Question by Alisha Shah, UK

I have been practising yoga for 3 years but peace of mind still evades me. Why?

A humble answer from your #soulfulfriend

Many of us think of yoga as controlling the breath and being able to hold various physical postures.  We begin the practice of yoga for various reasons such as flexibility, exercise or relaxation.  Yoga is all of the above and beyond.

Yoga is an extremely ancient practice and in its true essence Yoga is, “skill in action”.  It is the very basis of our entire life journey.  There is no religious symbolism involved in yoga, it is totally secular.  It invites us to practice breathing and postures with complete mindfulness of the task in hand. This practice eventually leads us to getting to know Our-Self better, influencing our life choices and hence enhancing our destiny.

Jnana Yoga – Spiritual knowledge leads us towards trying to find the truth about who we are, where we come from and why we are here.  It takes us forward towards an understanding of the purpose of life.

Karma Yoga – Selfless service is encouraged as a path to Self-Realisation.  Karma Yoga encourages us to perform all actions whether in personal or work life, without expecting any selfish gains.  I often thought that earning a living is exempt from the theory of selfless service.  In time I have come to realise that selfless service can be offered beyond our gain of financial reward.  In practical terms Karma yoga suggests that we should strive to calmly and gracefully accept the outcome (desirable or undesirable) of all our efforts.

Bhakti Yoga –  is a loving devotion towards a personal deity.  This is a very popular path for those seeking spirituality.  Bhakti yoga helps the aspirants to focus on the energy of a particular God who is always with them, guiding them and offering them salvation.

Raja Yoga – Meditation is achieved by learning to make the mind still.  Our mind is restless, it likes to think, performing its intrinsic function.  Meditation helps us to control our thoughts and eventually leads us to spend a few minutes in a state of complete stillness.

Yoga is a practice we need to integrate in everything we do from the moment we wake up to the moment we sleep.  To begin with it simply helps to ground us, eventually it opens up our individual path to finding deep and pure peace in all we do.  Let’s face it, who doesn’t want peace in their life – right?  All four practices of yoga lead to Self-Realisation which begins to bring into our lives the peace we so desperately desire.

Yoga is, “skill in action”.  Yoga is an active physical, mental, emotional and spiritual practice taking us towards finding our deepest, purest Self.

Yoga is a panacea for the restless mind.

Sending you a bundle full of love and healing energy always.  Hope this helps. Stay in touch.

Namaste Dost

Kavita Pal