What Yoga Means to Me

More Than Movement

Yoga is not just physical exercise for me. It's a deep spiritual sadhana.

(I don't particularly like using the word "spiritual" — it feels overused. But whenever I do use it, it's simply to convey that this is something beyond the physical. Something even I haven't fully understood yet.)

So, coming back.

Yoga is my way of using the greatest gift I've been given — this human body — to touch a level of peak consciousness. To transcend. To become more than I was yesterday.

The Morning Reset

It is the time when I find peace. When I prepare myself for the day's chaos before it even begins.

First, yog shuts down the outer noises — the world fades.

Then, slowly, the inner chatter quiets too.

And in that stillness, I can feel awareness flowing.

I can feel knowledge and wisdom moving through me, as if some higher power is gently guiding my thoughts. In those moments, I receive clarity — powerful, undeniable clarity that cuts through whatever confusion I've been carrying.

Five Years in the Making

Here's something strange.

I have been thinking about writing since 2020. Planning to publish. Telling myself "someday." But I never could. Something always held me back.

Until today.

Something unlocked in me this morning — after five years of waiting. And now, here I am, finally putting words to what yoga means to me.

I don't fully understand what shifted. But I know yoga had everything to do with it.

Living in Sakshi Bhaav

Throughout the day, yoga gives me a quiet superpower.

The power to watch my thoughts — good or bad — without becoming them. To stay in sakshi bhaav, as a mere observer. To let thoughts drift by like clouds passing through an open sky.

They come. They go. And I remain.

Returning to the Breath

Whenever I lose touch with the present moment (and I do, often), I have a simple anchor.

I bring my focus back to my nostrils. I do a few rounds of So Hum.

That's it. That's enough to come home.

Yoga Off the Mat

I chant while I drive. I chant while I eat. I chant while I work in office. I chant while I walk.

I always try to bring myself back to the present moment — through breath, through chants, through raags, through devotional songs.

Yoga isn't something I do for an hour in the morning. It's how I move through my entire day.

The Honest Truth

I am not perfect.

Not in my thoughts. Not in my words. Not in my actions. But you know what? That imperfection is exactly what gives me space to grow.

In my yog sadhana too, not every day is the same. There are days when maya overpowers. When the mann wanders endlessly. When I don't feel like sitting on the mat at all.

But that's where discipline kicks in.

The Call That Kept Coming Back

Here's something I've realized.

Yog has tried to draw me towards itself several times in my life. It has knocked on my door again and again. And I? I have drifted from it, come back to it, drifted again. Nothing was ever consistent.

But now, something feels different.

I desperately want to make this an everyday affair. No matter what. No excuses. No running away. No "tomorrow."

This is my internal calling. And this time, I'm answering it.

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The mat doesn't care if I show up broken or whole. It just asks me to show up. Tomorrow, I will. And the day after. One breath at a time, until this stops being discipline and starts becoming who I am.