The Breath; A Discovery Of Who You Really Are.
by Azmi Samdjaga in Mind+Body+Spirit | No Comments Yet | Add your comment

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In all the years of immersing myself in yoga, I have heard countless explanations and descriptions of what yoga really means. And of all the wonderful, agreeable things that have been mentioned, the title above sums up the rest.

The beautiful part of practicing yoga is its journey. Not that we have a specific destination, but it is that continuum of joyful feelings we experience throughout that infinite journey. So if we keep finding these blissful experiences, will we want to stop?

And there we have it. The journey on our mat, presented in our practice, right there before our eyes. If it is too realistic to analyze it outside, do it in your practice, make certain changes if you need, consult your teachers on how to apply it in your everyday life and enjoy the shift of energy you experience in doing so. I bet that once you have found that satisfying feeling in your practice, you will eventually grasp the meaning of life and truly enjoy the elixir of happiness.

Yoga teaches us how to stay calm in a challenging situation. When we bring ourselves to be present on our mat, we also bring our life situation on board.

The moment we start to breathe in preparation for our practice, that is the very moment the journey starts analyzing those situations. Then when we start moving into the postures with our breath and meet the challenges and demands of the practice, a story unravels.

From basic postures, the practice develops into a complex and advance one. When the going gets tough, the tough keep going. Then it gets tougher and tougher and the breath starts getting shorter and we hyperventilate in reaction to the postures. If we allow this to continue, we will never get away with the next one. But, if we were to simply allow ourselves to stop for a moment to catch our breath, find that sense of calmness to arrive at the comfort of our breath, we will find that hey, it is actually easier to get through. The body starts to feel lighter, the mind starts to calm down and before we know it, the practice is completed and we got through it unscathed.

Postures or Asanas may represent the throes of life, its predicaments or the hurdles we need to overcome.

Various situations in life may manifest in different forms of postures. Tightness, stiffness and pain represent the negative that affects our lives. The instructions and techniques given to you in class are the solutions to all these negativities. Now lets begin to reflect that in life and work on finding small amounts of time to find solace before you face your next challenge. Perhaps you may find how indistinguishable Yoga is to everyday life.

There are many aspects in yoga other than its postures that symbolize us, our challenges, our characters and who we are. Now lets examine the asana practice. For instance, people who lack focus and balance in their life are often those who struggle to come to a balancing pose, and those who are highly stressed with work may experience stiffness around the neck, shoulders, spinal and hip areas. A stepping-stone to overcome these issues is to start adapting to proper breathing techniques, which is often taught in class!

The breath is the most powerful force that we are equipped with to help us live and in yoga, it is ALL about the breath. As the utmost important thing in life, the breath is the essence of Yoga practice. To put it simply, life will NOT exist without the breath and without adapting to proper breathing technique; our Yoga practice would be a dreadful one. And as simple as that sounds, it is just as simple as using it (the breath) to start finding solutions to many of our problems. The point here is to use what we have, to overcome what we are going through.

Many of us go through life not knowing what to do when we come face to face with a wall. We end up letting people control our lives because we feel weak, slothful and unable to defend ourselves. In actuality, we just don’t realize the strength and capability we’ve got and what we’re worth. En efacto, all we missed to do is to try and find that stillness to look inside, find ourselves and seek the solutions, because more often than not, they are IN us.

Instead of reacting irrationally to our problems, for a change, look over it and mentally ask the problem what it can teach you. We can perform this simply by checking with our breath, take a deep insightful one, and let it all go with a long exhalation and the intention of getting on top of our challenges. Then going through problems become a learning process.

For all its worth, the power to overcome our obstacles in life is in us. It always has been. Fortunately we have a way of invoking it through yoga practice. Slowly through proper guidance in class, we begin to decipher our characters and our abilities through our reactions to each posture. Only then will we be able to understand life from a better perspective knowing who we truly are, what we are here for and the reasons for our existence.

In a nutshell, having snags and pitfalls are part of the job description when we sign up to life. We cannot avoid them but we can learn how to deal with the stress that is brought upon it. Many of us fail because we are not in touch with our inner prowess. As luck would have it, yoga helps with that. What we bring with us in our classes is our life, and what we get out of the classes are the lessons we equipped ourselves with to live it.

Breathe well, live well and get connected with who you truly are. May you have a good practice and lead a good life.

~~~ About the contributor ~~~

If passion is what keeps a person alive, then Yoga is his life. Azmi Samdjaga has been one of the strong and well sought after teacher in the Yoga industry having taught in countries like Indonesia, Singapore and Japan. With over a decade of experience and studying under yoga legends such as the late Sri Pattabhi Jois, Matthew Sweeney, Lance Schuler and Louisa Sears, Azmi has converged his expertise that he acquired and brought it to the heart of his practice. An Ashtangi by training and a background in dance and massage, Azmi often shares the grace of his practice in the classes he teaches.

Groomed to be an Architect in school, Azmi changed his course of life and found his calling in teaching after he experienced a great shift in his life during his training in India. He is known for bringing his passion in his classes, creating a close bond with his students which, have built a yoga following that, has grown in numbers throughout the years. Up till today he has students who have been practicing with him since the day he started teaching. The greatest thing that he loves about Yoga is that it has helped him through difficult times in his life. He believes that yoga only works best when you apply it to your life.

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