Practicing yoga is about being able to be 'at ease'

The real 'self' is not the image we see in the mirror, free from height, weight, beauty, ugliness, skin color, race, age, and gender.

The true 'self' is not the various identities we have at home, in society, or in any group.

The real 'self' is not the various opinions we have formed about ourselves, and certainly not what others perceive us to be.

"The real 'self' is not the various habits that have permeated us since time immemorial. All of this is not our true nature, yet we continually attribute these 'external' things to ourselves, forming our unbreakable 'personal characteristics' and wrongly considering them as 'me.' This leads to various kinds of distress and suffering due to being influenced by external circumstances.

One of the purposes of silence is to calm down, allowing the turbid waters of the mind to settle and reveal the pure and clear water beneath, which is its true nature.

'One's own nature is eternally pure, eternally awakened, eternally liberated and at ease,' like the feathers of a swan or the leaves of a lotus, impervious to the touch of external droplets.

~ Excerpt from Swami Veda's 'Silence: The Phenomenon and the Power'"