KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2015

YOGA - WHAT IS IT? (PART 1)

I would say, yoga is also the greatest wealth of humankind. What is wealth? Wealth is that which brings us comfort. The purpose of wealth is to bring happiness and comfort, isn’t it? If wealth doesn't succeed in achieving this goal of bringing comfort to the human psyche, to human life, I would not call it wealth. And yoga is wealth, in the sense that it brings absolute comfort.

We think yoga is some sort of exercise. In 80’s and 90’s when I would tour Europe, yoga was not easily accepted in the mainstream society. Yoga was considered to be some very hard exercises: like standing on the toes, or standing on one leg. The whole concept of yoga was very weird. It was the stuff that weird people do. Today, I am glad that there is an awakening and people have recognized the importance of yoga. The world over, yoga has become synonymous with relaxation, happiness, and a creative mind.

Even big companies, in their advertisements put people sitting in a yoga position, or in a meditation pose to depict the inner peace one has. That is a very welcome move.

I would like to remind you, whether we like it or not, we are all born yogis.
You do not need a yoga teacher if you observe a baby anywhere in the world. From the age of 3 months to the age of 3 years, a baby does all the yoga postures. Their breathing, the way they sleep, the way they smile, everything is yoga. Babies are yoga teachers, they are yogis and that is how a baby is stress-free and happy.

A baby smiles 400 times in a day. The purpose of yoga is to put a smile on our face in spite of all the stress and tensions, or situations that we are put through in our day-to-day life.

To be continued......

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