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PRACTICAL EXERCISES n NUTRITION n MINDFULNESS n LIFESTYLE & WELLNESS BRING POSITIVE CHANGE ISSUE 233/ SEPTEMBER 2022 meta spirituality with IN SEARCHHUMAN ENERGY OUR VITAL NINA ELIXIR VERKOEYEN MEHER BABA OBUFENPGEOFSIITNISDG E ‘SHAKING FDOORWYNOIUS GOOD THE WORLD INTO WAKEFULNESS’ How yoga can Unveiling help you YogaTHE MIND release WITH blocks Loveof YOGAAND UK £5.75 loNGeVITY USA $11.25 CANADA $14.99 BELGIUM, FRANCE, CYPRUS, ITALY, AUSTRIA, MALTA, SPAIN, LUXEMBOURG, NETHERLANDS, PORTUGAL €11.00 JAPAN Y1572.00 UAE AED58

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Editor’s Letter Dear YOGA facebook.com/official.yogamag Magazine readers, More Yoga’s expert instructor, Anna De Sousa, explains the Greetings and blessings, benefits of inverted yoga poses and why you too should go “upside down”. Michael DeHoyos lists down the eight mental As you know, we at YOGA Magazine eat, sleep, and health benefits of yoga and Joanna Dase debunks 7 popular breathe yoga, and every month we try to bring you fitness myths that are preventing you from looking at fitness in a the best there is to know in the world of Yoga. This realistic way. Gerard Sunen expands on the spectrum of energies issue is no exception. We are beyond excited to that activate our human experience during life’s journey while present the September issue where we dive deeper Caitlin Harper tells us what affirmations are and how you too can into yogic practices and how it improves your lives. use affirmations to bring forth positivity in your life This month’s cover girl Nina Verkoeyen is an We hope you enjoy this issue of Yoga Magazine! international spiritual leader and the founder of Meta Spirituality, an emerging spiritual tradition Bringing positive change! that supersedes old \"New Age\" spirituality. We also learn about Meher Baba, who was prophesised by a Yogi Maharaj Dr. Malik sage that he was “destined to shake the world into Editor wakefulness.” Looking deep into the benefits of yoga, not just for the body, but also for the mind and the spirit, Dilara Gümüş talks about how yoga can help unveil our mind. Cassady Cayne explains how you can use yoga to release the blocks on your heart chakra and help you in your journey of love. Rola Tassabehji explores how yoga not only provides physical and mental benefits but can also slow down aging and promotes longevity and Estíbaliz Echevarría Guerrero gives us his insights into the benefits of yoga in treating hyperkyphosis. Yoga has been wrongly stereotyped as a feminine interest, but Penny Weston debunks these stereotypes and talks about why more men should be practicing yoga and its benefits for men including increased sexual performance. Debunking more myths about yoga, Richard Brook tells us why the fear of not achieving the “perfect posture” and flexibility should not keep you away from yoga. Jordan Ashley talks about the yogic principles of Yamas and Niyamas and how you can integrate these yogic principles into your practice both on and off the mat. More on yogic principles, Lauren Shufran explores how we can find the use of the yogic spiritual practice, or as she likes to call it, “the Dharma of Shakespeare”, in Shakespeare’s plays. 3

CONTENTS ON THE COVER INTERVIEW 22 22 INTERVIEW WITH 16 NINA VERKOEYEN 08 46 56 28 Nina Verkoeyen is an 34 international spiritual leader and the founder of Meta Model: Nina Verkoeyen Spirituality, an emerging spiritual tradition that Instagram: nina.verkoeyen supersedes old \"New Age\" spirituality. facebook.com/official.yogamag FEATURES 08 5 BENEFITS OF GOING 12 8 WAYS YOGA CAN HELP READERS’ ASHRAM UPSIDE DOWN IS GOOD YOU IMPROVE YOUR 72 LOOKING WITHIN: YOGA FOR YOU MENTAL HEALTH JOURNEY REVISION Going upside down - postures where With people under more stress and you are fully inverted - requires strain than ever before, it's harder to “I fell in love with yoga the way I a whole-body awareness and find ways to stay mentally healthy. fell in love with hip-hop music as positioning that can change your That's why many are turning to yoga. a teenager. Using sultry sounds perspective, improve your brain Along with physical benefits, there are to soothe my bitter moods and function and strengthen your whole lots of mental benefits of yoga. up-tempo beats to channel my body energetic feelings.” 82 AFFIRMATIONS AND WHY 16 HUMAN ENERGY: IN 86 ASK YOGI MAHARAJ DR THEY WORK SEARCH OF OUR VITAL MALIK ELIXIR In the simplest terms, affirmations are positive phrases or statements that 94 VEDIC ASTROLOGY From the ongoing aftershocks of the can be used to challenge and change Big Bang’s primordial detonation to the negative or unhelpful thoughts. It is as NUTRITION forces that spin windmills, and from simple as that. No magic required!. our body’s physical motions to the 74 HOW TO GO VEGAN IN incessant workings of our individual WHAT’S HOT bodily cells, resides a core common 10 EASY STEPS element: Energy. 88 NEW BOOKS, Going vegan opens up a world of 38 7 BIG FITNESS MYTHS, ACCESSORIES AND new flavours and textures. Take the PRODUCTS leap and learn how to go vegan by DEBUNKED BY A following these 10 easy steps. PROFESSIONAL With the rising popularity of influencers, there is a lot of fitness advice surfacing from so-called professionals in the industry. To help you bust some of the biggest fitness myths circulating the web, Joanna Dase, fitness expert at Curves has set the record straight..

September 2022 28 PHILOSOPHY 34 YOGA AND LONGEVITY: facebook.com/official.yogamag 42 68 YOGIC PRINCIPLES: A HOW YOGA CONTRIBUTES TO PROACTIVE BLUEPRINT FOR LIVING HEALTHCARE YOUR BEST LIFE While many of the physical and mental The Yamas and Niyamas are yoga’s benefits of yoga are generally accepted, ethical guidelines laid out in the first the longer-term effects of consistent two limbs of Patanjali’s Eightfold yoga practice on how well, and how Path. They’re like a blueprint written long, we age are less so. to guide you on your life’s journey. 46 SHAKING THE WORLD 28 UNVEILING THE MIND INTO WAKEFULNESS: WITH YOGA MEHER BABA Who am I? Do I really know Difficulties give us the opportunity to myself? Do my feelings affect my prove our greatness by overcoming thoughts? Is it my feelings or my them. thoughts that make me who I am? Yoga provides answers to all these 62 TAKING PLACE, KEEPING questions. WATCH: ASANA IN 56 HOW YOGA CAN HELP SHAKESPEARE’S 1 HENRY VI YOU RELEASE BLOCKS OF LOVE “The acute attention I asked my students to cultivate for Shakespeare’s How do you heal a broken heart? language transferred to deep Most of us go through heartache attention to other aspects of their at some point or another. But few lives. And the resonances between of us truly work through it and Shakespeare and spiritual practice— process that hurt so that it heals what I’ve come to think of as “the and we move on in openness. Dharma of Shakespeare”—began to sharpen into focus.“ 50 YOGA FOR THE 42 WHY MORE MEN SHOULD TREATMENT OF HYPERKYPHOSIS BE PRACTICING YOGA The practice of yoga has proven While most yoga classes are to be very beneficial. The different dominated by women, more men asanas or exercises that are are choosing to stretch their limbs performed can help gain strength and finding out that there are some and flexibility to the muscles of the definite advantages to it including back by correcting hyperkyphosis increased sexual performance. over time 78 THE FLEXIBILITY MYTH 46 – HOW TO ACHIEVE THE ULTIMATE YOGIC STATE WITHOUT THE‘PERFECT’ POSTURE When speaking to the uninitiated about yoga, one of the most common responses you receive is that people don’t think they can do it as they aren’t flexible enough. If we start going down the road towards physical perfection then we are in trouble. 60 YOGA SUTRAS Our continuing study 5

