Yoga Challenge Blog

“When you want something very much, the whole universe conspires to help you.” Paulo Coelho

In yoga, intention is everything. If you have the right intention, your choices will always guide you in the right direction. If you do not know why you are doing something, you are probably not going to be doing it for very long. I have a rock solid reason for changing my eating habits and that is what is still keeping my resolve alive.

Once you direct your attention to something, your intention becomes a powerful influence on what things happen in your life. Be clear about what your intentions are. Learn to notice all the little things that happen around you and that are trying to give you some clues and help you in fulfilling your desires. With time your mind will come down, you’ll be able to release your intentions and surrender your desires.
What does it mean to set your intention in your yoga practice - for example in your asana practice: take few moments before you start and dedicate your practice to something or someone other but yourself. Don’t just do it for the benefit that you’re going to get. Make the practice selfless, that’s when the practice becomes a practice of yoga - it’s not only performing the practices but it’s your motivation and intention that make it a spiritual practice.

The purpose of yoga is to calm the mind so it can see its true divine self.

Most of the time you’re so busy with your everyday life, your problems, with people around you, you don’t even realise it. Your mind is constantly producing so many thoughts, so you are left with no time and energy to listen to your real self. How many times you felt like you are watching your life from the side, not really living it and making your own decisions but floating and accepting the things that come into your way? Your mind is usually too busy with everything else that’s happening around you. You identify your Self with your body, your mind, your thoughts. Your mind is so clouded with thoughts you’re not able to see the true essence of things.

Some schools of yoga teach the goal of yoga to be the cessation of thought at which point liberation from all worldly suffering and the cycle of birth and death (Samsara) will be reached.

Different techniques are used - like pranayama (breathing techniques), concentration, meditation and so on to help you calm your mind so you can know the real essence of mind. It’s quite a complex subject, different people tried to explain it in different ways and tell other people what’s right and what’s wrong - being school, social or moral norms, religion, other people’s expectations, concepts of what our life should and of what people impose to us. How about actually quiet your mind down, settle down your thoughts so you can see the real essence of it and then you decide what is right and what’s wrong for yourself. There are many other ways I guess, Yoga is one of them.

There are many different kinds of yoga and each of them has a unique way to achieve the union of mind, body and spirit. All three are of equal importance but people normally look out for the physical aspect first. Many people start with that idea in mind - to get fit but soon after they start practising yoga realise there’s a lot more. Staying healthy is actually a consequence but not the main idea of yoga.

Yoga is much wider than a simple stretching and balancing postures in a yoga class or on your yoga mat. Even just by giving people help without asking or expecting anything in return, you’re already practising Karma Yoga, for example. By praying, you’re practising a form of Bhakti Yoga, by seeking the truth, you might be practising Jnana Yoga.

The word yoga derives from Sanskrit and its root ‘yui’ means to unite, to control. Yoga means union - union between body, spirit and mind. This is the unity between your small Self, the Self which you normally identify yourself with, and the Divine Self. Only when you are able to realise they’re one and the same - you will have reached enlightenment. There are many different yoga practices and techniques, like yoga asanas (postures), breathing control, withdrawal from the senses, etc. They are to help your concetration, to prepare your body for mediation. The purpose is always the same - enlightenment.

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Mahatma Gandhi

Yoga literally means “unity” or “union”, “connection” (coming from Sanskrit). It means the permanent union between the individual self (jiva) and the universal self (atman). We’re all connected, none of us is separate from the other, we just haven’t yet realised it.