The Journey of Yoga From rustic forest hermitages to downtown Yoga Studios

In some of the early texts, the yogis that are mentioned are not necessarily the clean-living, health-conscious and physically toned practitioners we would recognize by that word today. The holy itinerants who practised yoga, generally known as sadhus, seem to have been raggle-taggle gypsies who wandered the earth freely, unshackled by convention and in pursuit of spiritual ecstasy, which they would get wherever they could find it.

Colon cleansing is now used worldwide and becoming popular as more and more people are experiencing the herbal colon cleanses health benefits. Many people think in terms of merely detoxifying their body while doing a colon cleanse.

Breathing is being alive. How we breathe affects our minds' state and how we feel decides on the rhythm and depth of our breath. By altering how we breathe, we can impact our mood instantly, and by practising correct breathing methods, we can develop a more resilient, calm and aware mind.

In the third sutra of the first chapter of Samadhi Pada, Sage Patanjali in the same breath continues to succinctly communicate: Tada, that time, not until that time, till the mind waves have been stilled and develop familiarity with the practices of interoception and focussed awareness, Drashtuh thereby seeing the source of all sensations,

Nothing works like practising patience when dealing with difficult people or situation. To practice patience is to hold back when you want to say something nasty or feel overpowered by someone's irritable presence. But holding back creates a pressure-cooker situation where you keep stuffing anger within.

We may be tempted to think that our goal is to eliminate the static or the fluctuation in the consciousness to experience peace or stillness that are the qualities of pure consciousness. However, nature itself is tumultuous, creation is always in a state of flux, life is always in a turmoil else we will find it difficult to believe that we are alive.

Back in India, Siddhartha was walking through the dense forests of Magadh--present-day Bihar. He had left his child, wife, and the entire kingdom behind him. The young prince has been wandering through the dense forests after sufferings of people had started raising questions in him.

“Solitude is not found so much by looking outside the boundaries of your dwelling, as by staying within. Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it.”