yoga of the soul
Patanjali’s yoga sutras opens with “yoga citta vritti nirodha,” meaning, “unified consciousness comes with cessation of thoughts.” Yoga and meditation are inextricably linked for while the yoga prepares the body to sit in stillness, it is only through stilling the mind that the depth of Spirit may enter and manifest in this divine, personal temple. The mind can connect you with soul or it can keep you deeply attached to ego, to personality and who you “think” you are ~ the choice belongs to each of us.
yogi me this...
However, once we begin a spiritual path and detoxify the mind, transformation occurs spontaneously and life unfolds synchronistically. One can either exist in living the dharma, or their karma, but not both. So, by choosing the path of dharma ~ by learning and understanding that we all have dharma to live and fulfill, we grow spiritually and therefore, evolve.
In yoga, we unlearn more than we learn and realize that:
knowing is different that thinking,
wisdom is different than intellect,
and that power is different than force.