Yoga in India

At the end of a two week family trip to India, I made this video. I asked Varinder Singh, our tour guide about the most valuable message worth spreading.

Varinder is a college professor of history in India. He has a degree in meditation and the science of living. Here is the secret sauce of how to spread peace and happiness in our society.


Henry / Varinder

Can you tell me about yoga and meditation, your personal practice, and how it has impacted India?

Most people believe that yoga is just 1 thing, but we divide it into 3 parts.

The 1st is physical exercise. You do different postures while standing, lying, and sitting.

The 2nd is breathing exercises. According to Indian people, breathing exercises are more important than physical activities. Breathing exercises make us strong inside our bodies. We increase energy, and we believe that our body regenerates dead cells. We have millions of cells that are dead, and this is a chance to create new cells. There are 5 or 6 forms of breathing exercises.

The 3rd is meditation. Meditation is when you sit silently and concentrate your mind. When you start your practice, you can meditate for brief periods and expand those periods with constant practice. Meditation means absolutely no ideas or thoughts can come in your mind. It is the space between thoughts.

When you meditate, you will see stars and bright colors with your eyes closed. This means you are meditating. If this does not happen, you are not.

When you have advanced your practice, you will find a circle in front of your eyes. At the initial stages, the circle will be tiny. It will not be a 360 degrees circle. When this circle appears fully, that means you are going towards 100% meditation.

Sometimes when you are approaching full meditation, your eyes do rapid blinking. If you do not open your eyes, that means you are continuing the meditation. If you open your eyes, that means again you have to start again. This is a slight disturbance in your meditation. This is one kind of interference. When you feel this one, open your eyes and try again to meditate.

Henry Faarup Humbert en India
Everybody happy singing and dancing

Around 75% of India’s society does yoga. How has this impacted India?

I will give credit to our culture, religion, literature, traditions, and our family system. This has been our tradition for 4,000 years.

We live in an extended family system. People of different ages live in the same house and learn from they learn from their parents or grandparents. They teach us from childhood how to perform the various practices and exercises of yoga and meditation.

Most people have the concept that only rich people do yoga and meditation, but I do not agree. Poor or middle-class people do more yoga and meditation in comparison to high-class society. Why is that? High-class people are more busy multiplying their money. They have a materialistic lifestyle.

On the other hand, poor and middle-class people, even though they have limited resources, have a lot of time and are happy. They are satisfied with those limited resources, and with their time, they can do more yoga and meditation.

It is also related to health and medicine. Most people believe that if they do not do yoga and meditation, our body will be affected by some disease. When we are concerned, we go to doctors, and it is costly. Being hospitalized is expensive. Yoga and meditation help you balance your blood pressure, nervous system, digestive system, heartbeat, and metabolism.

How can other countries achieve similar results?

For a new country, I would say the media and, most importantly, classes in school. That will be the most effective because young boys and girls will learn in school and eventually teach their parents.

The government can also start awareness programs. The education department should take the initiative to introduce this in schools.

Has the government helped to make it widespread?

Oh yes. In most schools, you will find a yoga instructor. Every day there are 1 or 2 periods were students do yoga and meditation. There are many Non-Governmental Organizations too.

Gurus are also responsible. These gurus spread the message of yoga and meditation mainly through their ashrams.

Henry en India

You told me there was a television channel focused on yoga?

We have several channels. These channels invite many yoga instructors, so they have a chance to talk directly to the people through media. They talk about the benefits of yoga and meditation. This is how yoga is trendy in India.

Thank you for teaching me this. This journey was a fantastic experience.

Your welcome. Thanks. 🙏


P.D.: This is also a call to yogis, helping with the creation of this culture in Porta Norte. Let’s unite. 💪

Henry y Coach en India
Farewell at the airport. Good bye my friend.

¿Qué es una Guilla?

En Panamá, la palabra “guilla” tiene varios significados. Algunos positivas y otros despectivss. Si existiera una entrada en el diccionario para esta palabra, sería:

Guilla (f. sust.)

1. Dícese de la persona guillada.

2. Profunda curiosidad por un tema.

3. Desenfoque o confusión.

Ejemplos de uso del concepto (incluyendo palabras relacionadas)

“Elon Musk está guillado con ir a Marte.”

“La guilla de Steve Jobs con el diseño cambió la industria de la tecnología.”

¿Alguna vez te has preguntado algo “fuera de lo normal”? ¿Has tenido problemas al dormirte por no poder dejar de pensar en algo? ¿Siempre has querido aprender de [inserta tema aquí] pero no le has dado prioridad?

Tal vez te has hecho preguntas aún más incómodas: ¿Seré yo el único que se deprime? ¿Por qué soy “diferente” al resto de mi familia? ¿Por qué me molesta seguir el “camino tradicional”? ¿Cómo debería actuar sabiendo que algún día moriré?

El miedo a la guilla

Es posible que hayas sentido una gran incomodidad al hacerte las preguntas anteriores. ¿Te da miedo lo que otros dirán? ¿Pensarán que estás loco? ¿Te sientes inhibido por las reacciones de tu pareja, profesores, familia o amigos? ¿De dónde viene ese sentimiento?

Los intentos de responder estas preguntas pueden alterar tu sistema de valores y creencias al punto de afectar tus relaciones. Podrías darte cuenta que no tienes mucho en común con ese viejo amigo. Podrías realizar que tu pareja no es la persona con la quieres convivir. Podrías darte cuenta que no todos tus valores se alinean con los de tu familia. Guillarse implica tomar el riesgo de afectar negativamente las relaciones que mantenemos. Por eso, es natural que sientas miedo.

El otro lado de la moneda

Sin embargo, al guillarte podrías darte cuenta que tienes más en común con ese amigo que no veías tanto. Podrías aprender a apreciar mucho más a tu maravillosa pareja. Podrías descubrir nuevos valores que no sabías que compartías con miembros de tu familia.

Al guillarte aprendes muchísimo sobre un tema y sobre ti mismo. Puedes pasar horas viendo videos de YouTube, artículos de Wikipedia, blog posts y más contenido donde gente que se ha hechos preguntas similares te da más información. Notarás que algunas guillas se irán desvaneciendo conforme más te metes en ellas, pero otras se irán intensificando debido a la profunda fascinación que te causen.

El resultado es la construcción y refinamiento constante de un sistema personal de valores y creencias en vez de aceptar ciegamente el sistema imperante de tu circulo social. Aún más importante es que lograrás — poco a poco — identificar tu “yo ideal” que te servirá de norte al momento de tomar decisiones fundamentales de vida.

Guillarse requiere práctica

Puede que te estén viniendo a la mente guillas en las que no te has metido porque te sientes inseguro o te preocupa el “qué dirán”. Pon esa inseguridad en una balanza y compárala con el valor de tomar control del desarrollo de tu sistema de valores.

Guillarse es una habilidad y por lo tanto requiere práctica constante. Sólo con tiempo y dedicación notarás frutos. Si sientes curiosidad por un tema o te surge alguna pregunta incómoda, agenda tiempo para explorar posibles respuestas. Tienes acceso a todo el conocimiento humano.

Ahora… ¡actúa!

Si estás de acuerdo con que las guillas son formas de aprender sobre el mundo y sobre ti mismo, y que es valioso desarrollar la habilidad de guillarse, entonces haz una lista de temas o preguntas que no te has atrevido a explorar, y ¡actúa!

Aquí te dejamos un link muy valioso. ¡Navega!

Escrito en coautoría con Felipe Echandi.