The western society thinks that the practice of yoga is deeply spiritually meaningful. The reality is the opposite - the practice of yoga is mostly gymnastics for the body, and the real spiritual work happens only at relatively high levels of yoga. As such, yoga is a very convoluted way to self-realization. They basically spend an inordinate amount of time preparing the body for the realization, but it’s not needed. The body will survive it just fine.

An advanced and experienced yoga practitioner may reach the level of yoga at which spiritual experiences start to take place. Few people do. I met such people. By that time, they have an impressive command of their body, but the truth is, there’s still a long way from that to self-realization, it only happens at the highest levels, when the practitioner can enter the state of deep trance without much difficulty.

So paradoxically, most westerners aren’t really mistreating yoga by viewing it as gymnastics - that’s kinda what it is, the Eastern version of it hehehe. If you have never had unexplainable, profound and fearful experiences doing yoga, you’re nowhere near the level at which true spiritual work begins.

I would never recommend yoga as a path to enlightenment, there are much more direct methods of practice, and yoga has by far the most amounts of traps and places to get stuck in. Not a very useful spiritual tradition.

Disclaimer: I’m not talking about Kundalini yoga, but traditional yoga here. Kundalini yoga was kinda designed to evoke spiritual experiences in people, and it does happen more frequently with it. Self-realization, still, is beyond any and all spiritual experiences.