Yoga Day 2025: Yoga has long been known for improving flexibility and fitness. But lately, something deeper is drawing people to their mats. More and more of us are turning to yoga as a way to feel younger, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally too.
With long hours at work, never-ending stress, and dependence on medications, it’s no surprise that people are searching for something to help them feel healthier, calmer, and more alive. And yoga, it seems, is showing up as one of the most powerful ways out there. But can it actually help us slow or even reverse the ageing process?
To know the answer, we got in touch with Sadhguru, Founder Isha Foundation, Spiritual leader who says yoga is not just a way to move your body, but a full system for inner well-being that can literally reverse the ageing process.
Can yoga really slow ageing—both in the body and mind?
“Yoga is a technology towards ecstasy,” says Sadhguru. “There is substantial medical research and evidence today that shows that if a person is blissful or ecstatic, their lifespan will increase, their health will be fantastic, and everything will be right with their body and mind.”
He shares a personal example: “Several years ago, a German doctor examined me and said, ‘Your cellular age is twenty-five.’ What this means is that I stopped growing at twenty-five! Everything else may be ageing, but my cellular age is still twenty-five.”
He says this is because yoga changes how the system functions at its core. It’s not about pushing the body through workouts but transforming it from within. “Our basic program is Inner Engineering. Many studies have been conducted on these practices and they have found the neuronal regeneration in your brain can go up by 241 per cent, and the ageing process of the cells can be reversed after three months of practice.”
What kind of changes happen when yoga becomes part of daily life?
“Practicing Yoga can bring many physical and mental benefits but I normally never talk about those because I consider them as the side effects of Yoga,” he says. The real purpose, he adds, is to help a person feel more connected—to themselves, to others, and to life as a whole.
“You can experience remarkable changes in terms of being peaceful, joyful and healthy. And many people have come out of their chronic ailments quite miraculously. But that is not the essential nature of what Yoga is. The fundamental objective of Yoga is to make your experience of life so large and all-inclusive that instead of being an individual, you become a universal process.”
He also points out a common misunderstanding: “The word ‘Yoga’ fundamentally means ‘union’, but generally for most people today in the world, Yoga means asanas. Asanas are just a small preparatory aspect of Yoga.”
What about all the anti-ageing creams and treatments people use today?
Sadhguru reminds us of something very real: “The physical body has come with an expiry date.” He says rather than fearing this, yoga helps you go beyond it.
“Once you are over a certain age, however well taken care of you are, you are still a fragile life. Tomorrow morning, the whole equation of your life can change, physically. We hope it does not but it is a possibility. Millions of people are going through it. Thinking it will not happen to you is living in a fool’s paradise. Knowing the possibility and doing the right thing so that it does not happen to you is the sensible thing.”
He adds, “Yoga is a technology through which a dimension beyond the physical becomes a living reality within you. For a person who knows only the body, old age is the greatest misery and fear. But if you have tasted something beyond the physical body, old age will not be a problem; it will be a blessing.”
Is there a simple practice or habit that supports graceful ageing?
As per Sadhguru, “If you eat half of what you think you should eat, you will live long!”
He says health is mostly about using the body well. “One of the simplest things about health is just to use the body. If you use the body sufficiently, it has everything to create health for itself. I would say, if we physically used our bodies as much as we should, 80 per cent of the ailments on this planet would just disappear. Of the remaining 20 per cent, another 10 per cent is because of the type of foods people are eating,” Sadhguru says.
“Health is not something that you invent. When the life process is happening well, that’s health. Your body is working well, your mind is working well and your energy is supporting the two, making sure nothing goes wrong,” he further explains.
So, is staying young more about how you feel or how your body works?
“You must live your life always young,” says Sadhguru. But he’s not talking about looking 18. “Don’t think ‘young’ means being fifteen or eighteen years of age. After all, you will die very young—50, 60, 70, 100 or 160 years, is still very young compared to the existence.”
He says youth is really about your mindset. “Youth is not about age – it means you do not settle. Always learning, always growing, always a new possibility. Youthfulness happens on the mental level if you have not made conclusions about life and are willing to look at life fresh all the time.”
On the physical side, too, yoga has powerful effects. “There are simple practices where tremendous rejuvenation of the body happens on the cellular level, so you can stay youthful on the level of your body.”
Can yoga also help us stay mentally sharp and emotionally young?
In recent years, science has begun to agree with what yogis have known for centuries. “In the last few years, a lot of research has gone into what is known as neuroplasticity,” Sadhguru says. “Scientists are saying that by cultivating a different kind of thought and doing different kinds of activity, the grey matter in your brain can increase or decrease in a matter of days or weeks.”
Yogic systems have long known that our minds are changeable. “If you are willing to do certain processes with the right intensity and focus, we can rewire your brain completely in just 24 hours’ time,” he says.
Sadhguru points to one powerful brain chemical that plays a big role in mood and emotional wellbeing: “Today, medical science knows that if certain physiological biomarkers such as Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor (BDNF) are not present in the body in sufficient quantities, anxiety, depression, emotional exhaustion and burnouts happen.”
With yogic practices—especially those taught in the Inner Engineering program, studies have shown dramatic results. “It has been established by studies at the University of Indiana, Harvard and Rutgers Universities that within 90 days of daily practice, the BDNF levels increase threefold. People are coming out of their depressive modes and other anxiety situations through Inner Engineering.”
As the world celebrates International Yoga Day 2025 today, Sadhguru reminds us that yoga isn’t just about stretching or fitness. It’s a technology for living with awareness, vitality, and joy.
“As you can engineer the outside, you can also engineer your interiority. Every human being must have access to this,” he says.
And if you’re wondering whether it’s too late to start—Sadhguru would say the best time is now. After all, you’re still young in the grand scheme of life. Why not feel that way, too?
