By Gaurav Vohra
Yoga aims to find joy and love in this living, which resonates with each one of us, truly a wonderful thing one aspires for.
Yoga is a powerful tool which helps us to understand our true selves through a journey drawing back from the veil uncovering us to our inner light and spirit.
Yoga roots have been traced back to 5000 years and reference can be found in ancient Indian texts Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras, the Upanishads.
Yoga is about training the mind. While doing physical practice of Yoga i.e. postures, there is meditation in movement.
You are not getting to the warrior pose because you are training your body to get there rather you are moving towards it because your mind is taking you there.
This is when the mind becomes relaxed and positive self-talk takes over at the sub-conscious level which motivates you for the day ahead, committed to daily tasks without complaining giving the real essence of transformation in our daily lives.
Yoga teaches you how to handle the emotions through mindfulness. Meditation is a practice of just being in the present moment, becoming aware of our emotions and letting them go.
Through this technique we appreciate the present moment, enjoying the best out of it since we don’t have this luxury to spoil the present because of what happened yesterday.
Through Yoga, we learn the art of letting go, negative emotions like anger, hatred, greed don’t let us live the real potential.
Yoga gives you the right perspective of what matters and what doesn’t matter at various stages of life.
The path of Yoga helps you to evolve through revealing the hidden layers of your personality making you happier, vibrant and spreading the light wherever you go.
Yoga is a conscious evolution beginning with self- realisation making us kind, more truthful, joyful, loving and useful for others.
Each one of us has a unique personality some of us may have a good sense of humour or maybe quietly insightful.
Some may take charge and act wherever they go or prefer to wait and see what happens.
Some of us may be helpful wherever we go or maybe astute commentator on life or people around us.
Such behavioural tendencies become an intrinsic part of your personality making us unique. In yoga, we call this VASNAS, your mental and emotional proclivities.
In life, a lot of times we are lost and mixed up in different levels of identity, name, fame, often confused, Yoga helps to identify the right action ‘’KARMA’’ for you at the same time giving deeper dimension to ‘’Self or Atman’’.
Where everything on the surface and outside keeps changing, but something deep in YOU has not changed.
Regular practice of Yoga and meditation combined with altruistic acts of love, wisdom, compassion leads you to a deeper connection, helping in the process of finding your own self.
Yoga is intimate, a personal journey which brings you back to yourself, to your true nature through progressive awakening of inner and higher state of being.
The writer is a Yoga Guru and Teacher of Indian Culture, High Commission of India, Nicosia
