WHAT YOGA MEANS TO ME

Satchidananda

(Sanskrit: सच्चिदानन्द)

Ever since I started to get more involved with yoga and especially since I started my yoga teacher training, people keep asking me questions like: “What does your personal practice look like? How often do you do yoga? Do you really do it every single day?”

The answer is: yes, at times I practiced yoga every single day. Sometimes more intense sessions/more regularly or longer sessions, sometimes my practice was a little less intense.

However, over time I realised one thing. At the beginning “yoga practice” to me meant just doing asanas, pranayama or meditation. Later on, journaling and dancing became a part of it. Today I know that yoga is so much more than doing asanas every day.

Of course, there is a value to doing it, there’s no doubt about it. Asanas support our body’s energy flow, promote well-being and strengthen the immune system. They work like a mirror, reflecting what problems we’re carrying around with us.

It was this insight that changed my perception of yoga. Since then, it has been my compass. In his book “Würde” (dignity), German neurobiologist Gerald Hüther puts forward the theory that we are all born with a “dignity compass”. Yoga and the Laws of Karma are exactly that for me. It is our connection with our intuition which can guide us in difficult times and help us make decisions that feel right and serve us well in the long run. Even if it takes the head a while to understand these decisions.

This is why today I can truly say that I practice yoga every day. Sometimes that means doing Contact Improvisation, sometimes I sing mantras, sometimes I meditate, other times I draw tarot cards or write down my thoughts.

I do, however, train my awareness every single day. I like to question myself and my behaviour to understand myself better. Every day I learn how to become more sensitive, to ask myself questions like: What do I need? What will make me feel good right now? I continue to learn and understand more about what triggers me. Moreover, I like to deepen my knowledge on verbal and non-verbal communication and how this affects our bodies. I have learned to appreciate my ability to hold space for myself. Even before I knew what the phrase “holding space” meant in the first place. I have also done a lot of reading about the human hormonal and nervous systems.

I like to stay up to date on social and socio-political issues to inform my compass of values or dignity, so that I can form a personal opinion with my head and heart. My thirst for knowledge and curiosity helps me to think outside the box and understand karmic correlations. Even early on I was fascinated by the connection between satya (truthfulness) and ahimsa (nonviolence) for example. Tantric philosophy has also had a huge impact on me. It taught me that everything is one, everything encompasses everything and everything is connected. This philosophy has touched and changed my entire way of thinking and feeling on a deeper level.