Yoga As A Way of Life

When we truly face the reality of our life, we realize that our life is not optimal – it is not even close to the best life we could have. Our potential is not being fulfilled.

With more self-awareness in life, we come to acknowledge that most of our experiences are full of discomfort. We are searching blindly in the dark in search of the best option, always seeking for something better.

This does not mean we are all miserable in our lives. It simply implies that for some reason, something is holding us back. In today’s world, we are faced with an overwhelming problem–we do not recognize our true identity. We are struggling to define ourselves according to the way society sees us, our actions, and our beliefs. It is now completely normal to feel unhappy, unfulfilled, confused and depressed. We are all constantly trying to seek a solution to these problems by searching for a better circumstances, accumulating more or nicer things, or making appointments with psychologists and doctors.

This is where yoga enters into the picture.

Yoga is not a physical exercise to tone, sculpt, and build your body. It is an ancient way of life that has existed for thousands of years, designed to free us from obstacles and liberate us from any fear.

Yoga brings us into balance and harmony, giving us the ability to enjoy life, fulfil our potential and find our true identity. According to yoga, we are not in tune with both the universal nature or our own nature. In modern society, it is clear we are alienated from our own nature and the nature around us because we are under the illusion that our Self is something separate from these things–something locked up in a bag of skin, disconnected from other beings in this world.

We are no longer affected by the seasons in the same way–we eat the same vegetables all year long, detaching ourselves from natural, healthy and in-season food. We spend our summers in air-conditioned offices and become detached from the natural weather. Despite the fact that the lunar stages of the moon have a significant influence on us, we are completely unaware of the moon cycle. Most importantly, we are detached from our bodies.

Our minds are always thinking and wandering far away from our current physical presence. The nature of the mind is to think toward the future and dwell in the past. But reflections of the future and past is not the truth, they are delusions.. The past is just our subjective memory and the future is our illusionary imagination, therefore both are false.

We are disconnected from the present, which is the only gate for truth and eternity.

Any experience of disconnection in the present causes a lot of suffering and loneliness. According to yoga, everything is one big net and we are a part of this net—this is the reason yoga strives to bring us back into connection with everything around us, not simply on the intellectual level but on the experiential level. If we feel and experience this union with nature, with other beings and within ourselves, we will achieve contentment because we will be acting according to the law of nature.

Yoga provides us with the tools for improving our relationships by stripping away the illusions that prevent us from connecting with our true Self, other beings and life itself. It can be seen as a kind of map that liberates us from the maze of life. It is a map that shows us the way, but does not perform the journey for us. Yoga is the optimal guru connecting us with our inner teacher, the one who shows us the way of liberation, provides us guidelines and opens the gate for us to make the journey ourselves.

In a holistic way, yoga not only unites our body and mind together but also connects us back to our true nature and to the understanding that we are all part of the whole. Through asana practice, yoga connects our body to our breath and sensations in a peaceful but precise manner, allowing us to meditate on the inner self and experience truth.

These experiences bring light and instructions in each and every area of life beginning with our actions, thoughts, speech, sleep, social life, breath, posture and more. It will bring us back to the connection with nature.