The ladder of inner development –Part1

As known to you, the earlier stage of yoga practice is to develop the ability to direct our awareness inwardly. The idea of directing our awareness inwardly is a continuous on-going process. It takes days or even months to master this practice. But, it is worth practicing it because the benefits are immense.

Inside out strategy: It is now an established fact that my external reality, the way how I experience my life on day today basis is simply a direct manifestation of my internal reality. In other words, if I want to change my life for greater goodness then it is important to know crystal clearly my current internal programming. Whatever that I experience in the external world is just the results, the so called EFFECTS. But, the CAUSES for the results are in my internal world.

Problem – Solution: My problem is also a result but only the fact in this particular case is that the result is not in my favour. As stated earlier, this result manifests in my external world, say for example my excess weight of my body. If I focus on my problem then I am going to multiply the problem. This is as good as dwelling the problem in the problem zone. I know the problem is due to my internal programming, say for examples, my conscious choice in valuing the food that I take, the way how I listen to my body, how I treat the body etc. When I start to focus on these then I move into a solution zone & hence, my solutions to the problem get multiplied.

Awareness: Generally, we are trained to direct our awareness externally. This is because we delve upon the five sensations & we smell, taste, touch, see & hear, that is the way we experience the world around us. We experience the world outwardly & we believe that experience is real. So, naturally, we have liking for that specific red colour flashy car, lovely dress, wonderful look etc. all of those focussed outwardly.

First of all, remember awareness is an infinite field. I have a choice to direct my awareness internally or externally. Yoga is a conscious choice of directing awareness inwardly. Consciousness is simply defined as the direction of my awareness. If I direct my awareness internally then I become conscious of the happenings in my internal world such as my mind behaviour, emotional pattern & the bodily sensations.

This is a very different way of perceiving and experiencing life. It is a shift that allows me to move from “What others think about me?” to “What I think about myself? “. End of the day, you will have a good night sleep when you allow this shift to happen in you.

Motivation for meditation: Personal experience -Part2

Mind & Meditation: Let us understand two important characteristics of the mind.

1 Mind revolves around the priorities of my life. Mind becomes active when the priorities are attached strongly to my emotions. The emotion can be negatively oriented such as fear, worries etc. or positively oriented such as joy, bliss etc.  If I obesrve my thoughts, they revolve around my priority which has strong emotions to it. Say for example, if I plan to attend an interview for a job that is likely to change my life in a significant way then naturally my interview becomes my strong priority. The priority has an association of positive /negative emotions and naturally the thoughts from the mind are very relevant to the interview.

2. When my priorities change then my thoughts also will change. Frequent changes in my priorities change my thoughts frequently & hence I possess a chaotic mind. A chaotic mind is not productive.

Problem: The problem in today’s fast paced life is that many are not aware of the above two simple characteristics of the mind. Mind is fully associated with the set of priorities and very feebly associated with the individual awareness. Mind has the freedom to move as it likes and goes everywhere & mind is loosely packed. This is primarily due to the fact that we ourselves without our conscious knowledge stay within the boundaries of the mind and take a centre stage inside the mind. Since, we become the part of the mind, we don’t get a clear visibility of the mind. If we have the ability to come out the mind then we can get a better feel of the mind.

SELF direction: Meditation is a process of taking us out from the mind. Meditation is a heightened state of awareness. My awareness takes a centre stage in this heightened state. With this acquired strength of awareness, I now get the ability not only to move away from the mind but get an opportunity to witness the two important characteristics of my mind.

Meditation is not a mind control process. It is simply a mind awareness process. A shift will happen in altering the priorities and hence the alignment of thoughts when I consciously aware of my thoughts as well as my priorities. This is directed by the true SELF within. This SELF is nothing but a pure form of goodness. In a normal state of awareness, the SELF is clouded by mind & ego. In a meditative state, I get an opportunity to wipe out the cloud formation to get connect to the deeper part of me.

Broader outlook of Wellbeing

Source of energy: Look at the planetary system!! Earth floats in the space and it moves along the predefined orbit & rotates along its own axis. All the planets of the solar system follow such highly coordinated movements & rotations displaying a mega orchestra in the space.

