Om Yoga Magazine: How Yoga Ruined My Life

When I first read the title of this article, in a yoga magazine of all places, I have to say, I was worried. Fortunately, the piece was written by Liz Frances Hobbs, a comedian and yoga teacher, who clearly excels in sarcasm. Although, to be fair, the title is a fair warning. Liz explains how yoga slowly took over her life, both on and off the mat, although fortunately in a positive way! Many of us come into yoga purely for the physical reasons. A chance to gently improve one's fitness, flexibility or all-round health. Few of us enter into a practice thinking of the further reaches of yoga. However, as yoga has much further reaching implications, particularly with it's sister science Ayurveda, and with the principle of non-harming, ahimsa.

As Liz's yoga practice developed from the discovery of it whilst on holiday, she began to appreciate the wider influence of yoga. A girl from a family that hunted, Liz found herself becoming vegetarian, and swapping gossip magazines for being concerned about global warming and homelessness. In short, she became a more compassionate individual.

Juxtaposed against the witty article, Liz summarises yoga in a new, and yet totally appropriate way. Perhaps it is the natural tendency of those drawn to yoga, or the influence of the practice itself, but yoga and caring about people, animals, the environment seem to go hand in hand. A few issues ago, Om Yoga reported that yogi's were more likely to be members of the green party than other social groups. I myself consider working to conserve the oceans and thereby the planet from pollution, climate change and other anthropogenic ills the most important thing that I can do with my life. I have just been reading about the yoga teacher Adam Husler who left a potential career in law to work with under privileged young people.

So really, the question is, does yoga really ruins one's life? The burden of guilt and responsibility may be an unexpected one, but a feeling that I think benefits us more than we can imagine. Has yoga changed your wider perspective?

Disclaimer: I am an Affiliated Blogger with Om Yoga Magazine. Each issue I will write a post on an article from the magazine and share it with you. Have a look here to find about the other lovely affiliated bloggers. All photos in this post taken from the Om Yoga magazine.