It’s been almost 2 years since I went to my first yoga class. It’s true that I did enjoy it a lot that day, but never had I thought that this would soon turn my life completely upside down. Yoga has rapidly creeped in all areas of my life and has left almost nothing unchanged. But enough drama, most of it is pretty good. Let me tell you what happened:

I am losing my mind

Yes. Since I started with the practice of yoga I have lost my mind. Don’t worry I can explain. Before I had absolutely no idea that real happiness can only take place where the thinking process stops. So, like everyone I guess, I was unconsciously allowing my mind to take control over me and take me anywhere it pleased, formatted by this whole Western idea of “I think therefore I am”. With the practice of meditation and having gained some knowledge of spirituality, I’ve discovered that constantly thinking simply takes us away from here and now; Happiness cannot be experienced in the future or in the past.

I am not saying that I’ve harnessed that uncontrollable beast of a mind that I have, far from it, but only that I am now conscious of the fact that I don’t have control over it. I hear that constant noise and mumbling but I know now that peace is within reach. This is just the first step, but you can only start working towards a peaceful mind only when you know it’s not at peace.

What?Why?Where?When?How?Are You Sure?

I’ve followed a few of the Dalai Lama’s talks and I have even attended one of his lectures. What I like about him is that when giving talks on spirituality he always says: “don’t take anything I say for granted, but go on and find out for yourself”. I think that is what’s happening to me. I’ve realised how wrong I have been in the past, so now I don’t want to just do things because they’re deemed ‘normal’ by society or simply because I’ve been doing them all this while. I want to see and find out.

For example for 29 years I never asked myself whether or not I should eat meat. I just did what everybody else did, thinking it was okay; and my love of animals didn’t change that. Deep down I think I knew it was wrong but I didn’t want to look deeper. Turning vegetarian wasn’t enough, it’s gotten to the point that I struggle to trust anything available in supermarkets. So I’ve started buying in organic-only shops even if that means spending more, but for that also my faith is rapidly vanishing; there have been too many stories. How can we be really sure it’s organic? Haven’t I told you I’ve lost my mind?!

Faith.

I’ve always been quite an anxious person. Worrying about little things like “Am I going to be late for that meeting?” to bigger things like “will I succeed?”.

Now that I’ve turned to yoga I know that as long as I do my best, there’s no need to worry because in the end everything will be ok. Don’t get me wrong, I still worry but I also know that, soon or later, even this feeling will pass!

These are some of the things that have happened to me since I’ve started walking the path of yoga. Do you relate to what’s happening to me? I would love to hear your experience in the comments below.