Where does the source of energy originate for this mechanics of earth? Earth does not use a power generator to propel its movement. It is simply the very nature of directional movement & alignment that generate the energy for the earth. The wide spectrum of orchestra of the planets happens simply because of the systematic directional movement & geometrical alignment. The direction of movement is so perfectly systematised & perfectly aligned that display the planetary positions.

Basis of wellbeing: Health is not simply about fitness. Health is a balanced state where your body & inner engineering systems such as circulatory, hormonal, metabolism etc work in an optimal state. Wellbeing is more than a healthy state where your mental & emotional states are well balanced. Wellbeing is achieved by allowing my consciousness to work by viewing the wider spectrum of life.

I am an entity of nature. For my wellbeing, all I need to is to mimic the patterns of the earth i.e systematic directional movement & alignment. Exercise is a set of defined movements. It is necessary to satisfy these two boundary conditions irrespective of the form of exercises that one performs. In simple definition, alignment can be equated to the posture of the body. Random movement of the body leads to slipup. So, a systematic predefined movement is a must to enhance my wellbeing.

Download Cosmic Data: The cosmic data can be downloaded upon me when I perfectly aligned to the geometry of the earth. This is similar to the alignment of the TV antenna dish. When the dish is perfectly aligned, all the channels are flashed on the screen like a magic. A small misalignment of the dish instantaneously makes all the channels dead. When I know how to position myself with respective gravity then I get the ability to download the cosmic data which is available for free all the time.

Physiology: For human, the axis for energy generation is his spine. All the electrical communications from the brain to the different centres of the body pass through the spine. The alignment refers to retaining the spine in the neutral vertical position. This is the very basic need for me to get aligned to the bigger orchestra that I mentioned earlier. I practice yoga as my daily rituals. This practice has given me the ability to consciously keep my spine in perfect alignment.

Exercises: I practice yoga for the systematic directional movement. By doing so, I can generate energy within, on will. The best way to do this by practising asana, the so called static postures. In simple words, the spine is subjected to movements in different directions such as forward, backward, left side, right side and twist. One can do any form of exercises but please be ensured that it follows the basis of the wellbeing i.e. the directional movement.

Let your daily exercise regime might be anything. But, it is good to verify whether it follows the two basic needs of the wellbeing. ALIGNMENT & DIRECTIONAL MOVEMENT!!

Change the experience and change the life - Part3

Effectiveness of Action :

I do things in life to upgrade myself. Of those plenty of actions that I perform to enhance myself, what is the way to check the effectiveness of my actions? Here is a formula that I derived to know the effectiveness of my actions. This is deduced purely from my personal experience but worked and tested well to me and my clients.

I use this formula when I want to venture into the new avenues of my life. I recommend this formula to all of my coaching clients too.

Ef   is the effectiveness of my action

R is the regularity of my action ( i.e , how regular in repeating my action on periodic basis)

E is the experience that comes from the external world

G is the grip/direction in life ( i.e , I am going in the right direction of my life)

Personally, my life has been completely redefined by my practice of yoga. I derived the above formula by my own practice of yoga. I am regular in my yoga practice on daily basis(R). My experience from the external world (E) changes dramatically (the type of people I meet, the new experiences from the world etc) . I have a complete sense that I go in the right direction (G) in my life (seldom had this sense a decade before).

Inference: Here is a simple example. Let us assume that I venture into learning tennis. This is my new action now. Down the line, say after three months, if I am not seen in the tennis court then R is out of the equation. This means, I am not regular & hence, tennis is not effective in my life. If I am regular then let us check E , the external experiences. I would have made some friendships with new tennis buddies; I learned some finer techniques of tennis etc then I am effective. If the external experience has not changed then E is out of the equation. Finally, the question is whether this action gives some direction in life. May be I lost weight, my mental state is in a matured state & I am seeing myself upgrading to my higher self. This means, G is in the equation.

A combination of all of the three components is significant to know the effectiveness of my actions. Satisfying one or two of the above components is not good enough. Please feel free to try this equation to the actions that you do in your life and see whether those are effective for you.

For the wellbeing of all!!