Very often when you hear of Yoga, the image of a Yogi sitting in meditation, hands folded in a mudra (gesture made with the hand), eyes closed immediately comes to mind… or engaged in the repetition of Om. This stereotype image more often in people gives rise to a certain bias, which combines yoga to something static, boring and repetitive… something irreconcilable with the most dynamic and energetic personality, in short, a discipline made for those who are not inclined to toil and sweat.
Although the initial image is not at all far from what they should naturally encounter a practitioner of Yoga (meditation and repetition of mantras are an integral part of any yoga practice), it is simplistic to think that it should take place at least all there, sitting still in silence.
Yoga is to work on ourselves 360°, through a personal journey:
– on your body, through specific positions (Asana) that can be carried out in a static or dynamic (aerobic or anaerobic work), developing strength and flexibility.
– on your mind, developing concentration, calm, inner presence, for example through Pranayama (breathing exercises) and Asana of balance.
– on your spirit, giving breath to our inner life, too often stifled by the pace of life today, or a way of life that we should close; this is what happens when you get closer to meditation, when trying to appease and slow the steady stream of thoughts that goes through 24 hours a day, subjecting our nervous system to stress nothing short of remarkable.
With this in mind you may assert that yoga is relaxing, but not in the usual sense connected to “energy saving,” but rather just the opposite in the sense of the “charging” of positive energy, physical and mental, which brings force and renewal to our being in its integrity and completeness.
Very often a Yoga class involves hard work and sweat, in a physical sense and also metaphorically, placing us in front of our limits and offering the right tools to overcome them, from which the meaning of Yoga as a path.
Hari-Yoga is all about this. A style that is different from all the others to be style “free.” Free from rigid dogma to follow, free of indisputable rules that must be followed at the time because someone decided it was the best way to get the “right result.” First of all because there is no “one” right result, but only the right result “for us” and that depends on what you are looking for. Also because, as you advance in practice, the image of the final result vanishes, leaving space to the path, to the present moment. That is to say that everyone approaches Yoga with a different motivation, which may be the pursuit of physical health, improving your appearance, the relief from everyday stress and so on and so forth… but then you notice that the initial push leaves little by little the ideal space for the motivation to practice yoga, or do it for no particular reason, just for the fun of it!