I read an article today called The Global Impact of Yoga by Max Strom. If you don't know much about Max Strom, he is a very inspiring man in the yoga world. He is a teacher, speaker, has a few DVD's out and specializes in self transformation. Google him if you want to know more. I recommend it.
This article spoke to me. This is why I teach yoga.
It talks about how Americans are materially the richest, and 30 some million use antidepressants and anti anxiety medications. The number of Americans using sleep aids reaches over 50 million.
...too many of us are also chronically living what Henry David Thoreau coined "a life of quiet desperation." I love this quote. While it is quite sad, it is true.
Americans are overstressed, extremely fatigued and in general, not happy. All the iphones, flat screens, expensive cars etc. DO NOT sustain a happiness and health. People are finally asking, what is the meaning of life?
I just love this.
Because of this reawakening, yoga is sweeping across the globe at a dazzling speed, as millions are turning to yoga not only to exercise, but also as an alternative to the experience of a spiritual gathering they cannot find in a church, synagogue, mosque or Web site. Perhaps the reason for this lies in the chief difference between religion and Western-style yoga, and that is that Yoga is usually offered in a nondogmatic format, which makes it inclusive to many more people. Because of its message of healing, unity and a simpler life, yoga may be one of the great rays of hope for our future.
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Did you hear that? Yoga may be one of the great rays of hope for our future. I'm SO on board with that. I believe that we, as a people, globally, are beginning to awaken to a higher consciousness. Our reality is being shaken and our minds opening to the greater wisdom, and cosmic shift of the world.
(But that's for another blog.)
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He goes on to talk about his view as a yoga instructor and watching how yoga transforms highly stressed, overworked people like no pharmaceutical and/or therapy can.
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Here's more.
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This wondrous heart-opening consciousness triggers the profound realization that a 90 minute, $20 yoga class fulfills many of their essential needs, more than any of their other possessions they have worked like dogs to obtain. This life-changing insight compels them to reassess the value of their priorities and their very purpose in life: Who am I? Why am I? Where am I going?
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To think that, as a yoga teacher, I have the power to help people make a conscious shift from materialism to the meaning of peace and happiness. There are people stepping onto the mat looking for more than a way to stretch their bodies and get fit but also to find meaning, peace, calm, and a spiritual depth to their lives. To know that I could be the vehicle in which they use to find these qualities gives me goosebumps, I mean, really, literally.
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How lucky and blessed am I to have found such a wonderful profession.
