The Benefits Of Yoga
The purpose of a spiritual path is to raise our awareness to the point of allowing us to directly perceive the spiritual dimension. To be spiritual means to recognize one’s own spiritual identity and recognize the transcendental essence of the world around us. It also means to realize that we are all parts and parcels of God and to respect each other in that regard. That is one of the goals of Yoga. But how can we be sure that there even is a God?
This comes by a reawakening of our higher consciousness and the perception of our spiritual identity. It is through the process of yoga and following the path of Sanatana-dharma that we can reach this higher consciousness and comprehend exactly who we are. The Yoga-sutras of Patanjali make up the essence of yoga practice. However, yoga itself is a deep and serious practice, and there are numerous types of yoga that can be practiced. There are four main types of yoga with varying yoga positions. There is:
Jnana-yoga is the path of intellectual development and understanding what is real and what is not.
Karma-yoga is the path of right action, detachment from the fruits of one’s deeds, and dedicating our activities for a higher and spiritual purpose. Raja-yoga or Astanga is the path of internal meditation and the achievement of higher states of consciousness through various practices. Bhakti-yoga is the path of raising our consciousness, and increasing our devotion and love for God and decreasing our attachment to the various aspects of the temporary material energy.
There are other types of yoga, but they are often considered branches of these four main paths.
However, in the preliminary stages, yoga is, essentially, for controlling the flickering nature of the mind, and for promoting one’s positive qualities and expanding one’s awareness from material to spiritual consciousness. It is explained that Yoga is the process of calming the movements of the mind, which include imagination, misconception, memory, sleep, and perceived knowledge. When these are stabilized, then it may be called yoga, which provides the opportunity for the practitioner to fully realize his own fundamental and essential nature. Yoga is the attempt to realign our Selves with the Supreme Self, God.
When you practice yoga you can feel the unwanted burdens of the mind melt away, such as anxiety, anger, greed, envy, discontent, hate, etc. Then other qualities like contentment, blissfulness, tranquility, and peacefulness will be experienced. These are qualities everyone is trying to find and are among the many things that can be accomplished through yoga, at least on the most basic level. As you continue to progress, you may enter into the deeper levels of awareness and transcending the mind and gradually go so far as to realize your own spiritual identity and what your relationship is with the Absolute. Becoming free from material life and reclaiming one’s spiritual identity is the goal of all yoga.
But in spite of all of these benefits, people frequently find it quite difficult to take this path. This is simply because of the lack of motivation to exercise. Once you start performing Yoga on a regular basis, it will itself keep you motivated. The benefit of feeling motivated by Yoga practice is what makes Yoga unique among health maintenance systems. Yoga can become a part of your everyday life because there is no torture.
Why do so many diets fail? Why do so many exercisers quit? Lack of motivation is the reason for exercise and diet failure. People already know they ought to drink more water, eat better, walk more, and exercise, but they must stay motivated without “burning out.”
When performing Yoga, positive energy flows throughout the classroom. Positive energy creates motivation to exercise and creates moving visions of success. The next step is to believe the powerful visions of success, which you see. Some people have a fear of success. Maybe they inherently feel a lack of self-worth, but Yoga also works on improving this aspect of life. It is normal for people to feel apprehensive about change, but change is often one of the keys to success.
We can say that consistency is essential as far as the benefits of yoga are concerned while we have to take care of the yoga positions. We cannot derive benefits from yoga if we are not consistent with our routine. If we fail to do so, then it is very difficult to get the positive results and yoga cannot be blamed for it. To stay motivated, a beneficial technique to use is motivational hypnosis.
Self hypnosis has proven to be very helpful in keeping us motivated. Self-hypnosis is based on the combination of auto suggestion and visual imagery, and it works on deeper unconscious levels than one can imagine. Motivational self hypnosis engages with your unconscious mind, and compels it to positively alter self-image and self-perception.
The unconscious mind is largely responsible for the way we think and react. If we train it to think along different lines, your subsequent behaviors will change too. You will be motivated to understand the incredible potential that lies within us, and by using hypnotherapy techniques you can tap into that potential. Through positive affirmations such as “I can do it” along with positive visual imagery, self hypnosis programs can retrain your mind into believing that anything is possible, and nothing is impossible. This simply means that yoga combined with hypnosis can help us to achieve success more quickly.
Alan B. Densky, CH started his hypnotherapy practice in 1978. He offers a broad range of hypnosis CDs & DVDs for all aspects of self development, including hypnosis for exercise motivation.
- Alan Densky
