I’m better equipped to deal with anger, negativity, and all sorts of emotions that throw us out of whack on a daily basis. Yoga teaches you how not to ignore your emotions, but to acknowledge and accept them for what they are.

When you think of yoga, you may be thinking of the exercise aspect of it. But yoga is so much more than that – it’s a way of life. Yoga offers you the tools to begin to free your mind of negative thoughts that hinder your development as a person.

Negative thoughts, according to the principals of yoga and Buddhism, are stored deep in our store consciousness. Fear, anxiety, depression, anger, etc… Through Yoga, you can prevent these emotions from building up and prevailing over “all” the thoughts in your mind — clouding your ability to retain your composure and happiness.

When we become attached to these emotions, it’s hard to prevent them from bubbling up into our daily lives. Practicing yoga allows you to calm the mind and let go of your ego. That’s when true, positive, growth begins.

We all have negative thoughts, but those who are able to manage them well will be much better off. Healthandyoga.com offers some insight into how to begin to clear your mind and cultivate positive seeds.

Managing Negative Mental Health through Yoga [Health and Yoga ]

However, not all yoga classes are created equal.

While the word “yoga” refers to the controlling of the mind, some practices focus more on spirituality than others.

Here’s what you need to know.

Ashtanga yoga literally means eight limbed yoga…This method of yoga involves synchronizing the breath with [a] progressive series of postures—a process producing intense internal heat and a profuse, purifying sweat that detoxifies muscles and organs. The result is improved circulation, a light and strong body, and a calm mind.

Vinyasa Flow yoga stems from Ashtanga yoga…The true core Ashtanga practice consists of six progressively difficult series of linked postures, each requiring 90 minutes to 3 hours to complete. A student is required to display proficiency at one series before doing the next. The first and second series are do-able and available. The third and beyond need a tutor. Only a handful of people have mastered all six.

Hatha yoga is mostly yoga that prepares the body for the spiritual path via physical and breathing exercises, and asceticism. Hatha yoga is the most superficial component of yoga, the one that is preoccupied merely with the means to the means. It prepares and conditions the body so that the mind can practice meditation more or less without obstacles. Hatha yoga, as a main rather than an accessory practice, is quite a tiresome and roundabout way to enlightenment. Most yogis in India do not pay too much attention to it, and frequently completely ignore it. They think, why perfect the body if it is already working well?

Bikram Yoga is named after its founder - Bikram Choudhury… It is a series of 26 poses performed in a room heated from around 90-100 degrees Farenheit. Each yoga pose is usually performed twice and held for a certain period of time. Yoga sessions start from Standing Postures, then the Backbends, Forward Bends, and Twists. The poses are accompanied by Kapalabhati Breath or the “breath of fire.”

You can work your way up to the heated classrooms and 90 minute sessions by beginning with Hatha. While, gurus may discount it – so many American studios use Hatha in their beginning courses.

What is Physical Hatha Yoga? [modern seers]
Bikram Yoga - The 26 Pose Yoga in heat [abc of yoga]
Vinyasa Flow [sacred rivers yoga]
Ashtanga Yoga [ashtanga.com]

“What is the nature of Guru’s grace? It is beyond thought and word. Then how can it be said that the devotee realizes his true Being by virtue of the Guru’s grace? It is like the elephant, which wakes up on seeing a lion in its dream. Even as the elephant wakes up at the mere sight of the lion, so too is it certain that the disciple wakes up from the sleep of ignorance to the knowledge of Real. It is true and certain.”

- Ramana Maharshi

My Guru introduced me to meditation. I was innately very restless and in poor physical shape in 1981, when I began my journey.

My body would rebel constantly

I was poorly prepared for this process of sitting still. I was fat, had a chronic backache and somehow, whenever I sat down to meditate, my nose would start itching. I ranted and raved about it to my Guru and he taught me the discipline of Yoga asana or yogic postures. On the first day, things got worse, every part of my body seemed be screaming in pain. It was then I realized that my body needed real bending. In time, my body became more obedient and I started doing the 12-sun pose yoga (Suryanamaskars) and my body became more obedient and I could sit still for about 20 minutes continuously.

