I’m Sold On Yoga: Is Yoga a Religion?

I’m not normally much of a ‘namaste’ gal. But I’m sold on yoga!

When I stand on a 60x182cm non-slip mat, my body is forced to be still. And since my body is forced to be still, my mind tries to escape. I would remember all the things to do, people to call and places to go to.

But as soon as I move the different parts of my body in sync with my breath, I listen to the melody of peace.

Yoga is meant to be practiced in silence. And this discipline is so much harder than running the fields and parks and bridges of this world.

Physical exercise has always been an integral part of my life. I played basketball for 10 years, spent at least five days a week on the court and later became a fan of early-morning jogs in parks and forests. These hours of the day provided the space for my early-morning-meditation.

I experienced my deepest and most intense prayers while jogging on lawns, passing lakes and inhaling oxygen. After about 15 to 20 minutes I would have gotten to the point where mind and body connect and the breath dictates the pace.

You no longer consciously run, you actually are being run. You become one with your environment, your mind stops wandering around and you are a 100% focused. It is an awesome experience to feel physically and mentally connected.

Dear Yogi, what is your New Year’s resolution? Are you looking to change your work-out routine? Do you think most yoga work-outs are too advanced for you?

But you really want to get into a great new work-out routine? You want to feel so much better and hope to see and feel good results in a few weeks?

When I understood what yoga was all about, I instantly abandoned all prior means of work-out. And this is somebody who has always been very sceptical about the whole notion of yoga, who was used to broken fingers, strains and torn ligaments. Somebody who would have never imagined in a million years to accompany others on their personal journey of healing and transformation.

Yoga is not a religion. The word yoga gets its origin from the Sanskrit word “Yug”. It means to join or to bind. The fusion of asana (poses), breath (called pranayama) and meditation resp. visualization (which to me symbolizes a stillness of body and mind) et al. helps you achieve a type of mind-body-harmony, which allows you to appreciate the very moment.

Yoga, hence, becomes an embodied experience of spirituality (from the Latin ‘spiritus’ – meaning breath or breathing). A deeper level of practice can only be attained by understanding breath and body more profoundly. Poses function as a vehicle to connect body, mind and breath.

Unfortunately, many Nigerians still allow fear to cloud their views. Yoga becomes this weird construct of fetish misconceptions and traditionalist superstition. Today, I work with Christians, Muslims and Hindus. Some time ago I had a session with a catholic priest.

Yoga is thousands of years older than any religion. And, if yoga belongs to anybody, it belongs to everybody practising yoga. It belongs to humanity.

When I observed my friend’s daughter Chisom I realized that this ancient practice is as old as (wo-)mankind. This little girl could barely walk, but performed poses most of my clients struggle with with ease and perfection. Poses like “Downward Facing Dog”, “Child’s Pose” “Forward Bend”, or “Happy Baby Pose” came naturally and instinctively to her. She simply included them into her daily routine. And if we became a little bit more like her, we would stop to exclude a life of completion and start to invite a life of joy and fulfilment.

Chi’s Yoga is your personalized healthy yoga. It is my mission to help you own your yoga. We understand that every BODY is different. And so is your yoga. Your yoga is yours only!™ Chi’s Yoga helps you understand the very essence of yoga.

If you want to know more about how I practice, join my weekly yoga classes in Ikoyi-Lagos.

Also feel free to click here if you want to find out more about Radical healing, Radical transformation™, which will kick off next week.

Wishing you a happy and peaceful 2017 full of healthy and harmonious breaths.