kriya yogi, a more esoteric branch with techniques designed to accelerate spiritual evolution.
For the meditation-focused secular yoga that has become the West's largest contemplative practice: Jon Kabat-Zinn's MBSR — formally a Buddhist-derived programme, but the postural and breath-work elements are pure rāja yoga limbs three and four.
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