yoga = FREEdom of spirit The meaning of yoga put into words is different for each practitioner - for me yoga is a self-study which can lead to Self empowerment, responsibility and awareness. Yoga is the experience of collective unity - what happens when we are able to integrate our individual selves with the Oneness of all beings.
Yoga is a holistic healing practice - healing, not implying that something is wrong, but rather, healing in the sense of de-hypnotizing the body and mind from what it has been conditioned to know as the 'truth' from the world we live in. Messages from everyone and everything we come into contact with from a young age forms our perception of reality.The practice of yoga enables us to let go of that perception and experience the present moment, free of projection and judgement. Quite simply, yoga is the experience of pure love.
I like the analogy of the yoga and the sun. Even when clouds cover our view of the sun, it is always there, just like happiness and pure joy within. It is innately there inside of us.The buildup of life experiences and conditioning obscure this state of being, in the same way clouds prevent us from seeing the sun. Yoga helps remove those obstacles so that we again my experience Yoga, the state of oneness; elightenment.
Happiness is here and now, in each one of us. The practice of yoga helps us to reconnect with that eternal, inner source of joy.
In the very beginning, before even the universe manifested, there was Om, the universal hum, or vibration. All beings have this essential vibration, but through life we have lost touch with it- it has been blocked by formations of the mind. When we practice yoga, we work on cleansing our Nadis (the 72,000 energy points running through the body) enabling us to 'tune in' to that primal sound and remind us that all beings are connected.