Editor photographed in London SEPTEMBER 2022 H. Malik CONTRIBUTORS AND FEATURES DEPUTY & FEATURES EDITOR facebook.com/official.yogamag YOGA Magazine CAITLIN HARPER F. Lavelle AFFIRMATIONS AND WHY THEY WORK Yogi Maharaj Dr Malik HEALTH & WELLNESS EDITOR CASSADY CAYNE EDITOR HOW YOGA CAN HELP YOU RELEASE BLOCKS C. Davidson OF LOVE 233 BETHNAL GREEN ROAD SUB-EDITOR CHELSEA HARROP SHOREDITCH HOW TO GO VEGAN IN 10 EASY STEPS LONDON J. Levy, R. Malik, T. Williams DILARA GUMUS E2 6AB EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS UNVEILING THE MIND WITH YOGA ESTIBALIZ ECHEVARRIA GUERRERO +44 (0) 20 7729 5454 Sunil Shrestha YOGA FOR TREATMENT OF HYPERKYPHOSIS [email protected] ART DIRECTOR GENEVA DAVIS www.yogamagazine.com LOOKING WITHIN facebook.com/official.yogamag Chandra S. Magar GERRARD SUNNEN, M.D. DESIGN EXECUTIVE HUMAN ENERGY: IN SEARCH OF OUR VITAL Printed on ELIXIR Recycled Paper Manika Nakarmi JOANNA DASE PR/ SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER 7 BIG FITNESS MYTHS, DEBUNKED BY THE PROFESSIONAL S. Wilson JORDAN ASHLEY INFORMATION MANAGER YOGIC PRINCIPLES LAUREN SHUFRAN Anna James TAKING PLACE, KEEPING WATCH: ASANA IN ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE SHAKESPEARE 1 HENRY VI MICHAEL DEHOYOS Lesley Mcewan 8 WAYS YOGA CAN HELP YOU IMPROVE YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGER MENTAL HEALTH MOREYOGA ONLINE PLATFORM 5 BENEFITS OF GOING UPSIDE DOWN IS R. Shrestha (Web Design) GOOD FOR YOU L. Maharjan (Mobile Application) PENNY WESTON WHY MORE MEN SHOULD BE PRACTICING SUBSCRIPTIONS YOGA [email protected] ROLA TASSABEHJI YOGA AND LONGEVITY: HOW YOGA ADVERTISING CONTRIBUTES TO PROACTIVE HEALTHCARE RICHARD BROOK Jayne Notley THE FLEXIBILITY MYTH-HOW TO ACHIEVE Sales Manager THE ULTIMATE YOGIC STATE WITHOUT THE Tel: 00 44 (0) 1778 391189 ‘PERFECT POSTURE’ Mobile : 07876 658498 VICTOR M. PARACHIN Email : [email protected] ‘SHAKING THE WORLD INTO WAKEFULNESS’ MEHER BABA Archana Karki YOGI MAHARAJ DR.MALIK PUBLISHER • ASK YOGI MAHARAJ DR.MALIK • VEDIC ASTROLOGY YOGA Magazine is an independent journal and is not affiliated with any organisations or associations. • YOGA SUTRAS The publishers do not accept any liability for errors or omissions. The views expressed in YOGA Magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor or Publisher. All registered names and trademarks SPECIAL THANKS TO EVERYONE ELSE WHO are acknowledged. YOGA Magazine does not take responsibility for any unsolicited manuscripts or HELPED PUT THIS MAGAZINE TOGETHER photography sent its offices. Reproduction, in part or in whole, without written permission from the Publisher is prohibited. All rights reserved © 2005 ISSN 1478-9671. YOGA Magazine (ISSN:1478-9671, USPS: 5703) is published 12 times per year by Yoga Mag Ltd and distributed in the US by Asendia USA 17b S Middlesex Ave, Monroe NJ 08831. Periodicals postage paid at New Brunswick, NJ and additional mailing offices. Health Warning: YOGA Magazine trusts you will benefit from the practice of yoga. However, nothing in this magazine should be construed as medical advice. Always consult your doctor before undertaking any exercise programme. Neither the Editor nor Publisher can be held responsible for any injury, accidents or damage resulting from ideas or exercises discussed in YOGA Magazine. 6

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FEATURE yogamagazine.com 5 GOBINEGNUEPFSIIDTESDOOFWN IS GOOD FOR YOU Words: MoreYoga If you’ve ever been to a yoga class, you’d have encountered the, sometimes feared, ‘inversions’. Inversions are part of a whole division of yoga poses – ones that, according to MoreYoga expert instructor, Anna De Sousa, present their own benefits. “Going upside down, and we mean postures where you are fully inverted, requires a whole-body awareness and positioning that can change your perspective, improve your brain function and strengthen your whole body.” Anna points out.

FIVE REASONS WHY GOING UPSIDE DOWN IS SO GOOD FOR YOU: IMPROVES YOUR POSTURE To train for inversions such as headstand, forearm stand, or handstand, your body posture needs to be on point. Your spine must be long, your ribs need to be drawn in, and your legs need to be active. Otherwise, the outcome… won’t be cute. We always caution against going upside down by rounding your upper back or with an unengaged core, - it’s simply not a safe way to do it. When you’re working with inversions, posture is vital, so going upside down will translate into an improved posture when you’re not upside down. Win-win. KEEPS YOUR BRAIN SHARP Think about how long you’ve been standing on your feet. It takes us years to build the neural control to balance on our feet. So naturally, when you flip it upside down, not only does your body need to adjust to the requirements of balancing, but so does your brain. Learning a skill like inversions improves your brain function because you instantly need to be aware of balancing and keeping control of your body while inverted. Not an easy thing to do.

FEATURE yogamagazine.com STRENGTHENS YOUR the floor away to stay up, and that “Going upside down, CORE AND UPPER BODY increases your upper body strength. and we mean postures Your arms can’t support you on their We tend to have powerful legs because own, simply because they aren’t where you are fully we use them a lot. But when it comes designed to do so. Your core needs to inverted, requires a to upper body strength… this is where help out too. whole-body awareness we start to see some weakness. But and positioning that can during inversions, your upper body A lot of the conditioning for change your perspective, strength and your core are key factors inversions includes a lot of upper improve your brain in keeping you safe. body and core strength to keep you function and strengthen strong. your whole body.” When you’re standing up you’re effectively pushing down with your BOOSTS YOUR MOOD feet. You don’t notice because it’s second nature to you. When getting If you’ve already experienced the into an inversion like a handstand you upside-down world, you’ll be familiar need to do the same. You need to push with the ‘After-RUSH’! Getting upside down is exciting, exhilarating, and fun!

facebook.com/official.yogamag Also, with all of that blood and oxygen flowing straight MoreYoga runs a series of inversion classes down to your head, you’ll get a natural boost and the feeling of and workshops both in studio and online. being alive! Conquering an inversion makes you feel invincible. it has brought affordable and accessible practice into the heart of local communities CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE across London. Check out the 34+ studios across London at http://www.moreyoga. Practising inversions can change your perspective. Quite co.uk/studios/ or visit the online platform, literally! When you flip your perspective upside down, you Wellness TV discover a whole new way of seeing things. And what’s more, (https://wellnesstv.moreyoga.co.uk/). you become aware that challenging and scary things are possible. This gives you a whole new outlook on life and invites 11 you to be playful and try out something different. Getting upside down is a fantastic way to challenge yourself, improve your posture, and stimulate your mind! One last recommendation, next time you’re in a class, and an inversion is offered, go for it safely and follow your teacher’s advice. Remember: it takes us years to learn to walk correctly. There is no rush to get upside down. Enjoy the journey!

