"God is Love. Love is God. God is sweeter than the sweetest thing. He is All-milk,
All-love, All-sweetness. He is the inflowing honey and nectar." – Sri Swami Sivananda
Happy New Year
from Yoga2You
It can be discouraging to keep New Year spirits bright with reports of dismal year-end financial reports and new strikes of violence bubbling over in the Middle East. There are even some who suppose the violence as a necessary part of "End of Days" mentality. Please, DON'T THINK THAT WAY. Keep your mind inspired during troubled times by all of life's beauty. Be daring to think about how peace might look. Use your mental energies to visualize a better reality--DO NOT become fatalistic.
If this is a struggle, you find yourself glued to CNN coverage, your mind spinning into negative thinking, or worries, give yourself a time limit. After that, if you can't stop on your own, try a mantra. By saying a mantra, vocally or mentally (suggested in repetitions of three), you take back control of your mind. Yes, that's what I said--when we become too all-consumed with news coverage and/or worries, we give up control of our minds to those events and/or media reports. Not a good thing for you or for the mind, really.
God does not want us to worry, and if you don't believe in God, then simply think how little it serves you to worry. Either way, let it go.
Think of peace. Visualize peace. (Join a peace movement!) Feel peace in your own heart, in your own life, and feel that inner peace expanding outward as you contemplate on it.
If you don't have a mantra, know what they are or how to acquire, simply repeat the universal mantra "om" (considered to be the sound of creation) in your mind until you have your mind back, or in other words, until the negative thoughts/reports stop running rampant through your thought waves. People of a particular faith, may repeat names of God or saints. A powerful yoga-based mantra, one that employs the ancient language of Sanskrit for vibrations suggested to support peace is "Om Namo Narayanaya [Om na-moh na-ry-ya-ny-ya]. (Please feel free to email me if you want to know more about this.)
If you cannot find that inner peace, try the chants. Or, download my relaxation therapy--this is not a shameless plug but a helpful suggestion. Sages have written extensively and more intelligently than I could ever hope to be able to do, but simply said: Don't let outside influences take control of the inside of your head. Period.
Why yoga works—simply
Ancient yogis knew the benefits that came with regular yoga practice. Today, advancements in technology enable scientists to show precisely how these ancient practices work to benefit the mind and body. Yogis have been passing on the teachings of yoga for nearly 5,000 years.
Most simply, using proper breathing, especially during asana practice, enables the average person to develop the breathing apparatus and strengthen the vital life force. Once that begins, everything else flows from it. Why yoga works is really that simple. Any time you lie on the mat and breathe, the benefits of yoga begin.
There is a saying in yoga that when we control the breath, we control the life force, and when you think about that, it's really true.
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The Universal Prayer by Swami Sivananda
O Adorable Lord of Mercy and Love,
Salutations and prostrations unto Thee.
Thou art Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniniscient.
Thou art Satchidananda.
Thou art Existence, Knowledge and Bliss Absolute.
Thou art the indweller of all beings.
Grant us an understanding heart, equal vision,
Balanced mind, faith, devotion and wisdom.
Grant us inner spiritual strength to resist temptation
And to control the mind.
Free us from egoism, lust, hunger, greed,
Hatred and jealousy.
Fill our hearts with Divine Virtues.
Let us behold Thee in all these names and forms. Let us serve Thee in all these names and forms.
Let us ever remember Thee.
Let us ever sing Thy glories.
Let Thy name bve ever on our lips.
Let us abide in Thee for Ever and Ever.
Om Bolo Sat Guru Sivananda Maharaj Ji Ki! Jaya!
Om Bolo Vishnu Devananda Maharaj Ji Ki! Jaya!
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“Health is wealth, peace of mind is happiness. Yoga shows the way.”
