Distance between the intention and the success

We all need success in the field in which we spent our energy as we venture in life. But, the success appears to be far away and does not come to us as easily as we wish to have. There appears to be a planetary distance between our intention and success. This blog covers my perception and personal experience of how to convert intention to a sure success and generate the results that we desire.

The bridge: The gap between our intention and success is filled with our own actions. Any wishful intention without proper actions does not take us to the end result and hence we don’t experience success. One can equate to his own life experiences to validate the above statement. When proper actions are taken then the gap between intention and success narrows down. In most of the cases, the unsuccessful result is related mainly due to the lack of actions. The lack of actions is caused by the various distractions that defocus our final goal. So, it is important that our mind and energy should be completely focused on the actions.

Strong desire: Our intention should take its birth from our desire that has to be really strong. Strong burning desire is the key to generate right actions. The result and action will not be strong when such great intensity is not there to our intention. One should have a good fondness to have such intention for the intention to yield the desired result. When the strength of our desire is not that strong then there is a good chance we slip & the intention fails to take a shape to give the desired result.

Success: The goal that we have in mind should not only benefit us but it should also have global impact on others. When the goal and the associated success are self-centred, the energy built in achieving the desired result is also limited to a small circle of energy field. To widen this energy field, it is important that the goal should influence and benefit others. In this case, one gets a sense of importance for his work from others. This is an important criterion in setting up the goal.

Momentum: Most of us do not get the right momentum to carry out the actions required in achieving the end result. This is mainly due to the lack of strength in desire and action to penetrate into the world of opportunity. The world opens up and explodes with opportunities only when we have strength in our intention and action.

Alignment: There should be a single line of alignment our intention, action and success. All these three components should be aligned to real “purpose and meaning of our life”.  In order to gain importance, all the above components should have global influence for others and society.

Fire of breath breathing technique

This blog is in continuation of my previous week blog on the benefits of deep breathing practice. This blog covers the physiological and psychic aspects of the ‘fire of breath’’ or kapalabathi breathing practice. Please refer elsewhere to a right source of information if you would like to learn how to perform the practice.

Stage 1: If you have learned the fire of breath breathing technique then you must be aware of the four stages of this breathing practice. The forceful exhalation is like a saw tooth waveform where we consciously force our exhalation without paying any attention to the inhale process. There is a good chance to move on to stage two (automatic stoppage of breath) if one maintains above 120 strokes. Stroke rate is the number of forceful exhales in a given duration of time. Personally, I feel that 60 strokes/minute continued for 2 minutes take us to the stage two.

Stage 2: The automatic process of breathing is controlled by Hypothalamus. Even now, the hypothalamus controls our breathing involuntarily as we are engaged in reading this blog consciously. The brain experiences surplus oxygen due to the stage 1 practice. This is due to the piston movement of the diaphragm muscleof stage 1 breathing practice. Hypothalamus stops the breathing process due to the surplus oxygen in the brain cells. This automatic stoppage of breath is technically called as Kevala Kumbak . This is a beautiful meditative state and one experiences a glimpse of Samadhi. Really a power state!!

Stage 3: The third stage is the recovery of breath and the hypothalamus tries to reconstruct the breathing process as it experiences the decrease in the level of oxygen from its maximum level. Again, one can experiences strikingly the period of reconstruct which is really slow with a long duration and gradual increase in the amplitude levels. It is as good as experiencing the characteristics of the hypothalamus. What a wonderful way to experience our own internal device which controls our involuntary breathing mechanism??

Stage 4: Stage four is building up of periodicity with rhythmic sinusoidal wave with raising and falling of breathing by successive inhale& exhale. Once , we reach this stage , the awareness on natural rhythm of the breathing heightens up & hence the clarity of the breathing appears to be lot more better after the fire of breath practice.

Physiological effects: The respiratory system functionality is optimised by this breathing practice. This is mainly due to the piston movement of the diaphragm muscle that is involved in the practice. An effective respiratory system improves the endurance level mainly due to the increased oxygen intake. Also, the energy level is higher due to the good supply of oxygen to the every cells of the body.

