So, I usually just say, “Yes! Yes, I do yoga. Sat nam!” And then I namaste and walk away. Ha ha!<\/span><\/p>\n I’ve always found that question fascinating, though… and difficult to answer. And the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve realized just why it’s so fascinating… and difficult to answer: it’s a loaded question. It’s a question that exposes so many misconceptions – and truths! – about yoga… and Life, too.<\/span><\/p>\n So, what follows is my list of the “Top 10 Myths About Real Yoga” – the pure essence of yoga – as I see it, and the “Top 10 Truths About Real Yoga,” accordingly. <\/span><\/p>\n Of course, we could just as well call it, “Top Ten Reasons Why Rob Has That Funny Look on His Face Every Time Somebody Asks Him the Yoga Question,”\u00a0<\/span>but that’s just way too long and way too confusing a title. Ha ha!<\/span><\/p>\n Drum roll, please…<\/span><\/p>\n (Myth #10)<\/strong> Yoga is physical.<\/span><\/p>\n Truth:<\/em> Yoga isn’t physical – it’s non-physical. It’s not of the body – it’s seeing through (the illusion of) the body to your true Self.<\/span><\/p>\n (Myth #9)<\/strong> Yoga is movement.<\/span><\/p>\n Truth:<\/em> Yoga is not movement – it’s Stillness itself. It’s not asanas or postures. The real posture and the real asana – Stillness – is inside you. (And there’s no inside or outside, but let’s save that for later…)<\/span><\/p>\n (Myth #8a)<\/strong> Yoga is you doing something.<\/span><\/p>\n Truth:<\/em> Yoga is not you – or anybody else, for that matter – doing anything.<\/span><\/p>\n Yoga not a doing – it’s a non-doing. In yoga, there is no doing and there is no do-er, either. There’s no-body who does anything.<\/span><\/p>\n Yoga is the “I’m not the doer” consciousness or attitude, no matter what’s being done or not done… with or without the body.<\/span><\/p>\n (Myth #8b)<\/strong> Yoga is effort.<\/span><\/p>\n Truth:<\/em> Yoga is not effort – it is non-effort. It is effortlessness.<\/span><\/p>\n Yoga is surrender, total surrender. It’s resting and relaxing – resting and relaxing in Self, Soul, God. It’s eternal rest and infinite relaxation.<\/span><\/p>\n (Myth #7)<\/strong> Yoga is mental.<\/span><\/p>\n Truth:<\/em> Yoga is not mental – it’s seeing through the veil of thoughts, opinions, judgments and beliefs to your real Self.<\/span><\/p>\n Yoga is not thinking – it’s above thinking and beyond thinking. It’s non-thinking.<\/span><\/p>\n (Myth #6)<\/strong> Yoga is knowing something or learning something new.<\/span><\/p>\n Truth:<\/em> Yoga is not knowing anything or learning something new – it’s UNlearning everything and UNknowing everything. It’s a Cloud of Forgetting, a Cloud of Unknowing.<\/span><\/p>\n Yoga is not a class or course you take with other people, even if you’re in a class or course with other people. Yoga is an UNclass in Life itself; it is the ultimate UNcourse in Solitude itself. And it is a required UNcourse. Nobody can opt out of this UNcourse because it’s the only UNcourse\/UNclass being taught. You can’t drop out, but you can, of course, sleep through it… and hence, repeat it over and over again until you wake up. <\/span><\/p>\n (Myth #5)<\/strong> Yoga is mantras and chants.<\/span><\/p>\n Truth:<\/em> Yoga is not mantras, chants, or japa – It’s Silence itself. And that Silence speaks, that Silence shouts, that Silence sings!<\/span><\/p>\n (Myth #4)<\/strong> Yoga has different forms.<\/span><\/p>\n Truth:<\/em> Yoga has nothing to do with form – not with your form or with anybody else’s form – it’s formless, Formlessness itself.<\/span><\/p>\n (Myth #3a)<\/strong> Yoga is achieving, accomplishing, or acquiring something new.<\/span><\/p>\n Truth:<\/em> Yoga is not achieving, accomplishing, or acquiring anything at all – It’s Presence itself.<\/span><\/p>\n (Myth #3b)<\/strong> Yoga is a way to achieve, accomplish, or attain peace, happiness, and love.<\/span><\/p>\n Truth:<\/em> Yoga is not even a way of attaining, achieving, or accomplishing peace, love, bliss, nirvana, samadhi, or enlightenment.<\/span><\/p>\n Yoga is realizing, remembering, and recognizing that there’s nothing to attain, achieve, or accomplish whatsoever, not even “spiritual things.”<\/span><\/p>\n Yoga is the non-striving, non-struggling, non-ambitious Awareness that’s always at home in the Self, always enthroned in the kingdom of God.<\/span><\/p>\n Yoga is the “That which you seek, you already are” consciousness (without the thought as such).