What does yoga mean to you?

I am fortunate to enjoy the benefits of Bikram yoga with the love of my life. We both took our first class together and have been dedicated to it ever since. Comparing postures, our favorites of the day and our least favorites of the day is one of my favorite things to do. We don't always go together and we rarely stand next to each other. Which instructor did you have today? How was Yoga? Was it hot? These questions pass through the air between us almost daily.
Well today we shared a cold (more on that later) and the 8PM class. Gasp- he yawned about five times! He started going into asanas before the teacher said go and he DIDN'T LOCK THE KNEE! I know, I know I am supposed to be the only person in the room AND I am not an instructor, but I know a sloppy practice when I see one! I think we should be comparing notes more often.
I am focusing my energy on non- judgement and what a timely observation this is! I am making it a point to remind myself not to judge. Sitting in the bus on my daily trip to the public library is a great way to practice this.This 'judgement' gets me thinking that Yoga means different things to everyone.

To me it means listening simultaneously to the dialogue and my body with the perfect alignment in mind. To me without that perfect alignment- or at least the aspiration of it, there is no point in going to class. Not to say that the perfect alignment is the end goal.. not at all. Realization of Self, well being, power without power, and peace within and without are all part of what yoga is to me. I could write a book on meanings of yoga and maybe I will spend the next couple days finding different definitions, but I just wanted touch on it briefly.. and for the record. I think he was being sloppy ;)- not judging of course!

I feel a cold coming on but I am not going down without a fight. Nope.
I have my aromatherapy bedside and I did the standing series only today.

My body told me this was enough. I felt awkwardly warm and was running out of breath so instead of challenging myself to maintain consciousness and not keel over, I have it my 110% for the standing series. Then I bolted. An instructor once told me that it is ok and sometimes wise to leave after standing series if you have an upper respiratory infection.. so I just expanded the upper respiratory infection to include my cold. Enough of that.