QUOTES

"Banish the word 'struggle' from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. We are the ones we have been waiting for."

Temple talk

Go not to the Temple to put flowers upon the feet of god.........

First fill ur own surroundings with the fragrance of love .

Go not to light the candles before the altar of god......

First remove the darkness of sin from your heart.

Go not to the temple to bow down your head in prayer ..............

Fist bow down in humility before your fellowmen .

Go not to the temple to pray with the bended knees .......................

First bend down to lift someone who is down trodden

Go not to the temple to ask for forgiveness for your sins............................

First forgive from your heart those who have sinned you.

yoga month Global Mala

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THE MONKEY MIND

Patanjali says you have something permanent with you and that is called “The Monkey Mind.” It is compared to a monkey drunk with the wine of desire, stung by the scorpion of jealousy, and possessed with the demon of pride. Lust, greed, jealousy, anger, ego, tensions, reactions, grudges, depression, stress, and strain are the symptoms of this mind. We suffer from these because we gave all the powers to the mind and made it our master. We are happy when the mind is cheerful. We are depressed when the mind is gloomy. We are at the mercy of the mind that waxes and wanes. We consider ourselves nothing but mind.

WHAT IS MIND

Mind is what you make it with your thoughts. Mind is matter. It has no power of its own. Your thoughts create your mind. Every thought, emotion, or word produces a strong vibration in every cell of the body and leaves a strong impression there. If you entertain healthy thoughts, you can keep good health. If you hold on to sickly thoughts in the mind, you can never expect good health, beauty, and harmony. If the mind is healthy, the body will be healthy. Remember that the body is a product of the mind. If you hold on to vigorous thoughts, your body too will be vigorous. Thoughts of love, peace, contentment, purity, perfection, and divinity will make you, and others around you, perfect and divine. Otherwise, we will be the victim of mental and heart diseases.

TRAIN THE MIND

The human mind functions within a certain field. Your mind works only within the boundaries of the field of whatever you have previously heard, seen, thought of, or imagined. Maharishi Patanjali says that you can cross that field by training your mind, and all its faculties, so that you can go beyond. According to Maharishi Patanjali, the mind (Chitta) is made up of three faculties – Manas (Mind & Memory), Buddhi (Intellect), and Ahamkara (Ego). Manas are the recording faculty, which receives impressions gathered by the senses from the outside world. Buddhi is the discriminative faculty, which classifies these impressions and reacts to them. Ahamkara is the ego-sense, which claims these impressions as its own and stores them up as individual knowledge.

For example, your teacher tells you to do Kapalbhati Pranayama. She also reminds you that always start with slow speed. Your mind listens to that and your intellect confirms in the same manner. But after some time, your ego starts reacting. It notices that the teacher is doing much faster and why can’t I do it the same way? Hence, ego becomes the spoiler and it always needs to be controlled and trained.

HOW TO TRAIN THE MIND

That monkey mind always gets in your way and creates barriers for you. One day it helps you to understand something, and then the next day, you undo the same thing. One moment you think you have known something; after half an hour, the same mind will say you have not known anything. Sometimes, you think you are going toward insanity; sometimes, you think you are doing very well. That monkey mind comes between you and realization. There is no attempt, however, to control the mind; the idea is to go beyond it through meditation. Meditation is where thoughts get dissolved naturally, enhancing your concentration power, memory power, will power, right thinking, and fitness power, automatically. Meditation is neither a mental exercise nor a practice. It is a direct and natural process beyond mind itself.

MEDITATION

The mind is always full of all types of thoughts. It continues like this from birth to death because there is no switch to turn it off. Meditation helps in controlling the mind. By doing regular meditation, it is possible to put a switch on the mind and turn it off when it is not needed. In fact, it teaches us how to manage the mind just by witnessing it through neutral energy. It is not interfering with the intricacies and doings of mind. Just remain a non-doer and directly watch the thoughts neutrally, without any judgment, analyses, participation, visualization, imagination, contemplation, suppression, repression, condemnation, or concentration. To watch is our true nature. It is a natural, non-doing state. No effort is required to watch. We all have full potential to look within, as we all are blessed with the ‘Third Eye’. It is not forcing the mind to be quiet; it is to find the quiet that is there already.

