Join The Yoga Challenge

Let’s look at what Yoga is not.  Yoga is not an ideology, philosophy or a concept to weave theories about. While logic and intellect have their place in life, these mental faculties cannot be employed to experience and perceive the true nature of this Cosmos.

Yoga is definitely not just an exercise form.  Most people take up yoga to improve their health, alleviate stress, and find inner peace and happiness. Yoga does give us all these benefits but that just scratches the surface of what yoga is about.

For most people yoga means performing various postures known as asanas. In most yoga studios in western countries, people are primarily taught asanas, deep breathing and movement.  However, these are merely a preparatory aspect of yoga. It is crucial to understand that yoga is not solely about contorting the body or holding the breath.

So, what IS Yoga? The word “Yoga” means union. As human beings we use our body, mind, emotions and energy to perceive our outer and inner worlds.  For more than 95% of people, these four dimensions of our existence are not in alignment with each other.  For example, when it is time for our body to sleep, we keep it awake by engaging the mind in entertainment, and so, wake up the next day feeling tired and irritable.

Of these four dimensions, two – our body and our energy – are naturally in tune with Nature or Cosmos. A very simple observation is of the sleep cycle, which aligns with the Sun, where we naturally feel sleepy at night and are awake during the day. Similarly, there are other processes in our system that are in tune with Nature which we are not aware of because we do not spend time observing and understanding how our system functions and tuning ourselves with it.  Essentially, our mind and emotions are not in tune with our body and energies. This lack of awareness is the reason why a large percentage of the population suffers from chronic physical ailments and psychological disturbances.  In addition, the sedentary nature of modern-day work, excessive time spent on electronics, and a poor diet all contribute to exacerbating this problem.

The word “Yoga” means union. Yoga gives us methods to bring our body, mind, emotions and energy in union with each other and therefore with the larger Cosmos allowing us to perceive things beyond our senses of sight, smell, touch, sound and taste.  An intuitive power beyond the capabilities of logic and intellect develops which is far more perceptive and intelligent than gaining rational knowledge.

This alignment of the four dimensions of our existence, coupled with the enhanced intuitive power of perceiving our outer and inner worlds, creates harmony and wellbeing where physically we feel healthy, emotionally happy, mentally peaceful and energetically vibrant.  We become more aware of our body, thoughts, emotion and energy and how they function within us.

This is how Yoga is pivotal to holistically creating the true wellbeing that every human being seeks – but does not know how to achieve because we approach it one dimension at a time.  Yoga, when learned and practiced from an organization that understands its origins, purpose and true essence creates that perfect tuning of the four dimensions.

This can start with simple 10 – 25 minutes yoga practices which when practiced daily can have profound impact on our lives.  The International Day of Yoga, proclaimed by the United Nations on June 21st, presents a wonderful opportunity for us to commit to enhancing our health and wellbeing, by taking up the 21-day Yoga Challenge.  Click on this link – isha.us/IDY – to participate.

To learn more about this Challenge, watch this video