Old School Vs. New School
Traditional yoga has deep religious roots; it's styles are not only physical, but are highly meditational. The main goal of traditional yoga is to achieve moksha- liberation, enlightenment, freedom from reincarnation and conscious recognition of one's own divinity. Traditional yoga is not practiced the way many popular modern day styles are. For example, Jnana yoga does not involve physical postures, but instead focuses on a path of rational self-inquiry and seeks to rid ignorance of one's true nature. When the term yoga is brought up, many will think of bending into different postures. However, these postures aka "asanas" weren't even a part of yoga until a man named Patanjali wrote the Yoga Sutras (200BCE). He incorporated postures to discipline the body and to create a body and conscious connection. To ancient yoga practicers, asanas were just a small, but useful part of the practice as a whole. Although traditional yoga styles are not as commonly practiced in western culture, some aspects are highly incorporated and it is important to keep in mind and understand where the practice once originated from.
On the other hand, most any yoga studio you wander into now will be based on a variety of physical postures/ asanas. Yoga has largely become popular in western culture due to its numerous benefits including stress relief, increased flexibility, detoxification of the body, and injury prevention/recovery. Depending on the style of yoga, a class can be focused on physical fitness or can have a more meditative focus using some of the traditional background. Modern day yoga doesn't require one to practice for any kind of spiritual awakening, but it can most definitely be used for that purpose. In my opinion, if you're already achieving physical benefits from yoga, why not find out what spiritual benefits could be in store?
On the other hand, most any yoga studio you wander into now will be based on a variety of physical postures/ asanas. Yoga has largely become popular in western culture due to its numerous benefits including stress relief, increased flexibility, detoxification of the body, and injury prevention/recovery. Depending on the style of yoga, a class can be focused on physical fitness or can have a more meditative focus using some of the traditional background. Modern day yoga doesn't require one to practice for any kind of spiritual awakening, but it can most definitely be used for that purpose. In my opinion, if you're already achieving physical benefits from yoga, why not find out what spiritual benefits could be in store?