Yogaaaaaaaahhhh!

I’ve taken up yoga pretty regularly of late – it’s the latest fad in my life and for the time-being, I’m completely hooked. In fact, I even quit gymming as a consequence, simply because I feel that this is so much more effective for me. I enjoy it more than huffing and puffing in the gym to some dhin-chak music that I would be happier not listening to for the 100th time, and it helps in creating better awareness of one’s body as well. What kind of yoga am I into? It’s called Bharat Thakur’s Artistic Yoga, and combines cardiovascular training with the mental and spiritual level of things. Over the past few weeks, my body has realized it has so many muscles which were dormant, and it’s a good feeling to get those initial aches and pains out of the way as you progress on your way to a healthier body.

What I like about it, is that it is not so much about preaching as it is about working out and realizing exactly what muscles you are pulling or pushing and why. We’ve only had one class so far that was a bit philosophical, but even those, because they are the exception rather than the rule, are quite enjoyable. My instructor, by the way, thinks I have way too many questions ‘on life’, to which he admits he has no better answers than the next person, such as:

- what qualifies as ‘good’ and ‘bad’, because what may be good for me could be bad for someone else and vice-versa?
- this is a classic one: why was I born? (!!!!)

Of course, there are some answers that are pretty obvious, but I take one of them to be a pretty decent answer to most questions: one of my fellow yoga-mates had a query on why she wasn’t able to do a particular stretch ‘like XYZ’, and my instructor replied that everyone has a separate body and no two bodies will respond alike to the same thing. We aren’t meant to. I think that also answers a question that often pops up in my mind like an unwanted weed every now and then: why am I not as successful as ABC? The answer lies in the premise that I shouldn’t be comparing myself to ABC in the first place. His or her parameters for success are in all probability different from mine. My yoga instructor is 35 and all he does is teach yoga. That’s it. No other full-time job or anything. He lives life on his terms and is not worried about success, failure and the rest of it. Whereas, a Harvard MBA grad is probably preoccupied with how much money he or she can make and how fast he or she can climb the corporate ladder. I want an incredibly satisfying, meaningful relationship to last forever – that might not be a priority for others. That does not in any way make me less of a success than them now, does it?

I guess that’s what we call life. Imagine if everyone in the world lived the life of a Wall Street or Liverpool Street banker, or if everyone was an artist or poet. It takes all kinds, and one should live and let live.