My Tryst with Yoga

 

 

 

Many blogs have been written on Yoga each sharing their own experiences on how they have taken up yoga as way of life. Along with innumerable physical benefits it also brings other benefits in your life which are very subtle. This article is all about sharing my tryst with Yoga and how it has impacted me.

Tryst 1: The First Time

It started in 2015 after 2 years in teaching. One day I realised I need to de-stress, a work colleague of mine told me about yoga and its benefits and interested me. Soon I was googling around to find what is this all about and how it is helping people. I heard lot of amazing life changing stories like the one about Baba Ramdev, how his dedication to yoga made him come out of paralysis kind of difficult medical condition which impacts movement of body parts to now where he does asanas with ease.

 Inspired and motivated I took a book on yoga from baba Ramdev and started practises it definitely gave some immediate relief to my health and most importantly it helped me stop reactions to dust and pollution which was a major concern then for me. 1 year or so of practise and reaping its benefits, changes in life situation I couldn’t continue to practise it and it slowly moved out of routine unnoticedly. I was still experiencing the good effects of these even after stopping the practises.

 

 

Fast Forward 4 years……….

With 6 years into marriage and a 2-year princess in my life it was all going well. I had this strong urge of having some alone time, I discussed with my husband and family they were supportive of this idea. As I was pondering on this thought of what would be a right way get this alone time, I came across this place “Isha Centre -Coimbatore”

Tryst 2: A guided 2^nd time

I packed my backpack. Got the booking onto a bus towards Coimbatore from Bangalore Madivala bus stop, I am happy till date I made this decision. Landed at Coimbatore bus stand at 5 AM in the morning enquired for a local bus to Isha centre in my half-broken Kannada mix Tamil. People in Coimbatore understand good amount of Kannada as well, so I was guided to a bus, I sat there half sleepy but excited to reach my destination. It was sight to remember when I landed at the main entrance of the centre.

I wanted to get fresh and enquired if there is place where I can have a bath, I was guided to Suryakund. It is scientifically built I was amazed by the systems in place to make it efficient. The cold waters of Suryakund took away the tiredness of my journey and I was all pumped to explore the place.

The magnificent Nandi at the entrance for DhyanaLinga is a sight to remember. I visited the DhyanaLinga, Devi temple and attended a short Omkar Meditation programme and proceeded towards reception for enquiry of any ongoing programs which I can enrol. The staff was very helpful and guided me to take up 5 day Yoga asana program and cottage for Rs 750 Per/Day, Prasada would be offered in biksha halls at 10:30 AM and 7:00 PM daily which would be my meals for these 7 days. We were not supposed to carry cell phones outside our cottages, locker rooms were provided. The whole arrangements were very neat and of very high standards.

The Yoga Asana Classes:

This 5 day course of 21 yoga asanas was my first guided training class, it gave lot of insights into how each asana make your body and mind connect in a certain way, these asana help u disconnect from all the chatter going in your mind and focusing on yourself, allowing you look within and disengage when required from your own mental diarrhoea.

The food was superbly rich in the nutrients and the whole process of praying before you eat, eating in silence and washing your utensils on your own made you connect with your food, it was not just gobbling anything to fill your stomach but a gratitude of being fed with love which makes you humble and restrains you from wasting your food or disrespecting it.

I accidently met one of best friend who was also on a course for the week, I had wonderful company for this whole week.

Each day was an experience of its own one day Devi would show some magic and mesmerize me into thinking, another day Dhyanalinga Aradhana would swoop me into another world, one of the best experience was Dhyanalinga abhisheka which was done by devotees (including me ) where we got a chance to clean and dress the Dhyanalinga with other devotees. One week passed like a breeze and came back to Bangalore rejuvenated with this experience.

The guided learning made a deep impact on physical flexibility as well my mental health, this also intrigued me to look beyond Yoga asana, which is when I came across Shamabhavi or Inner Engineering as it is generally called.

The Shambhavi:

This spiritually crafted 30 mins process is boon from Sadhguru to imbibe and rejuvenate human consciousness in you, the 2 day inner engineering program at Chennai where I attended was one of the biggest spiritual gatherings  I had attended, everything was so organized it was mesmerizing.

It was different experience altogether to be part of this and to be initiate into such a wonderful process, as Sadhguru says “I  have planted a seed in you, it is up to you now to take good care of it and she will grow in you ”

 

Keeping upto theses and practising them need to be part of life even then simple consciousness in general can bring lot of changes in you, I hope my learning will guide me in right way.

With all these experiences and still many more to come, my tryst with yoga continues it’s a journey which I think will not be over this lifetime.