The Highest Aim in Yoga
Is the awakening of consciousness - to transform into an enlightened being. Flexibility, strength and inner happiness are just side effects of practising yoga. 

Whilst yoga dates back more than 5000 years ago it was Sri Patanjalis who wrote the original yoga text somewhere between 200 and 800 BC - The Yoga Sutras compiled by sage Patanjali are aphorisms also known as Ashtanga Yoga (the yoga of eight limbs) or Raja Yoga (the royal path).The Eight Limbs of Yoga, (commonly practiced today) are a series of disciplines which purify the body and mind ultimately leading the Yogi to a higher state of being.

In the Yoga Sutras Sri Pantanjali teaches us how to overcome the afflictions of the body and the constant fluctuations of the mind, both of which are obstacles to spiritual development. Regardless of what type of yoga one practices all intend to give us the means of connectedness to our inner selves. Yoga simply provides the path to get there.