Why do you do yoga?

It seems that Yoga is now popular and that everyone knows what yoga is; but really it has lost the essence - at least what we see in the “West” advertised as yoga, because it looks only at the preparation for the complete yoga - it only looks at the body and gets stuck there and overemphasises the body. The body that is continually changing, we get told can stay fixed in a “young” state, and it can get smoother, more flexible and more beautiful as it develops more muscles, less fat; then come certain diets that are supposed to be good for you, and thus it becomes a whole movement that is just another mind-trip and hasn’t led anyone to inner freedom but to more bondage to the body and the material world that is nothing permanent anyway. Excuse me if this sounds a bit too harsh for you, but I had to say it as it is true from what I have observed.

So why did you start going to your first yoga class? Take a moment and try to remember what was happening in your life and what made you join a yoga class and not go to the gym or any fitness class or team sports club. All these places have a place in people’s lives, yet what brings people to yoga in its true original sense (the word Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word “Yog” which translates to union - is usually something else.
There is a moment when you know it’s not time to change your diet or get the body fitter, join a new club, just try out something new to have fun, but it’s time to look within, or it’s time to connect with your own centre and not run from one obligation to the next feeling as though you loose yourself on the way.

Maybe it is time to unplug & reboot, you just don’t know how. Sometimes a mini weekend retreat is all you might need to get the ball rolling in the new direction you want to move to. A weekend where you minimise or pause the use of your mobile phone (no tablet or computer), where you can exhale deeply, practice deep relaxation and then learn how to reinvigorate the body again and centre the mind. While practising relaxation, breathing and asanas (yoga postures), you will step into being the outside observer and will become aware of some patterns and the yoga journey starts.