Yoga: The Practice of Exploring the Self

The highest potential of yoga practice is to discover and connect with the inner source of divinity. This is not mystical preaching, nor is it empty rhetoric, but if a practitioner, regardless of the opportunity to practice at the beginning, perseveres for many years without interruption, yoga will connect the practitioner to the source of eternal peace within. However, if the practice of yoga is never true to the pursuit of inner peace, then no matter how long one practices, the very purpose of using the body as an outward purpose of pursuit and display makes the practice more similar to sports and fitness, but deviates from the traditional origin of yoga.

Although exercise and fitness are healthy and positive, which I personally encourage and love, and I feel that many accomplished athletes are themselves very spiritually enlightened and very good at connecting with others, I believe that there is a difference between yoga and exercise and fitness, and that the difference is primarily about whether the energy is directed inward or outward, rather than about muscle tension patterns and body movement patterns. Although yoga requires the body to be hyper-motorized, yoga is not the same as movement itself. A routine is created based on the techniques of yoga to stretch and strengthen the body, but this "facade" cannot be separated from the true intention of yoga - the pursuit of inner peace. Physical performance and movement levels are never the ultimate goal in yoga. In fact, yoga masters and experienced yoga teachers always teach practitioners to let go of attachments to the "self" and "body", "emotions", or "emotions". Yoga teaches the practitioner to try to find an inner peace that is not disturbed by the external world. The means of yoga practice may seem similar to fitness or gymnastics routines, but the focus is not on demonstrating form and completion, but on challenging the body, tuning the nervous system, and challenging the habits of karma; becoming familiar with the boundaries of the body through experience, and ultimately experiencing that one is not confined to a physical shape. By facing and transcending the boundaries of the mind and emotions, a yoga practitioner can have a direct and first-hand experience of his or her unknown potential. Yoga is a path that leads the practitioner to liberation from this material world of "mind" and "matter", a door to the inner world and a life-changing possibility.

External physical forms and body shapes, although very useful in this process, are not the purpose of yoga itself. It doesn't matter if a practitioner has long tendons or a good body shape, it doesn't matter if the asanas are great, what matters is if yoga makes you a good person and a calm person on the outside. Even a person who can only do a few basic movements, but can live with love, with dedication to help others, this person is a very good yogi. If yoga is just a tossing of postures without exploring the path of inner liberation and keeping the eight precepts, and learning the wisdom of yoga philosophy, then all that is left is to play tricks. Back in Mysore, India, people used to bring pictures of superb postures to the old master, Pattabhi Jois, for evaluation, and the old master would always look at them carefully for a while, then frown thoughtfully and say: "That is not yoga. Yoga means self-knowledge".)

Yoga practice is about realizing your own inner divinity, experiencing it directly with your own body, and reviewing it each day to deepen it. This enlightenment is not "knowing" or information captured and stored in a brain, so you cannot just get it through a teacher teaching you by word of mouth or by listening and reading through a classical book, but it must take root and grow in the practitioner: in the practitioner's body through the yoga practice, in the neurotransmission of the practitioner's nervous system, and in the practitioner's body. It flows through the practitioner's bloodstream and penetrates the practitioner's breath. .......  The "face" of the practice - the daily asana practice is used to build a base level of physical health, mental calmness and emotional balance. This activity is similar to the daily sweeping that monks do in a temple to honor the gods. Therefore, there is no difference between those who practice yoga with only "face" and those who only know how to sweep the floor, they are just temple handymen, while those who have the "inner" pursuit can become monks. In fact, even the physical transformation brought by yoga practice is not only because of various concave, but also because of overcoming the old patterns of inner psychology and emotions. The real changes brought by yoga, including the physical changes, are merely symbiotic phenomena that occur on the path to finding one's soul and true self; it is the stretching of the brain that brings about the real changes in the body. The face and the heart are complementary to each other.