Yoga is essentially a dynamic expression in the interpretation of the western mind. We are vitally concerned in any ideology which will promise more efficient living, more abundant health and more material improvements. And this no doubt attracts many students to follow Karma Yoga, the Yoga of Action.
Disciplining you life and achieving self-mastery through Yogic techniques will enable you to develop your life to become a fruitful accomplishment of all your inherent aspirations.
Everyone has abilities which would enable them to use for the benefit of others. Most people cover up their talents by a slothful attitude, or smother their secret longings for expression, under disappointment, frustration and procrastination. Practice of Yoga develops confidence in oneself and focuses what it is that you can give to the world – what it is that you and you alone can contribute. Then truly, your life is not wasted. Something will have issued forth from you, the world will be a happier, or healthier, or more enlightened place for some little effort you have put into your life. Everyone must have an unselfish longing to contribute to society, else the life span is concluded with a feeling of utter futility as if there was perhaps no purpose to your life other than your own personal experiencing of good and bad, knowledge and ignorance pain and pleasure.
Find out through personal searching what it is that you feel you could do to contribute to the welfare of others and once you have found an avenue to channel your energies, pour forth your enthusiasm in that direction. Only good can come of it. Seek to equip yourself with the necessary knowledge and techniques to enable the most creative and efficient utilization of your energies. The forces of evolution will be behind you, helping you to help humanity.
Achieve health through following the yoga diet and exercises, asanas, breathing and relaxation so you may become an example of right living habits. Develop confidence by self-searching and the discovery of your hidden abilities. Practise physical disciplines and body controls, deep breathing and positive mental attitudes. Cultivate your mind and concentration so that you may become an authority on your chosen studies. Clarify your psychological nature so there is no friction between the conscious and the subconscious mind.
Practise meditation so that you are aware of your link with God and understand the unity of life behind all apparent complexity. Find the simple key to your own happiness, and let the personality come to its happy flowering and achieve real peace. Let your conscience prevent you form doing wrong. Let your intuition guide you as to what to do. Maintain your equilibrium above all and balance your actions wisely. Do not be extreme in any attitude and maintain a healthy communication between your heart and your head! Let your feelings and thoughts blend into your own personal wisdom. Meditate to become aware of the truth and reality of your finest ideas.
Whatever you achieve in personal enlightenment you must put forth again into your daily life. Yoga practices are intensely practical in application once you have been guided to understand the self discipline which is the important requirement. Meditation should be completed by some action fulfilled so that in action we give forth that which we have received.
No action can be very helpful without some previous thought. Efficient actions come from meditation. Meditation is truly creative thinking – a state in which new ideas are born. Meditation then is the mother of perfect action, which to the karma Yogi is the goal. The Karma Yogi understands the basic law of action and reaction which is known as the law of karma and is expressed in the Christian teachings in the golden rule “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” A kind action will inevitably result in a kind action to you. A cruel action demands that sometime you suffer the same. This is one of the true laws of life that functions in every day life, throughout every year. Many people say they believe this law but in fact do not act by it. Do not just believe it is a law, but know that it is, and test it in your own life. Make it a dynamic, living principle!
The student of Yoga tries to live by the spiritual laws and be guided by the inner voice of the soul. To practise Yoga one must abide by the finest principles and standards you possess. Your life should be well disciplined, creative and unselfish, beautiful, peaceful and loving. You must practice the physical exercises and disciplines each morning, or evening to bring order into each day. Never let a day go by at the mercy of your passing mood.
* Determine to eradicate your bad habits one by one.
* Build your body structure strongly through deliberate exercise.
* Employ breathing techniques at all occasions possible.
* Learn to understand your link with God is through your breath.
* Develop and control the senses so that you feel alive and know that the senses are powers for you to control, not let them control you.
* Gain control over your mental activity and learn to calm the mind.
* Become a leader, one to whom other s look for strength and guidance.
* Have courage to stand for Beauty, Love and Truth when all outer vales falter.
* Stand firm upon the knowledge that there is a way of living which is right, that we must obey the law of Life which is that of our spiritual Father, and that all efforts will result in your spiritual development and be apparent at some future time.
* Have patience to suffer your trials and know that they are your due whereby you learn some necessary lesson.
* Be grateful for your good fortune and know they too are deserved by past deeds of goodness.
* Take refuge in nature’s law and the Law of Karma.
Sally Janssen is a writer and educator who from an early age trained in Raja Yoga -that branch of the ancient science that deals with the mind and its complexities. She is well known in Australia for her skill in demonstration of the Hatha Yoga practices and has gained an international reputation both for these abilities and her wisdom in the training of the mind and the study of consciousness. Many years of her life have been dedicated to teaching and training western teachers in the fundamentals of classical yoga that are based upon spiritual values and the quest for greater spiritual understanding. In her wonderfully readable book entitled Mental Fitness: A Simple Self-help Guide she presents simple, self-help practices that help to generate and maintain mental fitness just as the natural principles of physical fitness can be personally applied by us all. The book may be found here: http://www.mentalhealthandfitness.com This really is a must-read book for us all. Sally also welcomes you to visit her blogs at http://www.mentalhealthandfitness.com/blog and also at essence-of-yoga.net.
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