From pieces of mind to peace of mind
It was dusk when I was walking back from my office on a hilly road after having had a rough discussion with my reporting manager. It was a beautiful evening. A mild breeze blew and the trees were swaying as if smiling back at the breeze. But my face looked dull, my eyes were swollen, with tears still flowing down. I could not enjoy the beauty. I was thinking about the discussion that I had a few minutes ago. I felt shattered. All I could do was to blame myself, the situation I was in, my manager and eventually my life on the whole. But that was not it.
Deep down I knew blaming was not the right thing. Occupied in my own thoughts, I saw a trail of ants carrying food.
I wondered what it was that kept these ants going. Sun, rain, storms nothing seemed to affect them. I wanted to be the same, unshaken by whatever came into my life. I knew I needed to practice yoga, something I had learnt a few years ago that had always kept me going. A combination of some simple breathing techniques and some yoga asanas had always helped me feel good.
As I entered my room, I knew yoga would make me feel better. So I took out my light green yoga mat, did some padmasadhna and meditated for a while. 
I felt calm like the little ant who was ready to face any challenge, no matter how small his existence was on this planet. Once again I started to think about the discussion I had, but this time it was different. I wasn’t blaming anyone. Instead I was thinking of ways I could make things fall back into place. Yoga made me peaceful and this peace of the mind helped me to think clear. I looked out of the window and everything looked beautiful again.
Adding simplicity in my complex world
Yoga has been life changing for me. It has brought a beautiful curve in my life: my smile. It has helped me embrace whoever I am and appreciate my existence. With every new day that comes, with the changing seasons, with the changing people, it helps me adapt to the change and accept whatever comes my way. It makes me realise that life is a celebration. Yoga makes me peaceful and helps me take tough decisions with ease. It helps me accept the tough times in life and be a witness to them. It helps me focus better on my work and helps me handle my relationships well. Whenever problems come my way, yoga empowers me and gives me the strength to handle it. Yoga keeps me going, adding more and more simplicity in my complex world. And every time I sit to do yoga, I feel like sharing this beautiful aspect of my life with everyone.
Yoga at home
To experience the beauty of yoga you could practice it at home as well. Your yoga could include:
- Sukshmavyama- This includes exercising every part of your body right from head to toe.
- Warm-up- Includes some light invigorating asanas like jumping, jogging, twisting etc. This is a good start up those tones up the muscles and makes the body flexible
- Sun Salutations- It is a set of 12 asanas that follow in a particular order. It is a nice link between the warm ups and asanas.
- Padmasadhna- A combination of some yoga asanas, nadi shodhan pranayama and meditation. This forms a complete capsule by itself. ( It is advisable to learn this under a yoga trainer)
- Yog Nidra- This involves lying flat on your back and taking your attention to various parts of your body. This is an effective method for bringing deep relaxation to body and mind in a short span of time.
- Pranayamas & Meditation ( It is advisable to learn this under a trained teacher.) To know more about such classes click Meditation
Learning yoga under a trained teacher also helps as the teacher can point out the mistakes that you might be unaware of. Also a teacher can guide you regarding breathing that is to be synchronized with yoga asanas. Often, a teacher can be instrumental in helping you break your limitations – helping you keep a pose or stretch for longer than you thought you could. A teacher will also tell you when not to overdo it. To learn yoga under a trained teacher click Sri Sri Yoga.
Effects of Yoga on different aspects of life
Like a flower bud, human life has the potential to blossom fully. Blossoming of human potential to fullness is yoga.” –Gurudev
Yoga is the path towards total harmony of body, mind and spirit. Thus yoga can affect different aspects of life. Peace of mind, better concentration, improved relationships, improved health, improved awareness can be experienced by practicing yoga. Read more to know about the effect of yoga on:
Written by Divya Sachdev and graphics by Guru Anvekar
(Driven by her passion to contribute to society, Divya Sachdev is an Art of Living teacher. Laughter, commitment, willingness to learn and determination to excel...Divya is all this and more.)
