This blog topic came to me as I was sitting in a cross leg meditative pose during the end of my yoga practice this evening. Listening to the song 'Remember' by Omkara, I did in fact start to reminisce in deep thought about the last time I had listened to this song and from there I continued to reminisce about all the emotions I had during that time. I had last listened to it in a yogic sense, during my final teaching practice at Rishikesh Yog Peeth while my students were in Shivasana. In that very moment I felt so full of new knowledge, so free and so full of love and happiness.
As I sat in position, wrists resting on my knees, palms facing up and with thumb touching finger, It occurred to me that a lot of people in this world have misconceptions about yoga and the true meaning of it. Since travelling after India, and with my new found yogic mindset and knowledge, I have been approached with many questions. Such as -how great it is to do yoga to lose weight or how yoga isn't as hard core as other exercises or even people asking me what the hardest pose is that I can do. Truth be told, I'm not an expert and never claim to be, but yoga is and always will be a personal journey. The basis of yoga comes down to your lifestyle and maintaining balance in your life by incorporating pranayama (breathing), asana (physical poses) and meditation (to still your mind).
Yoga is you and you are yoga. As my philosophy teacher in Rishikesh used to start off with 'Yoga for me is......' And I would say that yoga for me is in fact, a lifestyle. I don't do yoga to lose weight or to show off as a fitness freak, I do yoga because It makes me feel calm, it helps me see clearer in my life, it helps me every day to better myself both at my practice and in my life and yes of course feeling somewhat good about your body is icing on the cake right?
These days there are variations of yoga such as Bikram, which is a form of yoga performed in a heated sauna type room. The aim is to circulate the blood faster, help you attain postures faster and to promote a healthier body which are all great, but it seems that in the western world yoga is sometimes just used as a form of exercise. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't too aware of the meaning of yoga before going to India but having learned so much about the spirituality and energetic levels of the whole lifestyle, I wanted to write this blog to share what I have learned and hopefully encourage people to go straight to the source of yoga and judge for themselves.
Yoga is a beautiful way of life and everybody should try all aspects of it sometime in their life to gain the true reality of it. In a perfect world I would say that everybody should go to Rishikesh- the birthplace of yoga and the place with the best energy I have ever been-, but that's easier said than done. Search yourself and take it step by step.. As Roshan said to us at the beginning of our yoga course 'Yoga will find you'.
Om Shanti x
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