Yoga is a process of liberation. The Yoga Sutras, the guidebook of classical yoga, states, “Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.” This is a common aphorism for yoga teachers and students.

In the 1980s, the perception of yoga was not the same as it is today. It was alternative and a bit more underground. Around that time, Yogi Amrit Desai, the originator of kripalu yoga, said that we see the world through our own screen of perception. If our screen were painted with a picture of life as suffering or difficult, then that is what we see in our lives. A yoga practice can help us see beyond that screen to the outside world without all of our subliminal impressions, or samskaras.

Yoga is not about the postures, breathing or even about meditation. All of these things can become part of the screen, which taints our experience of the world and separates us from each other. If the practice distances us from each other with a sense of superiority or difference, then we are bound up in our own samskaras. The yoga practice can help us loosen those places where we feel fear or superiority and liberate us—bringing forth what is real and great in ourselves. Yoga, after all, is a practice for life.

Tina Stroh is the founder and co-owner of Just Plain Yoga, in Camp Hill. For more information, call 717-975-9642 or visit JustPlainYoga.com.