Pause, breathe, and look within for answers — Grand Master Akshar at TechSparks 2016

With the advent of technology, answers to everything we seek to know are made available in a jiffy. But nothing is as simple as it sounds. For every question you ask, your app will throw you a hundred answers and leave you all the more confused. So how does one anchor the mind and body to focus on one thing?

Modern science might have eliminated the threat of death from most infectious diseases and epidemics, but there is a more serious danger looming large over us — lifestyle diseases like cancer, thyroid, paralysis, and heart ailments are taking lives prematurely. While treatment options may be available, is there a way to protect yourself from being affected in the first place?

The answers to the most important questions lie within us, and in a day full of tech and all the money talk, Grand Master Akshar of Akshar Power Yoga addressed a largely tech crowd and stressed on the importance of being aware and not letting stress get the better of you. The session which began with a small session of meditation stressed on three important aspects:

1. The power of thehraav (pause)
2. Breathing
3. Food habits

Yoga is a science. Everything is yoga. The physical aspect of being is only a foundation for us to build on. Look at it this way — your body is hardware and if it is perfect, you can do anything with it, instal any software that you wish to. Hence, we talk about weight management. It’s not merely about losing weight; if you want to stay fit, you need to maintain it.

Although many argue that lifestyle diseases are by-products of our busy lives and that there is no way to really be 100 percent healthy, doctors and healers have time and again proved how small changes in our everyday lives can ward off most diseases.

Pushing good habits and activities to only something to do over the weekend is like living in instalments. In yoga, we stress on a technique called ‘thehraav’, which means ‘to pause’. It’s about living every moment and soaking it in. Everything is a science. For example, if you are cooking, put your heart and soul into it and the food will taste as good as the effort you put in. This applies to everything you do on a daily basis. The secret to good health is to be aware of every little thing you do.

Turning a deaf ear to your wise inner voice and grabbing that quick lunch loaded with empty calories might seem convenient, but it is these everyday habits that lead us to paying a hefty price in the long run.

Apart from the air we breathe, it is also the food we eat which is of utmost importance. Today there is a whole new trend of eating organic food, but remember the times when we could eat anything and be carefree? The level of toxins in our food is extremely high and there is no substitute for organic and home-cooked food. Include 50 percent raw fruits and vegetables in every meal and make sure all your meals are home-cooked. Junk food is a strict no.

The trend these days is to work until you are 40 and then retire or “chill,” as everybody likes to put it. But what we fail to understand is that relaxation is a state of being and not something temporary. 

Corporate leaders and high-profile entrepreneurs today don’t retire; they choose to ‘retreat’. Everybody realises that peace of mind is what is essential for a happy life a little too late. Don’t make that mistake. Stress can kill you.

Don’t force yourself to follow a fitness regime or diet; you will soon either falter or give it up entirely. Let it slowly become a part of your lifestyle.

Born in the Himalayas and trained by the yogis themselves, Grand Master Akshar revealed that there are over 300 breathing techniques unknown to us.

There are only about 30 breathing techniques known to most. They will come out when we understand the ones which are out. Yoga is vast and we need the youth to embrace it.

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