Yoga and Ayurveda the Path to Freedom for Mind, Body, and Spirit

The 4th of July just passed, and I’m sure we all reveled in the freedom festivities. The red and blue hues painting the town are indeed a sight to behold. As much as I love celebrating freedom, this time of the year always brings me back to one question - are we really free? And by “freedom”, I don’t mean as a country, but the liberation of our minds, bodies, and spirits from materialistic pursuits and desires.

When I look within and around, the instant answer is no, not yet. While some are on the path to liberation, many of us still have a long way to go when it comes to freeing ourselves completely from chaos, confusion, and uncertainty.

The next obvious question is - how can we liberate ourselves? How can we break free from the shackles inside us? How can we move toward living a holistic, fulfilling life? The answer is simple - choose Yoga and Ayurveda, two key aspects for anyone starting their journey of inner freedom.

Yoga and Ayurveda have their origins in the same Vedic Scriptures, and both are closely related to help humans elevate their consciousness and evolve. Yoga is the Vedic science of introspection and self-realization that uses breathing techniques, postures, and focus to increase our state of awareness. Ayurveda, on the other hand, is a system of medicine that primarily aims to prevent diseases in our body by balancing our unique constitutions.

Yoga and Ayurveda may seem different, but they’re not - they actually complement each other. When we include both Yoga and Ayurveda in our lifestyles, we heal our bodies inside out. We rejuvenate ourselves, transform our way of living, and most importantly, our outlook toward life.

According to Ayurveda, the key to good health is a balanced constitution in the human body. It also considers that the root cause of any bodily disease lies in the dis-ease of the mind. This is why Ayurveda doesn't just focus on curing symptoms; rather, it digs deeper into the actual cause of the illness by scrutinizing different aspects of your life, such as your diet, overall health, lifestyle, and state of mind.

And this is where Yoga comes into the picture. Yoga helps calm our mind and improve its health which, in turn, has a positive impact on the balance and health of our body. It has an eight-fold approach, and all eight limbs are equally important. This integrative approach ensures we don’t fall into the trap of external materiality and increases our focus on the inner reality of the mind and our consciousness.

Yoga itself means ‘ultimate self’. It can also be interpreted as ‘disentanglement’, as it helps us to release ourselves from whatever is stopping us from achieving inner freedom. The primary goal of practicing Yoga is to attain moksha, which literally translates into ‘liberation’. Achieving this true liberation is no cakewalk, as one has to master the eight limbs of Yoga to attain this stage.

The eight limbs include;

1. Moral discipline

2. Positive duties

3. Postures

4. Breathing techniques

5. Withdrawal from senses

6. Focused concentration

7. Meditative absorption, and lastly,

8. State of bliss or enlightenment.

Each of these limbs helps us to live a more conscious, meaningful, purposeful, and overall, better life. They help us purify our physical body, master our senses and ultimately, become free from worldly illusions.

Yoga and Ayurveda cumulatively help us inch closer to living a free, happy life without the influence of any external aspects. We can safely say that Ayurveda is a philosophy and science of living which is sustained by Yoga. Yoga helps us include physical practice of asanas in our lifestyles and gives us spiritual exposure which helps us withdraw from external chaos and quieten the distress of the mind.

If you’re looking to truly transform your life, make it a point to include Yoga and Ayurveda in your lifestyle. Over the years, I’ve benefited tremendously from these practices, and this has helped me improve the quality of my life. Integrating Yoga and Ayurveda brings out the true spiritual potential of a human being while offering full healing of the body. Letting go of material aspects and chaotic elements resulting in disturbance of the mind becomes a lot easier with the blissful stability of mind and internal peace Yoga and Ayurveda bring in.

I’ve also helped many others transform their lives with Yoga. If you’re looking to gain freedom in a true sense, feel free to reach out to me. I would love to assist you with your journey toward living a better, harmonized, and free life. Join me on this wellness journey and change your lives for the best!