Yoga – A Natural Human Urge
Humanity is in crisis. The information overload, fast paced technological and mechanical progress is taking a toll on us without our realizing it. How? This ‘progress’ is forcing us to become constantly “externalized” & “stimulated”, resulting in a host of problems.
The human organism - for its self stability & longevity - needs a balance between the external & internal. The understanding & management of the internal – the mental conditionings, conflicts & neuroses – is essential, not only to manage the external challenges, but also to remain healthy, fit & “sane”.
As the environment is forcing us to become more externalized, we are feeling the need (even without consciously realizing it) to take charge of ourselves, more than ever before.
This need to take charge of our lives – both physically as well as mentally – is increasingly drawing more and more people towards Yoga, a science that helps us do so.
Yoga helps us bring back the control of our lives into our own hands by restoring the harmony between the internal & the external.
THIS is the real reason for the growing popularity of Yoga - the subconscious yet universal human need to be in control of itself!
Yoga helps achieve this magnificently!
The Need & Role of Yoga Teachers
This increasing worldwide trend towards Yoga is resulting in the need for more Yoga teachers than ever before.
Yoga teachers understand this mind-body connection better than most others. This understanding helps them create suitable routines & classes where the participant ends up feeling ‘fulfilled’, not simply physically fit.
The true yoga teacher recognizes that even the lack of fitness, physical weakness and disease - is due to the imbalance in the higher sheaths –the mental & spiritual planes – of the organism. That is how a yoga teacher approaches even a basic fitness regimen.
So, while the yoga class may involve just physical postures (asanas) for achieving physical fitness, other aspects, such as breath coordination and appropriate focus points during the Asanas, help bring these higher planes (the mental) in harmony with the physical structure, creating an exponentially beneficial effect physically.
This is something only a Yoga teacher can understand and something that Yoga teachers seeking to make a positive difference must always need to keep in mind.
Yoga teachers should always seek to achieve greater harmony within the individual. A single ‘harmonious’ person can make a big difference to this chaotic world!
