Yoga can be puzzling. Even for seasoned practitioners its impact seem mysterious. These three insights will help:
1. Yoga can be everywhere – Laughter yoga? Nature yoga? What’s with this phenomenon of associating “yoga” with common everyday things? The answer lies in understanding that at the root of yoga there is a process. This is the process of reducing or sidestepping the ego. So everything can be done either in a yogic way or a non-yogic way. If your laughter is meant to hurt somebody then it is merely an instrument of your ego. This is non-yogic laughter. But if on the other hand your laughter is a pure expression of joy then it side steps the ego and it is yoga. We can say that it is “laughter yoga”.
So here is this insight in a nutshell: If an activity does not hurt anybody and the ego is sidestepped or reduced then the activity can be considered as Yoga.
So you can walk in a park or a forest and call it “nature yoga”. You can spend time knitting and call it “knitting yoga”. On the same lines you can have “cooking yoga”, “driving yoga”, “work yoga”, “hobby yoga”, and so on.
2. It all adds up – Here is the good news: nothing goes waste when it comes to yoga. It is as if somebody who is lost in the dark finds her way. Now every step is a step in the right direction, no matter how small the step is. Yoga creates an upward spiral where every activity that is Yoga helps us do other activities in a more yogic way. Instead of a push towards yoga, we now find that there is a pull. Yoga becomes more natural to who we are.
3. You can start anywhere – Rather than being boxed in, wondering where to start, you can just jump in from wherever you are at this moment. The right moment for yoga is now! You do not have to wait to be kind, to be generous, or to wish everybody well. Every small act adds up. Soon the journey accelerates and what was formerly forced and deliberate becomes natural. The yoga of postures is also a great starting spot. And if we allow its effects to spread into the rest of our life, we then find that most of our activities can be done in a yogic way. And this in turn flows back into the yoga on the mat and makes it easier and calmer. We enter into a positive feedback loop that lifts our life and transforms it. Our life is soon filled with light and love.
Why wait? With these insights in hand let us straight jump in and start practicing yoga in everything we do!
Related::
How Does Yoga Work?
Eight Ways To Make The Most Of Your Yoga Practice
Six Things Not Yoga
Six Surprising Facts About Your Ego
Credits: This has been written by Raj Shah and edited by Ketna Shah.