YOGA...what's it all about

...we're doing yoga...a friends relative recently remarked.
 Indeed, she and boyfriend somewhat recently decided to -do yoga-.

My question to this remarkable young lady working on her biology doctorate at the famous Mayo Clinic was..really, yoga..what kind of yoga are you  and or doing?

It's interesting how few people are actually familiar with yoga or some aspects of this ancient practice from the east. I have read about and collected some wonderful books on the subject and yet after 50 years of yoga in one form or another I still have only scratched the surface.

Call it exersice,dancercice, pilate or anything else you want but much of what I see on the tube advertised as yoga has in reality very little to do with the subject. I obviously am obliged at this point to come up with some sort of explanation, here are some of my views, based on extensive reading on the subject:

There are six main paths of yoga, all with the aim or goal of obtaining a form of supreme bliss or union (samadhi) with the universe.
1-jnana yoga, union by knowledge
2-bhakti yoga, union by love
3-karma yoga- union by service
4-mantra yoga-union by speech (sounds)
5-hatha yoga- union by control of the body
6-raja yoga -union by mental control.

From this you will see that the ancient yogis devised a number of paths for the different temperaments.
Briefly, jnana is for the intellectual, truth of existence and the nature of the self are examined.
Bhakti involved faith and worship, concentration and meditation of the divine.
Karma is for the active and extrovert performing work and service for mankind.
Mantra concentrates the mind by means of japa, re repetition of prayers and incantations,voiced,whispered or mental.

Hatha yoga enables you to understand your body and gain mastery over it. It is indeed Hatha yoga that is best known in the West. Physical specific exercises, hygiene and breathing practices are all part of  Hatha Yoga.
Finally, raja yoga the royal way,meditation is often practiced along with hatha yoga, using hatha to condition the body and mind to the possibilities of raja yoga. Raja yoga aims at mastering the mind.