Robert Gale Ongley

Tag: spirituality

  • WHY YOGA MAY RESTORE YOUR LIFE–PART TWO

    My interest in yoga started when I was 18 years old. All I remember about it was standing in the living room of our family’s duplex and wanting to get involved with yoga. I don’t remember doing anything about it. I don’t remember what sparked my interest. I only know I was drawn to it. I reached to Eastern religions off and on over the years, but it took me until about the age of 43 before I actually started practicing it. I started and stopped for another 10 years or so, just doing the same routines of Hatha Yoga I’d copied from a book borrowed from a library. I learned to meditate when I was about 57 and by that time I was practicing those same routines of yoga daily. I’ve been keeping this practice going steadily since, but I’ve always felt like a beginner in yoga and I didn’t feel I’d advanced as I should have in my meditation. I didn’t follow any techniques beyond the basics I learned in the beginning. There were some amazing experiences in meditation, but I levelled off years ago. Now, this year I am all in on yoga and learning what it can do for me in deepening my meditation.

    Benefits From Here to Eternity

    There’s plenty to be gained from yoga on a basic, grounded level. As mentioned above, I’ve practiced Hatha Yoga for quite a while at a fundamental level. The writer/instructor who wrote the book where these postures appear stated something to the effect that these three rounds of routines would provide good stretching exercise for all parts of the body. By rotating them consecutively day after day, the practitioner would keep the entire body worked every week. I don’t recall the author’s name unfortunately, but on one of the pages I have, he lists benefits to be had by practicing daily. Here are some of those.

    Develop strength and muscle tone in all areas of the body. Increase endurance and heighten resistance to many common disorders. Maintain lifelong flexibility in spine and limbs. Acquire greater control of the body through cultivation of balance and poise. Overcome various negative conditions of the body such as stiffness, congestion, nervousness. Promote the regulation and redistribution of weight.

    I can say that as I’ve grown older, I have mostly maintained the same level of flexibility despite the added years and doing work that has largely been at a desk. Interestingly, I’ve wanted more from yoga. I aspired to the mental and spiritual development it promised. A good friend took it up seriously and encouraged me to do the same. He gave me a couple books on the subject, including Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. I took some of what I learned and used it in my meditation, but I didn’t really commit myself to it. There is much more to yoga than the physical part of it, though. Testimonies by many people over many years give us some insight into the life-changing potential of this practice.

    “Yoga is a way to freedom. By its constant practice, we can free ourselves from fear, anguish and loneliness.” – Indra Devi

    ”True yoga is not about the shape of your body, but the shape of your life. Yoga is not to be performed; yoga is to be lived. Yoga doesn’t care about what you have been; yoga cares about the person you are becoming. Yoga is designed for a vast and profound purpose, and for it to be truly called yoga, its essence must be embodied.” – Aadil Palkhivala

     ”Yoga is a light, which once lit will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter your flame.” — B.K.S. Iyengar

    ”Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.”– The Bhagavad Gita

     ”Yoga exists in the world because everything is linked.” –Desikashar

     ”Yoga takes you into the present moment.  The only place where life exists.” – Anonymous

    On a Broader Scale

    The use of yoga has been effective in programs across the world where change is needed. One example is in Kenya, where the Africa Yoga Project has created jobs by training young Kenyans in depressed neighborhoods to be yoga instructors since 2007. The increase of jobs has meant that more than 300 classes per week are being taught to over 5000 citizens, bringing physical, mental and spiritual progress to a lot of people in need.

    There have been a number of projects involving the teaching of yoga to incarcerated people all over the United States as part of their rehabilitation. An important part of practicing yoga is learning to control one’s emotions. People who commit crimes are often disadvantaged by a lifetime of poverty, discrimination, abuse, addiction and more. They have had to deal with situations that draw out extreme emotions and these can lead to impulsive action. Also, they are more likely to be focused on just being able to survive, trying to keep their bodies alive. Yoga can turn their attention to higher realms of existence, thus allowing them to concentrate on well-being and peace.

    Yoga has been found in studies to help children cope with stress and their performance in school. This is particularly important for those who live in poor neighborhoods where there is more stress. There are programs that are helping children in such situations to stay in school.

