Pamela Seelig: Yoga – A Gateway To Our True Selves

Yoga. Not really a sport, not really a form of exercise, more just a series of contortions and stretches, some of which look easy and some of which look really quite painful.

It’s fair to say, I’ve never really got it.

But for many it’s essential. And testament to this is the number of people who regularly practice it. According to the Economic Times of India there are more than 300 million yogis who have adopted it as part of their lifestyle, 50 percent of whom live in India, and 37 million in the United States alone.

Not bad for a bit of stretching.

So why? What is it that makes it so alluring?

Patanjali, who compiled the definitive text on Yoga – The Yoga Sutras – sometime between 500 BCE and 400 AD (experts can’t seem to agree when exactly the great book was written) is quoted as saying:

“Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence. When the mind has settled, we are established in our essential nature, which is unbounded consciousness. Our essential nature is usually overshadowed by the activity of the mind.”

No mention here of stretches or contortions. But this sounds very much like meditation, like a Jungian exploration of who we are when we strip ourselves – the version of us that we identify with – away. And if you’ve read any of my books or listened to many episodes of this podcast, you’ll know that is partly what I’m exploring in my efforts to discover the secret sauce to living a full, content and peaceful life.

Pamela Seelig is this week's guest, and she is a yogi with a great pedigree. Pamela first discovered yoga 25 years ago, when working on Wall Street. She was afflicted with Bell’s Palsy, and her doctor encouraged her to try meditation. This eventually led her to yoga, and she went on to practice at the high regarded Integral Yoga Institute in New York. Eventually, in 2009, she set up her own studio, Lotus Mind and Body, and recently published a book with ideas for experienced and novice yogis alike, Threads of Yoga: Themes, Reflections, and Meditation To Weave Into Your Practice.

You can find out about Pamela and her book at her website - www.pamelaseelig.com.