Ask Yogi: What is Sangha?

Ask Yogi: Looking at our Yoga Roots

What is “Sangha”?

Sangha is Sanskrit for community, referred to in Wiki as an “association, assembly, company or community with common goal, vision or purpose”.  The Sangha is maintained by the community via the daily practice of rituals and observance of rules of behavior and conduct characteristic of the Buddha.   In the Buddhist sense the Sangha, or community has four common characteristics:

1. practicing the good way
2. practicing the upright way
3. practicing the knowledgeable or logical way
4. practicing the proper way;

In looser terms Sangha can also mean your ‘yoga community’ – or the group of people you practice yoga with on a regular basis.  Every yoga class is its own ‘Sangha’, created between the participants (teachers and students) by the rituals and norms of the typical yoga class.  Most of us take the Sangha for granted and only notice it when someone breaks the Sangha, by leaving the room or distracting other yogis, and thus disrupts the circle and flow of energy in the class.


The Sangha is often symbolized by the Lotus Flower or the Dharma Wheel. The lotus is deep-rooted in mud but the blossom is open in the sun and it shows very attractive and fragrant. In Buddhism the lotus represents the real character of beings, which rise through “samsara” which is a process of defining the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. The Dharma Wheel is comprised of eight spokes that represent the eightfold Buddhist path (similar to the eight limbs of yoga referenced in previous columns).  The shape of the circle represents the perfection and continuity of the Sangha; the hub stands for discipline, which is the essential core of asana and meditation practice; and the rim, which holds the spokes, refers to mindfulness (Samadhi), or state of consciousness induced by complete meditation, which holds everything together.

The Dharma Wheel

Source: Wikipedia