Santosha Yoga and Wellness Centre

Philosophy According to yogic philosophy, everything is a combination of three essential qualities called the gunas: sattva (a pure, balanced state), rajas (activity, restlessness), and tamas (inertia, laziness, depression). Most students start a yoga practice either in a restless or hyperactive state, or in a lazy or lethargic state. By the end of most practice sessions they have been brought toward an uplifted sattvic state, both mentally and physically. Yoga brings a sense of expansion on many levels. It allows you to rediscover an internal sense of wholeness that, in today’s fast-paced world, is often lost. Yoga practice will work out physical tensions and calm both mind and emotions as well as bringing back a sense of aliveness to your body, refresh your mind, and give you a sense of peace. Yoga works through the body’s subtle energy system and thus daily, consistent practice will enrich your entire being: mind, body and soul. Yoga practice helps us achieve inner stillness, and through working with the body, teaches us to gain better control of the mind. The continued practice of yoga brings medium and long-term rewards for the bodymind – the combined physical, psychological, and spiritual aspects of an individual. It also yields an instant feel-good effect: It just feels better to inhabit a looser, freer body than a contracted, tight, bound-up one. The human body was designed to move freely. By integrating all the parts that make up the whole self, practitioners often have a sense of standing taller and freer. Afterward, they are relaxed and happy at ease. Meditation Meditation is a practice where an individual trains the mind or induces a mode of consciousness, either to realize some benefit or for the mind to simply acknowledge its content without becoming identified with that content, or as an end in itself. The term meditation refers to a broad variety of practices that includes techniques designed to promote relaxation, build internal energy or life force (qi, ki, prana, etc.) and develop compassion, love, patience, generosity and forgiveness. A particularly ambitious form of meditation aims at effortlessly sustained single-pointed concentration meant to enable its practitioner to enjoy an indestructible sense of well-being while engaging in any life activity.