There is a misunderstanding that Yoga is simply sitting in a cave and meditating. Yoga could be anything. Cricket is a form of Yoga.

Yoga is only concentration, where you transcend the mind because the mind is very slow; the mind cannot make decisions very precisely. That’s why Patanjali, the Father of Yoga, says that you have to stop the mind; that’s his definition of Yoga. Why do you have to stop the mind? He says then only you can go to your real self.

So, a Cricket player also has to be in Yoga. What he has to do is to be completely alert and aware. Decision making is very important because what you are doing in Cricket is trying to outwit each other. The bowler and batsman are trying to outsmart each other. You have to get to a place where you are better than your competitor.

Your decision is very important because you should know how many runs you can take and whether you can do it or not. You have to make the right decisions and then execute it very quickly.

Playing Cricket is just not a game, it’s just not sport. It’s also mind training and it can be life training as well. In life, you cannot sit and wait for opportunities to come. You have to make the right decisions and also act very quickly.

What you need is just concentration. The Cricket player has to completely visualize everything in his own mind. There should be coordination between the mind, the space and the hands. What better Yoga you can think about than playing Cricket.

If you train yourself in Cricket, you can apply the learning in real life as well. You can take some of the Yogic techniques and apply them to playing Cricket. The players can get to know the Yogic techniques about – what concentration is, how to exclude your mind, ego and self, and then how to be completely goal oriented.

For a player, what is most important is winning; it’s a winner’s consciousness. What Cricket as a sport gives you is a winner’s consciousness.

You cannot go and speak philosophy or the Karma theory to a Cricket player. For him, what matters is that he has to win; victory is important to him.

~ Dr. Pillai

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Dr. Pillai teaches how to use the ancient wisdom of Yoga for modern, contemporary times. You can apply his Yogic techniques to emerge a winner in any area of life, be it business, sports or academics.

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