Yoga is much more than physical exercise; it’s a lifestyle!
It’s a beautiful practice with many amazing benefits such as general physical fitness; a more peaceful and relaxed state of mind; improved focus and it might just makes you more happy!
We call yoga a practice because we are always practicing, there is no final goal, there is no competition or judgments, neither towards others nor ourselves, and it is something that grows along with our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual growth.
One of the beautiful aspects of Yoga is its huge variety of practices and that it is a very personal practice. Nowadays there are so many different yoga styles and teachers that we can take and leave what we want from the practice. We can adapt it to our personal needs and desires and maybe add bits and pieces of Yoga onto it as we progress and evolve in life.
Ommurti tends to believe that if you have tried yoga and didn’t like it; you just haven’t found the right Yoga for you. That’s how much variety is available and that’s how much she believes in the benefits of yoga!
Practicing Yoga is first of all a well-deserved moment of personal care and attention. Taking the time for proper relaxation, letting go of daily activities and stress, becoming more fit and energetic and connecting with yourself.
Yoga will help you become more aware of your body and your mind.
By becoming more aware of your body, you can become more comfortable in your body and more easily recognize signals of dis-ease or stress, helping you to look after your body and your mind by either slowing down, taking rest or exercising. It will also help you eat healthily and according to what your body needs.
By becoming more aware of our minds we can more easily recognize our patterns in our minds that might drag us into negativity. We can choose not to be controlled by the sway of our emotions but stay positive and become balanced. We become stronger and more able to deal with the challenges of life.
More practically physical Yoga is a variety of postures that we practice while focusing on the breath. You can include breathing exercises and meditation in the practice.
In Western Yoga we make a distinction between Hatha Yoga and Flow Yoga. In Hatha Yoga we work on holding the postures for longer with short moments of relaxation in between. In Flow Yoga the movements follow each other continuously. Ommurti teaches Hatha Yoga and generally incorporates a dynamic part to warm up the body and get some cardio activity.
Traditional Yoga is a holistic Indian practice that develops physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. There are different paths of yoga but what we practice mostly in the West nowadays is the path of Raja Yoga.
In Raja Yoga we work on manipulating our Prana or life energy through the body and the breath in order to control the mind and come to a state of inner peace. According to the philosophy of Vedanta (…) the mind is what causes most suffering in human life. The mind and its ego attach itself to thoughts, emotions, objects, people and is influenced by those causing our moods to go up and down, causing us stress and anxiety. These fluctuations of the mind disconnect ourselves from our Soul and make us forget that we are not our thoughts, emotions or even our bodies but that we are the true Self, higher consciousness and pure Divine energy.