"Yoga is the turning of one or of all powers of our human existence into a means of reaching divine Being..." Sri Aurobindo
"Just drop all seeking, turn your attention inward, and sacrifice your mind to the One Self radiating in the Heart of your very being..." Sri Ramana Maharshi
What if there is a way of being that fundamentally changes your experience for the better? What if you can exercise in a way that improves your mental clarity, reduces your stress, enhances your well-being, develops your awareness, boosts your energy, and still tones your tush?
Yoga is quite possibly the oldest integral practice for personal well-being and Self-realization. A rich, holistic tradition exemplifying five thousand years or so of practice, yoga is essentially a way of learning how to pay attention to what matters. It is the practice of attending to our somatic, psychological and spiritual experience in the moment as a way of bettering each moment of experience for ourselves, each other and our world. Simply stated, yoga is a way of fully engaging body, heart, and mind in the wholeness of life.
These days, people begin a yoga practice for all sorts of reasons--stress reduction, weight loss, sleep restoration, pain management, injury rehabilitation, cross-training, personal growth, and more. Yoga classes have even become the habitat du jour for singles seeking flexy, sexy dates and mates. However, regardless of what initially attracts one to the mat, all who develop a genuine yoga practice embark on a life-long path of self-realization with benefits far-exceeding those originally sought. With regular practice, one breathes more deeply, eats more lightly, sleeps more soundly, moves more fluidly, sees more clearly, speaks more freely, laughs more easily, loves more wholly, and lives more fully.
Although most yoga classes in the West emphasize the physical postures (asanas) and energetic breathing techniques (pranayama), these aspects of yoga are merely a starting point. Yoga is a complete system of principles and practices that transforms one’s entire being. Asana and pranayama are primarily aimed at developing a habit of attentive relaxation that supports meditative states by balancing the physical and energetic body. Through simple poses and breathing practices, we learn to shift our attention from the external to the internal. Through concentration and meditation practices, we learn how to be with ourselves and abide in the truth of who we are. Finally, we learn to seamlessly navigate these inner and outer dimensions of experience as a holistic whole.
This ever-growing quality of attention that one develops on the mat is what transforms a series of postures into the genuine practice of yoga. Despite its growing popularity as a form of fitness, yoga is not merely an exercise reserved for skinny, minny contortionists and modern-day members of the cult of the "body beautiful." Nor is it an enlightenment fast-track for bendy, trendy spiritual seekers. Yoga is not about being able to touch one’s nose to one’s knees, sculpting a beautiful body, or accumulating experiences of bliss, although all are common effects of practice. Rather, yoga is about coming into harmony with ourselves, each other, and our world.
Photo Credit with thanks: www.petesaloutos.com
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