My Aim of Yoga

My aim of yoga is “ultimate fitness and wellbeing”. Fitness means the body is fit to perform its functions the way it should it should and the mind is at peace, sharp, and powerful. This state of existence arises when the physical and mental limitations are overcome and the body and mind are in harmony. Many of illnesses are caused or become more serious by the unrest mind and unhealthy behaviors e.g. depression, anxiety, insomnia, migraine, high-blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, muscle pain, back pain, arthritis, heart disease, and other office syndromes. Although a human body has a very intelligent and capable system, unfortunately, most of the people do not take good care of their bodies and simply pass the responsibilities to the doctors when something goes wrong and opt for the easiest option that is to take some pills. Pills have pros and cons. They accelerates healing at some parts but add burdens to other organs. Some people use an excuse of busy life and simply ignore their health as long as no serious illnesses are tracked and their daily activities are not disturbed. They become alert when their bodies could bear no more, the illnesses clime up to or burst out at a serious state.

I always take good care of my health. My family uses food as medicines. My mother knows well about the medicinal properties of the local herbs and vegetables. We always have some types of herbal drinks or vegetable soups and curries for detoxification and natural body adjustment when the season changes. I love sport and exercise. However, I got a herniated disk during an exercise at my late 20s. I felt pain at hip and waist areas but thought it was a normal muscle pain. I continued doing exercises and ended with swimming to relax the muscles for several days. One day, an office housekeeper told me that my waist was imbalance – high on one side and low on the other. I went to see a doctor, got an X-ray, and was diagnosed a herniated disk at lower back (L4 & L5). Luckily, no operation was needed. I received the daily physical therapy for a few weeks and got better. However, my back was never be the same again. I easily got back pain whenever I worked in front of the computer for too long, or lift some heavy load, or play sports with full strength. I had to take some massages, or some pain killers, or go to the hospital. Although I had no problem with the medical bills because the office health insurance covered most of the expenses and I had a very good doctor to effectively cure the pains, a feeling of having limitations in life somehow emerged. Spine is the central structure of the body. Once its alignment is not in a perfect shape, it sometimes causes postural problem where the body weight was not properly distributed. For me, the cervical and knee pains got in from time to time. Migraine also followed.

Yet, life was very generous to me. Trouble turned into blessing in disguised. In 2011, while I was busy with lifting the household items upstairs to prepare for a big flood in Bangkok, I found a Thai yoga book in my home library. I flipped over quickly and saw pages about back pain healing. So that evening, I followed some breathing exercise and postures written in the book to relieve my aching body. I was not sure if I did it correctly. Anyway I could not bend my stiff and painful body much and did it very gently. Somehow, a magic happened. No back pain when I woke up the next day. Only the muscle pains at limbs. I opened the book again and found out that it was written in 1995. Oh….it’s more than 10 years ago. Did the school still open? I called the school and went there. I met Ajarn Sunee Yuvajiti, the author of the book cum the school principal. After some conversation, I found out that the course was quite a long term commitment and a big lump sum of money. I was not sure if I would be able to manage my time and the money be wasted. I asked if I could have some trial classes first before a full course registration. She said “No. Today, since you are here, you can sit and watch the entire class till the end. Then you make a decision. NO COMMITMENT, NO REGISTRATION.” I had no choice but registered for it. Now I understand her subtle meaning – NO COMMITMENT, NO SUCCESS.

After 2 years of regular practice, I broke the jail of back pain and regained my physical freedom at the age of 44. I felt very comfortable and could resume my physical activities as wish. Also, I could sit and concentrate on my breath longer (Anapanasati method of meditation). After completed the courses available at this school and received a Certificate of Yoga for Health Promotion (recognized by the Thai Ministry of Education), I went to India to pursue a higher level of yoga at the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center and obtained the international qualification of yoga teacher. Sivananda Yoga deepened my understanding on yoga and elevated my practice. Its style fit well with my body and temperament. I realized later that in fact the Thai yoga school was in a way passed on by one of Swami Sivananda’s disciples, who was a member of the Free Thai Movement during the World War II and went to India for a terminal state of diabetes treatment when the modern medical science at that time could not provide a solution. He spent 3 years practicing yoga with Swami Sivananda and finally resumed a normal health condition. He returned to Thailand and opened a yoga school to carry on a holistic health mission for mankind. Before he died at the age of 88, he passed on this mission to my first yoga teacher.

In Eastern culture, we never forget the ones who save us from troubles or bring good things to our lives, especially our Guru or Teacher. The feelings of respect and gratitude are very deep-rooted. Money is one thing but the heart and skills that are put into the performance can’t be quantified in monetary terms. In my case, it is life-changing. This my first article is dedicated to my first yoga teacher, Ajarn Sunee Yuvajiti. With my highest gratitude and heartfelt thank always.