Thursday, April 2, 2009

Intro - What Is Yoga?


(Adapted from "A.P.M.B." - Bihar, India.)

“Yoga is not an ancient myth buried in oblivion. It is the most valuable inheritance of the present. It is the essential need of today, and the culture of tomorrow.”

- Swami Satyananda Saraswati

The last 3 years of my life have seen transition and growth in ways I could never have imagined. Meeting Tamsin and moving to beautiful South Africa has afforded me the blessed and unique opportunity to rediscover myself; and it has truly been the case that each lesson ‘learned’ has felt rather more like a memory returned. There have been many factors involved; not least a specific intention to re-examine my own spirituality, and with that, the integration of yoga into my daily life.

Yoga has been described as the science of right living, systematically working on all aspects of a person; the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. The word yoga literally means unity or oneness, derived from the Sanskrit word juj or join. In spiritual terms, this joining refers to the union of individual consciousness with universal consciousness. On a more practical level, yoga is a way of balancing the body, mind and emotions.

The science of yoga begins to work on our outermost aspect - the physical body. For most people this is a practical and familiar starting point. When imbalance is felt at this level; the organs, muscles and nerves no longer function in harmony. Yoga aims to bring the different bodily functions into perfect coordination so that they work together for the good of the whole.

From the physical body, yoga progresses to the mental and emotional levels. Many people suffer from phobias and neuroses brought about by the stresses of everyday living. Yoga offers a method of coping with our own existence. Through the practises of yoga, awareness develops of the interrelation between the emotional, mental and physical levels; and how a disturbance in any one of these directly affects the others. There are many branches of yoga to explore; and each individual must find those most suited to their particular want or need.

Regular yoga practise will have profound effects on your overall health.

The relevance of yoga today:

Whilst yoga’s central theme is the highest goal of the spiritual path, yoga practises give direct and tangible benefits to everyone, regardless of their spiritual aim.

Physical and mental therapy is one of yoga’s most important aspects. The effects of yoga have been documented in relation to many dis-eases ranging from asthma, diabetes, blood pressure, arthritis, digestive disorders and other ailments of a chronic (long-term) nature. Yoga therapy is successful because of the balance created in the Nervous (conveying messages from the brain and motor impulses to the organs and muscles) and Endocrine (secreting hormones directly into the blood and lymph) systems, which directly influence all other systems and organs of the body.

For most people however, yoga is simply a means of maintaining health and vitality in an increasingly stressful society. Asanas (postures/poses) remove the physical discomfort of sitting at a desk or in a car all day long. Relaxation counters the hectic nature of diminishing time-off, mobile phones and 24-hour shopping!

Yoga is far more than an exercise; rather it is an aid to establishing a new way of life that embraces both inner and outer realities. However this way of life cannot be explained intellectually and will only become living knowledge through practise and experience.


"Yoga. 99% practise, 1% theory."

- Sri K. Pattabhi Jois.


In Love and Light x

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