Portugal, September 2018
Post from Luisa T
My testimony of what the Jivana Yoga Program means to me.
When I came to Sintra for the first time, I was seeking, like many other people, answers to the questions that had troubled my mind: What is the purpose of a human life? What is its meaning? What explains why we have to suffer? What explains the fact that suffering affects so many innocent human beings and animals? What is the real happiness? How to pursue it? And so many other questions…
Religion as I knew it, has no longer answers to my cravings.
Although I knew that money and worldly possessions and amusements did not bring true happiness, it was in the materialistic world that I sought personal fulfillment, mixed with a misguided spirituality. I experienced many things and practices, but none led me to a meaningful place and peace. Sometimes I felt so tired of this unsuccessful search that I began to doubt if life would not be just “this”, with nothing more left to wait for or expect.
What a mess! I felt so lost and confused!
Then one day (more precisely, 3 and a half years ago) I began to hear the teachings of Jivana Yoga Program in Sintra. What I heard here from the first time echoed in my mind and it was the seed of the desire to learn more, for it seemed to me that here I would have many answers to my interior questions. I have not stopped since then.
Here I realized the nature of true happiness and how to achieve it. I start recognizing the privilege of being on Earth with this human body and how it represents a tremendous opportunity for Liberation, which I must honor, by living in a balanced way, being aware that body and mind are closely connected and every acts of our life should be performed in a meaningful way to that purpose.
I became aware that our lives reflect our actions, both current and past, so we are fully responsible for it. Nothing is random, although sometimes we are not able to realize the meaning and the reason. I began to accept suffering as a process of purification. I realized there is a path that leads to Liberation/Realization, and through a noble conduct we can access to the Inner Happiness, Eternal and Unlimited.
I have learned the importance of Meditation as the gateway to a calm and quiet mind, the first step to inner happiness, and how this practice changes our perception of everyday events and how our reactions and decisions become more accurate.
I began to pay close attention to those precious teachings and study with enthusiasm, because I felt to grow in my mind the desire to know more and more. The enthusiasm of knowing the right path to real and unlimited Happiness made the tiredness of the search disappear and I felt the strength had returned to my body and mind. I am learning how to conjugate the verb “to live” with other meaning and dimension.
I do not deny that throughout these short years, I have faced many stages and difficulties in dealing and understanding some concepts that sometimes contradict my opinions and convictions. Also some of the changes in my daily routine are not easy to implement. However, slowly but steady, I’m dealing well with these issues and these are not big obstacles to my progress.
Truthfully, I do not live by all these ideals. I’m simply and honestly trying to bring some of them into my daily life. To get rid of so many attachments and wrong practices is no easy task. Even so, I feel that some deep changes have already taken place in me. These facts are very motivating to continue on this path. It makes me feel that my efforts are worth it. This program takes me time, is making me to do some deep changes in my daily life, to spend more time with myself and yet it has brought me closer to family and sincere friends. Curious and wonderful!
My teachers, from India and Sintra, are offering me these knowledge, by teaching me how to acquire the skills and tools to pave the right path to Liberation and Realization. It is so comforting and rewarding and I feel so happy, confident and calm. I’m learning to pave the way and I’m sure this is the right path to get there. It does not matter how many lives I will need to achieve the goal. I do not feel lost anymore- the path can be very long, it may take many lives but this is it.
I want to express my greatest gratitude to this Teacher of Teachers, for his superior wisdom, his commitment and generosity to preserve this ancestral knowledge and make it available to others.
I feel there is no greater generosity than to share this kind of knowledge, which can transform completely one’s life.
Dear Colleagues, being surrounded by people with the same goal is also a great support – I wish you the same progress and happiness I want for myself.
Namaste
Luisa T.