Another question, I get all the time is…“Why yoga?”
“What has yoga got to do with personal Transformation? How does throwing your arms and legs all over the place help you find purpose in life?”
Most people when they hear the word, yoga, the image that flashes in their mind is someone twisting themselves into a pretzel or as a slow and lazy form of exercise.
I will skip the talk about the “Benefits of yoga” as there is enough documentation to bring down an entire rain forest. Rather, let’s approach yoga from a point of mindfulness, which is & has always been the real goal of yoga.
So, what is mindfulness & why is it more important than the physical side of yoga that is seen everywhere?
Think of yourself as rowing on a little boat in the middle of an ocean. Suddenly the ocean starts swelling and causes huge waves. Your boat is thrown up all over the place, completely out of balance. It feels like you will drown any moment.
This is the state of our minds on a daily basis. You get up in the morning in a peaceful manner, fully rested. Then you think of your day ahead, little stress starts, then you think of your work/ appointments causing some more stress, then you turn on the TV to watch the news by which time all the problems in the world are dumped in your living room. Whatever peace you had is gone for a toss and you are completely imbalanced….and we haven’t even touched the social media as yet!!
What we forget is, the ocean is several miles deep. Deep down, it is completely calm and peaceful. The ocean dwellers are calmly going on about their lives as if nothing is happening. This is how our minds operate. Just like the ocean, there is a place deep inside us which is capable of being perfectly still and calm.
This is what we call Inner-Peace. I like to call this place “Fortress of Solitude”. (Comic fans know it as a secret place superman goes to recharge himself when he is completely out of motivation.)
If you can learn to access this place as and when you want, learn to live there permanently, learn to react to every external situation from this place of calmness, your world will always be OK.
T.H.I.S is the gist of all our transformation courses and the entire purpose of doing yoga.
Meditation and Yoga are the tools to help you reach your “Fortress of Solitude”.
You meditate to take your mind to this place.
You move your body in Yoga mindfully, so that all the physical actions become meditative.
This mindfulness or meditative process can be carried to each and everything you do in your life. Every task, big or small will be done mindfully. Every activity you do becomes an exercise in stillness. This is called “Living in the moment”. Once you master this technique, you will never feel lonely or deprived of company. You will find joy in your own presence.
Everything we do going forward is looking at our lives with this new mindset. If you are sad or filled with negativity, go to the mat…do your practice, and come back filled with positivity. If you are feeling overjoyed, then again go to the mat to express your gratefulness to the universe.
In other words, whatever we do in yoga is about first fixing the head…the body will fix itself.
This is how we bring transformation to our lives through yoga.