It is what it is

Cheers to Asana:

Sanskrit is an ancient Indian language--the language in which the healing science/spiritual practice of yoga is written. "Yoga" is a sanskrit word which literally means "yoking," or bringing together. Another way of saying this would be union. Yoga is the union between mind, body and soul. It is the union between all beings, places, things and points of time. It is really the union between any two or multiple things that you could possibly think of. Through this yoking we can say that "We are one," or "We are all one."

Now, what is Asana? Asana is a sanskrit word meaning "posture" or "seat." In most parts of the world, America not included, yoga is characterized more by the spiritual practice--the meditation, chanting and studying of the scriptures--than the physical practice. When one mediates or studies, one takes a seat. This seat can symbolize the connection to the earth or the yoking/union of the earth and our own nature.

In the West, when the average person thinks of yoga, this person thinks of exercise or being in a super hot room (Bikram yoga). Yoga can be thought of as exercise, but it is exercise for the purpose of union with something; hopefully that "something" is more than a toned bum or six-pack abs. Those are possible benefits of the physicality of yoga but yoga is much more than that. 

So, this physical style of yoga is what we call asana in the US. Remember that asana means "posture." These different postures are the shapes we bring our body into during a yoga class. As stated before, however, asana also means "seat," what we take to meditate. So the connection or union here is that while moving through these postures, or shapes, in yoga class we can be in the same peaceful state of mind that we would while taking that meditative seat. This is why although yoga could be called "exercise with a purpose," it is more accurately described as "yoga." Yoga is it's own unique modality. It doesn't need to be categorized. It is what it is! :)