The yoga view of the self is about you—your essence. But what is your essence? Is it matter—a mere collection of material atoms and molecules? Or is it something else?

“Who am I?” Maybe you’ve never even asked yourself this question. You might think you already know who you are. Unfortunately, however, it’s likely that you don’t know who you are at all. And if you don’t know your real identity, you’re in trouble. You’ll spend your life in a kind of dream state—you’ll falsely identify yourself as something or someone you aren’t. Then, on the basis of this false identification you’ll determine the goals of your life and the purpose of your existence. You use these goals to gauge whether you are making “progress” in life, whether you are a “success”. And you are aided and abetted in this delusion by a complex network of relationships with other dreamers. Of course, at death (and sometimes before), the whole thing turns into a nightmare.

So knowing who you are is a very practical necessity. The question “Who am I?” is not a philosophical football meant to be kicked around coffeehouses by pseudo-intellectuals. It’s a real life question. Nothing is more important and more relevant than to know who you are. This “yoga view of the self” section of our website is written to help you realize the answer to this question. To best understand the yoga view of the self please read the contents in the following order, understanding one concept before moving on to the next:

• Are you your body ?
• The body is yours but it is not you
• Scientific evidence you are not the body
• Techniques to help you realize you are not the body
• Are you the brain?
• Are you your mind?
• Techniques to help you realize you are not the mind
• You are a spark of the element life
• Your body will die but you will always exist
• The body has no value without the presence of the atma