By Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500

How can Yoga help you find mental and emotional balance during a crisis situation? It is so easy to become upset over current events, a traffic jam, or a domestic dispute. How can Yoga help us “keep our cool,” when we are being tested by real life situations?

One realization that each of us should come to is that we can create a state of anxiety from within. If you watch a flock of birds, the birds who feel the most anxiety, create a state of panic within the entire flock. Humans are just as guilty of creating a state of fear within groups.

You can witness this behavior first-hand by watching any stock exchange, on any given day. Some forms of mass hysteria have caused violent behavior in the form of witch hunts, genocide, and lynch mobs. Fear can take on a sense of reality, when we collectively anticipate the worst.

If we know that unjustified fear can only make a crisis situation worsen, why do we adopt it? The average person’s natural viewpoint of life is to see it on the outside. We see life all around us, but how many of us see life from within. Yoga teaches us that the path to happiness, and the solutions for management, of any crisis, is within each of us.

When a person cannot find the answers within, or does not have time to make a rational decision, that person would be better off to get help from the most balanced friend he, or she, knows. In contrast, through training the mind, a Yoga practitioner reaches a state of self-realization, where there is no need to make irrational decisions and harsh judgments.

Each of us has strengths and weaknesses, so there is no need to be upset with oneself over personal faults. We can learn to change our faults, if we recognize them; but it is worth noting that all of our planned changes will not happen at once.

One of the biggest positive changes you can bring into your life, is to regulate the daily news, and information, you absorb. With the power of the Internet, current events and financial reports arrive to you in “real time.” This can lead to a flood of anxiety and negativity. Compounding this negative effect, listening to people divulge personal information about each other can also take a toll on your outlook of life.

Awareness of each moment, as it occurs, is a key to complete happiness. If we truly want to help others, we must strive to live in a state of purposeful attention. The teachings of Yoga sages from the past, and present, prepare us for any real problems in the future.

© Copyright 2008 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

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