Personal Transformation initial confrontation

Personal transformation is a conscious process of changing ourselves to our higher self. There is a healthier meaning and purpose to our life when we upgrade ourselves to the greater good. Transformation is a change process. By default, with the time .we undergo change physically, mentally & emotionally. My present physical, mental & emotional states are different than what they were few years before.

Two opposite forces: Firstly, change is an automatic process and it acts as a force upon us. This force can have the positive or negative influences. Personal transformation is also a change but produced by our wilful conscious action. This is a different type of force which is wilfully generated to upgrade to our higher identity.

The initial resistance is minimal when both the forces work in association with each other. The early struggle becomes greater when the forces are not in alignment. Unfortunately, most of us fall in the latter category & we have a struggle for the personal transformation to realize in our reality.

Automatic Force: This force is nothing but your old habits & present behavioural pattern. This is the sum average of our past experiences. This force is really strong as this has been originated, developed and established for many years.  The stories & excuses that come in our mind (which do not allow the personal transformation procedures) are the acts of this automatic force. The strength of our personal transformation force is not as strong as this automatic force. Hence, we have the initial setback.

Overcoming the initial glitches:  In order to overcome the initial glitches, I would like to highlight three important points based on my own personal transformation experience.

1.       See the micro results while moving towards the goals

2.       Value the procedures and practices

3.       Owning & Knowing: The experiential knowledge.

1.       Micro Results: During the initial period, we have the usual tendency to look for the big results. Say for example that you do daily an hour of workouts to lose weight then obviously you develop an expectation to lose, one kg of weight after a week practice. Instead, it is better to look for the small micro developments such as feel towards your body, your energy level during/after workouts etc. and register all those developments in a note book. When you look back the records after a month, you’ll definitely see monumental changes.

2.       Values: It is better to value the procedures and practices wholeheartedly. Do not doubt the procedures and practices. A negative wavelength is created when one doubts the procedures. Remember the saying, “The value has value when its value is valued”.  

3.       Experiential knowledge:  Most of us know the procedures and practices to become good. But, this is just an intellectual knowledge. It becomes our experiential knowledge when we experience the procedures and practices. We now OWN the skill that we KNOW. So the difference between Owning and Knowing is similar to the difference of the experiential and intellectual knowledge. So, pay attention to your experiences/feelings.

Mental Disposition & the state of Health

Our mental disposition plays a vital role in determining the state of our health. I am writing this particular subject based on my own personal experience. But, there are some scientific studies that support this idea too.

My faith and belief structures took a leap jump from where I was a decade before to where I am now. Obviously, the life experiences during this ten years period were instrumental in changing my belief system and hence my mental outlook. One of the major changes is the way how I associate myself with the diseases that are hereditary in nature.

In family, we may run family inherited diseases such obesity, diabetes, cancer etc. This may be passed on from one generation to next generation in the family by transmission of the defective genes. I am sure that every one of us would have seen this family inherited disease happening within our family or families of our friends, neighbours, colleagues etc.

Epigenetic: Obviously, we carry the blood that runs with the defective genes and without doubt that the defective genes play a major role in the transmission of the particular disease. In the recent times, a new field has evolved in the medical field which is called “Epigenetic”. To put it simply, the expression of the genes depends on the environment in which the genes thrives. Let us take an example of the family that runs with the defective diabetic genes. There is a probability that majority of the family members have diabetes manifested in their body while few of the family members do not have any sort of symptoms of diabetes. For the lucky few, the environment in which the defective genes survived is different than that of the ones with the diabetes manifested in the body. This is what exactly happened in my personal life and I am one of that lucky few.

Environment: Having understood that the environment plays a vital role in the expression of the defective genes, now the immediate question is to know how to handle the environment to work in our favour? The science says that the associated protein shape & structure play role in the expression of the genes. I do not comment on this because of my limited knowledge in this particular subject but from my personal experience, I can firmly say our mental disposition and the associated faith and belief structure play the major roles for the family inherited diseases to manifest.

Seed for the Expression: If one thinks that he may get arthritis because his mom had it at his age then this simple thought process when repeated multiple times become his newly formed belief structure. In day today life even when he has a simple knee problem, the newly formed faith has established so well that he automatically in all likelihood get a thought with the doubt that this pain could be an initial sign of the arthritis. Unknowingly, in no time, he is creating a breeding ground, a favourable environment for the genes to express & here, we have now a person with a new tag of the arthritis in his reality. Our belief and our thought process alone are good enough to create and get into the new diseased state. Such is the effect of our mental thought process in manifestation of the diseases.

