Stress To Strength: Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar On How Yoga Energises The Mind And Body

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Guided Yoga: Here is how asanas can help beat stress and anxiety and keep your mind and body strong and content.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Guided Yoga: When you have too much to do and too little time, practice yoga. Beyond the mat, it is the ability to keep your spirit uplifted, your energy high, and get the job done without feeling drained.

In this article, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar tells us more about how practising yoga daily can help beat stress and keep you mentally strong and content.

If there is a competition for God in the world today, I would say it is stress. Stress is present everywhere. You can find it in homes, workplaces, schools, and even in children. And what is stress? Too much to do, too little time, and no energy. Isn’t this true? We all have a lot to do. The time available to do it is fixed. We cannot add hours to a day. The only option left to us is to increase our energy levels.

Yoga For Stress And Anxiety: How To Keep Yourself Mentally Happy

When we are full of energy and enthusiasm, we can face any challenge. We can do more, and we can do it happily. Yoga gives us this energy. Yoga gives us tools for a stress-free, tension-free life.

sanas are a part of yoga but yoga is more than just postures. If you only practice sanas without going into silence and meditation, then the deeper dimension of yoga is lost. Yoga is never complete without meditation. It is like a soul; everything else is like dressing on it. You can’t have a body without a soul, and you can’t have a soul without a body. Patanjali has spoken about the eight limbs of yoga. And limbs develop simultaneously, not one after another. Just as in the womb, a baby’s arms, legs, and head develop together, all eight limbs of yoga evolve simultaneously.

Yoga is the greatest wealth of humankind. What is the purpose of wealth? To bring happiness and comfort. If wealth cannot give happiness, I would not call it wealth. Yoga is true wealth, because it brings absolute comfort-a disease-free body, a confusion-free mind, an inhibition-free intellect, a trauma-free memory, a violence-free society, and a sorrow-free soul. This is the birthright of every individual.

Benefits of Yoga: How It Helps Improve Mental And Physical Health

The benefits of yoga are multifold. First is we know it improves mental and physical health. Second, it changes behaviour. Behaviour depends on the stress level of a person. A stressed person can become irritable, but when the stress level drops, they become more pleasant, friendly, and open. Yoga helps us improve our presence, our very vibrations.

Think about it-when someone close to you says, “Have a nice day,” it carries warmth and sincerity. But when someone at a shop formally says the same words, it may not carry the same feeling. Why? Because we communicate through our vibrations, through our presence, much more than our words. Yoga helps bring clarity to the mind, so we can receive and communicate better.

Yoga is a complete science. It is the union of body, mind, and spirit with the universe.

It brings peace and ecstasy to every individual. It makes a big difference to one’s thought patterns and attitude towards life. These days, yoga is almost indispensable. Breath is the link between your body, your mind, and your spirit. When you are happy and you smell a flower, your inhalation is slow, steady, and strong, and the exhalation dissolves. But when you are frustrated, your exhalation is stronger. Yoga lets you understand this beautiful connection between your breath and emotions and transform them positively.

Yoga is a skill in action. It is the ability to keep your spirit uplifted, your energy high, and still get the job done without feeling drained. Usually, when we work hard, by the time the results come, we are too exhausted to enjoy them. Yoga ensures that your energy stays alive, your enthusiasm remains high, and your achievements bring joy.

The ancient rishis have said, “Vismayo yoga bhumika” wonder is the preface to yoga. When you observe yourself and nature with awe, mysticism dawns in life. Connection to something ethereal, something vast yet intimate, awakens within you. That wonder leads you to yoga.

Yoga is that journey from stress to rest, the scenery to the Seer, from the outer to the inner, from separation to union.