5 MINUTES YOGA & 1 MINUTE MEDITATION

My Yoga Asanas/Meditation

Renowned Yoga Guru BKS Iyengar once said that youth needs more of Yoga today!' But youth is not giving credence to it. It is often  considered as a spiritual practice.  It is time to come out from that orthodox  notion.

Yoga is simply not a physical exercise. It has a lot more. Though, myself read about Yoga and even Patanjali Yoga Sutras  with commentary on it by Swami Vivekananda in his famous book 'Raja Yoga, little I did to put into practice in my adult life. 

But, two years back, my sedentary lifestyle had taken its toll and my spine and leg joints became feeble and I find it difficult to climb even to staircase to reach my third floor home. That bitter experience turned me towards yoga when   I accidentally saw a Youtube video which is an interview of Yoga Guru BKS Iyengar with NDTV Chief  Dr. Pranoy Roy.

That video brought revolutionary change in me. Sh Iyengar, who was 90 then - April, 2008 looked like a fountain of energy and the way talked to Dr. Roy ignited me to start yoga practice to maintain my fitness levels even in advanced years like Shri Iyengar. Then, I slowly started doing some yoga asanas after my morning cup of coffee, that too only for five 5 minutes. Since then, I could not remember when I got backache last time which was so frequent before that. 

For a man of my age (44 years) those 5 minutes in the morning are so crucial and if I skip that I feel drowsy that day. My 5 minutes yoga include 2 minutes vajraasan and 3 minutes halaasan. 

After completion of 5 minutes yoga, I do 1-minute meditation. In fact meditation is your natural rhythm. You should not force your mind to do meditation and that backfires. When you do it with an effort, it can't be called 'Meditation'. Jiddu Krishna Murti, the eminent Indian philosopher advises that watch your mind as if it is a lizard on the wall. This makes your meditation qualitative. 

Yoga and Meditation brought cheers to my daily life. My energy levels drastically improved over a period and I could feel the difference. Now I am not suffering from any health related problems, even cough or cold and I attribute all this to my daily   practice of yoga & meditation. 

It is the time for youth, to start practising yoga, at least 5 minutes like me which after some years become part of your routine. Doing regular yoga and meditation  has immense health benefits. Tomes were written by experts on the subject. 

The importance of yoga has already been recognized by United Nations which declared 21st June as the International Day of Yoga. The Yoga has it's roots in India which is a 5,000 year-old physical, mental and spiritual practice. It has tremendous physical and mental benefits. 

Further the practice of yoga has no religious connotations. It is purely a technique of ancient India with a mountain of health benefits leading to sound body and mind !