So, believe in confidence that it is not necessary that you need to undergo the family inherited diseases even though you possess the defective genes running your blood. All, you need to do is to have a hygienic mental disposition and how you associate with the family inherited defies. I found out my path through yoga to gain such a fresh mental state. It is not only that I do not manifest any of my family run genes even though I carry those but also; it is a fact that I have never visited a doctor in that last eight years. Such, is the power of our mental disposition. May I know your path to get this hygienic mental state?

Ambience Design: Social Conditioning

We influence the external environment and we are also influenced by the external environment as well. If we live in a society where majority of us have the habit of going to the temples then there is a good likelihood that we develop a habit of going to the temple. Similarly, if we live in a society where majority are smokers then there is a high probability for us to become the smokers. Such is the influence of the society on the individuals irrespective of the merit/demerit of the influence.

By default, an ordinary person mimics and follows the pattern of the society. But, the ordinary person will become extraordinary the moment he becomes aware of the underneath force that operates in the patterns of the social conditioning. It is good to follow the ones that have positive influence on you and discard those which do not serve you. This is a conscious decision on our part where we filter and selectively pick up the patterns which aid in our growth.

Let us take for examples few of the commonly followed patterns.

Going for the regular medical check-ups to stay healthy

Taking eight glasses of water per day

Oats for the healthy morning breakfast

Yoga helps you to reduce the stress level

The above are the commonly followed patterns in the society. Since, the patterns are widely accepted; it is natural for an individual to mimic the patterns. But, we have a choice to work on each of the above patterns based on its own merits/demerits.

For example, going for a regular medical check-up was not a pattern followed in the society few hundred years before. This has evolved over a period of time and becomes a pattern now. People were healthy hundred years before without going for the medical check-ups. Even in the present times, there are group of people who have not visited the doctor once in their lifetime. Definitely, they operate on a different belief system which is stronger than the one imposed by the social conditioning. In fact, in my personal experience, I followed the pattern of visiting the doctor, a decade before. But, I dropped the pattern when I made a conscious decision based on the merits/demerits. Obviously, the deviation from the mainstream path is due to the change in my belief structure. I started to see the improvement in my health condition just by following certain yoga practices. Over a period of time, I developed a belief structure where prevention is better than the cure by means of health care management.

Again taking eight glasses of water per day is good or bad but nobody knows. It is just a concept imposed on to us. We need to test ourselves to work on the merits/demerits and make a conscious decision. There is no need to blindly follow because the books say it is good to follow it as a habit. For my body condition, this may work but may not be the case for someone else.

So, it is good to become of aware of all those patterns and make a conscious decision to filter out and adopt those which work in our favour. Simply discard the rest even though they are widely accepted and practiced widely by the society. By doing so, you are becoming responsible for your own health and obviously you are not only spawning a healthy lifestyle but you are consciously designing your own Health. You are the DESINGER of your OWN HEALTH.

Attention to the details: Yoga

One of the key factors that determine the effectiveness of the employees in the fast changing dynamics of the corporate world is their ability in paying attention to the details. This attribute is uniformly applicable to the entire gamut of the organisation starting from the entry level staffs to the top level senior executives.

Attention in today’s scenario:  In today’s information age, every individual is bombarded with millions of information in a day. Distraction is set in an individual due to the heavy volume of information handled. How to cope up with the distractions?

Awareness is an infinite field and attention is nothing but shifting the awareness to the specific task or information. Attention is just like a spot light in directing your awareness to a narrow region. Attention is the gateway to explore the finer details of the specific task or to gain entry into the internal world related to the task. Attention is nothing but the convergence of infinite potential of awareness.

A new world related to the task opens up with the intensified attention level which otherwise stays invisible in the normal circumstances. This gives rise to the opportunities to explore and move further. Now, the person thought, mind and his entire internal world are in perfect sync with the exposed world related to the task. In this mode, the external massive information become insignificant and fade away in the background. This perfect synchronisation generates the perfect results. Otherwise, in a normal circumstance, the massive information stays in the foreground acting as distraction.