TECHNIQUE

Adopt any comfortable sitting position… Close the eyes… Relax your body part by part mentally… Be still… Withdraw the mind from the outside world… Direct the mind within oneself towards breathing… Breathe slowly, deeply, and regularly… If thoughts come into your mind from time to time, just go on watching those thoughts …. Do not identify with them… Do not get friendly with them…Do not argue with them… They will go away…Keep a distance from the thoughts… Feel that thoughts are yours but you are not the thought… Just like your shadow is yours but you are not the shadow… just keep deleting all the undesirable thoughts… Do not let those thoughts come back to you… (It is like watching a film. If we do not like the film, we do not remember the story. As soon as we come out of the cinema hall, we forget the story because we don’t need it)… If we do not, it means that we are carrying an extra burden in our mind and that makes our mind weak and diseased, mentally, as well as physically… Give your conscious mind a rest…. There is a state of mind where you have no thought…Only consciousness remains… If you can experience this state, you can experience strength, power, creativity, courage, confidence, decisiveness, and happiness … This is Pure Existence.

CONCLUSION

With more and more meditations, monkey mind starts learning to be silent. Once it knows, that by being silent it becomes powerful, energetic, and positive – and then the mind is a good servant of immense power in the hands of silence. Then the being is the master and master can use the mind whenever it is needed and can switch it off whenever it is not needed.

Yoga for Stress Management

Sun Salutations: A Great Stress Management Tool!
This series of poses is an excellent workout on its own, or in conjunction with other poses. It’s a very popular staple of yoga

The Sun Salutation is a 12-part warm-up exercise. It limbers up the body and mind in preparation for the ensuing yoga session. Each of the 12 positions brings a different vertebral movement to the spinal column and is tuned to the inhalation or exhalation of the breath, thereby instilling a feeling of balance and harmony. The positions follow on from one another, making this Salutation graceful to perform. Attempt to do at least six sequences at the start of every session.

PRAYER POSE
Stand up straight with you feet together and your arms by your sides. Take a deep breath, and then exhale while bringing your palms together at chest level.

ARCH BACK
Inhale and stretch your arms up over your head. Arch your back, so your hips come forwards, and stretch as far as is comfortable.

BEND OVER
Exhale as you stretch forwards and bend down into the third Sun Salutation position. Bring your hands down to the floor, and place them next to your feet, with the palms downwards. Your hips should be kept as high as possible. If necessary, bend your knees so you can touch the ground. Tuck your forehead in towards your knees.

LEG BACK
Inhale as you stretch your right leg back as far as possible and bend your right knee, lowering it to the floor. Stretch your head and look upwards. Your hands should stay in the same position throughout the movement.

PUSH UP POSE
Retain the breath. Bring your left foot back, next to your right foot. Keep your spine straight and do not let your head or hips drop.

LOWER CHEST TO THE FLOOR
Exhale, Lower your knees to the floor and your chest straight down between your hands, without rocking your body. Bring your forehead to the floor (a beginner may need to lower the chin instead).

ARCH YOUR CHEST
Inhale as you slide your body forwards and bring your hips down to the floor. Arch your chest towards and tilt your head back. Slightly bend your elbows into your body.

INVERTED 'V'
Exhale, tucking your toes under, and raising your hips to come into the inverted "V". Do not move your hands or feet as you come into position.

LUNGE FORWARDS
Inhale as you bring your right foot forwards and place it between your hands, dropping your left knee to the floor. Raise your head and look up to the ceiling.

FOREHEAD TO KNEES
Exhale as you bring your left foot forwards and place it next to your right foot, so that the tips of your fingers and toes form a straight line. Raise your hips and stretch them upwards, keeping your hands in the same position. If you cannot straighten your legs fully, allow your knees to remain slightly bent, but keep your hips up throughout. Bring your head down as far as possible and tuck it in as close to your knees as you can manage.

STRETCH BACK
Inhale and then stand up, stretching your arms over your head as you straighten your body. Stretch your arms back, arch your chest and hips, and keep your feet together.

RETURN TO START
Exhale and straighten up, lowering your arms to your sides. Now take a deep breath and prepare to begin another Sun Salutation sequence.