What is the most important sign of Yoga Practice ?

I have completed my fifth project in Toastmasters , half the road is covered to reach first mile-stone!, Feels good.

Fifth project is "Your Body speaks" ,it is about using body language to enhance the delivery of speech. I struggled for topic for this project & then realized that it is not the topic , but how one fills the details in the outline. Hence I choose the subject familiar to me, Yoga. I approached it from the misconceptions about yoga & emphasized that one of the most important aspects of yoga is being aware of "breathing" & Hence the title :

Breath in ,Breath out !

Toastmasters good evening ,

Have you heard of DOGA , D-O-G-A , DOGA is yoga for dogs !.

Is it surprising for you ? It was certainly for me !.

Like this – there are many misconceptions about yoga. Yoga is a sport ,It is a exercise ,work-out . Some says it is just a acrobatics – like standing on head ,or placing your toe on your shoulder , which requires rubber like body , bone-less flexibility !.

These all are misconceptions. It is not real yoga , then what is Yoga ?

General purpose of this talk is to inform you about yoga & specific purpose is to clarify what the real yoga means . I won't go in intricacies of philosophical & theological discussions. But in its simplest form, yoga is “Controlling the mind”.

For instance , you may want to focus on this speech , but get distracted by mail on mobile, phone or voice from next room. Or another example is you get angry with sight of some people, may be your Boss. You get irritated , agitated & gyrating with the idea to kill him !.

This all is originated in mind, a mad monkey like animal , always flickering, wondering & running in all directions.

Yoga is concern of this , how can it control this mad monkey !.

Lets see how it tries this. When you get angry , what is the first visible change ? Your breathing changes its pattern , it looses its balance !.

Lets understand this breathing connection with a example.

Suppose you have gone for trekking , it is hot simmering sunny day. In the scorching weather , you had to walk long, you are sweating , thirsty , your throat is dry ! And suddenly you see the vending machine. Oh what a relief !.

You take out your wallet , insert a 100 yen coin, buy a cold coke or lemon, feel its cool touch, wet your lips , & touch your mouth to it !.

What happened ? Next time observe it carefully , your eyes are closed , breath almost stopped , & mind is super-quiet & calm.

Yes that is the link – your mind & breath are closely connected. Breath is your door-way to your mind. When you loose focus , loose concentration or get angry : you loose your breathing balance.

Breath-n-mind is the greatest contribution of yoga .

Whether you are poor or rich, day-n-night, work or home ,your breath is always with you. If you get in touch with breath & you get in touch with your life.

Yoga teaches that , step-by-step, systematically , methodically & diligently it teaches to monitor your breath-in & breath-out.

Master your breath , master your mind & your destiny too.

Are you convinced now that one of most important element of yoga is breath-control. Dogs can not control breath , hence DOGA can not be yoga. Real yoga is not acrobatics, nor work-out is .

Yoga is beyond that . It is becoming aware of your breath-in & breath-out .

So toast masters - next time someone boasts of yoga , check if he is aware of breathing !!.