In the West, we usually think of yoga as a sort of gentle gymnastics or for contortionists; in reality, as we will discover, it is much more. “Yoga” is a Sanskrit word used in various spiritual traditions of India with a great variety of meanings, all having in common the general sense that can be extrapolated from its etymology: the root yuj-, a verb whose meaning is “to unite,” “to bind,” and “to yoke.” The word initially appears in the ancient texts of Vedic culture with reference to the control of the senses and the mind. In the subsequent metaphysics of the various forms of yoga developed over time, it took on the meaning of reunion with the absolute reality .
How does yoga work?
The basic principle on which his many practices are organized is that of the harmonization between body, breath, and mind. Given this, we may use every action in our lives as a chance to practice yoga. We start from the mat, and little by little, we learn to bring its teachings into everyday life. Yoga teaches us to live non-reactively (read impulsively, under the reactive push of the emotions of the moment, for example), to keep ourselves calm and centered, in some case music help too.
We will thus obtain the double result of implementing a more effective action in relation to the circumstances and at the same time reducing the tensions that inevitably tend to accumulate in the body and mind, stress; figuratively, it teaches one to remain in one’s center during the various internal and external storms through which we find ourselves navigating throughout our lives.
Yoga blocks the fluctuations of the mind
The one reported is the famous second sutra, of Patanjali’s Yogasutras, the oldest text where Yoga is spoken of after the reference to the Vedas mentioned at the beginning. Dated imprecisely in the first centuries around the year zero of the Christian era, the text introduces the cornerstones of the path of Raja Yoga, or the “Yoga of the Mind,” which subsequently emerged as one of yoga’s most significant philosophical and practical tenets.
In this text, the mind is described as a perpetual vibration. Imagine an agitated liquid surface. The task of yoga is to slow down and finally stop these fluctuations. Make the mind calm and clear. A benefit that is independent of the metaphysical implications of its implications and therefore of one’s religious or philosophical beliefs. In this sense, it is defined, with a little tolerance, as a real practical “science”: the science of calming the mind.
Having briefly clarified its origin, yoga today can be understood in its classic meaning of a precise dogmatic and sometimes sectarian path, or, as is perhaps a little questionably fashionable today, a true and own sporting activity aimed at improving one’s psycho-physical performance; or again, closer to the original understanding but open to all those who seek to improve the quality of their being in the world, as an exceptional path of development of awareness, to open and reshape the mind. To find greater clarity and serenity in facing the challenges and hardships of existence. In this sense, the body becomes an instrument, not the purpose.
Conclusion
Yoga is a path whose essential principles are independent of time and culture of reference, literally changing one’s experience and outlook on the world.
