THE HEART OF YOGA by T.K.V. Desikachar. 
Inner Traditions International Rochester, Vermont.
 
Yoga is to attain what was previously unattainable.
 
Yoga is the movement from one point to another, higher
one.
 
Yoga is the ability to direct the mind exclusively
toward an object and sustain that direction without
any distraction.
 
Attention to the direction we are taking so that we
know where we are going and how we are going to get
there.
 
Yoga means acting in such a way that all our
attention is directed toward the activity in which we
are currently engaged.
 
Losing this attention causes our practice to become
mechanical, and then we are no longer doing yoga.
 
When we attend to the process of linking breath with
the whole body, the mind and the senses merge with the
power of the universe. We might call this power
consciousness and its active principle energy, or in
Yoga term Purusa & Prana.
 
When mind or senses are linked to consciousness, the
objects of the perception are also joined with
consciousness…
 
Consciousness is felt to be the source of everything
and situations and objects are perceived from a
radically point of view.
 
Merely by following the careful instruction of
connecting the breath to the body in appropriate ways
as Krishnamacharya taught and practicing on a daily
basis something shifts. Insights come, the ability to
focus on tasks and achieve goals develops, new ways of
handling difficult emotions and situations are
recognized. Feelings of stillness, peace, certainty,
happiness, love or connectedness spontaneously occur,
and there is often a general improvement in life
circumstances..
 
Krishanmacharya’s teaching was to bring man into
contact with sometimes beyond himself and far greater.
 
Patanjali [Yoga Sutras] introduces one of the
changeless generosities of Yoga : that the very nature
 
of correct practice fuels its own motivation.
 
Distraction and resistance simply fall away and we
gain renewing energy and eagerness to continue.
 
Through faith, which will give sufficient energy to
achieve success against all odds, direction will be
maintained. The realization of the goal of Yoga is a
matter of time.
 
When we feel in harmony with that higher power
(greater than ourselves) that too is Yoga.
 
The goal of Yoga is peace not power.
 
…the path to perfect clarity and freedom. How is
this to be accomplished ? Through practice and mastery
of the eight components of Yoga which are
1) Yama - Our attitude toward our environment
2) Niyama- Our attitudes toward ourselves..
3) Asana - The practice of body exercise.
4) Pranayama - The practice of breathing exercises
5) Pratyahara - The restraint of our senses.
6) Dharana- The ability to direct our minds
7) Dhyana- The ability to develop interactions with what we seek to understand.
8) Samadhi- Complete integration w/the object to be understood
 
Yama and Niyama move the individual towards greater
clarity in relations to all things external, and ever
deeper into the inner self.