Real yoga isn’t about the poses on the mat, the expensive clothes, or however many words you can say in Sanskrit. True yoga is about finding the silence within you. With all the information, or rather noise, we’re continuously exposed to, via our organs of perception, finding silence can seem nearly impossible. We’re bombarded with stimuli: visions, tastes, sounds, smells, a chill in the air, unbearable heat, constantly flooding through the windows of our sensory organs, and we’re all helpless to stop it.
It’s a miracle we’re able to function through life on a daily basis devoid of self-combustion. Imagine walking down the street one day, and whoops, there goes Charlie: system failed in result of data overload: too many colors, exotic prints and intense drum and base techno. His head has exploded; brains splattered on the sidewalk. Though it’s fortunate living beings don’t experience technical malfunctions as exemplified in Charlie’s circumstance, we all can relate to feeling overwhelmed, which often manifests in a multitude of ways: stress, anxiety, depression, migraines, physical tension, illness, and the list goes on.
There’s a lot we cannot control, as mere human beings: the external world, our vulnerability to the external world, or our exposition to the external world. We cannot close our gates; they are to remain open until the day we leave our bodies, which you may or may not consider to be the bane of your existence. We can, however, control what we choose to surround ourselves with and how we respond to our surroundings. This is where the yoga comes in. The purpose of finding that silence within is meant to assist in living a life free of agitation.
When we silence the mind, we experience a stillness, a form of meditation; there is no doing, there just is; peace. We surrender our ego, and transcend all that is corporeal. The burn, the sweat, the heat, the discomfort: none of it matters, not when you’ve found your silence; not when your mind is still. This is yoga.
The most significant yoga doesn’t happen on the mat; it’s how one lives one’s life off the mat. It’s our nature to rise with the highs and fall with the lows, but what if we were able to coast; glide by with a clear mind, governed by our intellect, rather than emotion? In the face of extreme circumstance, can you find your silence?
It’s a miracle we’re able to function through life on a daily basis devoid of self-combustion. Imagine walking down the street one day, and whoops, there goes Charlie: system failed in result of data overload: too many colors, exotic prints and intense drum and base techno. His head has exploded; brains splattered on the sidewalk. Though it’s fortunate living beings don’t experience technical malfunctions as exemplified in Charlie’s circumstance, we all can relate to feeling overwhelmed, which often manifests in a multitude of ways: stress, anxiety, depression, migraines, physical tension, illness, and the list goes on.
There’s a lot we cannot control, as mere human beings: the external world, our vulnerability to the external world, or our exposition to the external world. We cannot close our gates; they are to remain open until the day we leave our bodies, which you may or may not consider to be the bane of your existence. We can, however, control what we choose to surround ourselves with and how we respond to our surroundings. This is where the yoga comes in. The purpose of finding that silence within is meant to assist in living a life free of agitation.
When we silence the mind, we experience a stillness, a form of meditation; there is no doing, there just is; peace. We surrender our ego, and transcend all that is corporeal. The burn, the sweat, the heat, the discomfort: none of it matters, not when you’ve found your silence; not when your mind is still. This is yoga.
The most significant yoga doesn’t happen on the mat; it’s how one lives one’s life off the mat. It’s our nature to rise with the highs and fall with the lows, but what if we were able to coast; glide by with a clear mind, governed by our intellect, rather than emotion? In the face of extreme circumstance, can you find your silence?