Is Yoga Alien to You?

Some people feel yoga is just a practice that they need to learn. But whether in a bustling Japanese city, a quiet village in Africa, or the heart of rural India, a newborn, irrespective of place, time, or community, is already a yogi.

If you observe, a baby instinctively adopts mudras while sleeping, breathes deeply from the belly, stretches like a yogi, and curls into poses that support its digestion, immunity, and spinal strength. We are all born yogis. If that same childlike innocence and natural harmony had stayed with us, there would be no need to learn or practice yoga. But as we grow, we gather impressions or samskaras that cloud our minds and disturb our balance. In losing touch with our original nature, we lose our peace. That's why yoga and sadhana are essential to restore balance in the body, clarity in the intellect, and harmony in the mind and emotions.

Yoga is Skill in Action

Whether you are a farmer, a student, a homemaker, or a CEO, you need clarity of mind, energy in the body, and peace in the heart to be effective. Yoga is not about withdrawing from life but engaging in life more fully without drowning in the events or outcomes, and that's a skill we all need to have.

Maharishi Patanjali, an extraordinary mind, a scientist, grammarian, psychologist, and seer, codified this profound inner science thousands of years ago. His Yoga Sutras remain a timeless manual for mastering the mind and emotions, making yoga relevant across cultures, languages, space, and time. Unfortunately, many people incorrectly associate yoga with a particular religion or see it merely as stretches or physical exercises.

But yoga belongs to humanity. Just like gravity does not belong to any particular religion or community, yoga too transcends culture and religion. It is a path to knowing oneself and, through that, connecting more deeply with the world.

Yoga is a Complete Science

Yoga moderates body chemicals impacting us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Studies by the Department of Integrative Medicine at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) have shown how effective yoga is in treating neurological and mental disorders. Yet other studies conducted by the Sri Sri Institute For Advanced Research reported that yoga benefits encompass both physical and mental health such as improving immune functions, reducing stress cortisol release, releasing antioxidant enzymes to slow down aging and activating the parasympathetic nervous system, boosting dopamine production, aiding addiction recovery, increasing grey matter in the brain, and overcoming anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Calming the body and lowering blood pressure. But beyond that, it brings you back to the present moment, where you can let go of negative thoughts, bringing profound peace and ecstasy.

Living Yogic Principles

When you want to fill up your car, you have to stop somewhere. You cannot keep driving a car without refuelling or overhauling it; similarly, you must pause to replenish your energy. It's not about the sheer number of hours you put in yoga, but the quality of your presence and energy. Being in nature, enjoying small things, gardening, enjoying music, and appreciating flowers are all ways to uplift your spirit and reset your system.

Yoga is not an alien subject. It is very much connected to our lives, and when we act out of our very nature, we are already practicing it. For example, have you noticed how, when cold, people tuck their thumbs under their arms? In yogic understanding, the thumb is energetically significant. When you warm the thumb, you warm the body. Every fingertip is linked to subtle energy points, and by stimulating them, you can generate healing effects. Yoga is the art of observing such subtleties and bringing awareness to them. When we live with this attention, whether while breathing, walking, or working, life becomes meditative, joyful, and full of energy.

In a noisy world, yoga is the stillness that helps us listen; in chaos, it is the calm that helps us act. In a world filled with anxiety, it is the union that reminds us we are not alone.

[The author, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, is a global humanitarian leader, spiritual master, and founder of The Art of Living, who has introduced over a billion people across the world in 182 countries to the path of yoga and inner happiness in the last 45 years]