There was a time when yoga was a quiet, deeply personal journey. It wasn’t about handstands on a beach, designer yoga mats, or how flexible you looked in a pose. It was a path of discipline (tapas), study (svadhyaya), and surrender (Ishvarapranidhana).
When Did Yoga Become a Lifestyle Brand?
Somewhere along the way, yoga stopped being just yoga and became a whole aesthetic. Scroll through Instagram, and you’ll see it - perfectly lit handstands on a beach, branded yoga mats, and influencers meditating in designer activewear. Yoga has been rebranded as a lifestyle - one that’s often more about appearances than actual practice.
It’s marketed as a lifestyle, an aesthetic carefully crafted for social media. Scroll through your feed, and you’ll see the same formula: a yoga pose, a “deep” caption, maybe a quote from Rumi or the Bhagavad Gita. And while there’s nothing wrong with sharing one’s journey, we need to ask - has yoga become more about display than discipline?
Performative Spirituality: When Yoga Becomes a Show
Let’s talk about performative spirituality - the trend where yoga and self-growth become something to display rather than embody. This can look like:
Posting “inspirational” quotes daily but never actually applying them.
Calling yourself a yoga teacher based on aesthetics rather than deep study.
Using yoga only as a fitness tool while ignoring its philosophy.
Chasing enlightenment through weekend workshops instead of lifelong commitment (Sadhana).
Now, don’t get me wrong - there’s nothing bad about sharing your practice. The problem is when spirituality becomes more about looking spiritual than actually being it.
Yoga isn’t about appearing wise, peaceful, or enlightened. It’s about peeling back the layers of illusion, sitting with discomfort, and seeing yourself as you really are. And that kind of work? It doesn’t always look pretty on social media.
Yoga Sadhana is More Than Asanas
One of the biggest misconceptions today is that yoga is just about asanas. But let’s not forget - asana is just one limb of Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga. If we only focus on physical postures, we’re barely scratching the surface of what yoga sadhana truly is.
So, where do we go from here? How do we reclaim the depth of yoga beyond the physical?
1. Pranayama and Meditation: The Gateway to Inner Stillness
Pranayama and meditation are often treated as optional in modern yoga, but they are essential if we want to move beyond the surface.
Pranayama isn’t just about breath control - it’s about expanding prana, your vital life force. A strong asana practice without pranayama is like a well-built house with no electricity. It might look good from the outside, but it’s not fully functional.
Meditation (dhyana) is even more crucial. True yoga doesn’t happen in the asana - it happens in the stillness that follows. If we’re constantly moving but never sitting with ourselves, are we really practising yoga?
2. Studying Yoga Beyond the Mat: Sankhya and Vedanta
Yoga without philosophy is like trying to sail a boat without a compass. If we want to understand the deeper dimensions of yoga, we need to study beyond the asanas.
Sankhya Darshana gives us the map of reality - the 25 tattvas that explain the nature of existence. Understanding Sankhya helps us see why yoga works the way it does.
Advaita Vedanta teaches us non-duality, helping us move beyond ego and illusion. Yoga is not just about the flexibility of the body - it’s about the flexibility of perception, dissolving the sense of separateness.
When we engage in these studies, our practice stops being mechanical. It becomes wisdom in motion.
3. Mantra and Japa: The Power of Sacred Sound
In the age of quick-fix spirituality, mantra chanting is often dismissed as “just a ritual.” But anyone who has practised Japa (mantra repetition) consistently knows its transformative power.
Mantras are not just sounds - they are vibrations that shift our consciousness.
Chanting activates energy centers (chakras), calms the mind, and deepens focus.
Japa (repeating a mantra) cultivates devotion (bhakti) and clears mental clutter.
If asanas train the body and pranayama refines the breath, mantra chanting trains the mind. It brings discipline, steadiness, and an unshakable connection to something greater than ourselves.
Reclaiming Authenticity in Yoga
So, how do we bring yoga back to its roots?
Go Beyond the Pose – Deepen your practice with pranayama, meditation, and scriptural study.
Study the Darshanas – Yoga isn’t just about movement; it’s about understanding reality itself.
Make Space for Silence – Not every practice needs to be shared. Sometimes, the deepest growth happens in solitude.
Commit to Japa – A simple daily practice of chanting can anchor your mind and spirit.
Live Yoga, Don’t Perform It – Ask yourself: Am I practicing for transformation or validation?
Yoga: A Path, Not a Performance
At its core, yoga is about moving inward, not outward. It’s not about being seen - it’s about seeing yourself.
As Patanjali reminds us: - स तु दीर्घकालनैरन्तर्यसत्कारासेवितो दृढभूमिः II 1.14 II
"Practice becomes firmly grounded when attended to for a long time, without break, and with sincere devotion."
So let’s step away from the distractions and come back to Yoga sadhana. Let’s practice - not for likes, not for validation, but for the pure joy of discovering who we truly are.
Because in the end, yoga isn’t about the pose. It’s about the presence we bring to it.