FEATURE yogamagazine.com WAYS YOGA ICMAPNRHOEVLEPYYOOUUR MENTAL HEALTH Words: Michael DeHoyos facebook.com/official.yogamag Most of us are aware that if we don't take care of our physical health, we can put ourselves at risk of all kinds of illnesses and disorders. By getting out and exercising regularly, as well as eating well, we can take care of our physical health. What about mental health, though? It's something that's harder to take care of, as there's no obvious way to take care of it. With people under more stress and strain than ever before, it's harder to find ways to stay mentally healthy. 12

1 BOOST YOUR 2 MAINTAIN BRAIN CONCENTRATION AND HEALTH FOCUS mag For so many people, it's hard to stay focused in There's lots of talk of 'keeping your daily life. There's so much going on and you're brain young' but what does that mean meant to be handling it all. What can you do exactly? Essentially, staying active and to stay ahead of the curve? Many people reach maintaining brain health will help burnout as they try and stay ahead of their keep it young and resilient, well into workloads and their social obligations, without old age. That's something you want to taking any time out for themselves. That's not be looking into, especially if you want going to help your mental health in the long to stave off conditions like dementia. run, though. When you take part in yoga though, you'll “Yoga is an excellent way to actually boost your concentration and focus maintain brain health, as it helps as you'll need to focus during your session. improve brain function,” says Jenny According to a 2011 study done by the National Wilde, a health writer with 1 Day 2 Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), Write and Write My X. “Studies have the unification of the physical body, breath, and shown it's helpful at all ages, and the concentration go hand-in-hand during yoga, sooner you start, the better. In fact, as they help clear blockages in your energy Harvard Health Publishing suggests channels so that you feel more balanced. that yoga helps brain cells make new Imagine having to do a tree pose. It's actually connections and improve cognitive very hard to think of anything else as you aim to skills like memory and learning.” keep your balance as you do so. You'll be able to clear your thoughts and really think about what If you want to improve your overall you're doing, making it much easier to focus on brain health, yoga is an excellent tool everyday life. to have. 3 GET OUT OF FIGHT OR FLIGHT You are probably aware of the 'fight or flight' response, where a person either runs away or stops and fights in the face of danger. If you're someone that suffers from anxiety, you know the feeling all too well. Being stuck in 'fight or flight' is exhausting, and isn't good for either your mental or physical health. However, as you have anxiety, it's so difficult to get into a relaxed state. That's where yoga can help. When you practice yoga, you'll be able to move out of the 'fight or flight' response, which comes from the sympathetic nervous system, to the 'rest and digest' state, which is associated with the parasympathetic nervous system. According to Dragonfly, yoga helps you deal with fight or flight through meditation and a calm spirit. So, as you're starting your yoga session and start breathing deeply, you'll be able to calm down your nervous system and start feeling more relaxed. 13

FEATURE yogamagazine.com 5 RELEASE STRESS THROUGH YOGA When you think of releasing stress through physical activity, you'll think of something more active and strenuous, such as a soccer game or other sports. However, you can absolutely release stress through yoga, and it's something anyone can do. When you practice yoga, you're connecting mindfully with your body and moving it in a mindful way. It's also worth looking at how yoga works on a spiritual level. When you do yoga, you're shifting energy through your chakras, and so helping move those energetic blockages. That's often why you feel so much better after a session. No matter the reason, yoga will always help you decrease stress. That's why it's such a popular pastime for those with busy lives. 4 IMPROVE YOUR facebook.com/official.yogamag RELATIONSHIPS Yes, really. As you continue practising yoga, you'll find that you're becoming calmer and more relaxed in your everyday life. That has a lot of benefits, such as helping you keep your cool when things go wrong, or 6 HELP WITH ANXIETY deal with issues at work without getting too AND DEPRESSION stressed out. The same goes for your relationships. When you're already on edge, it's very easy There are so many people who will have to to snap at your loved ones or treat them less deal with anxiety or depression at some point than compassionately. By doing yoga, you'll in their lives. As a person living in the modern be more centred and find it easier to meet world, there's no denying that you're going to them in the middle. That will help improve struggle at some point. Many who are living with those relationships in the long term. depression and anxiety are turning to yoga, as it offers a lot of help in combating these conditions. This is because yoga combines many things into each session. For example, you'll get exercise, meditation, relaxation, and socialisation “Yoga is an if you do it in a group. As mentioned above, excellent way to you're working to regulate your stress response system, which helps you stay in the present. That's something that helps bring balance to your life, allowing you to stay in the here and maintain brain now and not focus on the negative things that health, as it helps you're experiencing. improve brain function\". 14

7 CONTROL YOUR 8 YOGA CAN HELP PHYSICAL HEALTH WITH PTSD As you may already know, your physical and mental Finally, we've seen how yoga can help facebook.com/official.yogamag health are linked. As such, if you're struggling with your with common mental health conditions, mental health, then your physical health will suffer, too. but what about more serious conditions, That's something that you want to avoid if at all possible. such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? Luckily, yoga has some real positive physical effects that Of course, yoga isn't the cure-all for issues will help with your mental health. like these, but it can seriously help those with the disorder, combat the symptoms “Yoga can help reduce your heart rate, respiration and live calmer and happier lives. rate, and blood pressure,” says Paula Cowen, a yoga blogger from Brit Student and Next Coursework. “As This works in the same way yoga such, that's going to have a real effect on your mental helps with stress. As you practice yoga, health.” When you're reducing your heart rate, you're you'll be reducing your heart rate along going to feel much calmer overall. As such, you're going with focusing on the here and now. When to feel so much better after every session. you do this, you're training yourself to focus on the present in a calmer Plus, yoga allows you to do other types of exercise. state. Studies have shown that yoga can According to The Good Body, 75% of yoga practitioners help improve sleep, reduce stress, and are able to do additional exercises like running, cycling, increase resilience for those with PTSD. and group sports. Plenty of exercise is possible when you Furthermore, according to NCBI, yoga take up yoga! has been shown to reduce the effects of PTSD-related physiological episodes by improving body awareness and somatic regulation. As you can see, yoga can help your mental health in myriad different ways. Whether you're dealing with too much stress, anxiety or depression, or even more serious disorders, yoga can help you cope with it and start finding a path forward. SOURCES: 1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC3193654/ 2. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying- healthy/yoga-for-better-mental-health 3. https://www.dragonfly-yoga.org/blog/the- benefit-of-yoga-fight-or-flight 4. https://www.thegoodbody.com/yoga-statistics/ 5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC5939561/ Michael DeHoyos is a lifestyle writer and editor for PhD Kingdom and Write My Case Study. He works with companies to improve marketing strategies and submits blogs on various topics to numerous sites and publications. He's also a staff writer for Origin Writings. 15

FEATURE yogamagazine.com HUM AN ENE RGY IN SEARCH OF OUR VITAL ELIXIR Words: Gérard Sunnen, M.D. This article posits the existence of a From the ongoing aftershocks of levels, high, normal, or low, giving spectrum of energies that activate our the Big Bang’s primordial detonation us a sense of our power reserves. human organism during life’s journey. to the forces that spin windmills, and A still unlocated gauge residing in Derived from core metabolic energies, from our body’s physical motions our brains tells us, in the here and are other energies that progressively to the incessant workings of our now, how much energy circulates push forward the limits of human individual bodily cells, resides a core in our bodies and minds, and how transcendence, namely nervous system common element: Energy. Think much could be made available for energies that use electro-chemical and about it, without it, everything would anything we contemplate doing. micro electromagnetic forces. And stand still, and all living forms would We perennially long for access to beyond that, are others, generated by eventually devolve to rejoin the higher magnitudes of this magical massive neuronal network aggregates, inanimate world. substance. From where does this such as the brain, producing higher- elixir spring, which dynamics move order energies that express themselves On our human plane, our energy it, what embodies its core, and how as states of consciousness. is a precious elixir. At any one time, can one tap into its source? we are provided with some idea of its

