Role of Seva Yoga

              There is a special word, as mentioned earlier, in Sanskrit, seva, which translates to “selfless service”. Seva is an attitude towards the world with an open heart and readiness to help without expecting anything back. It is defined by the Seva Foundation as “compassion in action”.

The Seva Foundation should be the most widely-known organization promoting Seva Yoga. Its programs are concentrated in nine developing countries to help local communities build sustainable solutions to fight poverty and disease.

              Another well known program, Global Seva Challenges. In five years it has raised more than two million dollars for projects in Cambodia, Uganda, South Africa and Haiti. Their campaign focuses on raising awareness to stop sex trafficking in India and worldwide.

Being a yogi means taking care of your body and soul–but it also involves creating and sharing positive energy. Just as we roll out our mat every day, we can practice selfless service on a regular basis. Join existing movements or create your own. Think about your passion, recognize and feel the pain of others, and find an outlet to bring your compassion into action.

              Many years’ working in the nonprofit sector and knowing there is another way to guide people toward healing. Something to compliment the employment classes, the violence prevention programs, the case management, the counseling etc. 

              I’m damn sure that we have all experienced a time in our lives when someone helped us without even realizing what we are doing. Perhaps you never even spoke to other people, but something about what they did or how they are inspired you. So this Seva Yoga is about sending out a silent thank you to someone who played this role in your life.

Partner Yoga

                    

                    Partner yoga can help you deepen both your poses and your relationships. "Doing yoga with a partner makes many poses more accessible, comfortable, and therapeutic," says Mary Aranas, who teaches at Pure Yoga and leads partner yoga workshops around the country. "By holding onto another person, you can balance better than you could on your own, move into poses more deeply, and hold them longer, which increases strengthening and stretching." Working in tandem also improves communication. All you need is a spouse, a friend, or another willing partner -- and neither of you has to be overly fit or flexible. Aranas chose the following poses, including tension-busting twists and restorative stretches, for their simplicity.Most of the Yoga Workshop practice this method.

Benefits: Increases lung capacity, stretches the torso, and lifts the spirit.

How to Do It: Stand facing each other, feet hip-width apart so that you can comfortably hold each other's forearms with your arms bent. Inhale and lift the chest, then exhale and drop head gently back, straightening arms. Hold the pose for 2 to 3 breaths. Inhale, and return to standing.

My Encounter With Yoga

                 

                 I have been practicing yoga for roughly over 20 years now on a regular basis (I had given yoga a couple of tries earlier in life and had rejected it initially – another story for another day). One item that continually draws me to yoga is that it offers more than just exercise but also has life lessons and guidance. This does not mean that I accept everything and anything that anyone says in a yoga class, nor that it is my only source of direction. I have had moments though where I found the message being disseminated during my yoga session quite conflicting. 

                   Today I asked one of my students ‘What does Yoga mean?’ She gave me the same old definition as ‘Yoga is the integration of body and mind. Blah... Blah... ’ I think many of us feel the same. But yeah, though it literally means that… My views about it are a bit different. I think Yoga is a feeling that cannot be expressed. It is a relaxing feeling that one gets after all the stress in his day to day life.

Yoga Therapy is the best way to relieve oneself from all the worries.