Yoga in Oxford

One of the many aims of Yoga is to bring about balance and harmony within the body and mind. Yoga means ‘yoke’ or ‘unite’. When these different aspects of ourselves are balanced and united we may experience great peace, calm, tranquility, bliss within our present moment awareness. Here there is no sense of identifying with our ego. We become our ‘true self’, identifying with the soul. With continuous and dedicated practice, we may reach a state of unification with the universe beyond time and space. The sages and gurus call this ‘liberation’. They believe this state to be eternal where consciousness continues and re-birth ends. 

The word ‘HATHA’, comes from the two bija mantras, (seed syllables that enable transformation) ‘HA’ which means ‘sun’, and ‘THA’ which means moon. Within these two mantras are contained the essences of traditional Yoga. The images of the sun and moon represent the dual aspects of life; the cool and the hot, the energetic and the passive, strength v. stretch, dynamic v. static, logical v. intuitive, extrovert v. introvert, objective v. subjective, conscious v. subconscious, matter v. mind, Shiva v. Shakti, and so on.