MY YOGA STORY

You can call yoga as just a form of physical exercise till you revert back to it just for flexibility, strength and weight loss. This definition of yoga that I presumed,  hurdled me to stick to it for anything longer than a month. Asanas are actually a preparatory tool to train the body for stillness required for the further stages. This outer most stage involving the physical body is called Annamaya kosh. 

The physical body is controlled by the sensory organs which are controlled by the mind and the mind by the breath. Controlling breathing is the next stage called Pranamaya kosh. To move further inwards to this stage however, you would need a prescription by your doctor for some ailments ( it does not show benefits so much on the outside unless it's practised for a longer period and so is not so interesting). I was though curious to know the further journey and how would that benefit me. Pranayama and asanas together ensure a healthy mind and body for the yogic progress.

A regular and steady practice of both would start affecting various spheres of your life magically. My food preferences, my mood swings, my temperament started changing. My patience, perseverance, tolerance increased in a course of time. This stage called Manomaya kosh ignites a thoughtless mind that activates the intellect.

The breath that controls the mind is kryptonite to the intellect. This activated intellect will have a hundred doubts and a million questions and will thus need direction for further journey. A good guru is a must here. I wanted to know all about yoga, it's origins to its preachers to its goals and teachings. I began reading lots of ancient scriptures and preachings by Patanjali, Swami Vivekananda and many more; asking my guru for translations and more explanations. This stage is called Vijnyanamaya kosh.

I won't say I crossed all these stages for the next one. It's not correct to cross them. You need a constant practice of stabilising at this yogic path through these stages going through lots of failures, learnings, acceptance and evolution to be able to experience the innermost stage called Anandmaya kosh or the blissful state.