How would you like your mind?
Mind-full or Mind-less? Is mindfulness all that it’s cracked up to be?
Mind-full or Mind-less? Is mindfulness all that it’s cracked up to be?
Let’s take a look at one of the most ancient Sanskrit shlokas (verses) that is also one of the most profound and fundamental.
Today, on the festival of Holi, all of India celebrates the colour and playfulness of life by drenching each other with water and colour and singing, dancing and making merry throughout the day. As a child, I recall being excited beyond limits on the eve of this festival. Waking up early …
In yogic practices, the hands are a very important part of the body. They are the part of the body where the inner energy field can usually be most easily felt. Let’s take a closer look at what makes the hands so special.
IT’s been about six months since I started practising yoga and meditation regularly. For most people, it’s something that has weaved in and out of their lives over many years and many actually got into it quite early in life. But for me, it was just something I got into quite all-of-a-sudden and that too in my early 30s and so far have consistently stuck with it. I thought that this milestone calls for some stock-taking to see what changes my practice has brought in me. Here’s the top 3 immediately obvious ones.
You’ve proudly managed to find your ‘quiet time’ in the middle of a hectic schedule. You’ve changed into clothes with more zen-inspiring potential and maybe even lit a candle or two to set the mood. But as you settle in for your yoga or meditation, you can’t get your mind off that work problem, or how rude that cashier was or how you’ll manage to squeeze all your ‘to-do’s into the rest of the week. You know what a meaningful yoga/meditation practice is supposed to look like but your mind is not in a mood to cooperate. Here’s a few methods I use that can hopefully help to guide you back to attentiveness or if you’re having a good session already, to make it more effective.
We usually tend to associate use of something with its depletion. So our natural reflexes are to save, not expend beyond what we believe to be our means and to feel scared to use too much of a thing. But there’s one thing that only grows the more it is used and it’s intrinsic to meditation.
The body is literally manufactured and sustained by mind.
– Parmahansa Yogananda (Autobiography of a Yogi)
~ Excerpt from From Dior to Dharma by Shruti Bakshi. Available on Amazon. ***************Book excerpt start****************** Say what? I was already having trouble understanding the teacher’s German accented French, now I was supposed to understand her German accented Sanskrit! “Sit cross legged,” Michaela leaned over and whispered to me, translating …
An excerpt from Shruti Bakshi’s novel, From Dior to Dharma, Chapter 6: Burgundy Epiphanies: Enlightenment and Me?
Do you know when the best time to meditate is? Or what you should wear for your meditation practice, how to sit comfortably and how to prepare your meditation corner? Check out these practical tips.
I’ve recently been pondering over the fact of the different spiritual paths in the yogic system, namely: Jnana yoga (knowledge/meditation), Bhakti yoga (devotion), Karma yoga (right action) and Kriya yoga (control of breath/life energy/prana). These paths correspond to the 4 aspects of a human being (in same order as above): …
Today is the first day of ‘Navratri‘, meaning nine nights, devoted to the Mother Goddess. This is one of the biggest festivals in India, perhaps second only to Diwali, the festival of lights. Having recently done a post on devotion, ‘The yoga of poets’, I wanted to take this opportunity to …
As has often been stressed on the Living-Wise Project, (e.g. see article What Yoga is Really About), yoga is not merely a set of physical exercises or postures. Yoga, meaning union, refers to any action that unites us with Consciousness. Many people may not be aware that there are four paths of yoga: …
In the last few months, I have made quite drastic changes in my lifestyle, having taken a break from work to immerse myself in yoga and spirituality. I thought I’d share some of the changes I have made so far. 1. Food I shared the benefits of a vegetarian diet in an …