My Guru cautioned me on my diet and I became more vegan and I started taking only fruits and raw sprouts in the night and with that my weight came down and my body became supple. I managed to lose about 44 pounds in a few months.

My mind always went haywire

Every time I sat down for meditation, my mind went berserk. It was as if my mind was just waiting for me to sit still. It jumped like a monkey from one thought to another. I was dismayed and I thought I would never make any progress.

But, my Guru taught me not to fight the mind. He taught me a golden lesson of WATCHING MY THOUGHTS AND WATCHING THE WATCHER OF MY THOUGHTS.

With practice, my mind became calmer and clearer. The mind in meditation can be compared to a jar of muddy water- the more we leave the water without interfering or stirring it, the more the particles will sink to the bottom, letting the natural clarity of the mind shine through. When you meditate there should be no effort to control, to be peaceful.

I meditated and expected too much

After overcoming the basic hassles, I could sit still with few thoughts coming into my focus. This took me about 6 to 8 months. I was restless. I asked my Guru, why I did not get mystical experiences, or experience clairvoyance and why from a saintly person, I was going into a frenzy of rage.

My Guru was a patient and a wonderful person and in time I learnt that you should not have any expectations. Every person comes with a different mind set when starting meditation. One person may be close to inner space and others may be years away from basic relaxation. There shall be doubts and confusions, all of which will be solved by practice and dedication in time.

It took me years and years

Slowly like a smoldering volcano, I too became calm. I became more accepting. I have been guilty of straining from my Guru’s commands. There have been weeks and sometimes months, when I did not meditate. But, with the grace of my Guru and God almighty, I must say that I have been meditating for over 20 years now and I have become a lot calmer, incisive and more accepting.

I will not claim to be self-realized, I will not claim that I have special powers or anything. But slowly I have developed a harmonious relationship between my personality and lifestyle.

My personal experience is that a Guru is indispensable if one were to embark on the path of meditation. I humbly salute my Guru. He is verily my God in human form.

More and more people are rediscovering meditation—a practice that takes you inside for an out-of-the-world experience.

Parveen Chopra

What do Clint Eastwood, Richard Gere, the Canadian musician Leonard Cohen and the famous new age Indian Guru, Dr. Deepak Chopra have in common? The answer is, they all meditate. Clint Eastwood has been practicing Transcendental meditation ™ for years. Cohen spent six months in a Zen monastery. Richard Gere is a staunch meditating Buddhist. Mitch Kapor was a TM teacher before he created software history by creating Lotus 1-2-3.

We are all a holistic combination of the Body, the Mind and the soul. To be successful in life, we have to keep our bodies healthy with exercise and proper vegan lifestyle. The exercise for the mind is meditation.

What is the Mind?

Meditation is a fundamental spiritual discipline of all major religions. Meditation may be defined as a withdrawal or the reversal of one’s consciousness from the body and the world, into the realm of the soul. It is an inward journey onto the bright path of contemplation of God. Meditation helps one to have more awareness of oneself. It helps us experience a state of internal freedom and a sense of joy.

The mind is just a bundle of thoughts. It is a Body within our bodies at a finer rate of vibration. The mind and the body are inter-connected. Matter is the mind at a lesser rate of vibration and the mind is matter at a higher rate of vibration. A disease of the body will affect the mind and vice-versa. To be successful in life one has to control the mind. It is constantly wandering and distracting us. Great thinkers, scientists and all the successful people on earth are innately meditative by nature.

Why should we meditate?

Meditation is food for the mind. It will help to still the mind and the soul force will take over our lives and the true purpose of life is revealed to us. Meditation is a healing balm that helps us understand the chaos in this world. It is a tool for understanding the true meaning of our lives.

Several Hindu seers have compared the mind to a monkey that is innately restless in nature, which is drunken by the wine of worldly desires. They further add that the monkey becomes bitten scorpion of jealousy and then possessed by the ghost of the past. Such is the state of our minds today. Sad! But true.

The constantly over-working chaotic mind is always preventing us from living in the present and being creative. The mind is fear driven and always is either in the past or the future. The 21st century mantra is BEND THE BODY, MEND THE SENSES AND END THE MIND.

