Today ‘yoga’ is taken to mean a set of stretches and postures intended to provide toning for the body’s muscles in general and flexibility for the spine in particular. People often come to me because their doctor suggested yoga as a gentle form of exercise or because their doctor recommend meditation to relieve anxiety, anger or stress. Yoga is much more than just the physical and mental aspects of the human being. Yoga is an ancient Indian art carefully crafted to maintain the well-being of our body, mind and soul for we are spiritual beings in a physical body.
‘Yoga’ means ‘union’ – union of the body mind and soul. Every asana (posture) necessitating a specific stretch, with the accompanying deep breaths involves a single-minded focus, thus making each asana a minor act of meditation. With each stretch comes the unblocking of any stuck energy in the ‘chakras’ (meaning ‘wheels’ which are actually triangular vortexes of energy seen as circles when spinning). Chakras are the power houses or energy centers of our spiritual bodies, spiritually connecting our physical body to Source (the Omnipotent Light/Energy) and physically connecting to a specific endocrine gland depending on its location. Overactive or underactive chakras, i.e., unbalanced chakras are believed to cause illnesses pertaining to the endocrine glands they are believed to govern. Spiritualists know this. People getting familiar with this belief system will still find the physical and mental effects of yoga on their health quite convincing.
We are what we think, said the Buddha. The effects of meditation on our mind/thoughts, which in turn affect our physical health are numerous. While meditation does not necessarily have to be a sit-still experience where we do nothing but have a single point of focus on an image, a mantra, our breath or silence, mindfully choosing to focus on an intention does have its benefits. Meditation with intentions can not only keep stress at bay, but also bring about peace and unconditional love which are sure to promote physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing. We can do specific meditations to mindfully achieve different effects. [Please see the different types of meditation offered under Services.]