Yoga & Attention: Yoga is a mind body practice where one develops the faculty of attention to the next highest level. Yoga practice is a journey of exploring one’s own internal world. Yoga practitioner systematically pays attention to the breathing, bodily sensations & his own thought process as well. Thus, a practitioner enhances and strengthens his attention faculty each and every time as he performs his practices on a regular practice.

In neuroscience, there is a law that states as “the neurons that fire together wire together”. This is the effect of regularity in the practice. As one repeats the practice, the neurons that relate to the attention faculty get fired and finally improving the attention faculty in the brain.

Now, the practitioner is in perfect tune with his own internal world with developed heightened attention faculty. When a task is given, it is natural for him to open up the internal world related to the task and get it aligned to his own internal world thereby generating the right kind of result.

Success of the Yoga Practices: DECODE

Each practitioner should get the maximum benefits of the practices such Asanas (static Postures) and Suryanamaskar (flow exercises) that involve the physical movement of the body. In this blog, let me decode with an example of the above practices .You will get good benefits if you know how to decode clearly a posture or flow. So, let us start the decoding now!!

Basics: I am sure most of you are aware of the breathing sequences, how to synchronise the body movement with respect to breathing, where to keep your awareness or your focus as you progress through the practices. It was covered separately in my earlier blog ( ref). In case, if you are not aware of the basics then I suggest to get familiarised with it before attempting to decode the postures.

Example 1: Let us take an example of prayer posture. One of the reasons for doing this posture is to elongate the spine. As known to you, spine is the main communication channel for the entire CNS (Central Nervous System). In yoga, the sushumna nadi , the main energy channel moves along the spine. So, this posture plays a crucial role in clearing the main energy channel and thereby increasing the energy level.

With the above points defined, we now know how to decode the posture. So, the intention is to stretch the spine. The condition is satisfied if one pays attention to points 2,3 & 4, that is to keep the butt closer to the heal, not dragging the palms towards the head & finally to keep the forehead closer to the floor.

A beginner may not able to satisfy all the above conditions at the initial stage. But, all he needs to do at the initial stage is to just become aware of the intention and the decoding points. Over period of time, you see the wonder of how your body gets transformed to a whole new level.

Progression Period: With the awareness on the decoding points, everyday one sees how the progression that is happening Say for example, the forehead may be few inches off the floor. One may mindfully get the head towards the floor without causing any major comfort. It is good to attempt for the progression ONLY during the exhale duration when the body stays at the relaxed phase.

Common mistakes: Many of the beginners try to keep a different intention of bringing the forehead to the floor. In that process, they drag their palms towards the head & raise the butt up the heels. By doing so, the spine no longer stays parallel to ground but inclines at an angle to ground. In this case, the main purpose of stretching of the spine is defeated.

I captured & decoded for many such practices including Asanas & flow exercises based on my experiences. I released the video to most of my clients too.

Trust the Present Self:

Trusting my “present” self is one of the core attribute in my personal transformation journey. Earlier, I used to trust more of my “future” self than my “present” self. When I was assigned a task, I had a tendency to postpone the activity to some other day. This was the case for the most of tasks especially when the task demanded considerable amount of my effort. A clear sign of trusting my “future” self than my “present” self!! On long term, many such tasks piled up and most of those were not accomplished leaving me in a state of inertia. A clear sign of “no growth” state!!

One of the greatest learning in my personal transformation journey is the realisation that “future” self is a faraway being and not within my reach at any given state of time. In fact, it is just a delusion and non-existing entity of mine. What is existing in reality is my “present” self which is true & real. When I start to manipulate with my “present” self, the results are always in my direction of growth.

 If you see yourself in a state of inertia then you may be stuck in a similar state of reality of mine where we trust our “future” self. Let us analysis and see the driving forces that act behind the scene. Let us take an example of doing regular workouts. The full enthusiasm that we witness at the earlier stage fades away as we progress through. We might tend to take an excuse to cut the practice and allocate time for some other activity. In few months, we would notice that we were completely off the track and stop doing the workouts altogether. Sounds familiar? There are only two good reasons for this kind of behaviour.

The act of mind: In performing an action for a task, everything is set right as long as the action allows staying in our own comfort zone. If the action demands and pushes to our discomfort zone then the mind comes into the play. The whole purpose of mind is to keep us in a comfort zone so that we stay protected. All the excuses and stories are the act of mind to keep you safe in the protected zone.

