by Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati & Rukmini Abbruzzi
Your body is a temple. You’ve probably heard this before. It’s a reminder to treat your body well, both because you need your body healthy and strong as well as because your body is “the house of your soul.”
You may even have begun yoga because you needed to take better care of your body. The deepest roots of such New Age teachings often come from yoga’s ancient sages, yet the sages offer more: not only is your body the house of your Divinity, your body is itself Divine.
Most people don’t treat their bodies very well. They run their bodies ragged. They put off meeting its needs and only pay attention to it when it’s in pain. When you’re doing yoga, it means you already take better care of your body.
Yoga’s practices give you great benefits, both physical and more than physical. Even if you began Svaroopa® yoga to treat your body better, to heal it or decrease its pain, you soon find that our core opening practices give you more — you’re immersing yourself in the core of your being.
You discover that there is a deeper essence, the “you” that is more than your body and more than your mind. Yoga calls it svaroopa, your own Self as Consciousness-Itself, your own Divine Self.
You may experience your own Divinity as an inner expansiveness, calmness, peace, clarity, happiness or joy. Whatever your reasons for beginning yoga, these experiences of your own Self are what keep you coming back. It’s the true purpose of yoga.