How you behave on the mat reflects on how you behave in life (Extension of my Insights into Relationships)
With yoga studios popping up everywhere and becoming a yoga teacher is as easy as putting in just a 200hr course amount of effort, the essence and objective of doing yoga has become more and more clouded.
Social media has provided a platform for people to display their ‘advanced yoga poses’ to be deemed a yogi. The objective of the practice of yoga has been skipped and targeted directly to just simply getting into the shape of the yoga poses. The process of getting there is instead neglected and chucked away as unimportant. Yet that is the very essence of yoga. The process. The journey.
In my opinion, the practice of yoga is to come face to face with who we are as a person and then work on ourselves to transform old habitual behaviours, patterns, movements, mind constructs that no longer serve us good. The yoga mat is the space and time that we have allowed for us to work on ourselves, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Because how you behave on the mat reflects on how you behave in life. If we choose to skip the process and just thrash and force our way to contort our body to fit into the final instagrammable yoga pose, then that is how we will behave in life. Missing out on the journey of getting to where we want to be, as though we are clear of what we actually want at the end of the day.
As a matter of fact, there is no such thing as a final goal. The journey is the objective. The journey is life. So have you been missing out on life in the delusion of a destination that exists only in your mind?
Because so many people nowadays are focused only on the final result, giving little attention to the process, it gave me an insight into how this individual socio-behavior has impacted relationships with others.
I’ve always wondered why the divorce rate is so high nowadays and am always very saddened to hear stories of breakups or anything along this line. Could it be that because we are too focused on chasing for that status of marriage and went ahead signing the papers because everyone else is doing it, without giving a thought to the process of building up real connections with our partners? And when we finally found out the disparity and mismatch in expectations, we are intimidated by the amount of work and effort that needs to process through this journey as a couple that most people then choose to go separate ways as an easier way out?
Its human nature that people are lazy and like to take shortcuts and find the path of least resistance. But do we not see now what issues we bring in life to ourselves with this kind of nature? Not just issues, its more of pain and emotional sufferings that entail.
Yoga is not easy. Because its not simply about getting into the pose. Its about facing and working against our very innate human nature that brings us more trouble than good. Hence real Yoga is tough. Because it brings you out of your comfort zone so that a better version of you can mature, with each and every single practice.
Further reading:
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Why Everything Cold is Discouraged during Menstruation
Men’s Health: Low libido equals low testosterone?