Shahd Alhamdan

Saudi Gazette

 

Yoga has bizarrely become popular among many Egyptians seeking to find ways of bettering their lives and coming to terms with their destinies.



Sandra is a Yoga instructor in Cairo. She said that Yoga helps people detach themselves from their desires. “It helps them understand what desires are and how to detach themselves from them. Let’s pretend I really want a chocolate. But I will restrain myself from eating. This is called austerity,” she said.



“Many people become vegetarian and say they did not choose to become vegetarian. They say it chose them. There are three elements in the body.



So, yoga makes your body sensitive and the meat and chicken need a lot of energy to be digested,” she added.



Yoga means “union”—in other words uniting the body and mind. It is not a type of sport, or a form of meditation. It is a doctrine and a style of living.



There is a huge debate on the origins of yoga. Some say the old Egyptians originally practiced it, while others believe it originated in India.



Putting its origins to the side, Yoga practices are found in many old and ancient cultures. “Yoga is an integral part of many communities, but they may not call it Yoga,” said Sandra.



Yoga instructors often say that the most amazing thing about Yoga is that practitioners become selfless and are then called “Karma Yoga” which means that whatever the person does is his or her “dharma” or path, in other words his or her mission and duty.



When yogis are on the mat, they claim to have greater power in their hands.  Meditating clears the mind and helps access what some people call “the law of attraction” which is the magnetic power of the universe that draws similar energies together.



This manifests through the power of creation everywhere and in multiple ways. Shahrazad is an Egyptian energy therapist.



“Our thoughts,” he said, “become like prayers. You think of something and it happens. You think of someone and he or she shows up.”



Some yogis assume to have higher intuition after practicing yoga for long periods. Each person has seven main energy centers that are called Chakras and each Chakra affects a part of your body and is named according to a particular organ. Yoga helps balance the energy in these Chakras.



“The practicing of Yoga itself keeps the seven wheels of energy in our body on. This means we have a healthy throat, a healthy heart and a third eye that can see,” said Shahrazad.



Unlike other sports, practitioners of Yoga mostly rely on breathing techniques. “What differentiates yoga from other forms of sports are the breathing techniques.



In your work out, you tend to think of your muscles. But what about your body and mind?” said Sandra.



Although Yoga has become popular in Egypt over the past couple of years, you rarely find men practicing it.