History and origin
Karma yoga is the path of action set out in the Bhagavad Gita. On the field at Kurukshetra, Krishna asks Arjuna to act fully in the duty in front of him, and to let go of the fruit. The teaching is not a refusal of work. It is a way of working in which the result is no longer the reason for the act.
Later teachers, from Vivekananda onward, treated selfless service as a complete yoga, not a warm-up for postures. In a modern room the idea is sometimes reduced to a volunteer hour after class. The older sense is stricter and quieter: ordinary tasks, done with attention and without a claim on credit, are themselves the practice.
Philosophy
The work itself is the practice. Attention stays on the task, the person in front of you, and a clean motive. Status, credit and outcome are noticed, then set down. The Gita speaks of skill in action. It does not ask you to feel nothing. It asks you not to bargain with the result while the work is still in your hands. A posture, if one is used, is treated the same way: an honest shape, not a display.
How a class proceeds
A class may be quiet standing work, breath, and a clear act of service rather than a sweaty sequence. You might sweep a floor, prepare a meal, sit with someone, or simply practise a few plain poses as if they were tasks. The teacher, if there is one, talks less about achievement and more about how the mind grabs at praise.
The body is used simply. You stand, fold, sit and walk with an even breath. The heat, if any, comes from sincerity and repetition, not from a chase. Nothing in the hour is scored. You leave with the next ordinary job still ahead of you, which is the point.
Intensity
The physical load is gentle. Standing and simple folds ask for steadiness more than strength. You should be able to talk. The demand sits in attention: staying with a task when nobody is watching, and not turning the hour into a performance. People who are tired can still take part. People who want a hard workout will feel underused.
Benefits
Over time the path trains a plain kind of attention. People often find it easier to finish a job without rehearsing how it will be received. The body, used simply and often, stays available for ordinary work: walking, lifting, kneeling, standing. The practice does not remove difficulty from a life. It changes the bargain you strike with the result.
Who it suits
People who want yoga to meet ordinary work, care and community. It suits those who already cook, teach, nurse, build or look after others, and who want that work counted as practice rather than as time stolen from a mat.
Less fitting if you are looking only for athletic sequencing. It will also frustrate you if you need a visible ladder of poses. There is no certificate for letting go of the fruit. If service is being used to avoid rest, this is the wrong frame: the Gita does not ask you to disappear.
Beside similar forms
Karma yoga is one of the three paths named in the Gita, beside bhakti and jnana. Bhakti organises the mind through love and a name. Jnana organises it through inquiry. Karma organises it through the act itself. Raja yoga, in Patanjali, is a map of attention with eight limbs, and asana is only one of them. A karma hour may borrow a seat or a bow from hatha, but the sequence is not the practice. Service in an ashram is a setting for this path, not a separate style of stretching.
Best positions
Mountain
Stand with the feet even and the weight spread through both soles. Bring the palms together at the chest, or let the arms hang quiet, and soften the jaw. Let the posture be an offering rather than a display. Standing this way gathers a scattered mind before a task and gives the legs a simple, honest job.
Service bow
Hinge from the hips into a small forward fold, knees soft, hands open and hanging or resting on the thighs. Stay for a few breaths, then come up slowly. The fold is a pause before the next task. It rests the back after standing work and marks a clean break between one job and the next.
Seated steadiness
Sit on a chair or the floor with the spine long and the hands on the thighs. Do not close the eyes if that makes you drift. Return the mind to the work you will do after you stand up: one concrete step, not a fantasy of praise. The seat steadies the breath and keeps the plan practical.
Standing work
Stand at a table or counter as you would while preparing food or sorting papers. Keep both feet down and the shoulders dropped. Move the arms only as the task needs. Practised this way, the stance shows that the yoga is not waiting for a mat, and it teaches the back to stay long during real work.
Open hands
Sit or stand and turn the palms up on the thighs or in front of the waist. Leave the fingers uncurled. Stay for several breaths without putting an object in the hands. The gesture interrupts grasping. It is a small physical reminder that the result is not something you have to clutch.
Walking attention
Walk a short ordinary path, perhaps the length of a room, at a pace you could keep while carrying something. Feel the heel and then the toes. Do not perform a slow walk for an audience. The walk trains the attention the Gita asks of action: one step, then the next, without a commentary on how well you are doing.
Quiet close
Sit for a minute with the hands still and the breath unforced. Name the next real task once, then leave it. Do not review the hour for signs of progress. The close keeps the practice from becoming another achievement and returns you to the day with the mind a little less crowded.