Physic effect: Both the automatic stoppage of breath as well as the recovery phase take us to a kind of meditative state. The awareness as well as our own attention faculty improve in this state. This allows one to stay in a “present moment of awareness”.

Are you experiencing all the four stages of this practice clearly and distinctively? Please try it out. It is a powerful energising breathing practice.

My experience on breathing techniques

I try to cover in this blog the power of breathing techniques and my personal experience of these techniques. Again, I would like to iterate that this is purely my personal experience and in no way becomes the description of the techniques.

Deep breathing: The most powerful muscle in the human body is the diaphragm muscle, a dome shape muscle just below the rib cage. Deep breathing makes use of this diaphragm muscle. Most of us breathe from the chest using the intercostal muscle. Lungs are triangular in shape with majority of the lungs capacity comes from the lower part of the lungs. The diaphragm muscle activates the lower lobes of the lungs.

Endurance level: I personally have seen a great energy level with my deep breathing. My long run pace has improved considerably with deep breathing. Also, I could able to run nonstop at higher pace easily for more than 10Km. Endurance level improves once if we push the lactic threshold level. We touch upon lactic threshold region when there is a depletion of oxygen and the body moves to anaerobic zone. Deep breathing helps in oxygenating the body that keeps us in aerobic zone that helps in higher endurance level.

Breathing rate: Typically, the breathing rate for an average adult is 18/minute. Our breathing rate reduces with the regular practice of deep breathing for 10 minutes per day. In my case, breathing rate has reduced to 10/minute. This has tremendous psychic as well as the physiological benefits that can’t be undermined.

Perception: The first psychic effect is the change in the perception towards the life. Few of my experiences due to the changed perception have provided a greater confident in leading the life to its full. The slower breathing rate creates a space in the mind. In such case, mind is not fully occupied. This gives an opportunity for a renewed thinking & that leads to a better perception.

Relaxed state: The long exhalation of the deep breathing helps us to relax the body and the mind. This is mainly due to the toning up the parasympathetic nervous system that relaxes our body and the mind.

Anti-aging effect:  Each thought is an energy impulse. Too many thoughts mean too much of energy expenditure. A relaxed body and mind keep us in an energy conserving state. Personally, I have enjoyed immensely in this area.

Improved immunity system: An acidic body is the breeding ground for cancer and all other kinds of diseases. Deep breathing helps in oxygenating the body nicely and keeps in alkaline mode. Because of the alkaline state, we seldom catch diseases. Personally, I have not visited the doctor for the past six years.

Your turn: Deep breathing technique is a very subtle technique and please do not take it for granted. Most of us do not have patient to do the exercise regularly for  at least for a month. Hence, they lose the immense benefits of this technique. Please look for the two parameters if you plan to practice deep breathing.

a)      Initially, start to do the practice consciously and with regular practice, this breathing pattern becomes your second nature. It becomes your habit and you start to breathe with the changed pattern subconsciously. So, keep an eye of this change.

b)      Look for the duration of inhale and exhale and consciously, try to keep the exhalation longer. This has the ability to relax your body and the mind.

Let me write in my next blog on ‘’fire of breath’’ and bellow breathing techniques.

The power of static exercises

Physical exercise creates movement in the body. Static exercises such as asanas stop the movement of the body. This blog explains my view on the power of such static exercises.

Speed of the exercises: When we engage in a physical exercise, we use the speed as one of the parameter to judge our improvement. We consider the result is improved when the same set of exercises is done in a shorter duration. But, there is a flip side of increasing the momentum of the exercises. When we add the momentum, because of the speed, our awareness window begins to narrow down as the time to observe the effect of the exercises on us at any given instant of time becomes short. Even though, one can see and appreciate the net effect after exercise but the effect at a given instant of time during the exercise is as not as good as static exercise. In other words, static exercise because of its very static nature that provides a wider window of opportunity to feel clearly the strength and weakness of the body by subjecting it to different static postures. This way, one can become lot more aware of the body and with this developed awareness, one can effectively manage in adding the strength & and eliminating the weakness of the body.