Imagine yourself a robot. How billions of years from the time the first \"We perennially much energy would you need to unicellular organisms populated the long for access to do all the things you’ve done in the earth’s primordial seas, is chemical higher magnitudes last twenty-four hours? How many magic. From our fuel source, food, times, as a robot, would you recharge we instinctively seek the nutrients of this magical your lithium batteries to provide for that harbour its chemical reserves. substance. From the Watt-hours powering all your Carbohydrates, proteins, and fats where does this movements and the totality of your cumulated by plants and animals via elixir spring, which operating systems? As a mammal, add comparable processes feed our life’s dynamics move all the motions of all your internal voracious machinery for energetic it, what embodies organs, such as the faithful pump of sustenance. its core, and how your heart’s beat and the peristalsis of can one tap into its your digestive system. And what of Another element essential for your mind’s thoughts and emotions? burning our nutrients is oxygen. source?\" Do they not require significant energy Required minute by minute without to spark their neuronal workings? let-up, oxygen lends its electron Indeed, each perceived thought and exchange powers to a carefully felt emotion represents a sequence choreographed cascade of metabolic of firing neurons, engaging, each events whose final product is the time, a corresponding illumination of energy needed for doing what cells consciousness. do. Cells not only look for continuity of their own individual life, but as Robots are energised by the members of trillions-celled humans, direct force of flowing electrons. they are also given assigned roles. Amperages and voltages make robots Thyroid, pancreatic, and pituitary move. Humans, similarly, make use of electron flows, but in gradual ways that will not electrocute them. This extraction process, honed for

FEATURE yogamagazine.com cells make hormones; bone cells make broth, found ways to form offshoots, and with all our combined skeletons, and nerve cells electrify munities, becoming multi-celled cellular activities, we manufacture communications. In huge aggregates, es. Given time, cells discovered close to our weight in ATP daily. like brains, neuronal cells generate o-chemistry and developed Lamentably, ATP cannot be stored nor intelligence and creativity. What’s injected. more, in a miraculous tour de force, es for rapid responsiveness they can create - or access - a very bient conditions. They also Tracing our metabolic energy special dimension: Consciousness. ed faster communications among back to its roots, we see that it all selves, a distinctly advantageous ultimately trickles down from our In the extraction of nutrients’ ity. sun’s benevolent radiation. Our star energy, electrons are transacted in What really happens as we siphon bestows us its energy, which it creates reactions called reduction-oxidation energy from foods? In wondrous from atomic fusion. And looking far or “redox,” where the final electron biochemical creativity, metabolic beyond our antediluvian past, all the acceptor is oxygen itself. Without energy finds its destination in a unique energies we humanly possess at this oxygen, our metabolism stops, and compound, a molecular battery very moment have their fundamental indeed we must keep breathing lest that can be endlessly discharged source in a cosmic deflagration some we rejoin the inanimate. Unlike a log’s and recharged, ATP, or adenosine 13.8 billion years ago, that birthed ardent oxygen-driven flames, however, triphosphate, which is used by all all galaxies, and eventually our sun. metabolism is a slow burn quest for earthen species and has even been In 1927, Visionary Belgian physicist energy, the force constantly required searched for in other planets as a Georges Lemaître called the source of to feed life’s glow. Like all living things, proof of life. Manufactured by each this genesis the “primeval atom,” now humans are fundamentally energy living cell, ATP is essential for most known as the Big Bang. extraction organisms. We take power basic cellular functions, from protein from energy-rich molecules, reducing construction, immune defense, and There are many forms of energy them to energy-poorer molecules. muscle contraction, to RNA and on earth: Thermal, magnetic, DNA synthesis and brain bioelectric gravitational, electrical, mechanical, The first one-celled living reactivity. One sugar molecule, for chemical, and nuclear, among others. organisms, emerging some 4 billion example, will yield about 30 ATP Any one energy can morph into any years ago in the earth’s amino other. As humans, we make use of all of them. The most mysterious and elusive of all energies, however, is Dark Energy, because it still cannot be observed or measured, and yet, by all estimates, it accounts for some 68% of our universe. The first neurons emerged early in animal evolution around 600 million years ago. First found in sea creatures like jellyfish, sponges, and cnidarians such as sea anemones, the push for connectivity eventually grew spinal cords, nerves plexuses, and brains. It is vibrantly ongoing today. While not refuting the findings of biomedical sciences, there are other notions of human energy that predate contemporary systems by thousands of years. They were gleaned, not by way of test tubes and measuring machines but by the sheer meditative exploration of human consciousness. These models posit forces coursing through our bodies, intersecting with our physical self and giving it life.

There need not be any competition states of consciousness known as “Pure he describes the sweeping facebook.com/official.yogamag between these systems. A more Consciousness.” Meditators, sages, transformative experience that sensible approach may be integration, rishis and even “ordinary people” spawned the renaissance of his world if not a fusion of systems. The practice report states of experiencing human vision. of mind-body arts increasingly energy in drastically novel forms. demonstrates that the energy dynamics Often described as so poignantly Gopi Krishna, a humble yogi they access can beneficially impact all transfixing that they surpass all meditator with linguistic gifts, bodily functions. common thoughts and emotions, reporting on his transformative “Pure consciousness” experiences experience in “Kundalini: The And what about our human are conceptualised as the direct Evolutionary Energy in Man,” consciousness? Is consciousness perception of human energy, the core describes the wondrous energy he energy? If so, can it morph into accessed via this metaphor, “a stream other energies, and vice versa? sciousness, devoid of all ego of liquid light entering my brain from Can consciousness translate to ures and expressions. my spinal cord.” known energy sources, or, akin to chard Bucke, M.D., a Canadian Dark Energy, does it belong to an ian, and mystic, in his classic Human energy derives from the independent dimension with its own mic Consciousness: A Study in the aggregate contribution of trillions proprietary workings and laws? ion of the Human Mind,” (first of cells, each living cell diligently hed in 1901), wrote that “simple producing energy molecules. Within In the literature of human ousness,” shared by much this community of cells are neurons transcendence, ancient and modern, animal kingdom, eventually which, over eons, developed the skill multiple references are made to special a higher mental stage, “self- of electrochemical signalling, taking ousness,” embodying greater life energy to higher possibilities. flective capacities. From there, layer is emerging, “Cosmic Our human energy finds its ousness.” Citing examples of primal origin in the sun’s benevolent rous historical figures who radiation. Further afield, however, ed analogous phenomena, its primordial genesis belongs to the cosmic phenomenon known as the Big Bang. 19

FEATURE yogamagazine.com Human consciousness itself is Once in your meditative luxuriant vegetation, as may be found an expression of energy. Like known destination, request a connection to in the paintings of Henri Rousseau. energies, does it also derive from the your energy. Where is it, what does explosive illumination of the Big Bang? it look like, and has it a source? How Linking to your energy core is Or does it belong to another network does your energy feel, and how is it likely to be fleeting at first, as your with its own proprietary laws? expressed in your mental imagery? meditative forays strive to connect to Open your meditative field to colours, its sensory signals and to its mental Meditation on energy can activate luminosities, sounds and tonalities, images. More direct pathways emerge all bodily organs. It can also activate internal vibrations, and perceptions along the way. Meditating on energy itself and open landscapes to new self- of bodily currents. Also, accept any stimulates the mind-body interface, perceptions. imagery that may come from any activating brain and nervous system other source, be they eidetic images functions and the vitality of bodily MEDITATION ON of our sun’s warmth and light, the systems. ENERGY wonder of spiral galaxies, the beauty of the Aurora Borealis, or the force of Dr. Gérard Sunnen is a At times, meditation focuses on medically trained psychotherapist gathering insights, realisations, and even revelations. Here, we practicing in New York City. are exploring connections to the Certified in psychiatry and wellspring of our own life forces. Our neurology, his areas of specialty intention is first to contact them, then include hypnotherapy, medical expand them. hypnosis, meditation therapy, and Find your best meditative position Autogenic Training. so that there is a minimal effort Drsunnen.com in maintaining it. Yoga or supine positions are fine. Eyes closed, connect with the feeling of your body’s interior, reaching your calmest physiological rhythm. Learn to develop total body awareness.



