Meditation is not a way of making your mind quiet. It is a way of entering into the quiet that is already there - buried under the 50,000 thoughts the average person thinks every day
You must find the place inside yourself where nothing is impossible.
Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future.
In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you.
The less you open your heart to others, the more your heart suffers.
Love doesn't need reason. It speaks from the irrational wisdom of the heart.
When you live your life with an appreciation of coincidences and their meanings, you connect with the underlying field of infinite possibilities.
Most people think that aging is irreversible and we know that there are mechanisms even in the human machinery that allow for the reversal of aging, through correction of diet, through anti-oxidants, through removal of toxins from the body, through exercise, through yoga and breathing techniques, and through meditation.
Joy is a return to the deep harmony of body, mind, and spirit that was yours at birth and that can be yours again. That openness to love, that capacity for wholeness with the world around you, is still within you.
Yoga stimulates different nerves in your body, especially the Vagus nerve that carries information from the brain to most of the body's major organs, slows everything down and allows self-regulation. It's the nerve that is associated with the parasympathetic system and emotions like love, joy and compassion.
The true purpose of yoga is to discover that aspect of your being that can never be lost.
The Yoga Sutras offers a clear roadmap for the evolution of consciousness from ordinary states of awareness such as waking, dreaming, and sleeping - to higher states of consciousness.
I do an early morning meditation from 4am to 6am, a yoga class from 6am to 7am and then set an intention to feel joyful and energetic in my body and loving and compassionate in my heart. For the rest of the day, I just go with the flow.
Even if yoga only enhanced physical fitness, the time spent in practice would be fully worthwhile.
The "Bhagavad Gita" is actually a very good text for yoga - the yoga of love, the yoga of action or karma, the yoga of understanding of intellect, and the yoga of reflection and meditation. I think it's a very important map for understanding the nature of consciousness.
While the health benefits are many, yoga offers much more than just a way to exercise the body.
The word yoga is the same as the English word "yoke". So in the New Testament when Jesus Christ says, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light," my interpretation is that he's referring to yoga. It means "union" - Union of the body, mind and the spirit as one continuum of consciousness.
Yoga means union of the individual mind with universal mind, so meditation is considered the essence of yoga. The transformation of the mind and body during meditation is significantly more profound than simply resting with your eyes closed.
The deeper meaning and gift of yoga is the path it offers us into the timeless, spaceless world of spirit.
Yoga has moved from relative anonymity in the West to a well-recognized practice offered in thousands of studios, community centers, hospitals, gyms, and health clubs.
Yoga teaches us both to let go and to have exquisite awareness in every moment. We remember our essential spiritual nature and life becomes more joyful, meaningful, and carefree.
Although yoga is commonly portrayed as a popular fitness trend, it's actually the core of the Vedic science that developed in the Indus Valley more than 5,000 years ago.
If you find yourself saying things like, "I'm hitting the age where I'll need reading glasses," "I'm too old to try yoga (or some other activity)," or other such statements, make a conscious choice to shift your perspective and what you tell yourself about your body and age.
Yoga began as a philosophy rather than as a physical discipline.
You don't have to go the gym - just walk 10,000 steps a day and you are activating your good genes. But do practise yoga.
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