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There’s no scarcity of phrases which were used to explain yoga. Many of those phrases convey the scientific analysis that makes an attempt to quantify the consequences of the traditional apply on our up to date selves, whether or not physiological or psychological. Different descriptions try to clarify the much less quantifiable matter of the philosophy behind the apply and remind us that it’s a means of approaching life.
Regardless of all these expressions, there stays one thing largely enigmatic but additionally mindbendingly easy about yoga. And that’s what yoga means to every of us.
“In journalism college, I had a trainer who used to inform us that if we couldn’t clarify an thought in just a few phrases, it meant we didn’t actually perceive it,” says digital creator Gabypao Barrera. “She believed that the less the phrases, the higher we understood it.”
That made sense to Barrera. Curiously, she discovered that what her trainer had defined was precisely what occurred together with her yoga apply, which she started in 2018. “I didn’t absolutely perceive why yoga had come into my life or why I used to be doing it till I gave it a private that means with only one phrase,” she says.
“I’m at all times looking for to scale back huge ideas into just a few phrases with profound meanings,” explains Barrera, who has lengthy been intrigued by “the phrases which have non-literal translations in different languages.”
She already knew what yoga meant to her. However interested in its results on others, she let her curiosity lead sooner or later after class when she requested her fellow classmates how they might describe yoga in a single phrase. What resulted was a viral Instagram reel.
Some phrases that had been shared appeared to return with out hesitation. Others required just a little contemplation. And plenty of prompted understanding “oohs” and “aahs” from different college students.
“I used to be amazed on the number of responses that mirrored every individual’s distinctive perspective and relationship with their apply,” says Barrera.
Intrigued, we reposted her reel on Instagram and requested Yoga Journal followers to share what yoga means to them in a single phrase. The array of responses and the keenness behind them was unimaginable and contained some repeat mentions of Barrera’s authentic video. And there was a lot extra:
Compassion
Empowerment
All the pieces
Happiness
Connection
Presence
Discernment
Life
Essence
Love
Paz (Peace)
Freedom
Consciousness
Progress
Consciousness
Drugs
Bliss
Union
Dwelling
Equanimity
Steadiness
Highly effective
Seeing
Therapeutic
Comunidad (Neighborhood)
Development
Lifesaver
Feels
Dedication
One
Breath
Power
Samadhi (Presence)
Introspection
Alignment
Wholeness
Calm
Gravity
Elefteria (Liberty)
Launch
Gratitude
Aum (Om)
Oneness
Openness
Chance
Devotion
Dhyana (Being)
Self-journey
Reflection
Serenity
Mindfulness
Focus
Readability
Goal
Grounding
Pleasure
Bliss
Sukha (Ease)
Santosha (Contentment)
Magic. In fact, magic.
Barrera’s phrase, in the mean time, is compassion. What’s maybe Most worthy in regards to the train of considering what yoga means to you isn’t assigning a restricted definition to the apply. And it’s actually not about lowering the bodily and philosophical apply to a single idea. Fairly, being requested to call its expression in your life may help remind you why you apply yoga and what it actually feels wish to expertise yoga.
“‘Yoga’ is a single phrase with simply 4 letters which means a lot,” says Barrera.
