About Yoga

Derived from the Sanskrit word yuj, yoga means the joining or completing of an arc, creating a perfect balance. Simply put, yoga helps to control and guide a turbulent mind. In the Tamil language of South India, the word yoga refers to a kind of meditation or penance called thavam or japa.

Yoga came into practice thousands of years ago, and is a scientific art that helps us control both body and mind. It is popularly believed that practitioners who have attained Siddhi through yoga have the capacity to control human nature. It is also a known fact that the dedicated practice of yoga prolongs our lifespan.

Just as alphabets are essential to the learning of a language, asanas are essential in the practice of yoga. It has been universally acknowledged that Saivaites (worshippers of Shiva) in ancient India were the earliest people to practice yoga as long ago as 5,000 years ago.

It is important to practice yoga with the greatest inner discipline and respect for the purification and strengthening of our internal organs, and not just for external muscle build-up.

Yoga as a Discipline

Everyone lives for someone else. This alone is reason enough to believe that, at least for the sake of those who depend upon us, we have no moral right to abuse our body by causing pre-mature death through avoidable afflictions.

A third of our lives is spent in sleeping, another third in working. All we have left is the remaining eight hours a day in which to eat, exercise, and relax. So let us make the most of these waking hours .

In the beginning, it was believed that only sages and those who had forsaken mortal pleasures should practice yoga. Over the years, it has been proven that everyone is entitled to the benefits of this gentle discipline.

Some people naively believed that yoga was a cult, meant for navel-gazers and those who advocated airy concepts such as liberation of the soul. Others felt it was a self-indulgent pursuit that interrupted family pursuits. Because of such misconceptions, yoga was for a very long time "like a lamp inside a pot", a hidden jewel.