Once, we are aware of this process, we know how to push ourselves into the discomfort zone mindfully. In fact, practice of yoga develops such a kind of mindful awareness.

The reward incentives: Whenever we perform a task, we expect rewards. We get motivated when we get the desired results or rewards. In fact, this activates the “pleasure” circuit of the brain which helps in pushing this task in vigour to the next level. In the case of regular workouts, we may have an expectation of the result and after few weeks when we don’t get that expected result, we tend to lose the interest. Here is the time again all the excuses and stories will come into play.

The best way is to experience/feel the present moment of action than focusing on the end result. The awareness on the experience is lot more significant than the result itself.

So, if you are in a state of inertia like how I was, hitting the “no growth” zone then become aware of the two underneath currents that play within us. Trust your “current” self than your “future” self and do the action NOW. 

Engagement Model: Go with the Right Mindset

When we practice yoga, the result varies from person to person. Some of us get good result; some of us get “not so good” result and some simply give up after few days of practice. Here are the guidelines for the novices who want to engage with the practice of yoga and get the result that they really deserve. These guidelines primarily set the right kind of mindset as one enters into the world of yoga.

Commitment: First, get yourself committed. This is the fuel that needs to be ignited which acts as a guiding light as we take up the unknown journey. There is a BIG difference between “commitment “and “Interest”. There is a vast difference when I say

I am interested in becoming healthy &

I am committed to become healthy.

There is a nice saying, “committed people always do the things and achieve the result whereas interested people always watch the committed people getting the result”. Interest is doing on convenience where us commitment is doing things without constructing stories and excuses.

So, the first guideline is to stay 100% committed. Here in yoga, you are not only training the body but also mind & emotions. There is a learning period which takes considerable time but provides a definitive shift in you.

Priorities:  Regularity is the key fundamental element for the success. Why we need regularity in the practice? Body has its own intelligence and it can understand clearly our intention when we do things in a repetitive way. But, generally during the course of our progress, we may come up with certain excuses or some sort of stories just to break the regularity. It is an undesirable path where we compromise the high priority that was set in earlier.

It is important NOT to give excuses or create stories that disrupt the regularity and it essential to train the body appropriately.

Faith: Each one of us operates and takes actions based on his/her own faith & belief structure. Yes, our daily actions in life are based on our faiths. Now, when we start to learn yoga, it is important to have faith on the person who imparts the knowledge, faith on the practice and faith on yoga itself. Do not compromise on any of these and blindly follow until to a point where you start to experience the changes by yourself.

So, trust the person who imparts the knowledge, the practices & Yoga.

Value: You are not only trusting but you completely value the things that are given to you. There is a saying & it goes as, “Value has value when its value is valued”. It is simply translated as, “if I really value yoga and its practices then I get the true value from yoga and the practices.” The intensity of the “return energy” , the energy that comes from other side depends on how much energy we create from our side.

So, simply VALUE yoga, the person who imparts the knowledge and the practices.

Sustainability:  The initial enthusiasm at the beginning slowly dies off as we progress. This is mainly because of many surprises such as pains/aches, not getting the expected results etc.

The fundamental key point to ensure sustainability is not to over/under do the practices. Just, identify the boundaries of the comfort and discomfort zone and try to stay at the boundary of the comfort zone and never jump straight away to the discomfort zone. For this, you need to develop the art of listening to the body, especially to the subtlest signals.

Knowing & Owning: The idea here is not to KNOW but to OWN the things. Knowing is an intellectual knowledge whereas owning is an experiential knowledge. Intellectual knowledge does not give the experience. The one which we do not experience fades away from our memory. Unless, we subject ourselves to the “experiences”, we cannot OWN.

So, pay attention to your experience/feelings. We are here to OWN this skill and keep it forever and lifelong.

Energy for productivity: Each one of us has infinite power. Yoga provides an opportunity to tap this infinite power within. Generally, when there is no clear direction and purpose in life, we tend to have worries, fear and doubts. We waste this energy in solving our worries, fear & doubts. With the inner clarity that one gets by the practice of yoga, one no longer divert energy in solving mundane issues but using the energy for the REAL constructive purpose setting up the life in the positive direction.