The Importance of a Guru on the Path of Yoga

Like a flower bud, human life has the potential to blossom fully. The blossoming of human potential to fullness is yoga. 

~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

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MEDITATION BRINGS BACK THE SMILE

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says that Meditation is about letting go of all effort. It is total relaxation. It is when we drop all doership that we meditate.

Spiritual Guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says 'Meditation Brings Back the Smile. The way to expand from individual to universal consciousness is to share the sorrow and joy of others. As you grow, your consciousness should also grow. As you expand in knowledge over time, depression ends' ...

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said, ': Meditation! Just exactly what you are doing - yoga pranayama, meditation, it heals everything. See, we have given so much shock to our body, used it and misused it that it needs this kind of attention.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar puts it beautifully - 'Meditation is food for the soul.'

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Musings on Music & Meditation / The Art of Listening to Music

Have you ever thought of listening to music as a form of meditation? Here are some thoughts on music and meditation shared by renowned spiritual leader and Art of Living Founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar begins with a definition of meditation:

“Meditation is moving from sound to silence.”

We usually think of music as something opposite  - from silence to noise (if it is heavy metal, rock music – the more noisy categories of music). Or we cam think of music as moving from silence to melliflous sound (if it is the more harmonious kind like flute music or western classical) and back to silence.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar asks:

“What can we do when the piano is being played?”

He suggests : “We can just close our eyes, relax and sink into the music.”
He advises we combine the music and meditation.

“What is Meditation? Deep relaxation. So, we will sit, relax, keep our eyes closed and let the music flow through us. Our whole body is anyway hollow and empty and the music can fill it.”

This is the perfect tip on how to listen to music and enjoy it in the most thorough way.

“When you listen to music, it is better to just be with the music.”

But what do we normally do, asks Sri Sri Ravi Shankar?

“Usually, what happens is that we put on the radio and television and we keep talking. Music keeps going on or we sit in a performance with eyes open. We are just watching what is happening here and there. So we are not really absorbing the music or taking hundred per cent advantage of the music.”

“To me, when you listen to music, you should just relax. Close your eyes and relax. When you are listening to flute music, you should feel that music is flowing within you. Through sound you can relax. Similarly, if you are listening to piano, it can be so meditative and so relaxing. This is the art of listening to music. It is very good!”

Instead of playing music, let's listen to it for a change!

Know How to Get Instant Benefits From Yoga

On International Yoga Day, India Today brings you an exclusive interview with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder Art of Living to understand yoga and its unexplored secrets which can benefit you in everyday life.

Lets start the journey of Yoga with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

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A Brief History of Yoga

 

When you hear the word ‘yoga’, chances are that an image of people twisting in presumably painful poses might pop up in your head. Yes, postures or asanas are an important part of the teachings of yoga, but they are not all that there is to it. So, how well do you really know yoga? As the world gears up to celebrate the first ever-International Day of Yoga, let us try and unravel the mysteries surrounding this ancient technique.

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The Truth about Yoga

Yoga is that which gives you pleasure and comfort.

The definition for 'asana' is a posture that is stable and pleasant. You should feel comfortable when doing yoga asanas. What is the definition of comfort? When you don't feel the body. If you are sitting in some odd positions then you feel those parts of the body, painfully. Your focus is more on the discomfort there. When you do any asana, what you feel first is discomfort. But if you take your mind through it, you will find that in just a few minutes the discomfort has disappeared and you don't feel the body. You feel an expansion or infinity in the postures.

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Demystifying Yoga with Sri Sri

Renowned Spiritual Leader, Humanitarian & Founder, The Art of Living Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will lead Yoga celebrations with thousands of New Yorkers at the Lincoln Centre. A prominent voice of Yoga, he has taken this ancient Indian science to 152 countries in the past 34 years. Sri Sri has also been invited by the United Nations to address world representatives at the celebrations of the first-ever International Day of Yoga. In this tete-a-tete, the Spiritual Master highlights the deeper and infinite potential of this science, dispels doubts about it being anti-religion and speaks on the various benefits of yoga.

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