Dec 03 2011
Authentic Yoga Tradition for sports: discover within and excel
By Acharya Girish Jha
www.authenticyogatradition.com
The word “yoga” is the most misunderstood word in the world today. I am fortunate to have my formal education in physiology, psychology, and chemistry along with informal, master disciple learning of yoga under the feet of great masters in Himalayas and in other parts of India. While staying in America, I encounter everyday people saying “yoga is physical and meditation is mental” as if yoga and meditation are different and separate from each other. It is something if people say me “oh I see your body and mind are separate”. Yoga is 6000 years old, the tradition continued with over 3000 masters and 1000 texts. Glimpse of history of yoga shows a fascinating story, how knowledge and practices of yoga evolved over thousands of years.
I am a humble student of yoga over 33 years now. I have not found a single definition and text of yoga, where, yoga had been defined as physical practice of postures or breathing practices. reading and understanding literatures of yoga and understanding the traditions makes very clear that yoga is basically a science of consciousness of which physical practice may or may not be part of the practitioner routine or daily practice. The history, facts and teachings of great masters reveals one fundamental truth that all master declare that –“there is a state of consciousness beyond matter, body, life and mind who rules all them. That this consciousness is known as self. That self is of the nature of truth, peace, happiness, love and pure awareness. That this self is one and the same that dwells within, in every being on the earth. That discovery of the self is aim of yoga. That discovery of the self brings an end to all sufferings of life. That this self-discovery allows the body, life and mind to move in a direction of our intense aspiration and manifests creatively to realize that aspiration or desire in life.”
The above facts prove that yoga is a consciousness based science and art of knowing oneself or discovering oneself. Any person can discover this self with regular practice. It is the understanding of the practice and aspiration to move into higher planes of the consciousness that can help even sports persons in raising their stamina, strength, endurance and skills that is required. I am not undermining the role of physical practices in yoga but helping to assert the importance of physical yoga if it is guided by the consciousness. That is what master’s talk about physical consciousness. There is pure physicality in the body and there is physical consciousness. science of sports always consider the physicality of the body while authentic yoga explores and moves into physical consciousness to improve the functioning’s and raise the skills required in a sport person.
With every increasing awareness of alternative systems of medicine, energy healing – the world is moving towards realizing what yoga declared thousands of years ago that consciousness is the ultimate reality of the universe. This consciousness extends itself and becomes mind, life, body and matter. When we explore the consciousness behind the veils of the mind, life, body and the matter; body and mind lives up to its optimum level of functioning’s where skills, creativity, strength , stamina , endurance works naturally brings excellence in life.
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