The last 16 months or so I kept replaying a particular incident in my mind, yes the twisting of my knee, the pop sound on the icy slopes of the Himalayas that led to a swollen knee, the sound in my head as soon as the pop happened, that I will be fine and then finally many months later discovering a rather annoying MRI. Like doing an MRI wasnt overwhelming enough but the results were a tad bit discouraging and that had me going to 6 doctors for various opinions. Now while a couple of them asked me to wait and watch, a couple prescribed collagen, while another put a stop to doing everything, and others genuinely enocuraging asked me to live life normally till well, push came to shove. And while I mulled over the thought of life being unfair I came up to the conclusion, with a whisk of coaxing from Sadhguru that life may be fair or not but it indeed is fantastic. Now with that particular word in arm I tuned into Yoga for humanity with the esteemed Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.

Conducted by the Moraji Desai Institute of Yoga under the Ministry of Ayush, championed by the Prime Minister, the 30-odd minute session was simple and basic in its type and the breathing was the main focus. While twisting my body and yanking the mind to place with every breath I am certain that bending everyday, whether we call it Yoga, or not, can literally help us not to break, physically if not mentally. The true ACL tear of mine I am certain happened not on the day that I took a giant fall, but it was literally when I saw the MRI results and the mind decided that it was a tear. For I had not an issue with my knee till I happened to go and get an MRI done, so how much of the pain is in the mind I do not know, mind-bending I did not try, but it would certainly be a win.

As I carefully eased into the yoga asanas, every once in a while checking my vitals on the measuring device that has me hooked these days, I felt the mind ease just as much as the body. As Ian Faria, a coach and counsellor, said the other day at the Leadership Summit of the Ladies Circle India, disease is simply the condition or the result of the body not being at ease, or the mind not being at ease, bringing back a sense of ease in our lives could actually put a hold to any dis-ease. I would totally recommed Ian’s recommendation on how to be a leader, to simply be a Go-To person for people and how to become a Go-To person is well, to read a lot, on various subjects, to know by reading, he sums it up with a catchy phrase saying ‘Leaders are Readers’. I could not agree more because not only do I read a lot and hence in effect learn a lot, I also make an excellent leader, well thats not me being immodest, but me being real.

As my thinking eased bending into the various postures, coordinating breath with movement, breathing in and out gently, I am sure that the ease that this morning routine gave me will ensure that I bend, throughout the day, Modi even says that Yoga is not to be restricted to the morning but can be applied throughout the day, well Sadhguru advises against practising yoga unless your last meal was not ingested 12 hours ago, but a minute or so of mindfulness or meditation interspersed throughout the day would only be of benefit. The core part of Yoga I am told is meditation, so putting in an aspect of meditation in a day is as good as doing Yoga. A friend of mine once told me, when I was pregnant with my son, that if you can do only one thing for your well-being let it be meditation. But I have increasingly found that YOGA is meditation in motion. Bend, all you can, so that you dont break! Mentally, Physically or figuratively!

P.s. Happy 8th International Yoga Day!