When you start your practice it is normal that you start to consume this new way of life with all your senses. Suddenly your workout habits change, you might become a vegetarian or vegan, your day starts earlier with your meditation and sadhana practice, your natural remedies shelf starts to look like a small pharmacy, your reading habits change, you stop unhealthy habits like drinking and smoking. Your friends circle might change, you seek for more spiritual company, who resonate on same level with you. Suddenly your whole life will be in a big change.
Why I say all this? Because I experienced that too. First changes can be quite artificial like “I want yoga mat, and a pillow for meditation”. Some might have own meditation room or yoga corner. Of course I have mine too. Then it might be yoga related books, organic food, even clothes might change and it is true that different colors resonate different things. The yogic system is very structural and everything has a meaning behind. Your food (medicine), when to eat and drink, how to talk, think, dress up, excercise, have sex – when to do all these things and why. There is not a thing which has not been researched or measured through your spiritual growth and health. It amazes me every time when I learn something new from yoga science. We have many traditions and folklore in Finland too about food and harvesting, nature and beliefs but it has all been hidden for decades. But in yoga, everything is still alive and in action.
When your practice goes too violent
There are many orthorexic people in yoga circles. People start to do yoga and suddenly they want to be perfect in everything around yogic lifestyle. There is nothing wrong to eat healthy, to exercise or meditate, sing mantras, do pujas and study philosophy. But what happens if everything is limited and controlled. Is that yoga? Or maybe something we should think as egos trick to manipulate you in spiritual way. The most annoying and full of themselves kind of people I have met in yoga circles. Great spiritual knowledge and tens of years practice cannot make you better human if you belittle beginner yogis or make yourself a great above everybody. I hope somebody tells me when I have reached that level.
I have discussed with many yogis and many of them admit that in some point of practice they have went over the line in healthy lifestyle-ism. Me too, I changed basically everything during short term of time. It can be very stressful for your body & mind. Point is that if you go and stress yourself too much about health you cannot be healthy. What is the point of punishing yourself with strict rules if you don’t feel comfortable with them? And for whom you do it?
Nobody wants to start yoga if everyone around seems super human. For me, yoga is combination of many things. It is pleasure and pain, enjoyment and growing. I thought when I went to India that all Indian devotees of guru do the same program or practice (sadhana) that I do. It was a surprise that my practice was quite hardcore and devotional for Indians. Indians might want to be like westerns, free and materialistically fulfilled and we westerns travel to India to get spiritual growth and get rid of materialistic attachments. Nice illusion, huh?!
Find your own path of yoga
Of course, everybody has their own life and own choices. No need to go beyond what does not fulfill your needs. But there is on the other hand a possibility to win your own fears and limitations about yourself and find the purpose and meaning for your life. If you need to grow and if you want to find the truth (whatever it is), you will need to practice, practice and practice. In kriya yog everything is very practical. Everything happens through action. So I love it very much. And sometimes I have hated it too because it is unbribable companion. It will reveal all your trigger points, weaknesses and fears. For me this path with kriya has been very mind opening and life changing. Everything has changed, even things I did not ever assume to change.
But the turning point when you start your practice with your guru / teacher is when you start to accept. Accept and surrender to your practice. For me it means sometimes no need to do daily physical practice because the life itself is a yogic practice. I tend to do at least meditation every day but if there are days that it is not possible it is not the end of the world. By saying the life itself is a yogic practice I will assure you when you start this journey everything goes upside down. It changes inside you first, like growing the roots for preparing to grow. And then it starts to change your outer world. You will see everything in different way. I became more passionate, more compassionate, loving, breathing, tender and sensitive. Everything I do has a purpose. Not to get too overwhelmed by it, sometimes I do very normal things and it is the part of the story too. And I love every part of it. My life has a meaning. I have no idea how it is happening in the future but right now it just makes me very happy and curious about life.
I tell one story about true life. How yoga and sadhana affected my life. Many times people come to me saying I am shining. That is the secret of daily practice. They also might start to cry when they meet or be in touch with me. Many times the right people or events come in to my life when just thinking about it. I have hundreds of examples about it. This is the story of thought power.
Once upon a time in Kerala
I was traveling to hotel at Kerala India. My flight was about to leave in few days. There I was sitting in a well air conditioned taxi 🚕. I had been ten days in Ashram and finally coming closer to so called western life. I was waiting to get to hotel shower and bed with clean clothes. Some luxury to life. There I was sitting and talking with the driver who wanted to know everything about my country. Suddenly we talked about health and very strong image came in my mind. Because I was working with hospitals in Finland I was thinking in my mind that it would be great to visit Indian hospital.
Just after few seconds realizing what I have just thought I corrected my mind very quickly and said to myself: Just as a visitor, just as a visitor! I want to visit Indian hospital just as a visitor! well next day I visited the hospital as a visitor. The hotel where I accommodated wanted me to pay my stay with cash (that’s another story). I asked where I can withdraw some cash because I did not have any cash anymore. They said go other side of the road and walk towards the big white building. go inside the building and there you can find ATM. Well, guess what that building was? Yes, a hospital.
This is the example of thought power and how it starts to affect with sadhana. It is very quick sometimes. More examples I might share in other posts.
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