To anyone who lives in India, yoga is less an exotic word and more a way of life. Nearly everyone has tried it some time in his or her life. Yet to the serious practitioner, it is a route to reach a space that is personal yet connected to yogis down the ages.
My own connection to yoga began at age seven or eight in Delhi when I joined my father at a group session in the nearby park. There were a few other children who had come along; I don’t think any of us took it very seriously. But it was summer vacation, and anything that got us out of the house that early was welcome. I remember singing a mantra to the sun – tejaswi nava dhithamasthu – as it came up over the trees. We kids took to lotus positions and whatnots like agile fish, while the podgy papas puffed their way through funny contortions. Even today, if you go for a morning walk in any Indian city, you will come across a similar group doing yoga or the strange phenomenon called the laughing therapy. Well anyway, after a few weeks, these calisthenics tapered off, and life returned to school and sports.
It’s only six years ago that I really tuned into yoga. I like to think of yoga as the lifeline that helps us to make it through all the deadlines of a typical day.
Once you get used to doing yoga, it gets addictive. The yoga routine I follow is a 30-minute capsule designed by Baba Ramdev for people on the run. No matter how busy your life, you can make time for 15 minutes of pranayama (breathing exercises), followed by 15 minutes of asanas (physical moves). Pranayams relax your mind while the asanas relax the body.
I also like to keep my mind open to other schools and check out unusual techniques occasionally. Like the Osho fire meditation where you contemplate your own death and return to life. It’s spooky but so liberating. Try it sometime.
To me, the simple act of breathing in and breathing out is as constant and reflexive as oars lapping alongside a boat. There is a joyful inner rhythm that becomes part of my body as I become aware of my breath. According to Buddhist practice, described beautifully by Vietnamese teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, breathing with awareness allows you to encounter life in the present moment. You are aware of your own feelings, and of where the fences in your mind come from. This helps you reach back and make your mind and body calm, till you arrive at a state in which mind, body, and breath are one harmonious reality.
Lina Krishnan is an independent writer and artist based in Bangalore.
Image by Lina Krishnan (permission required before use).
