Yoga is Life, Life is Yoga

Looking back at a yoga journey

- Smt. Shobha Jain

To summarize a journey of 20 years in a few pages is very difficult, but I will try my best to do justice to my path, which is Yoga.

It started after my second pregnancy when my weight was 90 kg, and I tried everything from swimming to aerobics to gym, and got bored of everything as there was no peace of mind in doing these activities. These were just physical workouts. Someone suggested, "Why don't you try Yoga?" and I decided to give it a go for a month.

Initially, my body was like wood - very tight, no flexibility but I kept going to the class in the hope of shedding some kilos. Pranayama was a strict "No!" for me as I would feel sleepy and bored. At that time, the adrenaline rush was too high. However, little did I know that I had already caught a train whose ultimate destination was Samadhi - illumination, or Moksha.

Slowly, I was being moulded, getting flexible, and calming down. I started following the virtues and character building, one at a time. For example, Ahimsa for a week, kindness for another and so on.