February 5, 2020 |
Read Time: 4 minutes
Acharya Sri T Krishnamacharya has said,
“Where is the delusion when truth is known?
Where is the disease when the mind is clear?
Where is death when the Breath is controlled?
Therefore, surrender to Yoga.”
“Yoga takes you into the present moment, the only place where life exists.” This is such an apt quote to describe how yoga can affect our life. Majority of us are caught up in the never-ending cycle of seeking happiness from our never-ending desires from worldly things. We all are continuously wanting to achieve or acquire something in the hope that it will bring joy to us which maybe based on our past pleasant experiences. We also seek to do actions to avoid any sadness or pain in the future again based on our past experience. So, all our thoughts and actions are governed by the past or the future and we end up not living our present at all. Each moment of our present in lived in the shadow of the past or future thus robbing the present of the awareness it deserves. Yoga is all about being in the present. Yoga heightens our awareness, attention and focus in the present moment ensuring that we live every moment of our life.
Continuous long-term devoted practice of yoga with full faith removes all the negative conditioning in us and replaces it with positive habits. New thought and action patterns are created which are free of attachment or repulsion. Thoughts stem from correct knowledge and are not governed by misapprehension. Yoga leads to complete clarity and stability of mind which helps one to take the right decisions at the right time in an appropriate manner. Yoga ensures that we respond to any situation instead of reacting to it!
Yoga has a positive impact on our relationship with people around us. Yoga instills acceptance of people as they are instead of having expectations and then feeling disappointed when those expectations are not met. Yoga enables us to be friendly with all without any feeling of jealousy and feel happy in the happiness of others and not to have feelings of hatred towards anyone. Yoga also teaches us to accept and love our own selves the way we are with our positives and negatives.
Yoga brings in the freshness in our actions where the focus is on doing each of our actions with focused effort and sincerity, rather than only focusing on the Goal. Action is performed for the sake of the action and not in expectation of a specific reward. The action itself is the reward and slowly one attains a state of equanimity about the result of the action and is equally unaffected by success or failure.
Yoga has a most profound beneficial effect in our lives and enables us to operate at our potential best and sharpens our ability to discriminate between momentary and lasting happiness. Make your Yoga journey work for you best by marking it a part of your every day life.
Ms. Mimi Partha Sarathy
Founder, Managing Trustee and Sr. Yoga Teacher Sri Krishna Wellness Yoga Centre
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
