One of Mexico’s most renowned yoga teachers share with us the inspiring story of her path in the ancient practices of yoga and meditation.
Bindu de la Parra is a genuine teacher, committed to what really matters when it comes to spiritual practices. Beyond any physical achievements, Bindu points to what emerges when we approach yoga from a profound and integral perspective.
“My spiritual journey began when I was a kid. I would question myself about what is behind this existence and the concept of divinity. My intuition would tell me that there was something beyond what we perceive through our senses. I realized that spirituality and religion are two separate things.
My grandmother, who practiced meditation, was my mentor on this path. I would go to her to learn how to meditate. When I was 18, I met my spiritual teacher at a moment when I felt confused and broken. I had no idea who I was or where I was going. Meeting Swami Chidvilasananda was a watershed for me as the practices of meditation and mantra chanting woke up in me the flame of a stronger spiritual search, which led me to find who I was and what I really wanted. From that moment, I spent extended periods in Ashrams and Monasteries in the United States and India, where I lived in exchange for doing community service. Hatha yoga entered my life as a result of that path and led me to become a teacher 24 years ago.
For me, yoga is both a path and a state. It is a path of self-inquiry, of getting to know ourselves and working on the deeper layers within us, which are plenty of shadows and imprints of the past that bind us and generate reactivity and slavery, but at the same time represent an opportunity to open our wings and experience our real motivation and mission in life. It is through these obstacles that we discover the meaning of our life, the potential to find ourselves and live at the service of humanity. Yoga is a state where all the mental and emotional fluctuations calm down and allow us to observe their ebbs and flows as we connect with a more expansive state from where we realize that we are more than our emotions and thoughts. Yoga is not just doing postures, but a journey that allows us, through the acceptance of our life as it is, to live in constant learning, which ultimately makes us stronger, freer, and happier.”
