What is Yoga? How can yoga transform my life ?

How can Yoga help me?

Now that we know the definitions, we understand that Yoga has to do more with the mind than with the physical body.

Ancient scriptures like Patanjali Yog Sutras define asana as any pose in which one is at peace and comfortable. Because the basic objective of Yoga is samadhi. The aim of Yoga is to attain Moksha or Rajyog. Scriptures like Hath Yoga Pradipika and Gherand Samhita present us with a systematic plan for preparing our bodies to be strong and flexible, ultimately enabling us to sit in meditation for a period of time until we can attain the final objective of Yoga.

So how can Yoga help me?

The beauty of Yoga lies in the realization that even if one is not inclined towards spiritualism, one can still harness its benefits to care for one’s body and live a disease-free, pain-free life.

These are some of the important benefits for our everyday life.

1) Deep breathing practices help us get more oxygen in our circulating blood, strengthening our internal organs.

2) Pranayama and meditation help us process our thoughts in a clear and positive way.

3) Breathing practices like Anulom/Vilom, Nadi Shodhan pranayama act on our nervous system, clearing the energy pathways and activating the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps us to respond in a calm and peaceful way. (Rest and digest instead of fight or flight response)

4) Various asanas targeting specific body parts help us activate those organs by increasing the oxygenated blood supply to them. Internal organs such as the pancreas, thyroid/parathyroid glands, abdominal organs, adrenal glands, and kidneys, as well as the lungs, benefit greatly from regular asana practice.

5) Strength and flexibility of joints and muscles increase, allowing us to avoid muscle aches, backaches, and manage frozen shoulder, cervical, and spinal injuries due to lack of balance and posture. Increase our mobility and confidence to tackle everyday life’s challenges.

6) Shatkarmas are 6 kriyas: Neti, Dhauti, Basti, Trataka, Nauli, and Kapalbhati are specifically designed for detoxification of the entire body while also targeting specific internal organs to clear the body of excess mucus and fat. The main purpose is to balance the Tridoshas (kapha, pitta, and vata).

Yoga has tremendous benefits and hugely impacts the life of anybody who embarks on the journey of self-discovery and spiritualism.

Sage Patanjali has given a structured 8-step approach to ultimately attain kaivalya, i.e., absolute freedom and liberation. This approach is called Ashtanga Yoga.

To conclude, Yoga is a way of life, a lifestyle that encourages a balanced approach to life. Balance, equanimity in all our actions. Balance and moderation in eating, sleeping, relaxing, wants and desires, working, performing our duties towards society, family, and also towards ourselves. Yogic philosophy shows us how to take care of our mental, social, physical, moral, and spiritual health and live a happy, satisfied life.

For me, Yoga has given my life purpose and helped me regain my confidence. Physically, yoga has helped me stop my Diabetes medication completely, reduce my Hypothyroidism medicines, and given me a pain-free life. I lost my mother to pancreatic cancer a few years ago. Life still goes on even if you lose one of your parents. But the shadow of grief is forever with you. Yoga helped me recover from this shock and radically changed my definition of being healthy. I have promised to help myself and others lead a healthy, pain-free life.

See my transformation here. 

If you are also suffering from Obesity, Diabetes, Hypothyroidism, High Blood pressure do visit my blogs on these diseases and read how Yoga can help you successfully manage them.

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