By Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500
Yoga practice is much more than practicing postures on a mat for a few hours each week. Once the mat is rolled up, we begin to apply the teachings of Yoga to life. Granted, most people will apply the physical mastery, learned from Hatha Yoga, toward other physical activities.
However, the Yogic techniques learned, can also change one’s life on a much larger scale. When you enhance the power of the mind through Yoga practice, you learn to put your dreams to good use. Each of us has a unique description of dreams and dreaming.
Let’s look at dreams while we are awake. We classify this as day dreaming or fantasy. Some of us may classify this as indulging in imaginative thoughts while we are awake. To go further, we may classify hope and aspiration as a form of day dreaming.
Every creation, made by humans, was a result of hope and aspiration. To indulge in imaginative thought is to envision. This exercise may seem worthless to someone who has difficulty concentrating. It may also be worthless to someone who could care less about the subject.
Yoga, in all of its forms, gives each of us the ability to turn an intangible thought into a reality. The initial gateway is the mind and body connection. Whether one is present for Yoga practice in an ashram, or in daily life, we have the ability to concentrate through the use of pranayama (Yogic breathing techniques).
Pranayama is the key to becoming present in life. This is not a complicated formula. On the surface, this may not seem like much, to someone who has never established a mind and body connection. Some people go about life completely unfocused. Some of us have no dreams, hopes, plans, and we take no action to change our direction. Chances are – these people are very unhappy with life because they have no direction and no life purpose.
The next step is to find a life purpose. What are we good at? What do we want to be when we grow up? Why are we here? These questions are asked by children and adults alike, but adults are painfully aware that their time to answer these questions, about the purpose of life, is limited.
Again, Yoga gives you the tools of pranayama, meditation, and self-realization. Once you know where you are going, it is time to stand up, move forward, and take progressive action. The results of your actions will be progress and happiness. There is no guarantee of success in anything, but if we fail to act, we are guaranteed that we will never succeed.
© Copyright 2009 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications
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Tags: hatha yoga, pranayama, yoga mat, yoga off the mat, yoga practice, yogic breathing
life is breath,
breath is life,
without breath there is no life,
just breathe.
nameste madonna
i realy related to this letter,i enjoyed it very much,i hope u like my thought for today and everyday,nameste
The newly website is very educative and self starters handful
Great work Paul..your articles are clear & succinct & betray a lot of lived in experience.
Namaste.
I like verry much your thought. Thank you. I was too lazy or too scared to “breathe” in my life so this message “by accident” came today to me. Thank you!!!
Slavi from Ljubljana, Slovenia