June 15, 2016

The Story Behind the Symbol that’s Taking Over Facebook. {Partner}

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This is a post written by BookRetreats.com—an elephant partner. We’re honored to work with folks dedicated to spreading the mindful life beyond the choir. May it be of benefit! ~ Ed.

Imagine this:

It’s December 14th, 2014 and the Prime Minister of India gets up to speak at the United Nations.

With the leaders of 177 countries watching, he will deliver one of the most important speeches of our lifetime.

What’s the topic?

Yoga.

For the first time in the history of our modern world, a major world leader has spoken about yoga at an international forum like the UN.

Soon after, the first annual International Yoga Day was declared on June 21st, 2015. A record 177 countries co-sponsored the resolution. Never before has that happened in the history in the UN.

And now, yoga. On the international map.

Today we have the privilege to help continue this momentum. To help yoga spread to the world.

But why does this need to happen?

Let’s help spread yoga! Click here to join the movement.

Our World is Broken

Ever since the Industrial Revolution allowed humans to take raw material from nature and mass-produce things for our benefit, we’ve been steadily raping our planet.

We’ve been harvesting constantly without planting enough seeds to replenish what we’re taking. Any simple farmer knows this one fact:

You reap what you sow.

That means your harvest is only as big as the work you put into your soil. The work you put into watering your crops, your work on the foundation.

But we’re continually harvesting as though we have endless resources.

And this isn’t just about our environment. It’s about how we interact with each other on a daily basis.

Let’s help spread yoga! Click here to join the movement.

We’re Divided As People

Have you ever asked yourself, Who am I?

If so, the first answers that come to most people’s minds are a series of divisions.

Whether it’s American, Asian, Christian, Muslim, black, white, Democrat, Republican, atheist, religious, male, female…whatever.

When was the last time you answered that question without a division?

These divisions create a constant sense of fear and violence in our lives.

Think about it.

When was the last time you walked into an unknown place and felt fear? Were you around people you felt were just like you? Or did you feel different and separate?

The basic feeling of separation is the root cause of the violence and disharmony on the planet.

Because we experience ourselves as separate from the earth, we can use up the natural resources without thinking of the consequences.

Because we think our nations are separate from each other, we have wars that tear the lives of entire generations apart.

Because we feel separate, we perform horrible mass shootings or acts of terror.

All of this can make us feel that this world truly is hopeless. It can make us feel discouraged and demotivated.

Let’s help spread yoga! Click here to join the movement.

The Problem

The problem in this case is not some dictator, some terrorist, or some big corporation.

The problem is rooted in one simple fact:

We experience ourselves as separate.

The key word here is experience.

It’s all fine and good to talk about how we’re all one and we’re all the same. But is it our actual experience?

If it’s just in our minds, that’s a nice start. But when something dramatic happens, the belief will break down in a hurry.

We’re all one…until you mess with me.

Then all of a sudden we aren’t so “one” anymore.

This means we need a solution that goes beyond just thought.

A solution that goes beyond a system of beliefs that will shatter under pressure.

A solution that is beyond political talking points. Beyond intellectual banter.

That solution is yoga.

Yoga: A True Solution for the World

You are in Yoga when everything has become one in your consciousness.

When your experience of life is oneness.

Yoga means union. A union with all things. Not in some airy-fairy way, but a real, concrete, down-to-earth experience of life.

In this experience, our false divisions fall away. In the experience of Yoga, we are not white, black, male, female, European, or African.

We are simply life.

Unaltered. Undistorted.

Pure, pulsating life.

When we make decisions from this place, they are decisions that take all of life into account. Not just my life, not just my family’s lives, not even just human lives.

All life.

Yoga is not a series of pretzel-like poses to get into.

Yoga is union. It’s what we truly are when we drop our false divisions and simply rest as a piece of life.

Let’s help spread yoga! Click here to join the movement.

Spreading the Solution

You can refer to yoga in two ways:

1. The experience of union, or

2. The tool that helps you realize that ever-present union.

We all love our cars because they take us places faster than we can walk somewhere.

We love our phones because we can call someone across the world and get almost any information we want in seconds.

These are tools. Vehicles to help us.

Yoga is a series of extraordinarily efficient tools. Tools to help us drop our separation and discover the constant experience of oneness.

If we want a better world, we need to spread these tools. Why?

Because this world will change one person at a time. There is no such thing as a “world,” really. It’s composed of individual people.

If individual people are loving, caring, and look out for each other, that’s the kind of planet we’ll have.

The tools of Yoga help people discover the experience of union. From that experience, love, care, intelligence, and compassion all naturally arise.

So our job is to ensure that all 7.42 billion people on this planet have access to these profound tools. Our job is to help empower every individual to be a part of a global solution for this planet.

Let’s help spread yoga! Click here to join the movement.

The Momentum is Building

Yoga is spreading like wildfire right now because it simply works.

Americans are turning to yoga in huge numbers. More than 80 million Americans are likely to try yoga in the next 12 months, according to a study done by Yoga Alliance.

Just last week, Sadhguru and the Isha Foundation put the entire government of a 72 million person state in India through their four-day yoga program. Over 300 ministers, including the Chief Minister (similar to a Governor) went through the program.

That’s after Sadhguru took the whole government of a 50 million person state through the same program last year.

This is the first time a govt is trying to incorporate Yoga & meditation into its schedules: CM #APGovWithSadhguru

— Andhra Pradesh CM (@AndhraPradeshCM) January 29, 2015

Just read this incredibly inspiring Facebook post by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, India:

Short version:

“I’m committed to see this bliss and joy among my people permanently. It is not about just fulfillment, but the aspiration to do good and what really matters.”

Now just imagine governments in the U.S., South America, Asia, and Europe following this example.

This is real change.

And we can help make it happen.

We have a huge opportunity to spread yoga on a global scale with International Yoga Day on June 21st.

It’s our turn to do our part. And it all starts with a simple step.

Click here to join the global Om Movement and put the Aum (Om) symbol over your Facebook profile picture to help spread yoga to the world.