'Yoga' literally means 'Union' but the word can mean different things to different people. You can interpret is as a union between man and God, or harmony between our mind, body and spirit or alignment within our own existence. When you meditate, you are allowing your mind to access this harmonious core.
When you practice asanas or do breath-work, you are working with the physical body and Life-Force.
You can approach other forms of meditation such as chanting as a spiritual, devotional practice.
Apart from this, any time you make an effort to align different aspects of yourself or your life, you move closer to alignment or union. This does not necessarily have to be on the Yoga mat. The aim remains the same- to unify the diverse dimensions of your existence.
Think of one area in your life where you have been struggling for a while, somewhere you have been putting in a lot of effort but are still not seeing results. Is it a relationship? Is it your job? Be totally honest with yourself as you try to find the core values that are driving you in this area. Make a note of them and see what is not in alignment.
For example, 'I want to improve my participation at work, but my salary is not good enough' shows 2 of your values- sincerity and financial worth, and these two are in conflict for you. You want to put in more sincere effort but another part of you is telling you that you should be paid more.
Some more examples would be- You value companionship but you also want your partner to be perfect because perfection is also one of your core values. A child wants to study and do well but he is not in total acceptance of the values and culture of his school. You value open communication but your current living situation demands that you repress your feelings because you believe you have nowhere else to to except your family.
This inner-contradiction is the opposite of the alignment that we seek. There are parts of us that are in opposition to each other- we value this but we also value that. We want this but we also want that. We look for solutions outside, but we also need to work towards integrating these disconnected parts within ourselves. For example, if you are able to resolve the conflict between money vs peace of mind, you would either quit the job or stay in acceptance.
For this practice, we are not trying to find the solution to any problem or blame anyone, not even ourselves. We are just trying to be aware of areas where we are not in alignment, where our mind, body and spirit are not in union. The rest will naturally unfold.
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