When does yoga begin and end?

I’ve been thinking about this question a lot lately, when does yoga begin and end? My thoughts on this question have changed overtime. I have been curious with this contemplation and I’m open to all answers.

When do you think yoga begins and ends?

Whether you are a yoga teacher yourself, a fitness teacher, a practitioner of yoga, or just curious about yoga, your answers may differ. When it comes to yoga there are always so many rabbit holes you can go down, you could even go into the contemplation for a lifetime and still be curious. This is why I continuously turn towards yoga, to spark my curious mind, to guide me through difficult change and to be open to the unexpected. I am always learning and I am always grateful for what I learn.

When Does Yoga Begin and End?

Yoga is often seen as something confined to a mat or a duration of a practice that starts and finishes, but its essence transcends time and space. Some would say that yoga begins the moment we become present and attuned to our body, breath, and mind. It starts when we choose to live with intention and align our actions with higher principles like compassion, discipline, and self-awareness.

According to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, yoga begins with Abhyāsa (practice) and Vairāgya (non-attachment). These qualities help cultivate steadiness and mindfulness in our everyday lives. Yoga is present not only in asanas (postures) but also in our thoughts, decisions, and interactions with the world.

So if we begin the practice of yoga and we go on the lifelong journey of leading with intention, seeking to align our actions with intentions and staying on the curious path, does yoga ever really end? I believe, that it doesn’t. If yoga doesn’t end, this leads me to the question, can we do something that’s not yoga? If I’ve committed to this lifestyle of yoga and I draw from the teachings of yoga daily, am I ever not doing yoga?

If I’m trying to do yoga, but I’m struggling with the tools such as becoming challenged through quieting my mind, does this mean I am not doing yoga? I don’t think that’s what it means. I believe practicing, even failing, is still yoga. When I acknowledge that I didn’t reach my intention or I made a mistake in my actions, that’s me still connecting my mind with what’s unfolding in front of me. Yoga is rooted in the truth (satya) and if I am true to myself to acknowledge when I’m struggling, I still believe I am doing yoga. When I drift off as we tend to do, but then I catch myself and think, aha, find more presence, then I am doing yoga. If I keep showing up for myself again, again and again, even though it’s the most challenging thing I’ve ever experienced, I am still doing yoga.

We’re all open to our own interpretations, but in my experience of yoga I believe that the moment I decided to practice yoga, that my journey began and it hasn’t stopped, even for a moment. It’s how I’ve chosen to adapt my life, through the teachings of yoga in ways that apply to me.

If I’m teaching fitness, am I not teaching yoga?

In the yoga world there are a lot of opinions on the fusion of yoga and fitness. There are a lot of arguments that yoga is enough and doesn’t need the bells and whistles of fitness. There are a lot of arguments that yoga isn’t only about the physical body, and is much more about the mind & spiritual body, so it doesn’t make sense to fuse fitness and yoga together. I see a little differently, but it’s not to say that there is a right and wrong. It’s just different interpretations.

My interpretation is that yoga is union, in which when I am connected to or trying to connect mind and body, I am doing yoga. I could be doing that through many things, including fitness. In fact, if it weren’t for fitness, I would have never found yoga myself. When I teach fitness, I haven’t stopped my yoga practice and I haven’t stopped teaching yoga. This is why I’ve started to think more about being a fitness teacher is equal to being a functional yoga teacher. Whether you’re teaching meditations and breath work, or lifting dumbbells and increasing your heart rate, I believe it all falls under this umbrella of yoga if you get to the root and intention of it.

Your yoga.

The thing about yoga is that it’s always up to you which path you’d like to go on. There are many paths to yoga and you don’t have to follow rules just because yoga said so. You’re allowed to create your own path, integrate what feels right to you and choose what you’d like to take from yoga with you. I don’t believe it’s all in or nothing. At the end of the day it’s your yoga.

Yoga doesn’t end.

Who I am to say that the practice of yoga doesn’t have an end? After all, I’m only a student of yoga and forever will be. This is just my interpretation at the time being…maybe I’ll change my mind. Yoga is an ongoing journey and I’ll always share what I’m discovering along the way. For now, for me, yoga doesn’t end and it isn’t confined to rules that was maybe written hundreds of years ago. Each day I honour the roots of yoga and what the teachers over the years have brought forward. Now I am curious, as a student of yoga but also as a teacher, what will it be that I bring forward? Time will tell.

I invite you to contemplate this question more and over the next little while. Dive into the learning, into the practices and see what you find. Continuously ask yourself…when does yoga begin and end?