Why Your Yoga Practice IS Your Philosophy | Bhagavad Gita Explained

www.davidgarrigues.com David Garrigues explores one of the most important ideas in the Bhagavad Gita — that the unlearned think yoga (the discipline) and philosophy are separate things, while the wise know they are one and the same. Drawing from multiple translations of the Gita, including the Christopher Isherwood / Swami Prabhavananda version, David unpacks Krishna's teaching on karma yoga: that renunciation without action is nearly impossible, and that the practitioner immersed in disciplined action attains Brahman swiftly. He connects this to Yoga Sutra Chapter 1, verse 17 and the concept of vitarka — reasoning, analysis, deliberation — as the essential opening move of practice. Every question you ask while in a pose (Where is my spine? Where are my feet? What is my pelvis doing?) is yoga philosophy in action, not a distraction from it. This talk reframes how we understand both teaching and practice: philosophy isn't something you study separately from your mat work. It is embedded in the doing.