Yoga=mind, body, and spirit connection. Semantic Satiation....say what?

You know how if you say any word like 50 times, the word doesn't even sound like a word anymore. Wow, there is a formal name for this - wiki-ed it:

Semantic satiation (also semantic saturation) is a psychological phenomenon in which repetition causes a word or phrase to temporarily lose meaning for the listener, who can only process the speech as repeated meaningless sounds.

















YOGA - so I thought about this Semantic Satiation thing when it comes to people understanding and describing Yoga.

Yoga literally means Unity. Over and over teachers say "yoga is the connection of mind, body and spirit." Which is exactly it - but you hear this so much, what does it actually mean? "The body, mind, and soul are connected. If the body is asleep the mind is asleep." from the Light of Yoga Sutras.

Through getting the physical body in shape with yoga, the internal systems will work better. At the same time we are working on the subtle body; the energy can flow better. This enables the real purpose of yoga which is to empty the mind and reach enlightenment or liberation.

So with a good body and mind one can sit properly for a long duration for the meditation to find your spirit.


In sanskrit (english) the meaning of yoga is: Citta (mind) Vrttis (thought waves) Nirodhah (restraint).

Restraining thought waves? Or liberating yourself from your mind - whats this mean anyway??:
- To be conscious
- Controlling your happiness no matter the circumstances 
- More peace of mind
- Better focus
- Having a "one-point mind" and not allowing the mind to jump around as it does.
- Being in the present easier
- Finding stillness in your mind, that you find you are not your mind and self, the spirit is in there, we are more than this material world.

Gaga got it right - I was born this way, I'm on the right track baby Meaning we are born with a crazy, busy mind. That the purpose of life is to understand and learn to control your happiness, doing this through disconnecting with the mind and identifying with the spirit behind it. We are more than the physical - transcendence.

BUT first.... We have to understand the function of the mind - what are we dealing with. More in future posts about the Yoga Sutra's which is a great structure to understand and work from....