Yoga is described in Patanjali Yoga sutras as Yogas chitta vritti nirodah. Chitta meaning consciousness, vritti meaning patterns and nirodah meaning stopping. So, to block patterns of consciousness is yoga. In simple words making the mind still so that we become more conscious in our everyday life. Often, we are worried and stressed by everyday life and our mind is projecting pictures of future events or is dwelling in past events, making it impossible for us to live in the present moment and enjoy life. Yoga allows us to connect with our self, worry less and enjoy this wonderful gift we were given called life. Every second is so precious but we seem to forget that and go through life just waiting for the next thing and when we get there then we wait for the next thing, and so on, never stopping and never really enjoying the moment and experiencing life. Practicing yoga, we bring balance into our Mind body and soul. We realize we are more than just our thoughts, our body and our emotions. We exercise our spirituality; we realize who we truly are.
To bring quality to our life with yoga
We have to practice pranayama, meditation and asana every day. Pranayama exercises our breath with different breathing techniques. Our body feeds of Prana. Prana is the vital life force in every living being, our body gets Prana from food but also from the air we use while we breath. Different breading techniques allow us to use this Prana more efficiently and be more energized.
Breathing is very important because it is the connection between body and mind. If we are in a stressful situation just by regulating our breath first our mind will calm down, and then the body will follow. Meditation is a practice where we exercise our mind. We train attention and awareness to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state. Meditation teaches us how to observe our thoughts without judgment so eventually we can start to understand them better. We are not trying to change anything; we just accept things as they are and live in the present moment without any judgment.
Asana practice is done so we can prepare our body for meditation. Sitting for longer periods of time without moving. It provides spiritual and physical benefits. Science provides us with studies that asana practice improves flexibility, strength, balance, reduces stress, increase confidence and also helps to protect from different chronic diseases such as asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure etc. These three techniques are a part of eight limb yoga system which takes us to the final goal liberation or enlightenment. But whatever your goal in life is yoga is certainly the path that will give you better quality of life and improve relationships with your friends and family.
– Jelina Snauc (International Volunteer)
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