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Haley Russell

Mrs. Taylor

AP LANG

1/27/17

TED Talk: Yoga in Everyday Life

Georg Feuerstein said that the true purpose of yoga has

always been to bring about a profound transformation in the

person through the transcendence of the ego. In yoga practice

there are so many ways you can apply its simple teachings to your

life in order to fill it with love and patience rather than anger

and stress.

It is a known fact that yoga originated in the eastern

hemisphere of the world. While it is not certain when exactly

this practice came into existence there is evidence of yoga

postures on artifacts dating all the way back to 3000 B.C. along

with mention of yoga in Rig-Veda, one the worlds oldest

religious texts. To the early yogis, yoga meant spiritual

discipline and was focused on self-enlightenment as well as the

alignment of the mind, body, and soul. America was first

introduced to Hinduism in 1893 when Swami Vivekananda gave a

speech that started with Sisters and brothers of America at

the Parliament of the Worlds Religions in Chicago. Following

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this introduction, one of the most famous yogis in history, a man

by the name of Paramahansa Yogananda, went to America in 1920 to

spread the practice of kriya yoga into the western world. From a

young age, Yogananda was told that he was a spiritual prodigy and

that he was the one meant to bring yoga to the west and so he

did. He blew peoples minds when he said that they did not have

to go to church and kneel on the altar each Sunday morning to be

with God, but rather that the spine and brain are the altars of

God. I can attest to this. When I do yoga I feel closer to God

than I sometimes do in church. I believe this is because yoga

focuses on focus, meaning that for that hour or so that Im doing

yoga I have all of my attention on this time I dedicate to God.

This first important lesson I learned from yoga was that

everyone is equal. Of course I already knew this to be true, but

there is a difference in believing something is true and

practicing the belief. Be honest with yourselves, how many of you

have walked down the street and prematurely judged someone

because of the glimpse you saw of life? How many of you have

subconsciously ranked yourselves among your peers? I know I have.

Yoga taught me to practice what I preach, to not just say that

all are equal, but to truly see everyone as such. Namaste is a

word that many associate with yoga. It means that I bow to the

divine light within you. This supports equality. It teaches us

that we are much more than our race, our gender, our religion or
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our sexuality. All humans are simply children of God or the

divine one, this is of course why Emily and Elvis became friends

after all. If we could all choose to see others with this in

mind, there would peace now and forever more.

The second lesson that yoga has taught me is to develop a

drishti in my life to help maintain balance. A drishti is a term

commonly used in yoga that means a concentrated gazed or a focal

point. I tend to develop drishtis for poses in which I am only

standing on one foot, such as tree pose or moon pose. Using a

drishti helps me to enjoy the spirit of a pose rather than

thinking about how difficult it actually is to stay in it. I use

a drishti the same way in my everyday life. Im sure that all of

us could agree that life in the 21st century is fast-paced if

nothing else, especially as students. I take six academic

classes, two of which are AP, Im in five clubs, and do a sport

each season Im quite busy to say the least. And yes, Im still

trying to have a decent social life. When all of these parts of

my life come together they collide and time management becomes a

difficult task. I look to a specific hobby or person to become my

drishti, to ground me and help to find balance in my life, during

these stressful times.

Lastly, yoga has taught me the true importance of

relaxation. Relaxation is taught in yoga through kriya yoga,

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which I mentioned before. This specific type of yoga is commonly

referred to as meditation. Yogananda said that meditation is like

recharging the body battery with cosmic energy. This goes along

with the idea that all of our souls are connected in the universe

by a greater power. In meditation there is a breathing technique

called the three-part breath in which you breath in at your

stomach, then your chest, and lastly in your throat. Once you

complete those first three parts, you exhale in the opposite

order. This is designed to make you recharge by breathing in

the energy that surrounds you. Since I was introduced to yoga and

meditation, I am no longer a nervous or stressed person, like I

used to be occasionally. I see every day at school that many of

my peers suffer from both anxiety and stress, but this is not how

it needs to be. I am asking each of you to give meditation a

chance. If not in the form of kriya yoga, then perhaps through

art or music, anything that is relaxing to you do it often.

Removing nervousness and stress from my life has made a more

optimistic person and I am so happy to have found the form of

meditation that works for me.

So whether you are up for a spiritual journey or not I want

to urge you to acknowledge the importance of seeing all people

for the beautiful people that they are, maintaining balance in

your life, and never forgetting to relax every now and then

through whatever form of meditation that suits you. Namaste.

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