Different people perceive different meaning to the word YOGA. Some perceive Yoga to physical transformation of the Body while some connect Yoga to emotional well being state of mind and so on. Spiritual leaders have different version and interpretation to the word Yoga. Yoga to me is all about connectivity and experiences. Yoga is about looking inwards.

1. On International Yoga day – June 21st
, 2015
Different people perceive different meaning to the word YOGA.
Some perceive Yoga to physical transformation of the Body while some
connect Yoga to emotional well being state of mind and so on. Spiritual leaders
have different version and interpretation to the word Yoga.
Yoga to me is all about connectivity and experiences.
Yoga is about looking inwards. So far we have focused our energies and efforts
in fixing all the possible things that we can and to such an extent that we are at
the verge of extinction, needless to mention that because of our habit of fixing
the surroundings, some species on our planet have become extinct and yet
people across the globe are still busy fixing surroundings in hope that this will
make them more joyful and happy (External Comforts).
Nothing happened and things are getting worse. We are facing climatic
problems that we have never heard of. We are facing natural disaster, the
magnitude of which we could never imagine.
We have become more complacent and have developed the attitude of
complaining. We often talk about lack of resources and governance. We talk
about social problems and so many things that are all external but never
realized and try to address the core of the problem which is inside all of us.

2. Yoga is about looking at that inner core and establishing connection with it.
Sounds very philosophical, allow me to explain in simple terms, we human
beings are manifestation of 4 faculties - Body/Mind/Emotions/Energy. We can
only perform any task to the best when all the 4 faculties that make ourselves
are in sync with each other. If one faculty goes out of sync it affects the
performance.
Yoga is about Inner awakening and conditioning irrespective of external
surroundings.
Allow me to explain say your office working hours are from 10 to 5 pm. and
that means during this period you need to perform tasks and duties for which
your services are being hired and for that you are paid.
I now ask you to answer this question – WHY YOU WORK WHERE YOU WORK?
Take a while think and you can answer this question if all the 4 faculties of
yours are in sync i.e. your body, mind, emotions and energies. In business
world people refer to this as work engagement.
Yoga allows us to introspect and connect with inner consciousness and that
helps in syncing all our 4 faculties leading to blissful and joyous experiences
that can only be felt not described. So if all the 4 faculties (Body, Mind,
Emotion and Energy) of yours are fully involved and engaged in whatever you
do at any given point of time then you are for sure following yogic way of life.
So if you are walking then your body, mind emotions and energy all 4 should
be focused in the activity of walking, easier said than done and it is because of
this reason one very popular yogic practise that everyone talks about is
mediation – focusing on your breath as that is the easiest way to experience
syncing of all the 4 faculties.
We human beings believe in experiencing so as to believe and the tool that we
have to experience anything is our physical body and this is the reason most of
the people think that yoga is a form of physical exercise that is because body
can easily experience the transformation.

3. In fact Yoga is beyond that and to me YOGA is about..
1. Inclusiveness and NOT Exclusiveness
2. Self Acceptance i.e. understanding your strengths and weaknesses
3. Integrity - Inner Consciousness of doing the right things
4. Having Inner Faith
5. Loving your own company
6. Being Joyful and Happy
7. Acceptance and NOT Rejection
8. Inside and NOT Outside
9. Inner Peace and Tranquillity
10.Helping and Caring
11.Being Grateful to everything you have , more or less
12.Personal Caring and Hugging
13.Mindfulness
14.Appreciation and NOT Criticism
15.Engagement & Commitment
We must connect to ourselves first very honestly and only then we can
connect with others. We must learn to live peacefully and allow others to live
happily and to do so all we need to do is to pay attention to our interiority,
thereby making blissful a possibility for all of us.
CA Vinod Kr Sharma
Dated: 20th
June 2015