The other day someone asked me if our ‘yogic’ blog had anything to do with yogurt. That’s when I realized that it might not be obvious to everyone that yogic is simply the adjective of yoga. On Wikipedia yoga is “a commonly known generic term for the physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India with a view to attain a state of permanent peace”. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (a classic Sanskrit manual, said to be the oldest surviving text on hatha yoga) emphasizes that  yoga is to be practiced for the sole purpose of preparing oneself for the highest state [] samadhi. For me, yoga reflects a peaceful life philosophy which aims towards spiritual growth, rather than the accumulation of material wealth. My family, as well as our sailing adventure, are (beautiful!) tools on this journey.

What does it mean practically? Trying to stick to the eight fold path described in Buddhism, including its first limbs of yamas and niyamas. Patanjali describes these in his Yoga Sūtras the following way:

Yamas (right living/ethical rules)

1. Ahimsa: non-violence
2. Satya: benevolent truth, absence of falsehood
3. Asteya: non-stealing
4. Brahmacharya: spiritual advancement by education and training
5. Aparigraha: non-appropriation, absence of greed

Niyamas (self-observances/restrictions)

1. Shaucha: cleanliness of thought, mind and body
2. Santosha: happy satisfaction, contentment
3. Tapas: spiritual effort, austerity
4. Svādhyāya: self study, study to know more about the divine and the soul
5. Ishvarapranidhana: surrender to the divine

In other words, we don’t hit our children or use violent language, we are honest, we strive to learn and grow all the time, we share what we have, we cultivate contentment within ourselves, we include meditation and study in our day-to-day life and trust in karma – something bigger than ourselves – without denying that we are responsible for our thoughts, words and actions, for our life, in brief.

Namaste (I bow to the divine within you.)