    Best Yet to Come

    The practice of yoga will lead to better fitness, mental stability and spiritual elevation. It’s good for the individual and the human race in general. I urge you to give it a try.

  • WHY YOGA MAY RESTORE YOUR LIFE–PART ONE

    When you consider the condition of your life and state of humanity, you are likely to find at least a few reasons for changes on both fronts. Are your current purposes and goals worthy of lifetime pursuits? Are you fulfilled? Are you deeply happy? In our busy lives, we don’t often stop to examine how we’re doing on these questions or whether we’ve asked them at all. There are so many distractions, so many vital challenges to be confronted that we can resemble hamsters on a wheel in our efforts to survive. But on what level are we surviving under these conditions? In this article, I intend to explore what yoga is about, what it can do for human beings and how it can bring about changes both meaningful as well as enduring.

    Where Did Yoga Come From?

    Yoga was developed between eight and ten thousand years ago in India. The word originates with the Sanskrit word yuj and means union of the yoga practitioner with universal consciousness (the Divine, God or that which shall remain nameless). The practitioners, also known as yogis, had written Indian philosophy into the Vedas, which are the most ancient sacred writings for the priests of Vedic religion. The four chief collections are the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda. They were said to have been revealed to seers among the early Aryans in India. They were first preserved by oral tradition before being written.

    Classical yoga was included in the Vedas. After being in existence for as much as 5000 years, yoga texts were collected and systematized, then made more broadly available by Maharishi Patanjali by writing a book called Patanjali Yoga Sutra. One of his greatest contributions to yoga was his outlining of the yoga rite progression, known as the Eightfold Path of Yoga. It shows us the components of this practice that leads to God Realization, or if that’s a bit much to swallow, then think of it as universal consciousness or Self Realization.

    The Eightfold Path

    The Eightfold Path steps are broken down as 1) Yama, which means that which is prohibited. The aspirant to spiritual enhancement must adhere to certain rules of living. They include not injuring others, no lying, no stealing, control of sexual impulses and refraining from coveting.

    2) Niyama, stating what should be done. These come under the heading of self-discipline and include body cleanliness, study of scriptures and one’s inner self, and surrender to God.

    3) Asana, a part of yoga that is familiar to most people. It has to do with holding specified postures that can help with transcendence in meditation. There are many of these poses and they should be performed with concentration, but the most important of these is the one used while meditating. It’s vital for the spine to be erect, the reason for which will be covered in Part Two.

    4) Pranayama, or Life-force Control, is about controlling the breath. This has benefits involving physical and emotional health, but it goes much further. Breath is part of the life force and it’s said that the pranayama technique of yoga teaches a scientific way of separating the mind from sensations of the fives senses. This brings about an opportunity to free the mind for seeking a cognizant connection with the universal consciousness. It also sets up the next step.

    5) Pratyahara, or withdrawal, is the state in which a person is so interiorized in mind that they are not being subjected to external stimuli. This enables the meditator to observe oneself exclusively and gain insights into who they are, their obstacles to growth and how to resolve them.

    6) Dharana, meaning concentration, involves holding the mind on a single object. The object can be a mental construct, such as love or peace. It can be the concept of truth or some aspect of God one wishes to delve into deeply. Concentrating on the sound of Aum (or Om, as it’s commonly spelled) while listening to it being chanted seems like an intriguing possibility. You may have experienced something like dharana if you’ve ever been intensely involved in study or work or a creative project to the degree that you became unaware of whatever was going on around you.

    7) Dhyana, which is the attainment of true meditation. At this point where one been able to reach stability in absolute concentration through the previous step, a higher level of contemplation of the cosmos is reached. Uninterrupted stillness and silence within is realized at this stage.

    8) Samadhi, the ultimate goal of union with the Divine, is finally achieved. This is the level of enlightenment, the realization of truth beyond intellectual understanding. It comes with a state of ecstasy, transcendence and universal connectedness.

    Semi-Summary

    As Part One draws to a close, you can see yoga goes far beyond stretching and contorting the body. The feelings of peace and calm it brings from practicing it on the physical level merely scratch the surface of its benefits overall. In Part Two, we’ll explore what it can mean on a deeper level for you and your global family.