On International Yoga Day, Yogalife talks to Swami Atmanandji from Art of Living, Bangalore- India who is in Dubai to host the International Yoga Day on 21st June 2017,, to understand yoga and its unexplored mysteries which can benefit you in everyday life.
Is yoga a means to combat stress/tension/frustration in the modern times? Or is there more to it?
Yoga works on all elements of our existence. It harmonizes and brings to fruition a healthy body, quiver free breath, a thought free mind, inhibition free intellect, trauma free memory, and a blissful soul. Yoga is all about being your natural and spontaneous self and this brings a transformation from tension to contentment, not just at an individual level but at the level of society as well. Stress and tension are a result of low life force energy. Yoga raises our prana or life force energy and all these problems disappear without much effort.
Do you think the younger generation is open to adhering to spiritual traditions in a holistic manner?
Yes, it certainly is. Spiritual traditions are not just about rituals, they go much deeper than that.
Our brain has two hemispheres, left and right; left is connected to logic whereas right is linked to emotions.
The youth of today are inclined towards logical and scientific explanations and they want profound experiences and understanding as well. We are not taught of ways to bring confidence and clarity in our minds. Stanford university says that 82% of soft skills are an absolute necessity and the domain knowledge contributes only 12% towards the success of any endeavor. Spirituality is what fills us with all the confidence needed for today’s life.
With everyone touting yoga, most people look at yoga from the asana point of view or as a way to spiritual bliss or even as an exercise? How to get them to understand it from a holistic perspective?
“Yogah Karmasu Kaushalam” – Excellence in action is Yoga. It is not just a physical exercise, it combines various dimensions of life; your relationships, work, studies, and your overall attitude turns positive towards life in general with the regular practice of yoga. Yoga means uniting with your own center. There are eight limbs to yoga and asanas is one of them. Most people think yoga is just a set of body postures but there is a lot more to it. Pranayama and meditation are also limbs of yoga and they bring harmony to deeper levels of existence beyond the physical.
What is the concept of Art of living yoga? How can it help transform people’s lives?
H H Sri Sri Ravishankar ji is the founder of The Art of Living, and his vision is to create a disease-free body, stress free mind and a violence free society.
Millions of people have benefited in 155 countries across the globe through Art of Living techniques; Sudarshan Kriya, a simple yet profound rhythmic breathing practice has brought such a positive change in people’s lives. Grey matter increases by these practices and improves quality of life.
Is it not all about ‘Minding the Mind’?
It’s not minding the mind but going beyond and witnessing the mind.
What would you want people to know about yoga?
The nature of the world is conflict and nature of the self is peace. The mind gets agitated from the outer ups and downs. How can we save our minds and remain happy and calm in our day-to-day lives is what Yoga teaches us.
How is International Yoga Day benefiting the world?
Yoga is about uniting, synthesizing, harmonizing. The International Yoga Day will help create more awareness on keeping the body and mind healthy all over the world. Yoga is not just limited to one religion or one country; it is knowledge for all of humanity. The International Yoga Day will help make this accessible to people across the world and will also remove the misconceptions and prejudices about yoga. As Good food is enjoyed by all irrespective of where it originated from or a soothing piece of music transcends all barriers to enthrall listeners, Yoga originated in India but the benefits are for the whole humanity. The benefits of Yoga are scientifically proven and the PM of India took it up to the UN and got resounding support from 188 countries for an International Yoga Day to be celebrated on 21st June.
How technical is yoga? Can everyone become experts at it?
Of course! Anyone above 8 years of age, can practice Yoga. Yoga is not to go to extremes, rather it is to harmonize body, breath and mind.
In fact, every child is a yogi, if you notice carefully, the child performs all the postures till the age of 3 and remains happy and enthusiastic all the time.
Is it possible to lose weight with yoga? How? Can you give 10 tips for a healthy lifestyle?
Yes; Yoga certainly makes you lighter and not just lose weight but takes the baggage off the mind as well.
Yoga and Ayurveda help make a healthy and fit body.
a- By balancing your food, actions, and rest.
b- Music should be a part of life
c- Meditate daily,
d- Help without expectation,
e- Take time out to walk alone,
f- See your life in the context of time and place,
g- Ask yourself who you really are,
h- Have faith on the divinity,
i- Smile even if artificial,
j- Be grateful for what you have,
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Viki Shah speaks to Swami Atmanandji – Art of Living, Bangalore.
Swami Atmanand is a dedicated AOL teacher devoted to Guruji Sri Sri Ravishanker. He is one of the several AOL teachers through whom Guruji reaches out to his devotees and spreads his message of love and desire for creating a stress-free world