I first started to read this book in 2017 and managed to finish around 70%. The second half of this book is divided into 3 sections - Body, Mind, and Energy. I got stuck in the "Mind" section as the concepts presented went way over my head. I didn't get back to this book for 6 years. As I re-read this book last week, the "Mind" section made a lot more sense this time, but the "Energy" section had quite a few hard-to-grasp topics. The experience with this book is a fascinating example of how books reveal the areas where we need more understanding.
Sadhguru's books have always been super insightful. Loved his other books - Karma and Death. He has a knack for conveying complex topics in a relatable manner - be it his tech/software-related examples, his little anecdotes of Shankaran Pillai, or his hard-hitting phrases with wordplay. Inner Engineering has all of it.
The book starts by laying out the foundational aspects of well-being in the first section. Though I found it a little challenging to structure the information presented, the context of "Why" was well laid for the reader to get to the "How".
To face the challenges of the external world, Sadhguru recommends that the only way OUT is going IN. The experiences of life are self-created and we have the responsibility to take complete ownership. Responsibility implies our ability to respond to a given situation. Taking responsibility creates freedom, whereas our compulsive reactions put us in a state of enslavement. Taking responsibility also leads to designing our destiny.
Well-being is a state of pleasantness that we feel from within. The Science of Yoga helps us to experience well-being through the perfect alignment of our body, mind, and energy.
The second section of the book dives into specific practices for each of these three dimensions.
The example of how body alignment puts us in a certain state of perception and receptivity was eye-opening.
In the "Mind" chapter, Sadhguru compares the intellect to a scalpel and how it discerns information and gets stuck to certain identities during this process. It was mind-blowing and so relatable. He also recommends not to succumb to our intellectual analysis and instead embrace the mystery of consciousness around us.
There were so many key takeaways from this book. Sharing a few below:
"The quality of your life is always decided by how you experience life, not by what life offers you"
"If you can joyfully do whatever is needed in a given situation, this is freedom. If you limit yourself to doing ONLY what you like, it is a horribly compulsive way to live."
"Yoga is not about being superhuman; it is about realizing that being human is super."
"Everything that ever happened to you, you experienced right within you"
"We are the most comfortable generation to have ever lived on this planet. The rub is that we are definitely not the joyful, or the most loving, or the most peaceful"