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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Preventing Burnout by ramping up your Spiritual Quotient

Why develop your Spiritual Quotient?

Burnout is the chief reason.

What are the symptoms of burnout? Ask yourself these questions and even if one answer is “Yes” you need to address it.

1. Have you become cynical or critical at school/college/work?
2. Do you drag yourself to do a job and have trouble getting started?
3. Have you become irritable or impatient in your interactions?
4. Do you lack the energy to be consistently productive?
5. Do you find it hard to concentrate?
6. Do you lack satisfaction from your achievements?
7. Do you feel disillusioned about what you are doing?
8. Are you using food, drugs or alcohol to feel better?
9. Have your sleep habits changed?

Statistics of Burnout

• Gallup recently surveyed more than 7,500 full-time employees about burnout.
• 23 percent of those workers said they felt burned out more often than not.
• An additional 44 percent reported feeling burned out sometimes.
• To put that into context, nearly 2/3rd of full-time workers are dealing with burnout at some point while at work.

Burnout Defined

Employee burnout cases have increased to the point where the World Health Organization has officially recognized it and included it in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases. 

The handbook describes burnout as “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.”

Body-Mind-Spirit

Humans are 3-part beings – Body Mind & Spirit and we have to manage all these three parts effectively for a balanced life that is without dis-ease!

What is Spirit?

Spirit is the presence of the fine energy within and around you which for instance is responsible for digestion.

A dead body cannot digest food because the Spirit is missing!

SPIRITUAL QUOTIENT is about infusing your thoughts and actions with Spirit leading to desirable attitudes and qualities. 

Examples are - Cheerfulness, Gratitude, and Empathy.

There are many ways of building your Spiritual Quotient, the chief ones being – 

Life Skills, Mindfulness, Yoga and Meditation.

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Going for Love

Sonia a young enthusiastic girl lived in Bali. She was just 18 when she met Ben who was twenty years older than her. Ben was a happy-go-lucky man with a deep understanding of life. He fast became a friend, philosopher and guide to her and then over the years more than just a friend. They played together and loved each other for seven years in an open relationship. Sonia during this time had met many boys but none seemed suitable enough for the parameters of marriage. Ben had time and again told Sonia that marriage is a contract that may or may not work but she was insistent on having the social license of being married. Her parents then found an appropriate boy Omar who was more her age with a steady and lucrative job in a newspaper in Jakarta. She was married with great fanfare and moved in with her husband.

After their honeymoon was over the marriage became turbulent. Two strangers getting to know each other at close quarters can be like hell because sometimes there is no freedom in the closed quarter of marriage.

Ben had told her before her marriage that it is not marriage that connects you with happiness but that it is love that does it. Follow your love for that is what guides you to a destiny of joy. Love removes pain. Love waters the soul of the universe with joy and that is why the universe supports love at every step.

Sonia remembered that it was Inder a young Indian boy who lived in Bali and was a Radio Jockey at an FM music channel who really cared for her and she too had felt the whiff of that inexplicable magnetic attraction called love for Inder. He had moved from Bali to Jakarta and joined a Radio Station there so that he could remain close to Sonia. In her busy life of trying to settle her home and balance her marriage Sonia would meet Inder for a coffee now and then.

Sonia visited Bali after a year of marriage to be with her parents and spent one whole day with Ben to feel the warmth of his unconditional and open love. Ben gave her complete freedom in her life and would give her the best advice which was never taken. He always reminded her that the mind suffers if it doesn't follow the heart because the mind is not looking for lasting joy and it attracts you towards immediate pleasures which are invariably followed by pain. The heart, on the other hand, suffers if the mind doesn't follow it because it is blind to immediate dangers and the mind sees the immediate surroundings to navigate through them. The blind heart can even get you killed in order to be with it's love, for the heart is not concerned with material loss or gain but the alert and intelligent mind wants to live a material life and can save your life. So, let the heart always be in command to set the goals and let the mind be the chauffeur to get you to your desires safely.

Sonia went back to Jakarta after a month in Bali, renewed and rejuvenated. Her husband Omar was waiting for her at the airport with a bouquet of flowers and they hugged each other like long lost lovers. Everything was like heaven with Omar taking her out for a candlelight dinner and the next day to a discotheque and the third day he cooked her a wonderful meal. They made love for three days but the fourth day there was an argument and he slapped her hard. Sonia cried and walked out of the house. She called Inder who came immediately and took her for a drive. He caressed and consoled her till she became calm and composed. Then he drove her back to her house, kissed her on her forehead and they decided to meet the next afternoon at Inder's flat.

Sonia called Ben on the phone and told her story which he listened to patiently. She said that she was falling in love with Inder but was scared. Ben told her that the fear of falling in love is the fear of getting hurt in love, when you open your heart and make it vulnerable! This is an unnecessary suffering. Don't judge the pain of getting hurt as ''bad'' because it is through breaks in the heart that more love flows and heals. Love never fails in what it sets out to do... Love only changes it's course when it's through! Love is always there, flowing like a river across eternity!

Finally, Sonia was convinced that she had to divorce Omar and be with Inder but not marry him!

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