Nina &SVpeMirrekittouaaelyiteyn Today we are talking to our cover girl Nina Verkoeyen - an international spiritual leader and the author of several books that have been teaching self-awareness for more than 15 years. Nina appeared twice on the cover of Yoga Journal (Russia), New Yoga Magazine (USA), and numerous worldwide publications. She was even featured as our YOGA magazine (UK) teacher of the month in 2013. Nina Verkoeyen is also the founder of an emerging spiritual tradition - Meta Spirituality, that supersedes old \"New Age\" spirituality and whose mission is to affect the consciousness of millions of people and cause collective graduation from living in the partial truth and fragmented knowledge of old spirituality.

NINA, THANK YOU FOR JOINING US facebook.com/official.yogamag FOR THIS CONVERSATION, LET’S DIVE STRAIGHT IN! WHAT IS META SPIRITUALITY? Meta Spirituality is the next evolutionary rung of the enlightenment movement. It is something that was very much needed and anticipated by the collective. The time of Meta Spirituality - a renaissance of modern spirituality - has finally come. WHY WAS IT NEEDED? CAN YOU ELABORATE MORE ON THAT? Everything that was once new becomes old. “New Age” spirituality becomes “Old Age” spirituality. The spiritual tools that worked before have become outdated and inefficient ways to support you on a spiritual path. We used intermediaries - such as visualisations, affirmations, prayers, channelling, rituals, and even meditations - as a crutch. But in order to learn how to walk on our own feet, we can no longer keep using the tools that helped us grow before. Our collective consciousness has evolved enough to be able to not use any intermediary between the Self and The Creator. 23

INTERVIEW yogamagazine.com facebook.com/official.yogamag Meta Spirituality is a culmination of all your internal studies, the end Even the division between the two has MOST SPIRITUAL TEACHERS of your spiritual journey, and the become unnecessary. TEACH US ABOUT KARMA beginning of a completely different, AND REINCARNATION. extraordinary chapter in your life. And now, we are witnessing all WHAT YOU ARE SAYING across the world that people are HERE IS VERY DIFFERENT All of the other teachings and subconsciously asking to have a FROM WHAT WE’VE traditions supported a concept direct relationship with The Creator, ALL LEARNED ABOUT of intermediaries that we’ve now saying no more to the lessons of SPIRITUALITY. CAN YOU outgrown and need to get rid of. All intermediaries. TELL US MORE ABOUT IT? the teachings you have learned before HOW AND WHERE DID YOU were stepping stones to this one Last Meta Spirituality doesn’t GET THIS UNDERSTANDING Truth that includes everything. use intermediaries. There is no FROM? channelling, no belief in higher forces In 2016 during a spontaneous other than your own, no karma, and The aim of all the teachings, teachers, experience of true enlightenment, no individual or separate souls, no past practices, techniques, and methods I received information that later lives or reincarnation. was to lead you here to this deepest of became the landmark work of Meta all spiritual understandings - to The Spirituality. That experience of Meta Spirituality teaches you Last Truth that your heart knows. enlightenment divided my life into how to develop a direct relationship “before and after”, just as it has become between you and the Creator without a life-changing event for the thousands any intermediaries in between and to of students I have since shared this give birth to our new identity, our one knowledge through my lectures that shared soul, our one shared Meta self. explain and develop the meta-spiritual relationship between Creator and human. This body of knowledge is the foundation of Meta Spirituality. 24

Meta Spirituality provides you with The Last Truth and how to apply it to your daily life so that you can witness improvement in all areas. It’s not abstract knowledge. The power of The Last Truth is in its application. WHO IS THIS TRADITION FOR? It is not for beginners. Meta Spirituality is for experienced spiritual seekers who've tried it all but haven't seen results. They don't feel like they've found \"home\" — a piece of their puzzle is still missing. Meta Spirituality is for those who realise that mainstream techniques like visualisations, affirmations, and meditations aren't producing the results you seek. For those who are tired of constant self-work WHOSE \"LIFE LESSONS\" NEVER SEEM TO END. WHO WANTS TO GRADUATE FROM BEING A STUDENT OF LIFE TO BEING A CREATOR OF LIFE? For those who feel incomplete - regardless of the amount of learning they do, it always feels like something is missing. Experienced seekers will find the missing piece in Meta Spirituality. WHAT IS YOUR CONNECTION WITH YOGA? HOW IS SPIRITUALITY CONNECTED TO YOGA? For me, just like for many people, yoga was a gateway to spirituality. Through yoga, you develop body awareness on the yoga mat, which further expands to general awareness in your daily life.

INTERVIEW yogamagazine.com You increase the ability to listen to yourself through yoga practice, and this then starts serving you in your day-to-day tasks. You find \"home\" in your body first; then you find \"home\" in the whole Universe that you realise is inside you. And that's what Meta Spirituality is in the end - a realisation that you are in everything and everything is in you. WHAT WOULD YOU TELL OUR READERS? I would ask just one question. Are you ready to let go of intermediaries? Are you ready to develop a direct relationship with the Creator that is you? If so, then maybe Meta Spirituality is a missing piece you’ve been looking for all your life. After all the years of fruitless searches, you have finally found your way Home. Join the Meta Spirituality community on Instagram and Youtube and let its power transform your life. Instagram: nina.verkoeyen 26

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PHILOSOPHY yogamagazine.com Unveiling The MindYWithOGA Words: Dilara Gümüş

facebook.com/official.yogamag Dilara Gümüş Y oga is not a result, but Who am I? holistic awareness. As you walk in a process, just like life Soul? Mind? Feelings? Thoughts? this holistic awareness, you discover without duality. We Do I really know myself? Can I yourself to the very depths. observe and discover recognise you? Is this possible? Will everything in life from my mind, which never shuts up, be Everything in the universe is the moment we open our eyes to quiet one day? Is that voice I can't complete and perfect. We, like the the world. Here is where yoga offers understand, my inner voice? My universe, are a mechanism that methods of observing and discovering intuition or my trauma? Is it the things completes vital functions within the inside. This time, you are observing I have brought from my family, my fractions of a second. How many of your inner world, not the outside parents, my teachers at school, and us are aware of this? How many of world! Your feelings, your thoughts, my environment that do not belong to us consciously take deep breaths, your breath… me? What shapes my actions? What thinking that breathing is the only link So what's going on inside? Do influences my decisions? between us and life while rushing from my thoughts or my feelings affect Yoga will be an answer to all of work to home to work during the day. my thoughts? Is it my feelings or them in this whole process. Your my thoughts that make me who I answer, which does not fit into a At this point, the main purpose of am? Maybe both… So how are they certain definition, mould, and book, is yoga is to \"slow down the mind\". But shaped? Based on what I've learned so your discovery... how possible is this? How many of us far? We have a lot of questions in our Yoga aims to ensure the integrity succeed in arranging those thoughts minds… of the breath, body, and spirit. It is that we cannot grasp or see? Here we do this by moving from the concrete to the abstract with a guide that makes 29

