June 21 is an important day for us yogis: in fact, we are celebrating the International Day of Yoga established by the UN and now in its second birthday .
We advise you to inquire about the many initiatives planned in the small and large contexts of your cities, often free and all aimed at making this wonderful discipline known to the general public.
This article, however, does not want to be a trivial reminder, but we aspire to give you some more suggestions.
What is the meaning of establishing a world yoga day? What is the relationship we have with the world-wide practice? What could be the role of yoga in our century, a time so different from the one in which it was born?
We would like, in a nutshell, to stop for a moment to think about the deeper aspects of the discipline, beyond the asanas, the belonging school or this or that mode: now we are invaded by yoga, but often the speeches stop a lot in surface ending up stranded in the technicalities of a position, in the aesthetics of the teacher-guru, in the acrobatic posture.
We celebrate the international day of yoga by proposing some of our reflections against the trend with respect to the trend, hoping they will be a starting point for all yogi readers: an invitation to live our passion for yoga in a way that is always vivid (not only) like gymnastics, but also (and above all) as a healthy and inwardly enriching lifestyle.
Ideas for yogic reflections: which are yours?
We opened this article with the intention of sharing some thoughts about yoga on the occasion of his party.
We could write books about it, so we simply drop drops of thought that appear to be particularly interesting or noteworthy. They do not exhaust the picture of the matter, but they add some brushstrokes that we consider important to trace.
You yourself can enrich the canvas by talking in class with your teachers or classmates, comparing the ideas and points of view in a fertile debate full of fragrant ideas.
Yoga, not magic or psychotherapy
Browsing the net or talking to many people, we can see how a rather funny idea of yoga has been consolidated : yoga "makes you feel good", gives you "serenity", "takes away your anxieties".
Given this premise, many believe one or two lessons are enough to enter Nirvana, to wipe out the daily problems that plague us; well, we believe it is necessary to correct the shot and spread an honest and truthful message: yoga is a very precious instrument, I would dare to say invaluable, but (obviously) it is not magic .
It requires perseverance, commitment, dedication and the desire to engage in that marvelous enterprise that is cultivating oneself.
It is not a psychotherapy, nor a support group: it does not exempt you from profound personal work - if necessary - with a professional and does not give you any shortcuts to serenity .
It would be desirable to eradicate the superficiality of this kind of approach and consider yoga with the depth and seriousness it deserves in the context that belongs to it.
Yoga exercises to do daily
Yoga, a discipline of psychophysical well-being
Defined what yoga is not, let us focus on a really interesting point in the UN resolution - which gave rise to the anniversary we are celebrating - which underlines the importance of making healthier life choices that promote wellbeing .
Well, this is certainly yoga! A discipline that can be practiced by everyone, without exclusions. A sweet but effective discipline, which acts both in the body and in the mind, two inseparable units in terms of health: neglecting one or the other means having a partial and incomplete approach, certainly lacking in part.
We are splendid beings made of body and mind: let us take care of both!
Yoga, a philosophy of life
Yoga is a philosophy (not a religion) of peace and acceptance, acceptance and tolerance: making these gentle principles one's own means approaching existence in a different way, certainly more ecological and resilient.
In a contemporaneity imbued with hatred and separatism, this discipline based on uniting (yoga, from jug: unite, yoked) launches an incisive, alternative and powerful message with respect to the infinite divisions and competitions that characterize our life, both on a world scale and on a global scale. daily.
It represents an act of gentle resistance to the greedy and superficial lifestyle that unfortunately characterizes many contexts.
Let's try to make it our own authentically, thus getting the practice out of the rectangle of the mat and bringing it into our life experience, every day.
Yoga, inner journey
Yoga represents a journey of discovery within us, an opportunity that we give ourselves to cultivate ourselves and to evolve.
Everyone lives this experience in an irreducible personal way, but the meaning remains unchanged: it lies in the tormenting need for inner peace, for the silent music of silence.
We are daily stunned by sounds, inputs, communications: with yoga we reaffirm our sacred right to recollection, to savor the depths of ourselves.
Let us not deny ourselves this bit of paradise to respond to the umpteenth message: it is an act of respect and care towards ourselves that makes us resist the whirlpool of frenzy. Liberiamocene, stay calm and practice yoga!