Subtle movement: At the background, there are set of very subtle movements that happen within us. These are the involuntary movements without our conscious control. They run in a kind of auto pilot mode controlled automatically by the subconscious mind. There is a very less chance to observe these subtle movements when there are lot of gross movements caused by the physical exercises in the fore ground. So, it is significant to reduce or stop those gross movements in the fore ground to watch the subtler movements at the background. On reaching this level of awareness, one develops the ability to watch the movement of mind & emotions.

Still Mind: Mind becomes still only when the body retains the stillness. As known to us, the body and the mind are one and the same. Mind is the subtler form of the body and the body is the gross form of the mind. The practice of static postures allows us to train the body to become still.

Subconscious access: We are habitual animal & 95% of our activities are subconsciously controlled. We get to develop an access to this subconscious power when we develop the awareness on these subtle movements as well with the practice of static postures.

Piecewise work: Due to the high complexity of the body, it becomes a paramount task to target the entire body at one go. Each posture targets the different centers of the body. Practice of static postures allows us to work piecewise on the different centers of the body. This provides an opportunity to clear the energy block of a particular center. We get a free flow of energy throughout the entire system when all the blocks are removed.

Therapeutic effect: The static posture allows pooling of energy at one particular center as well as pooling of blood to one particular part of the body. A particular center of the body can be rejuvenated by pooling the blood to the center. A better therapeutic effect can be achieved by oxygenating the center by means of deep breathing. This activates the healing effect and hence the practice of static exercises becomes therapeutic.

So, in nutshell, practice of static exercises clear all the blocks of the different centers of the body and having a free flow of energy flawlessly within.

Exercise mindset:

It is a known fact that we live inside the body irrespective of who we are and what we do in life. First, one needs to take care of their body for the spirit to operate at its highest energy level. Regularly exercising the body makes every cell alive and active. A person can achieve a healthy lifestyle by means of regular exercise.

Body Mind relationship: Anyone who exercises regularly would agree that physical exercise not only influences the body but also the mind. A runner enjoys not only many physical benefits like a great cardiovascular system, an improved respiratory system, and stronger legs but also achieve a calm and relaxed mind. Such is the effect of the physical activity on the mind. This is because the mind and the body are one and the same. The mind is the subtler form of the body and the body is the gross form of mind.

Movement: There are movements in the body when we exercise. Exercise and movement are synonymous to each other. At the core level, the basic fundamental movements are the breathing movement and the movement due to the beating of the heart. Exercise becomes a lot more productive and enjoyable if we build the movement of the exercise in relationship to these core cardio-respiratory movements.

Exercise Rhythm: We can build a rhythm in any form of physical exercise. For example, a runner can match his strides to his breathing rate. The exercise becomes a lot easier and effortless once the movement is aligned to the cardio or respiratory rates. The exercise becomes effortless as the mind gets locked to the rhythm that one generates during the exercise. The Mind has unique characteristics of locking to the periodicity or rhythm.

Pain-Pleasure Windows: When we perform physical exercises, we experience pain or pleasure depending on the intensity of the exercise. We should perform the exercise precisely in the zone which is at the brink of the pleasure zone and the beginning of the pain zone. One cannot achieve the desired result when he exercises completely in the pleasure zone. The regularity and sustainment of the exercises cannot be achieved if one exercises in the pain zone.

Start point: Let there be a good reason for working out. As per the law of association, naturally we tend to associate the reason while we perform the workouts. If our reason for doing the exercise is to lose weight then that is the association which comes in the foreground of our mind whenever we perform workouts. This may become a bad association especially when we operate unknowingly in the pain zone of the pain-pleasure windows. On the other hand, when one associate workouts to “becoming healthy” or “changing lifestyle pattern” then those workouts yield better sustainable result due to the positive association.

So, the attitude towards the workouts has tremendous impact on the end result. A simple understanding of body-mind relationship, building an exercise rhythm and working on the precise point of pain-pleasure windows & good association to the workouts yield a greater and a more sustainable result.

