September 2022 is National Yoga Month

September 2022 is National Yoga Month. If you already love yoga, this is a great time to deepen your practice. If you have been considering starting a yoga practice, this month is a great time to do so!

Wherever you are at in your yoga practice, this month is a great time to reconnect with yourself through yoga, and do something good for yourself!

As you may already know, there are many physical and mental health benefits to doing yoga.

Not only is yoga good for you on a personal level, yoga also teaches universal values that make us better human beings.

According to National Today,

National Yoga Awareness Month was created by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (N.C.C.I.H.) along with the Office of Research Services (O.R.S.) to raise awareness of the benefits of yoga-like mental and physical well-being, less stress, and increased longevity of life.

Since yoga has all of these amazing benefits for your health and your life, a regular yoga practice can help you be more physically and mentally healthy as you incorporate a practice into your daily life.

History and Theme

Part of National Yoga month is The International Yoga Day, which began in 2015.

According to Current Affairs,

International yoga day is celebrated on the 21st of June of every year. The first international yoga day was observed on 21st June 2015. It is celebrated on the 21st of June because it is said to be the longest day of the year in the Northern hemisphere and it shares special significance in many parts of the world. The initiative of international yoga day was proposed by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on 27th September 2014.

In the assembly, he stated that “Yoga is an invaluable gift of India’s ancient tradition. It embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfillment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well-being. It is not about exercise but to discover a sense of oneness with yourself, the world, and nature. Changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, can help in well-being. Let us work towards adopting an International Yoga Day 2022”.

Yoga is more than an exercise routine, it is a practice that is part of an intentional way of living. The more we are able to live off the mat the same way that we do on the mat, the happier and more intentional we are able to live our lives.

As we live happier and more fulfilled lives ourselves, we are able to use our more positive mindset to be able to help others as well.

According to NDTV,

“Yoga for Humanity” is the theme for International Day Of Yoga 2022. The day, observed on June 21, focuses on the importance of yoga in our lives. A number of events are organised around the world to mark the day.

This is a great theme because it shows ways in which yoga can unite humanity across society and culture. Yoga can bridge divides between the eastern and western world, and help us to see that there is commonality in all of us.

Yoga teaches kindness and compassion

We can practice yoga right where we are, and use it to improve our mindset, which in turn helps the way that we treat others too.

Using yoga as a means to unity is a worthy goal that we can all follow, whether we have an individual or group practice. This is because yoga is a tool in creating a positive mindset that can positively impact our relationships with others.

Through yoga we can learn compassion for ourselves and others. As we learn to have more compassion, this breeds kindness in our relationships with friends, family and strangers across the world.

According to Yoga U:

Yoga Sutras teach that compassion is a natural remedy to thoughts or feelings of hatred or harm. Compassion removes the impurity of thoughts that can lead to such actions that unsettle the mind.

Kindness and compassion are universal values that we can use on a very human level to impact our relationships with anyone. We can practice compassion that we find in our hearts through yoga by extending compassion to others even in simple ways, like being more patient.

We can be more gentle with our children, more patient with our spouse, more kind to strangers we meet daily, and more charitable to those suffering across the world in all kinds of disasters and war.

Compassion is love flowing outward into the world in its most pure form.

Yoga U continues,

Compassionate responses are part of our human nervous system, part of our yogic heritage, and can be embodied in simple yoga awareness practices throughout the day. Increasing compassion benefits us to live more aligned with the best of our humanity and we can learn to direct it back to our own selves.

Yoga is more than just a practice, it is a cultivating of awareness that can permeate into all of our lives. The more we practice on the mat, the more we can take the lessons off the mat as well.

Allow your yoga practice to take you deeper into yourself, so that you can cultivate a mindset that allows you to help others more as well. This is how yoga truly can benefit all of humanity. It changes us, one person as a time. Then, that love and compassion that we feel radiates outwards in acts of kindness to others.

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If you are just getting started with yoga, and want to learn some new poses:

5 Simple Yoga Poses for Beginners is a good place to start.

To learn more about mindfulness, meditation and yoga, and how they can help you in your daily life, check out my ebook:

Practicing Buddhism in Everyday Life