The world has undoubtedly embraced yoga. Just about any practice that involves breathing and stretching is badged as yoga, which is a double-edged sword. It is great because millions of people around the world have discovered some of the undisputed benefits of this ancient Indian practice. Along with the practice of yoga has come a further discovery of yogic philosophy and meditation and the question, if yoga means union, what is unifying with what? What is not so great is that yoga has also become somewhat simplified, misrepresented, colonised, commercialised and even corrupted.
Being married to a yogic master is rewarding, exciting, challenging and never dull. My husband Sai Saileshwara absolutely does not fit the stereotype of what a yogic master would be like. For starters, he has never performed a single yoga asana in his life (there goes your first stereotype!). He advocates yoga asana, one of the eight limbs of yoga, but he is not too concerned if you practice your stretches, postures and exercises. He is much more concerned that you practice yama, niyama, pratyahara and meditation. These yogic practices I will explore in future blogs.
Being married to a yogic master is rewarding, exciting, challenging and never dull. My husband Sai Saileshwara absolutely does not fit the stereotype of what a yogic master would be like. For starters, he has never performed a single yoga asana in his life (there goes your first stereotype!). He advocates yoga asana, one of the eight limbs of yoga, but he is not too concerned if you practice your stretches, postures and exercises. He is much more concerned that you practice yama, niyama, pratyahara and meditation. These yogic practices I will explore in future blogs.
We have been married for 21 years and during this time I have watched him attain a type of self-mastery that few others have achieved. I have observed what yoga actually is –the awakening process where the body and mind are transcended to reach the treasures of the soul. This is one of the main reasons I wrote Saileshwara’s biography. I sit in a privileged position as an educated, bicultural woman who had a Western upbringing from Dutch and Indian parents. I have researched and read about the experiences I have observed. Saileshwara rarely explains what is going on. Saileshwara was not so fortunate to have been educated as I was, yet he is far more accomplished than I am. He has touched his own source. He has completed the proverbial inner journey. He communes with nature, with forces I cannot see, he is not bound by time the way I am, he works with energy, not bodies and minds. He is a devoted yogi.
My greatest wish for my forthcoming book is that I do justice to the deep and complex topic of self – realisation – the highest intention in life. I truly hope that the hidden treasures that lie within us all will be stirred when my readers pick up the book. Bringing these hidden treasures to the world will be one of my life’s greatest achievements. These treasures are not bound by culture, religion, upbringing, education or gender. The treasure is life itself and how it operates through us all.
