意料之外，瑜珈送給我的一份禮物－看見自己的身心蛻變

文／Usha Namakkal Sundaram

練習瑜珈的初衷是為了要獲得內在平靜、讓心理素質更為成熟堅強。當我開始將瑜珈練習融入生活的那一刻開始，持續不間斷地練習著，我終於感受到瑜珈帶來的改變，其中讓我感觸最深的是－瑜珈讓我們面對自身的恐懼並願意試著克服眼前障礙。

很長一段時間，我非常地害怕頭倒立式，我仍記得第一次在課堂中練習頭倒立式時，即使有Tamal老師的協助，我還是害怕得差點尖叫，在那之後，好長一段時間，我都不敢提起勇氣再次練習，但現在的我已經可以獨立練習，更重要的是，我很享受如此嘗試、練習的過程！（雖然現階段還是需要牆壁輔助，但我相信有一天完全靠自己做到頭倒立式的）！感謝Master跟所有老師陪我們亦步亦趨地克服身心挑戰，成為一個身心靈更為一致的人。

瑜珈對我來說最饒富趣味也是最重要的價值就是－得以觀察自身的成長。即便只是一點一滴的成長也是值得珍惜的，感受到那涓滴成長讓我得到最純粹的快樂！畢竟，成長總是令人喜悅的，對吧？而且和朋友一起練習瑜珈，一同見證彼此成長更是無可取代的體驗！

哦！我還學習到一件事，練習過程中如果過度勉強或沒有專心聽從指示就匆促挑戰一些較為進階的動作是非常容易受傷的。所以，永遠都要注意聽從老師的指導，如同 Master Sujit說的『了解你的極限，在極限內做到最好，不要讓瑜珈練習變成折騰自己的方式。』

It’s amazing how yoga transforms us both physically and mentally. I started practicing yoga to gain inner peace and mental strength. 

Once I started doing it on a regular basis, I realized it has plenty of benefits.
One of many such benefits is, it helps us to face our fears and overcome it. I was so scared of Sirsasana (Head stand pose) for a long time. I still remember that I almost screamed in the class when Teacher Tamal helped me to do it the first time.. I didn’t dare to even try it for so long. But now I can do it on my own (even though I still need wall support for now, I’m sure I’ll get there one day) and more importantly I enjoy doing it 🙂

Thanks to our Master and teachers for helping us in every step to overcome our (both physical & mental) challenges and to become a better person.

And what makes yoga more fun and important for me is, that I get to watch myself grow, even if it’s a tiny growth. And this makes me happy. After all, it is always good to grow, right?  And growing together with our friends is more fun..

Oh.. another thing I learnt is, it is easy to get injured if we overdo or don’t pay attention when doing some challenging postures. 
So, it’s always better to listen to what our teacher says. 

As master Sujit says “Know your limits. Try your best. Do not torture yourself”