Is Yoga the solution?

Hatha Yoga is a method that will achieve the maximum results by the minimum expenditure of energy.

Theos Bernard

Everybody seems to feel that yoga is the solution, but what, exactly is the problem? What is it that makes life so hard? The things over which we feel anguish can actually be summed up pretty quickly. There is the loss of those we love, regret about the past and worry about the future, we feel the pain of ill health, betrayal and disappointment. Then there are the gross injustices - war, famine, disease, oppression and death.

Early in the Yoga Sutras, the problem is defined as the five afflictions, ignorance, pride, desire, aversion, and fear of death. Under the influence of the five afflictions, we are driven away from our true selves and deeper into delusion and despair. To put it simply, we seek answers outside of ourselves when the answers lie within. We look out into the material world and identify ourselves with it. Identified with a material world that is completely beyond our control, we are consumed with fear. This fear is at the root of all our afflictions.

The good news is that Yoga systematically deconstructs this fear and with it the five afflictions. Our true nature is not material but spiritual, and we suffer from mistaken identity. Yoga is a path to our true nature. This truth can be readily tested at the conclusion of any asana practice. The problem is estrangement from self.

Check in with your self at the end of your Yoga practice and see if you have not experienced a miracle of healing. See if you do not feel more at home in your body, more at home in your life, more at home in your spirit. This sense of coming home is real. That is why you feel peace.

Yoga on the Square in Palmerston North offers classes for beginners and general students. Do join us to see if Yoga can help you feel closer to home!