Yoga

After yesterday shooting, a friend of mine who is the photographer asked me, what is Yoga??

I almost forgot that i used to be one of those who used to think that yoga is about postures. Not only postures, but is about the 'impossible' postures. It is nothing wrong to think like that because it is what we 'SEE' and 'HEAR'.

Postures or Asana is one of the elements in yoga, which is the minor one. The main element is the truth of yoga which by using your body, experiencing and observing your body, understanding your body and ACCEPT your body.

I used to mention in the class. The flexibility in yoga is not all about the body flexibility. It is the mind flexibility.

"What to you mean by mind flexibility? The mind is stretchable?".

It is the extend of the mind to learn to accept the things that you can or cannot do, to accept things that you are able and not able to do. It is the flexibility of the mind that we are talking about.

For sure things that we can do, we are so proud of ourselves. If we over react about it, it becomes show off or ego.

How about things that we cannot do? We will try our very best to avoid it or we keep on accusing ourselves that we have not done our very best and we need to be a better man? We become low in self-esteem.

We need to understand that everyone is unique in their own way. How far more better man that you can be?? When every times you do or go beyond what you can do and keep on doing it, you will be tired. When things that you have done and it did not turn out to be what you wanted, you become frustrated and unhappy. If things keep on going like this, you will become depression and lost.

Yoga is to teach you to learn to ACCEPT who you are. By doing the postures or asana, without any expectation, you just do it. Without judging whether you can or cannot do that postures, without categorizing the postures or asana, you just try it. Even without doing that postures or asana, you are actually practicing yoga. Because, yoga is teaching us to let go and accept who we are. Even you did not manage to do the postures or asana, but you have learned to let go the expectation and open up your mind and try it. You didn't feel sad or bad even you did not manage to do it, you are practicing acceptance. Acceptance towards your body, acceptance towards what you can and cannot do. Acceptance about the imperfection. This is the flexibility that yoga is talking about.

"Relaxation and lying down on the floor will be just lying there? I am a over active kind of person, how can i do that? It seems to be mission impossible to me "

Lying doesn't mean by just lying without purpose. You need to focus on you breathing, observing each of your inhale and exhale and feel the existence of yourself at this present moment.

Throughout this process, you will notice that a lot of things suddenly pop up in your mind, things that matter or doesn't matter to you. It is the NATURE OF THE MIND. You do not have to reject the projection of the mind instead put your focus and concentration on your breathing, observing each of the inhale and exhale. Don't feel bad if your focus and concentration have slipped away with all those projection, pull it back to your breathing. It definitely takes times to learn to focus. It may takes months or years, but it is never impossible.

If someday that you will realize after few practices that all these projection in the mind become lesser and lesser. It doesn't mean you are able to control the projection of the mind, the mind is still the mind, but you have move your focus and concentration to your breathing and you just let the mind be the mind. It is when you can feel the peacefulness inside yourself. You will also feel content and real.

Sometimes, we keep on searching on the peacefulness and contentment by going to a specific place or by doing a specific thing in order to find the peacefulness or happiness. But, it is only a moment of peacefulness and happiness that you are talking about. After you left the place or did the thing, you will be back to emptiness.

Yoga teaches us to understand the nature all of beings and by understand that all beings is impermanent, you will be able to search for real peacefulness and happiness. Detachment is one of the way.

When you are doing a certain postures which you hated the most as it stretches your nerves and you are in pain, but by giving no response to this feeling and detach from it, by understanding that feeling just the feeling and it is impermanent and it will pass. You are learning detachment.

After release yourself from the postures or asana, all the feelings that you have just felt and it was so real for that particular moment, it is all gone. You will realize that feeling changes every moment and it is impermanent and why do we need to react with things that impermanent. By being able to see and understand things in such a way, impermanent, why do we still have to be so attached to things in our life.

We sad because of things happened in the past and we worried because of the things that we are not sure. How about the present moment?? We are living in the present moment for real but we tend to 'live' in the past or in future and that is why we are unhappy and not in peace.

Yoga is the daily life and it teaches is to live at the present moment. It is the simple living with a higher thinking.

May all beings are in peace and happiness.

Om Shanti!