The word Yoga is becoming more popular in the west. However, being from the United States, I see the perception of Yoga being limited to a series of physical postures, and more of a physical exercise, which is currently a rising trend. Yoga is actually a sanskrit word meaning union. What is union? Well, union is why we do Yoga. Union is the fruit of Yoga. The experience of true unity cannot be described, only experienced.

I had a chance to live in Hawaii several years back. This time in Hawaii unfolded glimpses of a life I didn’t know existed. The experience was a rising sense of peace and depth, which is now learning to co-exist with the very surface of my daily life. This experience has helped me to realize there has never been a time where this deep desire for union was not lively.

Before Hawaii I would get so caught up in the noise around me, and attempt to fill this desire for union with fleeting material objects, and temporary surface charm. I forgot that the only way to truly be fulfilled is to enliven a broader aspect of myself, and cultivate a deeper contentment from within.

Yoga or true union is not limited by separation. More and more my TM practice is reshaping who I am, in a much more lasting and fulfilling way. I am expanding my identity from Eric Carter: musician, and traveler who is this age, and has these desires, to encompass the underlying intelligence that is here before this body, and will be here long after this body fades. This is the Real Yoga, and one glimpse of this vast and simultaneously minuscule wonder is enough to never look back.

Since my time in Hawaii I have sought a deeper life and more lasting joys. I have seen negative habits fade, eaten lots of organic food, done many 90 min. sessions in 100 degree heat, and meditated consistently, as well as having studied intellectually. As a result I have experienced the fruit of my search. I have realized and experienced that this vision is not limited to this body. The Essence that is flowing through me is infinite, and in no way separate from the Light of the Universe. And, I am still only dipping my toe in the dawn of a heart that is expanding to encompass the universe.

The human heart has the capacity to expand leaps and bounds past current logic. This physiology holds the divine science to breathe, heal, and see infinite wonder in every passing glance. Yoga is life and progress. It is expansion, and the gift to see what previously went unnoticed. Every time we open a door for someone, or treat another as we wish to be treated, we are doing Yoga. That wonderful feeling of kindness is affirming and nourishing the notion that we are not separate. Like many roots rise to create one tree, we are one unified intelligence expressed as infinite points. To actually realize, live and see this, unfolds a more efficient life in every facet of living.

There are many types of yoga on the surface. Bikram yoga, Hatha yoga, even hand yoga. However, there comes a point when everything we do is Yoga, where we are Yoga. This is the goal. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says, “the nature of life is to grow.” Yoga is growth, and Yoga is our purpose. It is our right, and our obligation to know and to enjoy unity.

“All at once, individuality itself seemed to dissolve and fade away into boundless being, and this not a confused state but the clearest the surest?utterly beyond words?where death was an almost laughable impossibility. Alfred, Lord Tennyson

~Eric Carter