Why practice yoga?

Why Practice Yoga?


The law of Yoga is the law of Life. What does a statement like that really mean and why do so many of us want to practice yoga these days? I will explore what yoga means to us nowadays as I delve deeper into the sometimes mysterious and mystical side of an art form that has come into it's own in our western culture.What did yoga mean to the ancients?   Where did this passion for a body mind and soul connection originate and how it can benefit us in our busy western culture.

It is said that Yoga embodies the secrets of successful living and combines profound age-old truths with a way of life embraced by the modern mind. Yoga was evolved from the Veda (Sanskrit,"knowledge"), one of the most ancient scriptural books known to mankind in which Indian saints and sages taught that the Universe is one and that all religions are paths ascending the same mountain towards Eternal Truth. The great modern saint, Sri Ramakrishna, is quoted as saying, ‘As many faiths, so many paths.’

But Yoga is not a religion, nor is it a strange mystic cult with chanting and heavy breathing. It is a Hindu system of philosophic meditation and training designed to effect the connection of the student’s soul with God. It is a philosophy which integrates the student’s life and the world surrounding us to achieve a basic harmony and bring balance in the heart and mind of the yoga student.

One of the fundamental belief systems of Yoga is that God is within each one of us but He reveals Himself only in conditions of purity, both spiritually and physically. To function on a higher level, either mentally or physically, the first step must always be to rid the body of the harmful habits that cause disease and which can stifle spiritual development. In other words the yoga student is on a path towards changing behaviours for the better.

This basic principle of yoga aims at establishing a balance in the body so that it functions normally.  When this state of physical balance is achieved the student can gain control of their mind and can realize more lucid thought and reason. It can be very difficult for anyone to gain clarity of mind while battling with indigestion, asthma, a thumping headache or any ills and stress symptoms which we struggle with in the modern world. So the ancients realized that physical ills could drag a person down and the disciplinary science of Yoga was evolved so that the body would be freed from pain and disease.

While the body and the mind cannot be separated and the healthy body affects the mind, not everyone has a goal to achieve union with God or Universal Spirit, which is the primary objective of Yoga, but everyone, would like to know how to improve overall health.

~Namaste

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