21/09/2025
Sunday Reflection 🧘✨
🧘♀️ Recently, a non-yogi friend asked me what yoga has to say about the wars & violence we are witnessing in the world today.
💫 When I reflect on the great mythological stories from the Indian tradition, they often revolve around battles and struggles—Arjuna fighting the Kauravas, or Rāma rescuing Sītā from the demon king in the Rāmāyaṇa etc. These wars, however, were not glorifications of violence; they symbolized the struggle to restore order, dharma, and balance in society. They were deeply connected with the idea of personal duty and responsibility.
💫 By contrast, in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali—the guide par excellence for yoga practice—there is no direct reference to worldly wars. Instead, Patañjali points us to the inner battle: the war against the restless, uncontrolled mind. An untrained mind reacts impulsively to outer circumstances, while a disciplined mind creates space to step back, reflect, and respond with wisdom.
💫 The uncontrolled mind is also easily swept away by the constant stream of troubling news, including wars and conflicts in the world.
💫 What can we do? Patañjali offers us practical tools: daily meditation to steady the mind, and pratipakṣa bhāvana—the practice of consciously shifting our perspective. Instead of feeding negativity, we can choose to cultivate an opposite, life-affirming attitude.
💫 As my teacher often said: “You don’t have to be against anything. Rather, focus on what you are for.”
💫 If more of us lived this way—training the mind, cultivating inner peace, and focusing on what uplifts rather than what divides—perhaps wars would not arise so easily. At the very least, we would not be so readily caught in the hypnosis of fear and divisive politics.
💫 In this sense, yoga has much to say about war—though in a subtle and succinct way. It reminds us that the real battlefield lies within, and that peace in the world begins with peace in the mind.
✨How do you nurture your inner peace?
✨How do you show up as a light for those caught in conflict or divisive attitudes?
