Using Yoga As Your Road To Spiritual Awakening

Yoga shares its roots with Hinduism. While it is not religious, yoga is deeply embedded in spirituality.

What makes yoga a tool for spiritual awakening is its emphasis on self-realization, its principles of universal ethics like ahimsa (non-harming or non-violence), and the theory of karma.

Besides, yoga also integrates meditation, the study of spiritual texts from all religions, and surrender to a higher truth. Here are some ways in which you can use yoga as your road to spiritual awakening:

1. Developing vairagya or detachment

The Sanskrit word ‘vairagya’ translates in English to detachment. Vairagya is a core principle of yoga.

Yoga says that there is no spiritual awakening without vairagya. It is the only way.

Vairagya is silencing the craving mind and the ego. When we let go of materialistic desires and feelings of pride, attachment, aversion, and our fears, we move closer to self-awareness and self-realization.

Yoga asana for detachment

Practicing Padmasana or lotus pose is a great way to develop vairagya.

Lotus petals do not hold onto any water droplets. In the same way, a yogi, while living in a material world, does not form attachments or aversions.

The roots of a lotus flower grow in muddy waters, yet what blooms above for all to see is a beautiful and glorious flower. A yogi might be rooted in a worldly life but sees true beauty in union with the divine.

2. Conquering avidya or ignorance

Avidya in yoga is much more than its translation as ignorance. Avidya symbolizes spiritual ignorance, which keeps one from pursuing the path to spiritual awakening. It is a non-knowledge of the divine or the supreme spirit.

Yoga gives us the tools to overcome avidya. It teaches us to look deeply within ourselves and realize our true nature. It enables us to differentiate between the real and the unreal.

Yoga asana for conquering ignorance

Virabhadrasana or warrior poses give us an opportunity to practice focus and determination. A spiritual warrior fights ignorance and battles with the internal enemy that comes in the way of truth.

Warrior poses help develop the strength and readiness to continue in one’s spiritual journey.

3. Learning to surrender

Yoga asks us to cultivate an attitude of surrender to a higher power. This power does not have to be outside of us. It can be recognizing and honoring our own divinity.

Surrender is trust. It is letting go of control and the feeling of separation from others. It takes attention away from the self and our selfish desires and invites us to develop a much larger perspective on life.

Learning to surrender is, therefore, a crucial step towards spiritual awakening.

Yoga pose for learning to surrender

Forward bends help us to surrender.

A pose like Balasana or child’s pose is a perfect example of learning to surrender. Like a child, it helps us to be trusting and feel comfortable in a state of non-doing.

It helps integrate the body and mind by allowing it a period of rest and complete relaxation.  

Closing Thoughts

Yoga enables us to achieve peace and tranquility in the throes of daily life. There is an integration of the internal world and the external world and all separation ceases to exist.

The ultimate purpose of yoga is enlightenment, known in yogic terms as samadhi or kaivalya.

Asana practice is simply a tool that can help us in our transformation towards spiritual awakening. This awakening is realizing our true potential, because it is only when we self-realize that we can manifest the divinity that lies inside.

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