Diagnosis of
a‘yogoholic’
What is yogoholism? It is an addiction to anything related to
yoga or its techniques. It is a lifetime diagnosis. In this article, I would
like to share with you my experience on this path. This daily yoga practise has
changed - and continues to change - my approach. In the same way, my approach
changes my personal yoga practice.
Hello, my name is Petr and I am yogoholic. At the beginning
of this state, I had a downright negative relationship with yoga. I considered
it to be a road to hell. I considered it to be a self-centered technique that
causes problems. Possibly the most common question asked by yoga novices is
‘How can I start a regular yoga practice?’. To tell the truth, I did not have a
problem with this. Everytime I got something into my head, I bit into it like a
bulldog and went for my goal. Maybe you think that I was lucky, but you should
be aware that even this approach has its drawbacks. Its dark side is that when
you push on the saw too hard, its teeth become blunt, along with your
enthusiasm towards doing the activities. And slowly, but gradually, you cease
to take pleasure in what you are doing. I experienced this many times in
previous activities. Whenever I achieved the desired skills after years of hard
work, my passions quietly vanished in an inverse relationship with which I
acquired the skills. When I did not achieve my visions, I was dissatisfied.
When I reached my expectations, satisfaction did not last long. With each
conqured rung of the ladder, before me appeared three more.
In comparison to other activities, yoga practise has the
advantage that it offers an escape from this eternal cycle of dissatisfaction
and suffering. It actually describes the cycle. Yoga has such a wide variety of
techniques that the term ‘yoga’ can describe nearly any activity. For most
people, the term ‘yogi’ means a circus artist who ties his body into bizarre
knots and shapes. However, this is just one technique of yoga practise, which
primarily teaches concentration and support of
the body during meditation techniques. For me, the word ‘yogi’ describes
anyone who intensively and regularly engages in any activity. Yoga is an
entryway! And so it doesn’t matter what we do, but how we approach the
practice. Repeating the practice leads to its refinement and a change in the
approach. Similarly, my conception of yoga sadhana (practice) changes over the
years. There does not exist an exact description of how a given practice should
look like. Yoga is a living organism which reflects our own preferences.
Hari Óm