Yog is the union of the body with breath, of breath with mind, of a human being with the Source from which we came and to which we return. The world sought to practise yog, seeking relief from pain, calm for the restless mind, and yog gave all of this generously.

Science now confirms what rishis knew in silence: steady the breath, and you steady the heart. But yog was never only about health, it is a way of life, a daily covenant of moderation, awareness, gratitude and service. Yog whispers to a weary world: slow down, breathe, return to yourself, and you will find the Divine waiting there.

How far this gift has travelled is a miracle. Across the Gulf in United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, and even in Saudi Arabia, the very birthplace of Islam, yog is practised and loved by thousands, led by certified teachers, honoured by GOI and its embassies as a living bridge between civilisations.

Nouf Marwaai, Saudi Arabia’s first certified yog instructor and founder of the Arab Yoga Foundation, was conferred the Padma Shri in 2018; she’s the first Arab recipient to receive this honour and now leads the Saudi Yoga Committee. Hers is the proof of a quiet truth: yog conflicts with no one’s faith, because it asks nothing of belief and everything of sincerity. It does not change the mind; it cleanses it. A Muslim who breathes consciously becomes a better Muslim; a Christian who sits in stillness prays more deeply; a Hindu who serves with awareness draws nearer to the Divine.

Long before the word ‘interfaith’ was coined, Sufis of India and yogis of Nath Sampradaya sat together as seekers, not strangers. It is recounted in our shared heritage that Hazrat Baba Farid Ganj-iShakar, Chishty saint of Punjab, met wandering jogis of his age and that they exchanged secrets of the breath: a yogi’s pranayam and a Sufi’s habs-i-dam , guarding of every breath in remembrance of the Beloved. Each recognised in the other a fellow climber of the same mountain through a different path. Disciplines of Gorakhnath and Nath yogis’ posture, breath, and stilling of the mind flowed into the spiritual soil of India and met Sufi sciences of Zikr and muraqaba, Sufi meditation. From that meeting came not confusion, but compassion. This is our civilisational inheritance: unity without uniformity, oneness that honours difference.

Beneath our many names for the Divine, the human heart beats with one longing. The mat and prayer rug, asan and sajda, the Aum and Zikr, all are the body’s way of expressing the soul’s single word: return.

This, then, is yog for interfaith harmony not a watering-down of any tradition, but discovery of the still point where all traditions touch. In a world torn by borders, it offers a wordless peace that needs no translation. It heals the body so the heart may be free.

When we breathe together, we cannot hate one another. May every breath drawn be a prayer for peace.

The writer is 26th generation gaddi nashin, Dargah Ajmer Sharif; and chairman, Chishty Foundation.

END OF ARTICLE