by Rosemari Trites

Created on: January 23, 2009

Many people still believe that the word spirituality is linked to religion. To understand how yoga, or any meditative practice, can impact your life spiritually, we first have to explore what spirituality is within a human being.

Wikipedia defines spirituality as follows, "concerns itself with matters of the spirit, a concept closely tied to religious belief and faith, a transcendent reality," it continues to say, "spiritual matters regard humankind's nature and meaning...beyond the bodily senses, time and the material world." This last part, mentioning a reality within us beyond our outer experiences in the world is what makes us different from the lower animals. It is this part of spirituality that can be most impacted by yoga practice.

Allowing your mind to empty of the day, the bad presentation, a near miss on the highway on the way home, and let's not forget the bills that are stacking, will permit us in our yoga practice to learn how to release stresses that can barricade our minds from our inner spiritual voice. Our inner guide is always with us, we just need to learn how to drown out the noise of the rest of our lives in order to hear our spirit speaking to us. Yoga is so instrumental to bringing us closer to our spirit by allowing our concentration on breathe, going deep into our poses and by meditation.

Meditation, usually at the end of the practice, allows us time to empty the outer world and daily existence from our conscience mind. By relaxing and concentrating on your breathe many people hear their inner voice speaking to them. Problems have new solutions, stresses seem like less of a threat to our lives and some even experience a new inner peace and tranquility that carries with them throughout the rest of the day. This form of spirituality in our practices can be the difference, to some, of coping well with a difficult situation and moving on, or carrying the stress with you long beyond its actual effect on your conscious life.

During yoga, one has to go deep inside, into your breathe, listening to your heart beating in your ears and feeling every part of your body moving together while concentrating on being still in your mind. This takes some practice and patience, it does not happen immediately after starting a daily practice. Erasing the pressures of the day and listening to our inner voice is what makes practicing yoga a spiritual experience.

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