<\/span><\/p>\n Yoga is Awareness itself – Christ-Consciousness, Buddha-Mind itself.<\/span><\/p>\n Yoga is Peace, Love, Bliss, Nirvana, Samadhi, and Enlightenment itself.<\/span><\/p>\n Yoga is total non-seeking, non-striving, non-struggling. It’s total surrender of all fear and all desire. And in that total surrender of all to All-That-Is (which you are), there is total fulfillment. In complete fulfillment, there is no fear and no desire whatsoever.<\/span><\/p>\n (Myth #2)<\/strong> Yoga is self-improvement.<\/span><\/p>\n Truth:<\/em> Yoga is not self-improvement – it’s Self-love, Self-acceptance, and Self-abidance.<\/span><\/p>\n And yet, yoga is not even Self-acceptance, Self-love or Self-abidance, because there’s not two; there’s just One. There’s no-body and no-thing to love, accept or abide and no-body and no-thing to be loved, accepted, or abided in. <\/span><\/p>\n Yoga is practicing the presence of that One, of God, of your Self (God).<\/span><\/p>\n There’s nobody and nothing to improve, nobody and nothing to do the improving, and no improvement at all.<\/span><\/p>\n (Myth #1a)<\/strong> Yoga is about becoming more spiritual.<\/span><\/p>\n Truth:<\/em> Yoga is not about becoming more spiritual – it’s abiding as Spirit itself. You can’t become any more spiritual – you’re 100% Spirit itself, and you’re simply dreaming you’re not.<\/span><\/p>\n (Myth #1b)<\/strong> Yoga is a way to God.<\/span><\/p>\n Truth<\/em>: Yoga is not a way or path to God – it is Oneness with God, your Self itself.<\/span><\/p>\n Yoga is so sweet and simple:\u00a0 <\/span>It’s simply being – remaining as, abiding as – your Self. It’s remaining as you already are – at home, in the kingdom of God, as thoughtless awareness, as mindless consciousness – and letting the rest be added.<\/span><\/p>\n It’s being what you already are: One with Source itself. You are – Consciousness itself is – the Source of everything.<\/span><\/p>\n (Myth #1c)<\/strong> Yoga is union with God.<\/span><\/p>\n Truth:<\/em> Yoga is not union with God or anything else, for that matter, because there’s no-thing and no-body outside your Self to unite with. You are already One with All That Is.<\/span><\/p>\n Yoga is simply Being, full-stop. It’s being Everything and No-Thing all at once without effort at all.<\/span><\/p>\n Yoga is the experience-less experience, the state-less state, the pathless path of the Self. It is abiding as the formless, infinite, eternal, Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient Self: God Self. And in God – Self, Atman, Brahman, Christ, Buddha, Mohammed, Moses, Lao Tzu, whatever – you find that nothing is desired and nothing is lacking. It contains – is – All. There is nothing that is not included in it.<\/span><\/p>\n Yoga is knowing, “You are not in the world; the world is in You.”<\/span><\/p>\n So, back to the question…<\/span>In one sense, then, no, I don’t “do yoga.” And neither do you. No-body does. <\/span>I don’t “do yoga” – I AM yoga.” And so are you. And so is everyone. <\/span>And in another sense, yes, I “do yoga,” and I’m always “doing yoga,” because I AM always abiding as the Self. There no-thing and no-body else to abide as or be… and there’s, quite simply, nothing else to do! It’s the only game in town.<\/span><\/p>\n In the simplest terms, “practicing yoga” is practicing Presence itself: the Presence of God, the Presence of my Self, the One Self and Soul we all are.\u00a0<\/span>I’m always on the mat, as are you, because the mat is the world – our jobs, our relationships, our politics, our religions, our everything. We are always doing yoga; we are always practicing the Presence – the Presence of our Self, God, Awareness – no matter what else we’re doing.<\/span><\/p>\n Sometimes we are consciously aware of this fact and sometimes we are not. Being aware of it – being aware of your Self, of Presence itself – IS yoga. And it IS meditation.<\/span><\/p>\n You ARE yoga; you ARE meditation.<\/span><\/p>\n Just stop and see. Just stop and be!<\/span><\/p>\n Whatever you’re doing or not doing on the outside, on the “inside” just be.<\/span><\/p>\n Just Be. <\/span><\/p>\n “I AM that I AM” – that’s yoga.<\/span><\/p>\n By Rob Mack<\/p><\/p>\n Rob is the author of\u00a0Happiness from the inside out<\/strong><\/a>. W<\/em>e’ll be releasing a new 8 episode course, ‘How to become a rich yogi’ with Rob next week, only on Omstars, so stay tuned!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/IMG_2454_preview-300x200.jpeg\")
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