There is a lot of conversation in modern Yoga about embodiment, and there is good reason for that. Learning to become more aware of the body, understanding what it needs, recognising stress and tension, learning how to breathe, move, rest and care for ourselves, these are valuable things. 

Ayurveda takes this even further, giving us frameworks for understanding constitution, digestion, energy, daily rhythms, the mind, our environment and the habits that influence our health. I teach these things and believe deeply in their value. Much of my work now, particularly in women's health, is about helping women understand their bodies better and develop practices that genuinely support the life stage and circumstances they are in. 

But I also think we need to be careful that we don't accidentally make embodiment the final destination of Yoga. 

Because traditionally, Yoga takes us somewhere further. The aim is not simply to become more comfortable in the body, more aware of the body, or even healthier within the body. Eventually, Yoga asks us to enquire into something much more fundamental: who is the person experiencing this body in the first place?

This can initially sound contradictory. Why would Yoga teach us to pay such careful attention to the body if ultimately it is asking us to understand that we are something beyond it? But I don't think these ideas contradict each other at all. We can care deeply for something without believing it is the entirety of who we are. We can learn to nourish the body, strengthen it, give it adequate rest and understand its changing needs. We can become more aware of the mind, our emotions and the patterns influencing our behaviour. In fact, greater awareness of the body and mind can create the conditions for a much deeper enquiry. 

Once I can observe my body, an interesting question emerges: who is doing the observing? Once I can notice my thoughts, I can begin to ask whether I am the thought itself, or the person who is aware that the thought is occurring. 

Patañjali puts this beautifully in Yoga Sutra 1.3: 

“Upon achieving the condition of yoga (samādhi), the seer (individual self) abides in his own spiritual form/nature.” 

— Yoga Sutra 1.3, translation by Acharya das 

Yoga is not simply interested in improving our experience of life. It’s also asking us to enquire into the one who is having the experience. This is where Yoga begins moving beyond wellness and into self-enquiry. We can become overly identified with what happens inside our bodies and minds. I am anxious. I am angry. I am successful. I am a failure. I am attractive. I am getting older. I am productive. I am overwhelmed. These are real experiences, and Yoga isn't asking us to pretend they aren't happening. But it does invite us to question whether every passing experience of the body and mind is actually who we are. 

The Bhagavad-gītā gives us another wonderfully practical way of thinking about this. In Chapter 2, verse 13, Kṛṣṇa points to something all of us have experienced: the body is continually changing. We move from childhood to youth and eventually into old age, while the conscious person experiencing those changes has a sense of continuity through them. 

That is such an interesting thing to contemplate. My five-year-old body is gone. My teenage body is gone. The body I have today is different again and will continue to change. My thoughts, preferences, circumstances and roles have changed enormously as well. Yet throughout all of those changes there has been this continuing experience of I. 

Yoga also gives us the concept of samskaras, impressions and tendencies that are formed and reinforced through our experiences and repeated actions. In very simple terms, what we repeatedly think and do leaves an impression, and those impressions can make certain thoughts, behaviours and responses easier to repeat. So our everyday choices aren't entirely separate from our inner or spiritual life. The way we live each day can create conditions that make clarity, awareness, self-enquiry and spiritual practice easier, or it can create more noise and make those things considerably harder. 

That gives self-care a very different intention and purpose.

We are not simply trying to become the healthiest, most optimised version of ourselves. We can care for the body partly because it is the vehicle through which we are living, learning, serving, developing relationships and undertaking spiritual practice. We can care for the mind because a clearer mind gives us a better opportunity to see things as they are rather than constantly being pulled around by every thought, desire, fear or reaction that appears. 

And I think that distinction matters because there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to feel better. 

If Yoga asanas and pranayama helps you sleep better, wonderful. If you become stronger, wonderful. If Ayurveda helps you understand your habits and care for your health more intelligently, wonderful. If meditation gives you some space from a constantly busy mind, wonderful. These aren't insignificant outcomes, and I certainly wouldn't dismiss them in pursuit of something supposedly “higher.” 

But the traditional promise and goal of Yoga is much larger than improving our experience within the body and mind. Ultimately, Yoga points towards liberation from our complete identification with them. That doesn't mean rejecting the body or becoming detached from everyday life, responsibilities, relationships or health. And it certainly doesn't mean that caring for yourself somehow becomes less important. It simply places all of those things within a much larger context. 

The body can be cared for without becoming the centre of our identity. The mind can be understood without believing every thought it produces. Our habits can be refined not because we are trying to perfect ourselves, but because the way we live affects the quality of our awareness. And this is the question I think can sometimes get lost when Yoga becomes entirely centred around embodiment: who is becoming embodied? 

Who is observing the breath? Who notices that the mind has wandered during meditation? Who knows that the body feels tired today? Who is aware that a thought appeared, stayed for a while and then disappeared? 

Yoga asks us to enquire into the nature of that conscious self. 

Different Yoga traditions explain the nature of the self, liberation and the ultimate goal of Yoga somewhat differently. Within the tradition I practise, this enquiry ultimately leads towards understanding ourselves as spirit soul, rather than simply the temporary body and mind. The higher purpose isn't merely greater self-awareness for its own sake. It is relationship, spiritual love and, ultimately, union with the Supreme. 

So I don't want to dismiss embodiment. Quite the opposite. Learn your body. Care for it. Understand your mind. Become curious about your habits. Notice your patterns and your samskaras. Practise. Study Ayurveda. Eat well. Rest. Move. Breathe. Develop routines that genuinely support you. 

But perhaps we can hold one more question alongside all of that: 

What is all of this ultimately for? 

Maybe the purpose of understanding the body isn't to become endlessly preoccupied with the body. Maybe understanding the mind can eventually help us recognise that we are more than the activity of the mind. Maybe healthier habits aren't simply about becoming a better-functioning human being, but about creating a life that makes clarity, self-awareness, spiritual practice and deeper enquiry a little easier. Embodiment is part of the pathway rather than the destination. 

Yoga isn't ultimately asking us to become perfectly embodied. It is giving us tools to care for the body, understand the mind and observe both more clearly, and then inviting us to enquire into the person who is experiencing them (the seer; conscious self – you). 

And from there, an even bigger question opens up: what is the nature and purpose of that self, and what is our relationship with the Supreme? 

That’s the real invitation of Yoga: not simply to become more at home in the body, but to begin discovering who we are beyond it. 

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