When I went to my first yoga class in London 15 years ago, I didn't get it. I thought, “what is the point of these slow movements?!” I 'd rather go for a run, rock climb or skydive. I was in pain in my heart, disconnected and separated and I wasn't aware of it being an issue or something I could let go. The high thrills gave me an escape from it. Eventually, I felt at a dead end with all the society entertainments and started asking deep questions about my purpose and what really makes me happy. That is when I came across Jnana yoga.
In Jnana yoga (yoga of wisdom and knowledge) the mind is used to inquire into its own nature and to transcend the mind's identification with its thoughts and ego. Practicing Jnana yoga has been such a profound and transformational journey and I felt at “home” for the first time. I was gifted with the opportunity to study Indian ancient scripture of self-knowledge. The vision I have received of the Self and the nature of who I am has been an immense source of strengths and of being grounded during the roughest storms of my life.
A year later, I used daily yoga therapy to recover from a couple of injuries, and I found the link between Jnana yoga and yoga asana (the physical postures). That was a great revelation because I started to see and use my body like the Hindu temples in the ashram where I prayed and surrendered.
It is in the vision of Unity, the vision of non-duality in my Vedanta studies that I make a lot of sense of this world and my place in it. Every time I connect with that vision I find that there is more to me than that wounded limited human. I see us all connected and my journey since that vision is and has been a journey of allowing myself to see and live that reality within this time-space limitations we are in.
This journey has been humble, has been a healing journey through recognizing and releasing and of many illusions and projections, patterns of pain and separation. Yoga has been my daily tool in bypassing the limitation of the mind in connecting with and awaken my body. My massages have been my prayer and offering to the Divine.
Comments