“The Settling of the Mind Into Silence” — How a Definition of Yoga also Defines All Forms of Contemplation

The first four lines of the ancient text, theYoga Sutras of Patanjali, offer a basic definition of yoga — that might surprise many westerners who are used to thinking of yoga primarily as a form of physical discipline. But the kind of yoga practiced at your local gym or yoga center is simply one type of yoga — Hatha Yoga. Yoga is a much more broad term for spiritual discipline, just as “prayer” is a much broader term than Centering Prayer or charismatic prayer or liturgical prayer.

The word...