Will one become a zombie if the mind ceases to work?

When one begins to meditate, anguished friends warn us against taking up this spiritual practice. They feel that people practicing meditation will become non-functional and useless to society.

Nothing is further from the real truth. It is well known that when one goes into deeper states of meditation, one goes into the alpha levels in the brain (as recorded by the Electro Encephalogram – EEG) and meditative people become more creative, error free, intuitive and highly successful.

Medical benefits of Meditation

Medically speaking, regular Meditation and Prayer helps us in the following way:

1. It reduces stress.
2. It bolsters the immunity of the body.
3. It increases the memory and will power.
4. It can slow down the progress of cancers and certain forms of degenerative diseases.
5. It prevents the premature aging of the body.
6. It helps fighting psychosomatic disorders.
7. It helps fight depression, phobias and fears.

Meditation can make you a successful and creative person. It can be a valuable modern medical tool in many branches of Medicine such as: Psychiatry, Cardiovascular Medicine, Respiratory Medicine, Geriatrics, Gastro-enterology, Skin and Connective tissue diseases, Sports and Aviation medicine. Meditation can also be a valuable tool in terminal diseases like cancers and AIDS and help in alleviating pain in the terminal stages of such diseases.

References:

• lifepositive.com
• dailymantra.com
• wildmind.org

When I started to meditate

I began meditating not too long ago, on July 9th 2007. I was curious about Buddhism and meditation so I began doing some research and attended a meditation group to begin learning. For the first 3 weeks of meditation I started off meditation 5 minutes a day. After another few weeks I went to 10, then 15, now I’m at 25 minutes a day. I can honestly say that I haven’t missed a day of meditation since first starting over 2 months ago. Meditation has become a part of my life; it’s just a natural part of my day and I truly love it.

Why do I meditate?

I meditate mainly to clear my mind. When I sit down in my half-lotus and begin focusing on my breath – each breath in and out – as my eyes are closed, my mind clears and I’m in the present moment. I have been practicing mindful meditation, using the breath as my object of attention.

Throughout the day my mind is all over the place – “I need to call this person. I need to go purchase this at that store. I need to pay my rent. I need to build this website. Where are my keys? What will I eat for lunch today?” etc…

Meditation allows me to work on my inner-self. I have come to learn through meditation that all the answers that I am seeking lie within myself. Everyday I go on an inward journey and unlock the mysteries of my potential.

There are no boundaries when meditating. You will find out more about yourself than ever before when you focus on build within yourself. Nowadays we are consumed with this material world, but don’t care to work on the intangible world.

How has meditation changed my life

To put simply, I am much happier person. I am beginning to see that I don’t need anything to be happy. For years I’ve trained myself into thinking that I need, need, need, in order to be satisfied with life.

That I “need” to become rich. That I “need” to accomplish a certain goal. That I “need” to meet a certain person. I don’t need life to change in order for me to be happy anymore. Being alive. Being on a journey. Being able to think everyday. These are the things that bring real joy and happiness.

I am in much more control of my emotions nowdays. Sure, I still have a long way to go but in this short 2 months time of meditating, it’s absolutely phenomenal how far I’ve come with being able to control my emotional state.

Anger no longer affects me like it used to. Sadness no longer has that sting. And anxiety is easily diminished through a few deep breaths. Meditation teaches me not to discard and block out these emotions, but to embrace them, study them, and gain a true understanding of them. When I see my emotions for what they really are, I am able to prevent them from dictating how I should think and act. I am able to say: “hey anger, how are you today? I realize that you are there and I won’t ignore you. Let’s just come to an understanding and move on peacefully.”

Looking forward with meditation

Throw that away! There is no looking forward. There is only looking “NOW.” Stay in the present moment. Remain in the “now” and embrace life everyday. When you remain in the present, you are truly alive. When you get caught up in the past and future, you are sleepwalking through life.

I know that this is just the beginning of my journey. For the first time in my life, I’m really alive. I’m so grateful that I began meditating. It has changed my life in just the past 2 months. I hope that you, too, may start your internal journey.

Namaste! my friends.