PHILOSOPHY yogamagazine.com this limit and again we need a vehicle. For example, we can see the image of the baby in things easy. We set out from what we can the womb thanks to ultrasound. We cannot reach and control. hear the voices of people trapped under debris in an earthquake area. That's why we seek When we set out on this path, we aim to help from dogs with a stronger hearing system go after the visible and we accept what we than we do. cannot see first. Physically, we have 5 senses. These 5 senses help us receive data in the But we don't get up and say no to any world and facilitate our lives with common of them. But from here we understand that mental labels. However, there is a reality we are limited and that it is much more than beyond what we see, hear and feel. How? what we can see, hear and feel. In other words, we do not know the limitlessness of infinite The human eye (90 degrees* 1/03* 90*60 intelligence, its power, and what it can do. 1/10.3=) is 324,000,000 (million) megapixels. However, as far as we can decipher what we Even the best camera we say wow is 33.4 have, we know what the body cover can do. megapixels! However, we need a microscope That's why we start with the most accessible to see microbes and a telescope to see stars. thing, namely the body. We move from the Another example is that the human ear can hear sounds between 20 and 20,000 hertz. We cannot hear sounds above and below

\"When we start tangible to the abstract, from the facebook.com/official.yogamag breathing and achievable to the unreachable. And meditating, we our goal is to go beyond all this by first start to exercise embodying all we know, and coming our judgment, into balance by aligning. perception, and consciousness We get rid of the body mould and muscles in our take our power of creation into our brain\". hands. The user manual is YOGA! When we start breathing and meditating, we start to exercise our judgment, perception, and consciousness muscles in our brain. During Breathing and Meditation; our prefrontal lobe begins to shut up and emotion begins to descend into our brain (temporal lobe). Going down to the tempo is the door that opens to all of our subconscious. That is, to our subconscious, which manages 96% to 99% of our behaviours in daily life. During all these works, we silence some consciousness so that by focusing ourselves on the breath a little from the outside world, we begin to turn to our inner world and our essence with the breath. And here the healing begins. We approach the main screen where the pictures that make up our screen reflected on the front screen come and we encounter various thoughts there. The more we look, the stronger the connection with eternity within us becomes, and the brain and body are restructured. In the asana step, we reconfigure the body-brain hardware. In every movement we make during the day, even when we raise our simplest arm, the breath we take travels through all the involved arm muscles and sends a message to the brain. How does the brain sense things in the body? How we embody our inner senses is very important for us. Because in fact, movement is not about our muscles, it is all about the brain. If the brain does not work well, if the motor system of the person is not developed, the muscle does not develop either. And our motor system begins to develop at 8 weeks in the womb! It continues with the infancy period. We don't need difficult yoga poses for a healthy motor system, nervous system, and healthy 31

PHILOSOPHY yogamagazine.com facebook.com/official.yogamag brain equipment! On the contrary, renews synapses and perception in Born in Turkey and living we need simple movements such as the brain, nervous system, and motor in Kuşadası, Dilara Gümüş crawling on the ground. The point we movements. is an International Holistic- need to pay attention to here is not to Spiritual Life Coach who has act robotically. Working with a focus All these things make us dedicated herself to spirituality, on the fascia, stimulating the entire more aware, more alert, more metaphysics, quantum and nervous system, and participating in compassionate, and most importantly, energy issues since 2012. Dilara this miracle process! Because acting individuals with a nervous system that is a Reiki Master and focuses with awareness and mindfulness gives the right response at the right on the holistic well-being of all time. With this cycle that affects all of people, including their spiritual, 32 our lives, the past, the future, and the mental, and physical health, present are changing! The equipment in the \"experience of being of the mind, body, and soul changes, human\" as an eternal light. each one is healed, and the future is laid on compassionate foundations For more information, with consciousness and awareness. www.dilaragumus.com instagram: https://instagram. Every moment we breathe is an com/gumuss_dilaraa opportunity to be reborn. I hope you take advantage of every opportunity!



OGA& PHILOSOPHY yogamagazine.com LONGEVITY HOW YOGA CONTRIBUTES TO PROACTIVE HEALTHCARE Words: Rola Tassabehji

LIVING among those introduced to yoga later of yoga that included some of the basic LONGER LIVES in age, there seems to be an offset to traditional physical postures, breathing WITH YOGA: the ageing process compared to those exercises, and meditation for five days SCIENCE OR with no consistent yoga practice — a week. Researchers measured various FICTION? not just in terms of better posture, biomarkers and found that, compared strength, and flexibility, but a healthier to the control group, yoga slowed While many of the physical and mental lifestyle and a more positive outlook down cellular aging and lowered benefits of yoga are generally accepted, to life. measures of inflammation in the body. the longer-term effects of consistent yoga practice on how well, and how To what extent does science support Another study in Frontiers in long, we age are less clear. the hypothesis that yoga counteracts the Human Neuroscience found that ageing process? Or is the connection a 90 days yoga retreat reduced I started contemplating the immeasurable - an unconscious bias inflammation and stress in the body. connection between yoga and from a yoga enthusiast? While by no The yoga retreat included meditation, longevity during teacher training means comprehensive, here are some physical postures, and chanting daily. when I was introduced to some of the of the latest research findings and their Beyond the physical benefits, yoga was best-known yoga teachers like Krishna relevance for yogis and non-yogis alike. also found to improve health-related Pattabhi Jois (last known age at 93), quality of life and mental well-being. B.K.S. Iyengar (last known age 93), RESEARCH While the yoga retreat program may be and more recently Tao Porchon-Lynch HIGHLIGHTS too time-demanding for most people, who died in 2020 at age 101. Working even two to three hours of yoga a week among an older population here in the In a 2017 study published in can improve health. Algarve, Portugal, I noticed how even Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, researchers found that 12 In an earlier smaller study, weeks of yoga slowed cellular aging. researchers at Harvard Medical School The program consisted of 90 minutes found that practitioners of loving- kindness meditation, which utilises a focus on kindness and warmth towards

PHILOSOPHY yogamagazine.com Rola Tassabehji all people, have longer telomeres, can do more to slow down aging. the present feels uncomfortable and structures found at the ends of our Particularly in the wake of COVID, the future uncertain, yoga, one of the chromosomes. The shortening of there is increasing awareness of the world’s oldest health systems, remains telomeres is associated with aging, importance of a preventive model in an accessible and cost-effective way to cancer, and a higher risk of death. healthcare. As attention moves to a proactively and safely live better and Interestingly, this was most apparent new more proactive and preventive longer lives. among women meditators. Although healthcare paradigm, driven by limited by its small sample size, the artificial intelligence, big data robotics, Rola Tassabehji is a journalist study shows the possibility that loving- and other new technologies, yoga and content marketing kindness meditation, especially in tools handed down from thousands of women, might alter relative telomere years ago can be added to the mix for specialist with a background length, a biomarker associated with comprehensive wellness. in global brand management longevity. And the good news is that it is experience at Unilever and WHERE DOES never too early, or too late, to start higher education at INSEAD. YOGA FIT incorporating elements of yoga into As a YPO spouse since 2001, IN MODERN your lifestyle — what research calls she is passionate about sharing MEDICINE? “yoga intervention”. From chair yoga for older adults or those with mobility storeys of accomplished Most regular yoga practitioners have limitations, to moderately dynamic business leaders she frequently experienced how yoga can activate Hatha yoga, to Iyenger yoga and yoga the parasympathetic nervous system, therapy, the scientific evidence for meets, and has been known as the “rest and digest” mode a regular yoga practice confirms a interviewing chief executives while reducing the response of the range of mental and physical benefits. sympathetic nervous system, or the Especially at times like these, when and thought leaders from “fight or flight” mode. around the world for the past Yet accumulating scientific studies eight years. suggest that done consistently, yoga



FEATURE yogamagazine.com /official.yogamag MBYIGTHFIST,NESS PDREOBFUENSKSEDIOBNYAAL Words: Joanna Dase

