I am proud to be born in a country where one of the ancient spiritual practices has been originated. The country that gave the mantra of connecting body, mind and soul to the rest of the world. The practice which unfolded the meaning of symbols like Aum or Om and let the world experience its mystical effects. This post is a part of Blog Chatter Project Season 2.  There were a few topics that came to my mind when I first heard about this project but then I decided to go with “Yoga-Not Just an Exercise” . Alike every Blogchatter project, for this project my hashtag is “yoga&me”. There are many reasons for choosing this particular idea but the most important one is the shift Yoga has undergone over the period of time.

Yoga, the ancient physical, mental and spiritual practice which was originated in India has a different meaning to different people. For some, it’s just Asanas, for others it’s a spiritual path.

 

 

The main purpose of Yoga is to bring harmony between your inner self to outer self which brings us peace and happiness. It’s an emotional integration, spiritual elevation.

With time, Yoga has lost its true idea and treated as another way of exercising. The definition of Yoga had undergone changes from attaining peace and harmony to losing weight and gaining flexibility. When hearing the word Yoga, the things that come to many peoples’ minds are physical exercises, stretching, and yoga poses (asanas). Yes, that’s a simple meaning many people relate to whenever they talk about it.

Today, the biggest challenge we are facing is we have so much to do but we have very a limited time and when we are not able to do it, it creates stress. What can we do then? Either we let go our to-do list which is not possible in many cases or we can add some extra hours which is impossible. So, we need some kind of tool which help us in staying calm, sane and live a stress-free life. That’s when we include Yoga in our routine.  And this is one of the biggest reasons why people are getting more and more inclined towards it. People who practice Yoga experience its positive and mystical effects. Recently, I had a brief chat with a friend who practices Yoga on a regular basis. When I asked her, “how do you feel about the effect you experience?” She said, “it’s special, it’s different. I can’t explain it.” There is no doubt why she couldn’t explain it. Mystical effects have to be experienced. They cannot be explained. It’s each individual’s personal interpretation of how s(he) feels about it.

Over the time period, Yoga has gained importance. Not just in India, but West has also started following Yoga. No wonders why we started celebrating International Yoga Day since 2015. HuffPost describes the 12 reasons why Yoga is spreading around the world.  Still we are not able to comprehend it. Why? Because it’s not a concrete thing but it’s there. These days, Yoga has become a trend or should I say craze for everyone. Many Yoga centers have opened and they are doing a wonderful business. Now if we try to think what could be the main reason behind the success of these centers. One of the reasons could be people see only the physical benefits of it which includes flexibility of spine, joints, and muscles. The function of Asanas is to benefit the mind and not just weight losing and toning.

Through this project, I want to share my perspective about Yoga and why it is not just an exercise. It is not about self-improvement. It’s about Self-realization. The one who practices it is aware about its true meaning and knows how effective it is. So stay tuned for this series which will be revolving around YOGA.

This is my first time participating in this challenge and I am looking forward to share my ideas and read some wonderful posts.