A Chess Master shares his experience and the benefits of his Isha Yoga practice:
My name is Keaton Kiewra. I am a chess master who learned chess 17 years ago when I was seven. I grew up in Nebraska, and moved to Dallas for college at UTD which I attended on a chess scholarship. I graduated college in 2009 and am now a full time chess instructor. I became involved with Isha two years ago when I took the Inner Engineering program that was offered in Dallas. I have meditated regularly since that time and I try to meditate at least once every day.
Meditation has had a wonderful impact on my life, including chess, and it has shown in my results. Since learning to meditate my rating has improved and I am winning tournaments with greater regularity. I believe this is because I am able to stay more relaxed during games, and I remember to stay in the moment rather than being results oriented. I am okay with losing now as long as I am satisfied with the way I played. If I lose and I don’t play well then I need to fix something. Meditation has also improved my overall health including my endurance. Endurance is a key part of chess matches as one match can last up to six hours and tournaments can occur over a nine day span with one game per day. Meditation has also helped my focus. The Kriya that we learned in Inner Engineering requires focusing the mind. Since doing this practice regularly I have noticed an improvement in my ability to focus on tasks, including chess which demands a great deal of focus.
Pictured: Kiewra with some of his young pupils
Sadhguru speaks about the spiritual dimension of games and sports:
“When you play a game, you want to win. If you don’t want to win, you can’t play a game. When I play a game, I want to win — I really want to win. That’s why I play. But if I lose, it’s OK with me. That’s the beauty of the game. It’s a wonderful thing that without wanting to win you cannot play but if you are not willing to lose you cannot play either.
You can do your job half-heartedly. You can be married half-heartedly. You can even fall in love half-heartedly. But you can’t play a game half-heartedly. You won’t be there if you play half-heartedly. It’s absolute involvement. Without involvement, there’s no game. If there’s no involvement, there’s no spiritual process. And spiritual process is an intense involvement with life. Sport is a good training ground for spirituality, not the other way round.” –
Sadhguru
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