Ever since I started having issues with my body, I began doing yoga. Yoga, because it’s a calming and restorative practice that is combined with a particular philosophy that teaches you about your body and your mind, and thus, your life. Every single time I step off the mat after my practice, I feel renewed, rejuvenated, and ready to take on so much more than before my practice. This is how I know yoga is a special practice with healing powers. There are few other activities in my life that make me feel the way yoga makes me feel.
Yoga is a practice that is supposed to shed our past trauma from our bodies, so that we can live a healthier and lighter life. It does this by activating the parts of our bodies that have absorbed the various shocks throughout our life and our many experiences, and it creates a safe space for our body to heal.
Yoga is about balance. It is about balancing our lives through our bodies. It is about strengthening every single muscle, tendon, ligament, and cell of our bodies. It is about stretching out all that needs to be released. It is about equalizing every single part of our being, so that we can live optimally, efficiently, and gracefully.
Yoga is an ancient practice. I believe it is a practice that has survived the centuries (maybe even millennia) because it is a practice that serves humanity in a positive way. Physically, but also culturally. It is a practice that has spread from the east to parts all over the globe. It is a medicine that is healing bodies, minds, and souls. When this happens on an individual level to a great enough scale, it happens on a cultural level as well.
I am 23 years old. Yoga came into my life around when I was 17 years old, but I didn’t start practicing it seriously until I was about 21. I must practice yoga. I have very tense hamstrings that affect other parts of my body as well, making me very stiff. Yoga mitigates the symptoms, although not fully. At least not yet. Yoga will remain with me for the rest of my life. It is an indispensable activity in my life, an activity that brings me all of the good, healthy, invigorating things I have mentioned above. It makes my body feel good, and when my body feels good, I feel good. My personality feels good. My outlook feels good. My relationships feel good. It bleeds into every single part of your life when you’re least expecting it. If you pay close enough attention, you will notice crevices into which yoga seeps. How the simple act of paying attention to your body and taking care of it can increase your quality of life manyfold.
Today, I am grateful for yoga. I am also grateful for all of those who have come before me that have dedicated their precise attention to the body and have passed along a practice that is improving the lives of many globally today. I am therefore grateful to all of my teachers, who have inspired me and passed along their wisdom to me and to the rest of the world.
