Yoga is for everyone

Should be a daily activity

Children of primary and pre-primary wing of Sister Nivedita School took an initiative to make everyone aware of this international endeavour with all energy and enthusiasm in their school premises recently. Children were informed about the benefits of yoga. Different asanas were demonstrated .

Children performed Surya Namaskar along with the teachers. They made it very clear to everyone that yoga should be practized every day for the both physical and mental development, it should not be confined within ‘Yoga Day’ only. The main purpose of the programme was to make children aware of the fact that the practice of yoga brings peace of mind, improves health, reduces stress and thereby helps children live a happy, healthy and peaceful life with focused mind.

The world and the nation are having their heads on heels to felicitate the occasion of “International Yoga day” which falls on June 21. The decision has led to chaos in some religions and they are vehemently opposing in its present form and are having apprehension that it is against their religious belief.

According to Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev “Yoga is a technology. Anybody who is willing to make use of it can make use of it”. It was an enthralling moment that UN council has given accordance with an unambiguous opinion that itself speaks the significance of Yoga. Once again India, the cradle of spiritualism and the source of ethics to the world has retained its position.

It is surely a great elevation for an ancient route. “Yoga” can promote self-discipline, flexibility, righteousness, articulation, mental health, physical soundness and socially acceptable behaviour which are scarce in quantity in the society. The credit surely goes to Indian Prime Minister who has been practicing and experiencing the benefits of Yoga and who advocated an apt place for it during his address to UN Assembly.

“Yoga” is one of the six ancient philosophies of India and it was preached by the Sage Patanjali through the book “Yoga Sutra” in 185 stanzas. Born in India, almost 26,000 years ago, Yoga is believed to have evolved during the period of the ‘Sat Yuga’, also called the Golden age. This period became known as a time of everlasting peace and abundant blessings, filled with seekers of the Eternal Truth. That is why, probably, even today we associate yoga with sages and hermits.

The word “Yoga” derived from “YUJ” means which essentially means to join or unite. The union referred to is that of the individual self-uniting with Cosmic Consciousness or the Universal Spirit. Yoga is a means to achieving this goal. It is well known fact that the Indian philosophy would advocates that “The entire creation is nothing but divine power and the soul of each and every person is an integral part of it”.

To unite the soul with the divine power the yoga will offers the way.. It is right as per Bhagavad Gita ”Yoga is a way to freedom. By constant practice, we can free ourselves from fear, anguish and loneliness”. Sage Patanajali has introduced “Astaangas”(Eight steps) in his yoga sutras and preached that by practicing “Astaangas” one should try to attain both mental and physical elevation.

According to him “The body is your temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in”. Further he has backed that these eight steps will help the man rise to godly place and to unite with divine power and they will tackle the kinesis of mind and sponsor the concentration.(Chitta vruthi nirodha) .It is every one’s cup of tea and no restrictions for other religious groups and it is confined to an individual and his soul.

Yoga is not a religion; it is a way of living whose aim is ‘a healthy mind in a healthy body’. It promotes discipline, surfaces the way for good life and promotes physical, mental sound health. Predominantly it will obliterate all the bad elements from our mind and chisel the personality of man. Many scientists belonging to west were noticed the significance of yoga in human life and adored it. It is not related to Hinduism related to humanism and it has no relation with atheism and non-atheism.

The eight steps are 1) Yama 2) Niyama 3) Asana 4)Pranayaama 5)Pratyahaara 6) Dhyaanam 7) Dharana and 8) Samaadhi. The essence of yoga is to make the process of life as efficient and enjoyable as possible. The food, the habits, which are followed by an individual, will decide the nature of the human being this is proved by the science also... It will also regulate the dietary habits and with the help of pranayama it will greatly controls the respiratory rate and number of breaths to improve our inner abilities.

The brutish surroundings are influencing the human being to incline towards the most heinous crimes. It has been proved enough blatantly that the modern education, the technology advancement and today’s pseudo civilization hasn’t elevated the human being’s status morally, ethically and reduced much mediocre.

So, to renovate the position of the human being Yoga is the only best available practice. These types of practices were also employed by the Buddhists and Roman Catholics also. When we observe the prayers of all religions we will draw the conclusion that all the procedures are effectively to reduce the tensions and the stress of human beings.

So, let us try to disseminate the essence of our spiritual thinking and spread the fragrance of the same across the globe. It was so aptly remarked by great yoga guru B.K.S Iyengar ”Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame”.

By:E.Gajendra Nath Reddy