Why Yoga & Meditation is Good for You

In the rush of life, the pressure to meet timelines to deliver results, the desire to achieve some kind of superiority leading to frustrations caused by ambitions not reached, excessive indulgence in sense pleasures due to greed as well as habits, the cognitive apparatus gets disheveled, defiled, drained and tired, leading to symptoms of stress and burnout.

Unless you energise and infuse this cognitive apparatus with Vital Life Energy (Prana) you will be unable to perform tasks satisfactorily, with creativity and enthusiasm. A tried and tested way of energising yourself is Yoga in its broadest sense, which is not limited to the practice of just posture based excercises known as Hatha-Yoga.

195 Yoga aphorisms, known as Yoga Sutras, were compiled in the early centuries CE, by the sage Patanjali in India who synthesised and organised knowledge about Yoga from much older traditions.

The Yoga aphorisms are best known for the reference to 8 elements of practice culminating in a state of meditative consciousness of the mind, by concentration on something, leading to meditative absorption, and with regular practice, the development of a luminous mind which is equanimous and mindful.

The 8 elements of Yoga practice are:

1. Abstinences (Yama)
2. Observances (Niyama)
3. Yoga postures (Asana)
4. Breath control (Pranayama)
5. Withdrawl of the senses (Pratyahara)
6. Concentration of the mind (Dharana)
7. Meditation (Dhyana)
8. Absorption (Samadhi)

The main aim is to reach a state where you are untouched by the highs and lows of a dual world by transitioning to a meditative and metaphysical witness-consciousness state and observing empirical reality as separate from it. The by-product of this is being infused with Vital Life Energy which elevates your body and mind leading to a better quality of life.

Here are a host of metaphors that may encourage you to do Yoga and meditation, daily, to keep you going with your life in a state of happiness and devoid of stress:

1. Yoga and meditation is like filling your bicycle tyres with just the right amount of air so that your ride is not bumpy but smooth because the air also acts like a shock-absorber.
2. Yoga and meditation is like topping up your vehicle with fuel for the day. You just need to plug-in to the fuel source for a short while and then move on to your tasks for the day.
3. Yoga and meditation is like a gentle wind that blows and clears the clouds hiding the sun so that the light of your Soul can shine through into your body and mind and bring in a feeling of lightness and take away the feeling of heaviness.
4. Yoga and meditation is like rain that keeps the soil humid and therefore more fertile for seeds of creativity to sprout and new cells to grow.

According to scientific research, Yoga may:

1. Reduce stress
2. Relieve anxiety
3. Help manage depression
4. Stimulate brain function
5. Help prevent heart disease

I hope this article has encouraged you to learn techniques for Yoga and meditation and practice them daily for a fulfilling life.

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Love Explained. Is it like playing ball?

All matter has different types of forces acting upon it and the “Four Fundamental Forces of Nature” are:

1. Gravity - the attraction between two objects that have mass.
2. Electromagnetism - responsible for electricity and magnetism.
3. Strong nuclear force - that binds the fundamental particles of matter together.
4. Weak nuclear force - responsible for particle decay.

Similarly, humans have the fundamental love force acting upon them and I am going to describe some metaphors to explain this force.

One level of love could be like magnetism. It attracts and repels and also does both without expectations. So this may be the love and hate level of love in our world of duality which happens at the heart level. And perhaps when this love force acts at the mind level of consciousness, expectations from those you love and hate may set in.

Another level of love could be like gravity. It only attracts and doesn’t repel but again without expectations. It does create a feeling of up and down which indicates whether you are moving away from the source or towards it. This maybe the soul level of love which is unconditional. This is somewhat like a Master attracting his or her followers and the Master’s field of influence is not selective but universal towards all humans who come near.

What is common between these fundamental forces of nature is that they have a certain integrity. When you are in their field they will act according to their inherent nature. It’s the human mind that enacts dramas of hide and seek but not these forces. Your heart and soul have integrity. And when a human like a Master has the capacity for unconditional soul love it will show up as integrity, which means that even when no one is looking you are still acting out of love for a particular person or thing.

Now coming to another aspect of love which is the all important fulfilment of love. When there is an exchange of love then you feel that your effort of love has been fulfilled. When you give her a rose and she gives you a hug, that is a moment of fulfilment.

Here is something interesting about what causes the fundamental forces of nature. The force between two objects can be described through the exchange of a particle. The transfer of momentum and energy in the two objects during the movement of the exchange particle is said to mediate the interaction which shows up as a force of attraction or repulsion between the objects. A simple analogue of this is a ball being thrown back and forth between a man and a woman. The momentum and energy when you bend backwards and stretch yourself to then gently throw the ball propels you towards the catcher if you are on friction-less ground like an ice sheet and when she catches the ball and throws it back in the same way to him, she is propelled towards him. When this goes on, an attraction between the two will develop. So at the very heart of a fulfilling love relationship would be bending backwards for a gentle exchange between two people and also, not a one sided effort!!! On the other hand, if you wish to create a repulsion, then you don't have to bend backwards and you just have to toss the ball hard towards the catcher or bend forward and gently toss the ball backwards away from the catcher and then you will move away from the catcher if you are on friction-less ground and when the catcher does the same she will move away from him. 

So, a good idea if you want a fulfilling love relationship, full of attraction, is to bend backwards and stretch yourself to the limit for a gentle exchange of gifts, favours, appreciation and gratitude. And, remember to do this often...

Here's how to handle a heartbreak - Hurt In The Heart

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