My journey with Isha yoga started in May of 2017. I had seen a lot of Sadhguru videos till then in youtube and felt it was great and offering a unique perspective about life. Lot of the things he said made sense.
By this time I had gone through another yoga program from another organisation and I had a good experience there. After the initial high of that program, things started fading out for me as I was not regular with the practices and I was not able to keep up the wonderful feeling I had when I came out of that program. So I didn’t know whether this program will be any better than the previous one. Something within me wanted to try this also out.
I was riding my bike going to meet a customer and I saw the banner for Inner engineering program near a petrol pump. It is also called as isha yoga at places in Tamil Nadu. I saw that the program was starting the next day. There was a contact number on the banner and I made a call enquiring whether registrations were available. When I checked online the registrations were already closed. But spot registrations were open and I was able to reach the venue for the first day of class and luckily there was a spot available for which I was able to register.
I would suggest that registering online well before, when the classes are announced is a much better way of registering for the program rather than waiting for the final day and going for a spot registration.
Chances are that spot registrations are not available most of the times and classes get full during the online registration phase itself.
The way the program was conducted was really wonderful. Everything from the volunteers and the class ambience and the teachers were super helpful and humble. You can see that this means more to people than just a program. Dedication of volunteers offering the program is clearly visible. Once the program was over I could feel that this program is worth much more than the price at which it is actually offered.
One of the great things of inner engineering program is that the support system it has in terms of volunteers and monthly meetings which helps you to stay in track with your practices and get any corrections done with your practice. As time goes by there is a tendency for things to fade out. We all need a reminder to look within us, to do become more aware of how we are within ourselves.
We can also volunteer for the upcoming programs, and just by being there is like a refresher course of the program.
Monthly meetings happens every first sunday of every month. This helps very much to keep in touch with the practices also.
As the program is more experiential in nature, it is more than just words. As time passes by chances are there that it becomes just mere words and we are not really looking at it in terms of the experience
Although we can become more joyful after applying the principles of the program in our life, there can be moments which are challenging us and bringing back our old patterns.
It takes lot of awareness and practice to keep improving .
Inner engineering Class experience
There is a one hour introduction to the program in the beginning which is free for everyone. Anyone can come in and attend that. If you feel your schedule doesn’t allow you to attend the program, you can attend theintroduction and attend Inner engineering program later whenever you have time.
Doing the practices
To my surprise , I have been able to maintain the practices and I it helps us to deal with our lives in a better way. There are days I feel too lazy to do the practices and you can see the difference the practice makes to our days. I feel less hungry and I feel that I can go on working or doing anything for so much more time than otherwise. My focus has improved along with the general sense of pleasantness I have within me. Earlier it was easier for me to get upset with something. Nowadays I am more level headed than before.
How to do isha yoga
It is offered in various modes. 7 day class program with 3 hour sessions daily with a full day session on Sunday is the format which I attended. It is also offered as a 4 day retreat program in Coimbatore centre.
Inner engineering can also be done now online as a two part program.
Inner Engineering online which is a 7 session class of 1.5 hours each.After finishing the online program , you can register for the inner engineering completion program which is a 3 session program with two sessions of 2.5 hours each and the third session which is a 9 hour session. So the completion program can be finished in 3 days. It is a live program and is mostly conducted by teachers who are trained to conduct this program. A laptop or desktop with camera is needed to do the completion program. This prerequisite may be to ensure stability of the connection and for people to be more focussed during the completion program.
The Inner engineering online program can also be done from a phone as all the 7 session are pre recorded and you can finish them at your own pace. But I would suggest that it is better to finish one session in a day. This way there will be continuity to the class and you can be in the flow of the class. Otherwise you may not feel connected to the class. The program is in English language.
It is also getting offered in other languages now. Many languages are there on offer now.
I wish everyone do this program at least once and know the benefits of this program first hand.
You can check out the introduction video about program here.
To read about practices to take care of eyes click here.
To know about anapana meditation click here.
for more on yoga for weight loss click here.
for an article on my yoga journey click here