Yoga is to settle the patternings of the mind so that we can see ourselves and others as we really are. The main cause of our suffering is due to considering ourselves as separate from one another; a separate being to whom things happen. Our main suffering comes from believing we can do something to someone else and not have it affect us, or that we can do something to the earth and not have it affect us. The Yoga Sutras say the main source of suffering is ignorance of our true nature.
The mind patterns obscuring Self-realization consist of everything that makes up your ego: defenses, opinions, preferences, interests, beliefs and desires. Those patterns are what cause us to take an event and overlay it with our own meaning - “if he did that, it means he doesn’t care, or it means he thinks this or that and then something else will happen” and ya da ya da, you can fill in the blanks with your own unique brand of mind patterns.
The whole gamut of yoga practices and teachings is all for Self-realization - to settle our current ongoing, internal banter long enough for us to realize the truth of who we are. It’s a coming home to our dearest, nearest, truest selves. Like waking up from a dream.
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One story of the Buddha is that when he was dying, one of his followers asked him, "Are you God?" and the Buddha is said to have answered," No, I am not God. I am awake."
The image of being in a dream from which we can awake has a long and honored history. It is one we can understand. The idea of awakening to our lives and situation is appealing.
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