In yoga, the mind is disciplined through meditation and the body is aligned and strengthened.
–Sonal Sharma, Ashtanga Yoga practitioner.
yogena cittasya padena vācāṁ ।
malaṁ śarīrasya ca vaidyakena ॥
yo’pākarottamaṁ pravaraṁ munīnāṁ ।
patañjaliṁ prāñjalirānato’smi ॥
Let us bow before the noblest of sages Patanjali,
Who gave yoga for serenity and sanctity of mind,
Grammar for clarity and purity of speech and medicine for perfection of health.
Let us prostrate before sage Patanjali.
Yoga Sanskrit: योग, ’yoke’ or ‘union’ pronounced is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciousness untouched by the mind (Chitta) and mundane suffering (Duḥkha). There is a wide variety of schools of yoga, practices, and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and traditional and modern yoga is practiced worldwide. Yoga is a way to learn and understand spiritual India. Also, yoga is associated with the culture and heritage of India.
“In Sanskrit, yoga means ‘to unite’ and describes a way to live a healthy life. In yoga, the mind is disciplined through meditation and the body is aligned and strengthened. As per yoga, it is actually the nervous system of the body that affects our health. The nervous system gets purified with daily yoga and thus keeps our body healthy and strong. The origin of yoga is considered to be as old as human civilization”, says Sonal Sharma, Ashtanga Yoga practitioner.
Sonal started with Iyengar yoga in 2015 to support her brother in order to heal his sinus issues. In 2018 they took a trial class of ashtanga yoga and immediately fell in love with the practice. Their guru is Shri R Sharath Jois. The daily routine that Sonal follows is incredible and she gives all the credit to “Yoga”. She wakes up at 4am, clean her system, takes a bath and steps on the mat without drinking or eating anything. She and her brother practice and then teach online. They usually teach twice or thrice a day.
Her Diet plan, “When it comes to her diet, at 11am is when she takes her breakfast which is lots of seasonal fruits. Her favorite is watermelon. She likes to eat a single kind of fruit as much as she wants till she feels full. At 1 she usually takes some creamy fruit like papaya or chikoo or banana or custard apple, etc. At 4.30pm is her first and last cooked meal which consists of vegetables, millets and a lot of salads. At 6pm she ends her day with coconut water. She goes to bed around 8pm”.
Yoga is like meditation to her. She has given her life to Ashtanga Yoga! She recalls that her senior Guruji, Sri K pattabhi jois once mentioned that, anyone who can breathe can practice ashtanga yoga, only lazy people can’t practice ashtanga. There is no age bar but usually kids above the age of 12 can start as this practice requires discipline.
Her life has changed for the better since she started practicing Yoga! The first change that it brought was that she and her brother both became morning people which now they truly cherish. Yoga has brought a lot of discipline and focus into her life. Her daily asana practice led her towards learning chanting mantras and curiosity towards the ancient philosophy which led her towards spirituality. It also changed her diet as whatever she ate reflected in her practice the next day and that observation made her disciplined towards eating healthy. The biggest change so far she can observe is being aware of her actions in different situations and being calm to persevere her energy for next day’s practice. 6. Atha yoga-anushasanam and yogash chitta vritti nirodhah, for her, means that yoga is building discipline into our life and this discipline helps us to fight against any fluctuations of our mind. Well, the journey of Yoga requires patience and daily efforts of spending time with yourself. Once you can do that then the journey becomes blissful.
