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I recently took the plunge and decided to take on Yoga Teacher Training with The Yoga Seed. On our first day of Yoga Teacher Training, Reno one of the instructors asked us, “What is Yoga”? Asking this question to a room full of Yogi’s in training, was a bit like opening Pandora’s Box and before long we all had our hands raised in the air, as we each eagerly shared our own interpretation of what Yoga was to us. 

The instructor carefully wrote down each suggestion as people shared different ideas and theories about their own experiences with yoga. And, the conversation picked up momentum quickly as we began to discuss how community, breath, connection, play, and mindfulness all encompassed Yoga in different ways. We dove in even deeper when, Reno our instructor asked us, “Could yoga also be something else, maybe even something controversial or outside of the box?” In a flash, and even before I realized my hand was in the air, the words just fell out of my mouth, “Yoga is Zero”. And then Crickets…..

The silence was probably just a few split seconds, but the intensity of all those faces staring at  me with their questions’ gleaming in their eyes, was a tad overwhelming for a reserved introvert like myself. As everyone’s focus shifted to me for an explanation on how zero had anything to do with yoga, I started to feel a tinge of regret because I didn’t quite know where to start, or even how to begin to explain such an abstract theory. But somehow, I felt supported among this sea of new faces and I attempted to elaborate on this wild notion, and I said something like this, 

“Yoga is zero, because zero is our natural, and purest state. When you practice Yoga, you forget about the barriers, masks, and relationships we think define us. When we mistakenly perceive the layers of ego as a defining feature of who we really are as people, we are inevitably not fully living in the present moment. But, Yoga helps foster the removal of all the things we thought we were or weren’t, helping us realize our wholest and truest state by bringing us back to zero where we can reconnect with our inner selves”. 

I’m not sure if my explanation actually explained what I was trying to say, or if I confused everyone in training even more. But, it’s something that stayed with me throughout my training as a burning question left unanswered. 

Now, let’s pretend to fast forward a few months to the last weekend of training, where I naively assumed we were all done with homework and assignments. But wait, “just one more assignment”, they said. “For this last assignment we want you to write about, ‘What is Yoga’ in your own words or opinion”.  A light bulb instantly illuminated for me, kinda like it does in a comic or cartoon, and I saw this assignment as something more than just one more requirement needed to check off my to do list before getting my yoga certification.

For me,  I felt like I was getting a do-over from that very first day of training, when I awkwardly tried to explain a complex Zen philosophy to a room full of strangers. Only this time my words would be perfect, and I wouldn’t get any blank stares gazing back at me. In a way, I thought if I could finally wrap my own brain around this whole Zen theory of Zero, then maybe, I’d actually be able to share it in a way where “Yoga is zero” makes sense. 

When it came down to writing the assignment, I felt like poetry would be the best tool for me to use, so, I did just that. The irony though, is that, I still don’t feel like I perfectly encompassed the essence of “What Yoga is” or “Yoga is Zero”, but I also don’t think that something as illusive and expansive as Yoga, could ever fully be explained with words alone. And to be honest, Isn’t Life a whole lot better, when we find a way to live out the unanswered questions themselves, instead of forcing an answer to appear?