With the rising The fear of bulking is a common popularity of social misconception for many beginners. trends taking over the likes of TikTok, there is 'STRENGTH Strength training with lighter weights a lot of fitness advice surfacing from so- 1 and more repetitions will define your called professionals in the industry. With TRAINING body without making you bulky. the influencer sector Don't be afraid to add on more being saturated, it can weights as you will enjoy the benefits be hard to understand what is helpful and what WILL MAKE ME of building lean muscle and burning is nonsense. Certain fat. An easy way to start strength hacks can claim to training is HIIT as it combines both provide you with instant TOO BULKY' cardio and weights. results, but these can sometimes cause you 'I CAN EAT WHATThis is wrong.When you are more harm than good. in an exercise regime, it's Real fitness requires I WANT NOW I'Mimportant to eat food that patience and willpower. Unfortunately, results fuels your body for everyday can't happen overnight. activities and your next Before attempting any EXERCISING'workout. Eat the right amount new fad, take the time to of carbs, fat, and proteins to 2 do your own research to help keep your energy up, and see if there is any truth to the claim. This goes build strength. for nutritional guidance too. Investigate the person who is providing the advice as you should only follow the suggestion of registered dieticians. To help you bust some of the biggest fitness myths circulating the web, Joanna Dase, fitness expert at Curves has set the record straight. Soon you'll be approaching your fitness regime with realistic expectations. 39

facebook.com/official.yogamag FEATURE yogamagazine.com 'I CAN TURN FAT INTO MUSCLE' Fat and muscle are distinct tissues and made up of different cells. The loss of fat does not directly lead to the growth of muscle. Fat pockets can be shrunk down whilst you build on the muscle you already have. To lose fat without losing muscle, you need to look at the food you eat. If you are decreasing your calorie intake without 3eating enough protein, it could result in muscle loss. 'IWSMOHROISKUSOLDUANTNS'YT' It's not a crime to miss a workout here 5 and there, and it would be unrealistic to 4 think so. If you do miss one, then focus 'TWHOEBRLEOKTNOTUGETER,R'TTHHEE on what you do next instead. Take time to set up a weekly schedule that fits in with your daily routine and try to stick to it. Once a habit is formed, it will become easier to maintain. Don't beat yourself up, just use it as motivation to work harder in the next session. It can be easy to believe that the longer you work out, the more effective your workout will be. However, sometimes less is more, as it does come down to how you exercise rather than how long. You could get the same result in 40 minutes of resistance training as you could in two hours of resistance training, what matters is the intensity.

6 'I'LL BURN MORE FAT ON AN EMPTY STOMACH' Whilst this is technically true, it is the wrong method. The issue is that without any fuel in your system, you may not be able to achieve the equivalent intensity and duration of workout. A good pre-workout snack will be a mix of carbs, protein, and healthy fats about an hour before your workout so you can push yourself harder. 7 N'OETWATTHHOITENEYLSYOALEKNGSDG' facebook.com/official.yogamag We've been told that egg yolks are bad for your Joanna Dase Is The Fitness Expert At Curves. cholesterol. While eggs are high in cholesterol, www.curves.com the effect of eggs on blood cholesterol is minimal when compared with the effect of trans fats and saturated fats. The yolk contains most of the vitamins and minerals in the egg as well as the all- important protein. Egg whites are nearly fat-free but unlike egg yolks, they are not satiating and will result in hunger cravings sooner.

PHILOSOPHY yogamagazine.com WHY MORE MEN SHOULD BE PRACTICING YOGA Words: Penny Weston

While most yoga HUW facebook.com/official.yogamag classes are dominated by \"At Made, I started with a sports- more spiritual class and every Friday women, more based yoga with the spiritual side night, I know I will sleep well and I men are choosing acknowledged, and it's been brilliant. look forward to it for that benefit. I go to stretch their I had shoulder and back pains but spinning, have something to eat and limbs and finding out that there are now I can work out without any pain then do some yoga in the evening and some definite advantages to it including afterward,\" he said. get a good night's sleep.\" increased sexual performance. \"Yoga has made me feel springier HERE ARE MY But the prime reason for the when I go up and down stairs. TOP 7 REASONS increase in men trying yoga is to WHY MEN ease stress, mainly gained from the \"Lots of men think they aren't SHOULD BE workplace. flexible enough for a yoga class but TURNING TO it's the yoga that makes you flexible. YOGA. A recent study from Mind showed When I was out walking and needed that men are more likely to experience to tie my shoelaces, I used to have to STRESS RELIEF: work-related mental health problems, find somewhere to put my foot up. compared to problems outside of work. But now I can just bend down and do Yoga is one of the most helpful ways to up my lace. That's how I explain it to boost your mental health. It can really And more are turning to mindful my friends as I could not do that 12 help clear and calm your mind. It can practices such as yoga to ease their months ago.\" take practice to stop other thoughts stress. coming in while you are practicing. Huw said he has also started But yoga really can help fight This is a trend I am seeing amongst attending meditation yoga classes, negativity and improve your mood.\" clients at Made Wellness Centre, which he is really enjoying. where men are turning to yoga. Men 43 are experiencing stress, anxiety, and \"It is like a mental workout for the burnout just the same as women, and brain,\" he said. \"It also helps me sleep coming to a yoga session can be really better. At the end of the week, I do a helpful for mental and physical health. Just taking a bit of time out of your day for yourself can do wonders and there are many reasons why men should be trying yoga - there are so many benefits. Many men may think yoga is too feminine or they aren't flexible enough or that it isn't 'real exercise'. But once they try it, they are usually hooked. For Huw Chapman, 64, yoga has changed his life after he suffered a cardiac arrest while he was out, running in 2019. He was technically dead for 15 minutes, but after an emergency operation, he recovered well and was put on a specific cardiac rehabilitation programme. \"That's what took me down the fitness route,\" said Huw. \"I had to go somewhere where there were instructors and someone always on site so I joined Made. I went for spin classes and the gym but then one of the instructors suggested I try yoga.\" Huw added that he had previously tried a yoga class but found it too spiritual as they had to stop and write down their thoughts.

facebook.com/official.yogamag PHILOSOPHY yogamagazine.com YOGA INCREASES Penny Weston is highly regarded as a fitness, wellness and RANGE OF MOTION: nutrition expert, and runs an award-winning health spa, Most men have a tight muscle group, Moddershall Oaks and leading wellness centre, MADE. Penny such as the hamstrings, glutes or focuses on all angles of health and well-being, from mental pecs. But they may not realise the health to physical health, Se is dedicated to demonstrating how limitations these place on their ability by making small changes to routines, people can experience to train through a full range of motion. big results when it comes to happiness, energy levels, and Yoga will help open up all the problem areas, which will in turn help your mental state. training sessions. Websites: pennyweston.com, welcometomade.com BECOME MORE Instagram: pennywestonuk PRODUCTIVE AT WORK: A recent study from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of 85,000 workers in the US showed that mindfulness-based health practices, such as yoga, can improve employee wellbeing and ease productivity issues, such as burnout. A yoga workout can lead to greater feelings of vitality and lower levels of fatigue. A BETTER NIGHT'S SLEEP: Yoga can definitely help with insomnia or if you can't fall asleep easily at night. Yoga can also help with your sleep quality overall. The breathing exercises in yoga may play a role in this too and certainly help with calming you down. INJURY PREVENTION: Yoga is brilliant because it stretches your whole body. It helps increase strength and flexibility, as well as decrease your risk of injury. IMPROVE SEXUAL PERFORMANCE: Studies have shown that increased flexibility and lower stress levels can lead to better sexual performance. Yoga Promotes weight loss: Yoga can lower levels of cortisol, which is the stress hormone that prompts your body to collect belly fat. Yoga can also help create muscle definition.“ 44

