Whenever possible, I try to teach myself how to think and when to question and accept truths that are not always intuitive.

For the most part, that has translated into developing an ability to cultivate struggles into unforgettable life lessons. Many of those struggles required learning to adjust to a new environment, relationship and the myriad of surprises life presented me. I wasn’t always successful at it, but I didn’t always give up either.

There were times when both my mental and physical health deteriorated because I was unwilling to adjust, and by this I mean not just conforming to a new set of rules or standards at work. I learned that true adjustment must occur within both my personal and interpersonal spheres. This is where the true value of my yoga practice lies.

Like most people, I want to lead a meaningful life and that requires having both mental and physical health. But I cannot claim to have mental health at all times because I do not always have emotional stability, maturity of character, and the ability to sustain healthy relationships with myself and others. The difficulty of attaining all of the above is further aggravated when my efforts are disturbed due to my surroundings, which in turn affect my mind and body.

Using yoga as a means of attaining health in a holistic way was and is, for me, to move beyond the physical. Yoga teaches me to be courageous when faced with problems, to surrender when I know I’ve reached my limits and to adjust to disturbances. My body, mind, intellect and spirit are not viewed separately. They are all parts of a whole. Such an approach ensures that correction of any one will affect all others. It is a holistic approach that treats the person and not just the problem or disturbance alone.

Adjustment, in simple terms, is the relationship that fulfills our motives or purposes. It is how we resolve conflicts. In adjustment there is always conflict between the ideal self and real self. Furthermore, when the gap between self-perception and the perception of others toward us grows wide, adjustment becomes most disturbed. Thus it is imperative to understand who we are, our strengths and weaknesses in an objective way. If we want to be successful, attention and care must be given to our needs, although often others’ values and expectations bombard us, causing us to forget or neglect them. And in doing so we give rise to maladjustment.

The practice of yoga is one way to attain a well-adjusted life both on a personal and interpersonal level.

Interpersonal adjustment, necessary in establishing a harmonious relationship with others, can be developed via the following practices in yoga: yamas (rules of social conduct), asanas (postures), and pranayama (control of prana, vital force, throughout the body), among others.

Yamas, if practiced properly, help develop attitudes and behaviors focusing on how I conduct myself in life. They provide guidelines, by which I ought to think, speak and act. Asanas and pranayama nurture the body and mind by way of channeling energy and bringing balance to my emotions. They are feeling-oriented practices serving to calm the mind, release mental tension and increase well being of bodily functions. By controlling my postures, I control my behaviors. And controlling postures means adjusting myself in asanas as well as in my daily standing, sitting, and supine positions. Pranayama, which I realize is often misunderstood by others as simply breath control, is a great counterbalance to the accumulated tension I find in daily life. When I learn to handle the breath properly I begin to handle my prana in a positive way, allowing me to better control the mind, which translates to a more lucid handling of my experiences. And there I am able to find adjustment of the best kind.