Welcome to the land of Yoga, India!
Soon after I arrived to India I started doing yoga. The previous year had been a rather complicated one, moving out from Namibia where we had lived for more than 5 years to Bangladesh where we were supposed to live for the following 5 years, but having to unexpectedly change our plans because of the terrorist attacks that were happening in Dhaka. My 3 kids and I had to stay back in Spain, our home country, whilst my husband stayed in Dhaka, for some time even homebound and office-bound, due to the insecurity in the city.
C´est la vie. Así es la vida. That´s life. That is actually the kind of life we have chosen to live, haven´t we? These things happen and life is much harder for a lot of people in the world, so, let´s not make a big deal out of it. But, for whatever reason or maybe because of the addition of many reasons all together, I felt devastated during that year: lonely, stressed, nostalgic, hopeless… Mid-life crisis, depression, job burnout… whatever… I guess the reader can easily relate since we all go through these phases some time (s) during our life. But, by then, I was so busy with the kids and working and settling in Spain, that I didn´t even have time to think about it or going to the psychologist to spot it on. I only realised how bad I had been when I arrived to India and finally I started breathing.
You might be wondering now why am I telling you something so intimate, right? And the only reason why is that I would want you to understand what yoga meant to me when I arrived to India.
Lay down on your back; arms slightly open along the body; hands facing up; close your eyes and breath deeply… These few words can take you to a beautiful journey of relaxation and, if well conducted, it will also allow you to release your body, slow down your heartbeats, stop your eyes twitching, breathe down your spine, fill up your lungs and after all that, exercise your body and your mind. Even when you are tired, if you enter into the right state, your body will resist 100 sun salutations (or more). Even when you are feeling sad, you will come out from a yoga session with a smile on your face. For me, there is no other exercise whatsoever that can impact on me as much as yoga does.
In Spain yoga is one in the list of activities that are offered in the gyms, together with pilates, cardio-box, zumba, cross fit, body combat, and a wide list of options that keep changing over the years. It is clearly considered as a physical activity- stretching, building up your flexibility, hitting each and every muscle, etc…, which is ok, but I would say that the exercise is one third of what it is for me, being the other 2 the opportunity to relax and meditate and the invitation to breath to reach your fullest potential. And I thank ‘Hith Yoga‘ for making me discover it. I thank Hitanshi and Gourav, now my dearest friends, from the bottom of my heart.
– By Barbara Pozo – Spanish National, currently living in New Delhi.
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