‘Ah, such a drag it is.
Why does it have to be so hard, this life?
As if living a life to pay back debts wasn’t difficult enough, it is even more difficult to get along with people.’
You are tired of staring into your computer screen thinking thoughts like this and much more.
Every single day at work seems to be a challenge, and you don’t know anymore what to do about your strained relationship.
The pressure seems to be too much, you have lost track of how to keep up.
I will tell you what… all this can change and even transform.
With Yoga.
Yoga is a complete life system that touches every aspect of your existence, taking it from mundane to ecstatic.
Let me prove to you how yoga makes life effortless.
#1. You stop comparing yourself with others
Most people come into Yoga through Asanas.
Asanas are one of the eight limbs of Yoga, third to be exact, and there are many subtler aspects to Yoga.
However, even if you only start with Asanas with a good teacher, you know the first requirement is to accept your body as it is.
A person striking the most seemingly impossible pose and a person who is still trying to get into a shoulder stand are all the same in Yoga. All are just stages.
Acknowledge where you stand, respect your limits, and then try to improve each day.
Everything around you, including you, is evolving. Celebrate your evolution. Accept, respect, and love who you are, as you are.
The same principle applies when you move into deeper practices and aspects of Yoga. Acceptance of yourself in love will take you everywhere.
Stop comparing your life with others, stop judging your life with the measure given by others.
Embrace it with all your heart, because it is yours, and live it every day 100%. Don’t be hard on yourself, enjoy yourself.
#2. It transforms your body from a liability to an asset
Have you ever felt that your feet are killing you? That every step that you take needs some effort.
You are the first to catch common allergies when the seasons change and your lower back frequently gives you an out-of-body experience.
Physical activity in today’s automated world has become a choice, it is no longer a necessity. And let’s not deny, our species likes to be comfortable.
Why stand if you can sit, eh…
Sitting is the new smoking and it is killing more people every day, only it is a slow death.
People working in multi-story air-conditioned offices all day, and sometimes overnight, suffer from multiple deficiencies and have compromised immune systems.
A regular dose of early morning Yogasanas and Pranayam (breathing exercises) can save you from this slow death. Keep a steady sleeping and waking-up schedule with this and see your growth.
You will not just become healthy, but with steady practice, you will soon transform into a person with a fit physical body and a calm mind.
Once you take out the burden of lethargy from life, everything else becomes easy.
#3. It gives you a clear view of life and its dynamic
One of the most life-altering sciences within Yoga is that of the Chakras.
The mystic whirls of energy shown in ancient scriptures, depicted in different colors – the ultimate VIBGYOR.
Every time you see them, they enchant you – the cryptic symbols and sounds of each of them.
What are these Chakras, and what is their significance in our lives?
Most simply put, Chakras are our ‘planes of existence’.
What we give the most importance to in life, what we are most ignorant of. Which are the strongest personality traits in us and what are the weakest? All this and much more is decided by our chakras.
Your life will never be the same, once you have an understanding of the chakras.
This world will no longer be an enigma for you.
You will understand yourself better, as well as others. You will understand why you and your soul sister can have such a stark opposite take on the same things. People won’t threaten you anymore, because they won’t be a riddle.
Neither will your own nature surprise you, as you will see the play of energy in it. With the knowledge of the Chakras, you will have tools to improve your personality, every single aspect of it, day by day.
Your interpersonal skills will shoot to another level because you won’t be in the mode of defending or offending all the time.
The ultimate empowerment, isn’t it?
Drop your armour and the world is your playground.
#4. You transition from living accidentally to living consciously
You existed, once.
Not anymore.
After becoming a student of Yoga, you don’t just exist, not accidentally.
Now you understand yourself, so everything becomes a choice.
THE BIG SHIFT FROM BEING ACCIDENTAL TO CONSCIOUS, IS YOGA.
Dig deep and you will find that all the misery you are living in, is because of an accidental choice. You didn’t really understand yourself, didn’t know what you wanted from life, and got into something. That is what we call accidental choice.
Now that you have a grip on yourself and life, all your choices will become wholesome.
Living accidentally is like firefighting, and by switching to a conscious life, you will stop draining your energy on it.
Buddha said, ‘The Mind is everything, what you think, you become.’
Yoga will make you aware to an extent that you will always consciously choose what you want to put your mind to.
Every decision of yours will be progressive, leading towards a goal. Clarity will become your best friend, of yourself and your goals.
How much we strive, meagrely for clarity in our lives. Yoga makes it possible, through constant practice of the techniques.
#5. It gives you a winner’s mindset
Did you ever think about when did effort become such a tiresome thing?
When you try and try and try, and it becomes the way of your life, without any perceivable result or achievement. That is when effort becomes tiresome.
What if the effort we make gets us encouraging results little by little every day, and even life-altering in the long term? You won’t still hate it, would you?
Yoga makes effort an enjoyable and rewarding thing.
First, you thought you would never be able to stand head down and feet up, but you did it eventually.
For me, the day I was able to bend completely forward in Pashchimottanasana, I knew I had it in me, for anything and everything in my life. I remembered the day I started with my stiff lower back like a piece of wood. If I can do it, anybody can!
In Hatha Yoga, we have a standing variation of a breathing exercise, it’s called Kashth Takshan, literally ‘Chopping the wood’. I used to struggle with it, beyond words. But once in a mental state of frustration, I let myself go beyond my limit, ignoring the pain in anger, I did 500 counts of it.
After that day, I can do as many as I want to, completely enjoying each stroke. I know now impossible is just a block in the mind, and as soon as it is gone, you are free forever.
Yoga has removed a lot of such blocks in me.
Achievement and transformation are a constant thing in Yoga, and they make you a winner for life.
Yoga will give you the courage and confidence to make tough decisions in your life.
Whether it is taking a calculated risk of leaving your cozy job to go after something you have been pondering over for years. Or standing up as a person with a spine in a relationship, Yoga has you covered.
It will give you the power and the humility that should come with it.
Cease the effort to achieve the impossible
Here is what you need to do next to ensure an effortless life.
Enroll in a Yoga program that not just teaches you Asanas but also the subtler aspects of it, like yogic lifestyle, breath work, and concentration techniques.
Amusingly, the key to progress in Yoga, especially in advanced practices is to cease the effort. Let it happen as it happens, with speed and technique, and with time our body and mind adjust.
The more you cease the effort, the better the results.
Get steady in your practice, and see yourself transform day by day.