Go with the right mind set when you attempt to work out and more importantly do the type of workout which you enjoy.

Money contribution and growth

In general, our growth depends on our contributions to others as well as to the society. More the level of contribution, greater would be our growth. Contribution is like an energy that flows from a source to a target. Continuity is established when the energy moves subsequently from old target to next target and so on.

Form of energy: Our energy field is said to be at higher level when the total universal cosmic energy seamlessly flows through us without any sort of obstruction. Money is also one such form of Prana, the energy field which flows through us effortlessly. In yogic science, an unbalanced state is a state which prevails only when there is a blockage of Prana. This unbalanced state can also be defined as dis-eased state where the energy does not flow easily from one point to another point.

Instrument: Money is a kind of an instrument. It is like a hammer, an instrument which can be used either for constructive or destructive purpose. We can use the hammer to constructively build a wooden box. Also, we can use the same hammer also to destruct the box. It is just in our hand to decide the purpose. It aids in our growth when we use money as an instrument for the constructive purpose in the form of contribution.

Money contribution: We donate to orphanage, less privileged people and so on and as a good human, it is a great accomplishment to continue such service. The money that goes for the contribution should emanate out of our pure will and good intention. Our intention should not be forced by others. We tend to add marketing element of our contribution only when the intention is forced externally. When our perception on this contribution is viewed in the context of seamless flow of energy, we contribute out of uncontaminated will that happens innately within us.

Practical method: From my personal experience, I would like to share certain practices that I follow. Our money inflow comes from many different sources. Most of these sources are known and expected. But, there are some unexpected and unknown sources that sometimes come as surprises to us. These could happen in the form of some unexpected profits in our business, stocks or from some unexpected deals from the clients. Keep aside such unexpected revenues and these become a reserve and start point for the money to flow.

Once, we develop such a mind-set that there is a reserve for contribution that exists in us then surprisingly, multiple outflow paths open up for this reserve. These paths around us open up so automatically and there is no need for us to go and hunt for communities, charities or organisations for the outflow to happen.

Effectively, with the development of such a mind-set, we simply become a medium where the money, the form of energy, flows seamlessly through us. Thus, we contribute and hence we grow.

Three dimensions of our life

Present state of our being is determined by the present state of our body, mind and emotion. The physical, mental and emotional states combined together provide the required foundation for our spiritual state. There is a purpose and meaning to our existence and we have not come here by any accident. A person who has realised this fact lives in a highly spiritual state and he sees a fulfilment in life.

3D Dynamics: To keep the foundation stronger, it is important to understand the dynamics of the body, mind and emotion. All these three components should act in such a way to work in our favour and aid in our growth. Stress is nothing but a state where these three components work against us. If you feel that you are stressed out in life then it is high time to become aware of these three components to turn those to your favour.

Managing our three dimensions:  Can we able to control our mind, body & emotion? No, it is not possible to control these components but can manage in certain ways in order to exploit the benefits. For this, the start point is to become aware of these three components in detail. In order to manage, the first and foremost stepping point is “to become aware”. Once the awareness is established then it is easy to manage. So, management follows after awareness.

Simple tests: Just perform a simple test of forward bend of our body and keep the palms by the side of the feet. Our intention is to keep the palms to the ground but the body may or may not allow that to happen. Here, we want to control the body but the body is allowing/not allowing us to control it. We are said to be under the influence of the body when we can’t manage the movement of the body. Similarly, a diseased state is a state where we lose the ability to manage and we come under the control of the body. A test of closing our eyes and observing the thoughts in the mind reveals the status of our mind dynamics.  Poorly managed mind has too many random thoughts. A test on our emotional state with the occurrence of too many negative emotions is an indicator of poor emotional state.

Strong 3D foundation: Yoga practices offer a strong foundation by working three dimensionally on our body, mind and emotion. Asana (static posture), pranayama (breathing practices) and meditation enhance our awareness of our body, mind and emotion respectively. We don’t feel completeness in life until we identify the purpose and meaning to our life. A person gets clarity on this if and only if he establishes a strong 3D foundation.