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Yoga & Meditation

I consider myself a practitioner of Jnana Yoga — the path of knowledge and self-realization. My interest isn't in the physical postures that Westerners typically associate with yoga. It's in the philosophical tradition underneath: the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the inquiry into what consciousness actually is.

I use the term vedic to encapsulate these various philosophies and understandings of the Eastern spiritual traditions. It's a more accurate and respectful term than "yoga" for what I'm actually practicing, which is closer to contemplative inquiry than exercise.

What I Practice

The four main paths of yoga are:

  1. Jnana Yoga — The path of knowledge.
  2. Bhakti Yoga — The path of devotion.
  3. Karma Yoga — The path of selfless action.
  4. Raja Yoga — The path of meditation.

My path is Jnana — understanding through inquiry. The same analytical instinct that drives debugging and API design drives my spiritual practice. Different objects of attention, same quality of attention.

On Meditation

Meditation is not universally good practice. This is important enough to state plainly. Meditation can be destabilizing for people with certain mental health conditions — PTSD, dissociative disorders, psychotic spectrum conditions like mine. I've written about this in The Meditation Trap. Consult a mental health professional before starting a practice, especially if you have a complex history.

When it works for me, it works well. When it doesn't, I stop. No ideology about it.

On Misappropriation

The Western "yoga" industry has largely reduced a comprehensive spiritual tradition to physical exercise.Traditional yoga encompasses eight limbs (ashtanga): ethical guidelines (yamas), personal observances (niyamas), physical postures (asanas), breath control (pranayama), withdrawal of senses (pratyahara), concentration (dharana), meditation (dhyana), and union (samadhi). Western "yoga" typically focuses only on asanas. Yoga pants and yoga mats are not yoga. The postures are one small part of a much larger tradition — the part that's easiest to commercialize.

Resources