We all snatch at breath and during that process, we tend to ignore it. The asanas of yoga are meant to strengthen and tone the muscles, reduce inflammation at the joints and improve balance and coordination. I have seen many people going into yoga classes with severe pain or with severe diseases and coming out feeling absolutely fine. But I think the significance of yoga is of much more important than this.
Yoga is about seeking happiness. When we forget that then we are on an endless journey trying to find it somewhere else, but the nature of being, that eventually we realize if I can’t find that happiness within myself, I’ll never find it anywhere else. And that’s where real, true yoga practice begins. When we understand the flickering temporary nature of this world, then we understand the beauty of it. We bow every morning in the poses of yoga to that creative force within us.
There are many gurus and many spiritual teachers, but if a teacher wants a lot of money and a teacher wants to initiate you as his students with no hope of ever becoming a teacher yourself, it’s better to run away. We all have to be teachers now. Never die a student, die a teacher.
The most important way to create health is by yoking ourselves, yoga teaches us how to yolk ourselves, ourselves being all of us, not just our physical body, yoga is not just a physical exercise. When we are practising yoga we are able to connect ourselves with our inner feelings, with our thoughts. It is difficult sometimes, living at the place where we do.
I would say that the purpose of yoga is to reach self-realization. But as long as we are in this physical body and the physical planet, we are always going to have challenges. And yoga teaches us to embrace those challenges and overcome our difficulties. Hence it’s not what we go through in life, it’s how we go through in life. And that’s what makes the difference.
