Yoga – A Personal Philosophy in Physical Form

Yoga is not only a fitness exercise, but also a complicated personal philosophy that can help you become a better person. As mentioned in The Bhagavad Gita, “Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.” How could yoga spread for so long and be loved by many people?

That’s because Yoga is a personal philosophy in physical form that can help you become a better person from the following aspects:

I. Yoga focuses on breathing – reminds us to live in the present.

Yoga believes that to live in the world, what people need most is oxygen. Breathing is a human instinct, which can operate uncontrollably and autonomously, but can also be subconsciously controlled. And yoga holds the view that slow and long breathing is good for health.

When we focus on the sensation of breathing, our hearts will gradually become calm, and the various systems of the human body will be well adjusted. In the same way, our hurried life also needs such adjustments. That’s to say, we need to live in the moment and don’t be bothered by the trivialities in life.

II. Yoga pays attention to doing according to ability – reminds us not to fight for the first place.

People who just started practicing yoga have some asanas that cannot be done or are difficult to do, so they just need to do what they can and do as much as they can.

Yoga is not a competitive sport. It is a method of exercise that focuses on the inner part. When practicing your opponent is only yourself. Similarly, life is not a competitive game, so you don’t have to take the sprint as the greatest honor. On that long road of life, each of us is just a race against ourselves. That’s a vital lesson in personal philosophy.

III. Yoga emphasizes gradual progress and perseverance – reminds us to have perseverance in doing things.

There is another very important principle in the process of practicing yoga, that is perseverance. Usually, after one to two months of practice, the physical flexibility of an adult can be restored to the state it was ten years ago. And through three-month practice, one’s concentration, memory, learning ability, perseverance, and alertness will be greatly improved.

In the world of yoga, as long as you don’t give up, you will not fail. By practicing yoga, you will find yourself more persevering than before, and this is exactly what you need in real life.

As we all know, yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated in ancient India, and it is one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophical traditions.

In other words, yoga is a personal philosophy in physical form.

Sounds complicated, right?

In fact, yoga is not complicated. Ordinary physical exercise usually focuses on external beauty and rarely considers internal things. Yoga is different. While carving the external image, it also gives you inner strength. After a period of exercise, you will find that your mentality has been completely different.

“You cannot always control what goes on outside. But you can always control what goes on inside!”