“Joy is a natural phenomenon. Misery is your creation.”
– Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

I’ll start off by saying I’m sorry. Sorry but not sorry. I wish I could divulge all the wonderful spiritual teachings I absorbed while at the ashram, however I don’t believe in that. I sincerely believe each person needs to find their own path to spirituality, whether through a program such as the one I did, or through any other way that works for them personally.

However, there are a few things that I will share. Teachings that deeply touched me. Along with my new daily practice of yoga and meditation, 40min morning and evening (but worth every minute), there were certain spiritual lessons, thanks to our teacher and Sadhguru’s wise words, that greatly resonated with me. And please be aware, these have been interpreted and reworded as a result of my own life experiences.

The definition of responsibility:

Responsibility is basically anything that you can respond to. “Response Ability”, get it? A plane crashing is not your responsibility. A fight with your best friend is. We seem to tap ourselves on the shoulder for every good thing that happens to us or good deed we do, however we blame others for any bad situation we’re confronted with or wrongful action of ours. How ironic is that. Now this is my own interpretation, but we’re not victims of our lives. Your life is in your hands. You are fully responsible for it. If someone you deem annoying ruins your evening, that’s your responsibility. It’s not their fault. You have full ability to respond and react the way you choose, and this could mean just not caring in this circumstance.

Awareness:

How often do you walk through a beautiful place and fail to notice the little things? Or you go out with friends and spend most of your time on your phone instead of being involved in the discussion? We tend to always emphasize on the big things in life and forget the small ones. But the small ones make a huge impact. Our teacher took us on a wonderful walk through the mountain foothills and I couldn’t help but use most of my senses to be fully aware. Aware of the children playing on the street and sitting on the ground with their parents, all smiles. Aware of the goats and cows parked in front of the small shack like houses. Aware of the beautiful trees and the greenery surrounding us and its intoxicating smell. This was the first time in my life that I really just took it all in. No distractions.

Karma:

I always thought that the definition of karma purely meant the typical good deed and bad deed that has a repercussion on your life, the “good karma”, “bad karma” we’re used to hearing. Now from what I understood, karma is actually a collection of your pre-dispositions, actions you’re used to doing daily, weekly, all the time. You think you’re free, right? You can do whatever you want, right? No. You need your cup of coffee in the morning or else you get grumpy. You’re not free. Why can’t you just skip your coffee and be happy? Your karma doesn’t allow you to liberate yourself and be free. You should live life as if your karma, all of your actions, are being documented on your computer, without ever clicking save. That’s freedom. Spirituality comes into play to free yourself.

This moment is inevitable:

All you have is this moment. The past is gone and the future is yet to come. This instant will never happen again, for infinity. It seems so logical, yet so many of us fail to realize that. It brought tears to my eyes when our teacher kept repeating this to us for an hour. I couldn’t help but realize how many moments I’ve lost and will never have again, yet I failed to savour those instants. That moment you’re having coffee with your best friend, it’ll never happen again. Sure, you may have other coffee meet ups with her. But that specific one? Never. Ever. Again.

Everyone has stress in their lives:

You’re not any more special that anyone else. “Work is so busy my head is going to explode”, “My kids are driving me crazy”. I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t say they’re stressed. But you know what, there’s no job that isn’t stressful, or a life free of struggles and tension. But it’s all in your head. You can actually be at peace and stressfree and still be running a country. It’s all in the way you see things and the importance you give them. Now this part I’m personally still working on.

These teachings, and many more I received during the program, along with the daily practice, are meant to radically change our lives, well my life, if I truly commit to it. The sense of wellbeing and inner peace I felt during these 4 days have made me determined to keep this promise to myself and live a more spiritual life. I would suggest embarking on such a journey to anyone I know or meet. Sincerely.

“If no matter what is given to you, you can make something beautiful out of it, that is intelligence.”
– Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev