More About Yoga
by Darlene
YOGA IS FOR EVERYONE... Wow! Another week has passed. Where have the days gone? Swallowed up by time. I hope everyone is well and have spent their past week with value.
As mentioned in my last paragraph of my previous weekly article/post…(The practice of perfect discipline is achieved in stages) written by a great Yogi/Spiritual Teacher from the Vedas in his Yoga Sutra. And as a testament to this, all friends and students I have met on my Yoga journey commented that their practice has evolved…from basic asanas, pranayama to a more ethical way of living.
Learning to continue their journey with purpose and meaning, going within the more internal practice, knowing who they really are in essence… spirit souls, jiva atmas, part and parcel of the supreme soul, and thus temporarily living in these bodies travelling through in this material dimension, controlled by time/kala. It’s the most amazing knowledge and understanding one can come to realize…(we are not our bodies) Aham bramasmi….I am spirit, I am not this body.
However, in saying all that, we do have to look after the body. Our body is a temple housing us the spirit soul and therefore, through yoga asanas and Yoga we learn to appreciate and respect our bodies. So, yoga is for everyone. Yoga compliments what ever you do already. Please don’t give up your favorite sport or activity to become a yoga junkie haha…. Just add it to your life. It will balance everything out…. Your strength, your flexibility, your mind, your breath, your realization. It compliments everything we do in life.
I cannot stress enough in my classes that I like everyone to know, no matter where they are at in developing their yoga poses, they are all welcome. Yoga and yoga asanas are an individual practice, there is no competition and you therefore, practice at your own pace. There are variations for every pose, thus making you feel comfortable in whatever class you chose to be in. If you feel like relaxing into a pose whilst others are all following instructions with the teacher… you take that time out and listen to your body.
Sometime back there was a young lady in my class and she literally fell asleep in Savasana… I left her their and when at the end the yoga asana practice she said (it was the best class she ever had!)…. This brings us back to yoga is an individual practice… listening to your body, doing what you feel is right at the time is very important.
Older people comment that their nuts and bolts don’t work as well as they used to, but they do the poses to the best of their ability and others are simply not as interested in doing the hard-core asanas anymore, rather they find comfort in pranayama and meditation practice, desiring the need for the spiritual aspect, increasing mindfulness and wisdom, which previously they had no idea was such a gift!
In the Yoga Sutra it states (The goal of Yoga is to still the turbulent mind so that we can know peace and truth can be attained), “through practice and discipline”. When we receive the gift of yoga, the real meaning of yoga, we area given a gift to a lifelong journey of self-realization. So, in essence, yoga is for everyone…
Namaste sweet souls
Darlene