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PHILOSOPHY yogamagazine.com WM‘SWAHEOKHAREKEFLRIUDNLBGINNATETBHSOAES’ Difficulties give us the opportunity to prove our greatness by overcoming them. Words: Victor M. Parachin

Though he did not speak from facebook.com/official.yogamag 1925 until his death in 1969, nearly half a century, Meher Baba nevertheless taught millions worldwide. Using only an English Alphabet board and hand gestures, he travelled the world – America, China, Egypt, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey and England - promoting God- consciousness. Often asked when he would end his silence, Meher responded simply: “When God thinks my speaking would be heard universally, He will make me break my silence.” Meher Baba was an Indian mystic who tirelessly lived and taught love for God. He was born on February 25, 1894, in Puna, India. The son of Persians who were active Zoroastrians, his parents named him Merwan Sheriar Irani. Like many Indians of their generation, the parents sent their son to a Christian (Jesuit) school. His interests were diverse: sports, especially cricket, music, poetry, and literature. Irani was also drawn to mystical subjects and was particularly fond of the Islamic Sufi writer Hafiz. His rather normal life changed dramatically in 1913 when he was 19. While bicycling to his college classes, he felt compelled to stop and visit an elderly woman sage who was a fixture in Puna. Her name was Hazrat Babajan and, at the time, was believed to be at least 100 years of age. She embraced Baba and the two sat silently in meditation. Baba continued to visit her and then, one evening in January 1914, she kissed Baba on the forehead. Immediately he felt a transfer of God realization enter his being. This powerful experience appears to have disoriented him. For a brief period of time, he was unable to eat or sleep and began wandering randomly throughout Puna. His parents feared he had become mentally ill. His mother, distraught, visited Hazrat Babajan, wondering what she had done to her son. The sage informed Mrs Irani that her son was not insane but was “destined to shake the world into wakefulness.” Before long, Baba began acting normally, much to the relief of his family. However, he continued to study with spiritual masters while holding a series of jobs including managing a theatre and working in his father's tea shop. By 1921 he began teaching and attracted a dedicated group of devotees who began to call him “Meher Baba” 47

PHILOSOPHY yogamagazine.com or “Compassionate Father.” Other followers commonly referred to him as “The Awakener”. On July 10, 1925 Baba began what he said would be a short period of silence “to save mankind from monumental ignorance” and to promote the “universal awareness of God on earth.” His silence - the subject of both controversy and curiosity – would last for the remainder of his life. In spite of his commitment to silence, he continued to teach and write, publishing a number of books. Seeking to reach the widest possible reader, Baba wrote in a popular, practical style. For example, when describing the “High Roads” which lead to God, he offered seekers six paths: “ 1. Love for God and intense longing Motherhood through honest love Interestingly, Patterson's father was a to see Him and to be united with for God.” Seeking to promote Baba's partner in the company which owned Him; spiritual teachings in America, two of the land. Out of deep respect for his his early Western disciples - Elizabeth daughter's spiritual quest, he obtained 2. Being in constant company with Patterson and Norina Matchabelli - left the property and donated it to Meher the saints and lovers of God and India for the United States seeking to Baba, thus fulfilling his final condition rendering them wholehearted find a property and establish a centre that the land \"should be given from service; for his work. Baba had visited the the heart.\" Over the next decade, Baba United States three times and was would personally visit the Centre and 3. Avoid craving, greed, anger, hatred, impressed. He said “There is greater meet with American seekers. and the temptations for power, energy in America than elsewhere, fame, and fault-finding; but most of this energy is misdirected. In 1956, Baba was seriously I will divert it into creative and injured in an automobile accident. As 4. Leaving everyone and everything spiritual channels.” He told Patterson a result of those injuries, Baba was in in complete external renunciation, and Matchabelli that any property constant pain, limited to a wheelchair, and in solitude, devoting oneself to which would become the Meher and often had to be carried from fasting, prayer, and meditation; Spiritual Centre had to meet these five venue to venue when he was teaching. conditions: By July of 1968, Baba announced that 5. Carrying on all worldly duties with his work was complete, \"one hundred equal acceptance of success or The climate should be equable. percent\" to his satisfaction. He died failure, with a pure heart and clean It should have more than ample water. a few months later on January 31, mind and remaining unattached in It should be virgin soil, never built upon. 1969. As word of his death spread, the midst of intense activity, and It should be land that could be tilled. it became necessary for his body to And it should be given from the heart. have special preparation because of 6. Selfless service of humanity without the vast numbers of people worldwide any thought of gain or reward.” For several years the two women who wanted to have a final viewing. visited various American locations His body, cooled by ice, was covered Baba not only exhibited a deep seeking property but were unsuccessful with roses and displayed to the public love and union with the Divine but until 1943. At that time Patterson was for one week before being placed also encouraged others to do the visiting her father in Myrtle Beach, in a tomb. It has since become a same declaring: “Every one of you, South Carolina, and remembered pilgrimage destination with thousands man or woman, of any caste, creed seeing, years earlier, a large tract of of visitors annually traveling from or colour, has equal right to attain undisturbed oceanfront property. all over the world, paying respect to Divinity. It has been possible for man Quickly revisiting the spot, she Baba, whom they view as one of the to become God through love for intuitively felt Baba would approve. most influential spiritual guides of the God. External renunciation is not at twentieth century. all necessary. Each and all, man or woman, whilst attending to all duties in the everyday walk of life, can attain Divine Fatherhood and Universal

WORDS OF WISDOM FROM MEHER BABA To express your love for God, you must live a life of love, honesty, and self-sacrifice. God is not to be preached but is to be lived. God cannot be discussed. God cannot be theorized. God cannot be argued about. God cannot be explained. God cannot be understood. God can only be lived by losing ourselves in Him through Love. Revenge follows hatred and forgiveness follows You can counteract a disease only by its antidote. Love facebook.com/official.yogamag love. is the only antidote to hatred. When you feel like hating a man, try to remind yourself that he is a form of your When nothing upsets you, you are at the beginning own Self. of the path. When you desire nothing, you are halfway on the path. When nothing becomes Do not get disheartened and alarmed when adversity, everything, you are perfected. calamity, or misfortunes pour in upon you. Thank God, for He has thereby given you the opportunity of I belong to no religion. The religion I teach to all is acquiring forbearance and fortitude. love for God. You will not be saved by accepting any theological The force that can overcome all difficulties is the dogmas or by regarding a Prophet who lived hundreds force of love. There is nothing that love cannot or thousands of years ago as the only God-incarnate, as achieve and there is nothing that love cannot the only genuine Saviour, as the last real messenger of sacrifice. God. If you want to be saved, conquer your mind, lead a pure life, and renounce low desires. Jealousy is not born of love, but of petty- mindedness, and dies simultaneously with the Real happiness lies in Oneness; wherever there is death of petty-mindedness. duality there is trouble. No amount of prayer or meditation can do what Victor M. Parachin, M. Div. (CYT) is an author, Vedic helping others can do. educator, yoga instructor, and Buddhist meditation teacher. He is the director of Tulsa Yoga Meditation Wars, and the suffering which they bring, cannot be Centre (USA). Victor researches and writes extensively completely avoided by mere propaganda against about eastern spiritual philosophy and is the author wars. If they are to disappear from human history, of numerous books. His work is published regularly in it is necessary to tackle their root cause. The root YOGA Magazine. His latest book - ‘Think Like a Buddha: cause is that most persons are in the grip of egoism and selfish considerations, and they express their 108 Days of Mindfulness’ was published by Hohm egoism and self-interest individually as well as Publishers. collectively. tulsayogameditationcenter.com 49

facebook.com/official.yogamag YogaPHILOSOPHY yogamagazine.com TOhf eHYTPrEFeRaoKtrmYPeHnOtSIS Words: Estibaliz Echevarria Guerrero . . . 50