Yoga Philosophy – Free Your Mind, Be Yourself

We often ask what is Yoga?  The answers may vary.

If you think of people in seemingly impossible and weirdly twisted poses when you think of “Yoga”, then you may have an idea of what yoga is,  just an idea that’s it. Yoga is much more than those poses. Derived from the Sankrit word “yuj” which means “to unite or integrate”; yoga is a 5000 year old Indian body of knowledge. Yoga is all about harmonizing the body with the mind and breath through the means of various breathing techniques, yoga postures (asanas) and meditation.

The word yoga means skill – skill to live your life, to manage your mind, to deal with your emotions, to be with people, to be in love and not let that love turn into hatred.  

Yoga is a study of life, study of your body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, and ego; study of your inner facilities.  It brings knowledge, passion, and action together.  It is a science to make you feel lighter. You lose mental stuff of anger, jealousy, hatred, greed, etc.

 Yoga cleanses the body and mind of accumulated stress and negative impressions. Pranayamas (breath exercises) calm down the agitated mind. With regular practice of yoga poses, you will see that clarity dawns right away, body balance and flexibility improves, and makes you healthy, strong and alert.

Learning to breathe through difficult postures can help you breathe through difficult times.  Stretching in the yoga poses to your limit without comparing with another, can lead to an attitude to do your best in a situation and let go. This attitude helps in overcoming stress.  Being physically flexible leads to mental flexibility. At the same time, being mentally flexible (for example: ‘I can do it’ attitude) leads to physical flexibility.

“That which you cannot express is Love.
That which you cannot reject/renounce is Beauty.
That which you cannot avoid is the Truth.”
~ Sri Sri Ravishanka

 

Maylis Cao ( 200 YTT , July 2017 batch )