What is Yoga meant to me?
Lot of kind souls here have already shared about the wonderful teachings, principles and the way they feel once they start doing the session etc. Am going to share my life story, the two years of Yoga life (2015-2017) how it transformed my life.
My name is Rekha. I moved to London in 2014 due to husband’s work and personally I was going through a very bad phase at that time. We have been trying for baby for around 5 years and moving away from India, not knowing much about health care system in UK terrified me. Though me and my husband used to visit all touristy spots in the weekend and have fun the moment when Monday comes I will be back to being lonely & the thought of not having a kid at home will start to haunt me. I tried diverting myself and luckily one day in 2015 August my neighbour/dear friend Archana asked if am willing to accompany her to a yoga class that is happening in our adjacent street. Though I moved to that apartment in Aug-2014 until Aug-2015 I never knew about our Guru ji or her yoga sessions. I have always been spiritual, have learnt shlokas from my Mom, I do pujas and a great believer of Shird Sai. However I have never made the effort to go beyond chanting or praying. The first day of the yoga session I did asanas that the teacher asked us to do and once the session was over she asked all of the attendees to sit on a circle and hold each other’s hand. Unknowingly I started shedding tears. I couldn’t control it. Post marriage wherever I go peopel would ask me whether am i working, do I have kids or if am doing any kind of business from home etc etc. Be it birthday parties, marriage, any family functions I used to avoid fearing these constant nagging questions. To be honest I never felt included in a crowd and have always been judged. For the first time that day the Yoga family with their open heart welcomed me and the Guru ji listened to my infertility story patiently. She said God knows when to give his blessing. Trust Him and start believing Him without any expectations. That day my inner transformation slowly began. Until then I have never thought about Mind, Body, Soul connection.
I still remember during the inital days of Yoga I used to be very apprehensive about expressing my views or interacting with others. I used to feel inferior for not knowing Hindi, for not being able to communicate well with others in their native language. Later when I close my eyes and listen to Guru ji’s words during meditation even if it was Hindi I could somehow grasp the complete essence of her teachings. The things that I have done which I was not proud of, small disagreements with family, ego clashes with friends & relatives and all the negative vibes, guilt feeling of my past filled my thoughts while meditating. Then slowly on listening to Guru ji’s words I decided not to keep poking the wound knowing it will be painful..Thats the analogy she gave us when we asked questions about our past affecting the present. I started to live in present as per her words, her faith and postitivity kept me going. And in August 2016 I got pregnant. It was truly a miracle. While I was happy suddenly my father became unwell and my parents couldn’t visit London for my delivery. Even at that situation the teacher asked me to stay positive. I never thought I could manage delivery alone. But her teachings, her belief and the way how she created the Yoga family it all helped me to handle my new born baby alone.
There is a song in Tamil on Sai Baba (https://youtu.be/SvsTAk8R6OE)
which has this lyrics
நீ செல்லும் வழிகளில் வழித்துணை யாய் அவன் நீ அறியாமலே உடன் வருவான்
Meaning :
Wherever we go God will protect us by being with us even without us realizing that He is there for us
For me the way I met my friend, from there the way I was introduced to the Yoga teacher and the friends whom I earned from there its all a Miracle. I couldn’t attend sessions from 2017 and unfortunately couldn’t join the online sessions that happened in Lockdown too but her teachings are for a lifetime. It doesn’t matter whether you attend a session for a day or for years if you were truly opened to your heart, ears and have listened to those words then the impact will stay with you forever. While everyone in this generation is struggling to be content with their life I can definitely say this Yoga has taught me to be content with whatever I have, to count the blessings we have, to give up my ego and try to have that deep Faith in the Almighty, to treat everyone equally, to help others even in the smallest way possible and most importantly to realize the Soul within and nurture it with good thoughts and pure Love.
Once you enter the Yoga pariwar there is no discrimination, no boundaries, no negativity, no competition as who is bigger or smaller. We are all equal in the eyes of God and as well as Guru ji. Each and every individual has different goals in Yoga. It is all in our hands on what to take from Her teachings, her sessions and how to impart the good values in our day to day life, teach them to our children and keep the tradition alive and going. Blessed to be part of this groups. Like the teacher always says May God bless us all abundantly.🙏🙏
Rekha
Great its guru who can do everything