How can one little thing like doing yoga change my life?
Well, we can take a look at it one way: moving through postures, breathing, and meditating. Not seeming to really do much but physical exercise huh?
However, if you do begin to look at it this way, that’s what the experience becomes. For me, I started around fourteen, I was just starting high school, I’m not sure what lead or drew me to yoga but as soon as I practiced in my bedroom on the floor with no mat, just a candle, and some carpet the first time, I was amazed about how uplifted I felt with barely anything needed but my body. A total shift in my energy had occurred, I felt like I was being baptized into a new world and reborn. Although, I was more in it for the physical rewards to reap. It would fade throughout my high school years when I was more focused on other habits. The thing is, it always came back, like an outdoor cat searching for its house because of the familiar scent, yoga followed me everywhere. Ever since then, I realised it was always waiting for me to be taken in, I started taking yoga seriously right around the end of my high school years because of a depression I fell in and seeing no way out. I remember being devastatingly sick of where I lived, what I was doing with my life, and the people I was surrounded by. I wanted to find a change, an escape, rather. When I recount these memories they seem to just of fell into place one thing after another, a domino effect but reversed. This escape eventually converted into a safe haven, my home- my body.
I came across a book called, “awakening the buddha within” which now, blows my mind! I was having this sort of wake up call that there was more to life than just this physical body, after reading that book, I felt like I teleported into another dimension of how I see the world, (that’s how my love for books also came about the very reason it can switch your mind into an ethereal place) It became brighter, vivid with excitement and freshness of a new spring flower. Since then, I dived into all types of spirituality and yoga and what it has to offer for wisdom. Eventually, after my teacher training, I came to stick with hatha yoga, after learning about the wisdom of the yogis I believe it is still the right path for me. I learned more on my mat and in books than I would have ever learned in school. For the most part, throughout these years, it has proven to be my backbone, my home, and my medicine, it saved me from depression and continues to reduce my anxiety. Therefore, I would like to share the wisdom it has given me and pass it on and hope that it can guide my readers, to gain clarity of the mind and take a glimpse into my own world I have created and love. Knowing it’s possible to see the light through natural methods, starting where you are right now…All you need is yourself!
Change The Way You Look At Things And The Things You Look At Change.
Wane Dyer
- Our reactions and responses say much about our current state of mind: If we react instantly to everything around us, that means we probably fear not having control over something or someone, which is true. We do not have control over anything or anyone, what we do have control over is our emotions, and ourselves. Instead, we can cultivate an observant attitude, a third-persons view… Whatever is happening around us or to us – we can set the tone or theme of that certain situation just by our reaction or response. We can take a look at what is going on and choose what response would be the best for that situation in the most peaceful way. We do not need to respond immediately either.
- Letting go and surrendering to the present moment without worrying about future possibilities: It takes courage to face future possibilities and past traumas but, practicing yoga every day has removed any obstacle in the way. It shows the door that we might have overlooked. The yogis say we should flex our bodies- which inherently makes our minds more flexible, seeing more possible outcomes than just one. Guarantee if we did a yoga practice when we were feeling anxious…By the time we were done, we would feel like that person before was not even us! We can surrender to the emotion and watch it pass by, as a cloud drifts over until the sun was getting ready to set. When we surrender we are putting faith that life is giving us exactly what we asked for, perhaps in a different form than we were expecting.
- Attaining true compassion for ALL beings: Compassion involves the component of forgiveness, to forgive we can invite compassion into the brew of our lives and realising that everyone deserves love and peace of mind, even if they haven’t been the best to us or done us ‘wrong’ we can see that they were doing the best of what knowledge they required at the time. The truth is no one can be what we want them to be or expect them to be. Everyone is on their own path and needs to learn things in different ways. If we stay furious or hold a grudge forever, we will also hurt ourselves by holding on to that, which creates physical and mental illnesses to form in our bodies. Instead, we can give them compassion and empathy by hoping they find what they are looking for and need. That can help us take-off the weight off our own shoulders emotionally and physically. Along with human beings, animal beings deserve a safe place in the world, taken that they can not speak up for what they want or need, I believe it is our duty to use our own voices for them. Every creature deserves a right to live and be free, just as we do!
- Becoming more loving: There’s a lingering awareness in the air that brings a lot of love juices from the inside out. I believe that yoga brings intense and deep focus on what we’re doing and thinking. That being said, we can be in a pose and just feel an overwhelming appreciation for our bodies and how they guide us or help us through the postures, which we take outside of the mat also (this occurrence can and will happen more than once. I have most of my ‘aha’ moments of realisation on my mat). We then can send that appreciation out to other people for what they do for us and for others. I believe that yoga helps us understand people with more depth and consideration, also we can view their motives from a third perspective. A life-changing tip that I learned was that anytime we are in public we can send love out to everyone – it doesn’t cost a thing and it feels good. We can start to see how colourful the world can be with more love in our lives.
- Gratitude: A general appreciation for our friends, family, lives, bodies, and food can help us see and flip the world from another angle. It makes our days more meaningful and helps us recognise what people do just for us, the same goes for food and our bodies. Tip: Blessing food before eating it, we can make our own ‘prayer’ or devotion to the food we’re about to eat. It will taste different when it’s moved with intention and gratitude.
- Being more conscious: Not just of other people but what we are saying and doing. This can also be similar in the way in which we speak and eat. For me, when I became more conscious of the food I was eating – I would pay attention to how my body felt after I was done eating it, (some foods would make me feel irritated and or sluggish). Food I loved I knew I had to let go of for most of my meals (oily, spicy, or with a lot of tomatoes). It didn’t feel right abusing my body in a way where it was telling me it didn’t want that certain food. I felt unsettled the more I thought about it in a way where I would not want someone feeding me when I was constantly telling them I didn’t like that certain food… I used to be all about gaining weight because I was always “too” skinny, and would force food down my stomach just because I wanted to feel more rounded out or mature, but now I’m happy with what my body is happy with, if my body feels good then I feel good, there is no need to force, everyone has different body structures and they are all beautiful and unique. In Addition, Everyone is going to react a different way to certain foods. I suggest trying this for one week and paying attention to what our body is saying. It is smarter than we think. Similarly, we can apply this to speaking… Is what we are saying loving? Caring? and focused on what the person is truly saying? Or sometimes do we let the other speak just to interrupt them with suggestions and advice? Perhaps, we can offer space to listen and understand, but at times another person just wants someone to be there for them.
- Intention: I speak almost all the time about intention, but it’s only because I understand the power it has with such a gentle force. We can learn to Set an intention before we sleep, when we wake up, and before we practice or meet up with a friend. An example can look like this before meeting up with a friend: “My intention before I meet up with so and so is to connect deeper with them and to share a special experience we both never had before”. Nine times out of ten, it always works. The brain will find that experience for you and dig until it sits in- even if it’s a couple of days later! If you want to read up more on intention, I have a detailed post here:https://providingtruth.com/intention-unlocks-doors-to-enchantment/
There are infinite amounts I would love to say what yoga has brought to me, and I am incredibly grateful to my own practice and of what the yogi masters share so that we can live healthier, joyful and more peaceful lives. I hope you found this helpful and gave you motivation to devote yourself to your own practice or maybe to dive more deeper with what you’ve been working on personally.
May you be safe, healthy and happy,
Neena
True yoga is not about the shape of your body, but the shape of your life. Yoga is not to be performed; it is to be lived. Yoga doesn’t care about what you have been; it cares about the person you are becoming. Yoga is designed for a vast and profound purpose, and for it to be truly called yoga, its essence must be embodied.
Aadil Palkhivala
