Открытый Йога Журнал

As it often happens, the inner weakness destroys our plans, our health and our life. At times, the following thoughts come to our mind: «This is not for me, I cannot do it.» Where does this lack of self-confidence come from?

Our past failures raise doubts about our own abilities. We perceive any personal mistakes as a proof of our inadequacy, and become confident that next time nothing is going to work out.

Do you recall the endless attempts of little kids to stand on their two feet and walk? It is hard to imagine that they consider themselves losers every time when they fall. They see the goal and do not notice bumps and bruises.

«Great strength of body is the gift of nature.» Bias

If we falter once, we tend to choose the path of weakness rather than strength. Eventually we develop a habit to demonstrate weaknesses of our personality. On the contrary, by demonstrating our strong points, we take the path of power and develop a habit of living from the position of strength.

It is important to give room for error. «Everybody can make mistakes.» «Only those who do nothing make no mistakes.» A mistake is just a sign that we need to change direction, nothing more. If we remember this and fill our mind with the thoughts about our own power, it will help us to keep our mistakes in perspective.

«Nobody knows the extent of his strength until he has tried.» Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The important point: do not focus on weaknesses!

Открытый Йога Журнал

People start practicing yoga for different reasons. Some are looking for answers to spiritual questions; others are motivated by the desire to get into shape or to lose weight. When you choose yoga for losing weight, the following questions arise: «Is it possible to lose weight by practicing yoga? Is it necessary to become a vegetarian? How quickly can I get a result?» Let’s refer to some theory of Yoga in search of answers to these questions.

Yoga as a self-exploration system

To start with, let’s remind ourselves of what is yoga. Yoga is a self-exploration system based on the method of harmony and two main yoga principles — not doing any harm and using common sense.

In the process of self-exploration, it is possible to achieve any targets, including the acquisition of a beautiful slim body. But this is more like a «free application» to everything else, what yoga is able to reveal in a person. The main purpose of Yoga is reaching an unconditional freedom. Regular exercises bring our body into a natural, harmonious, ideal condition, making it free from any pressure and strain.

Открытый Йога Журнал

Human development nowadays is very fast. We have to perform a large variety of tasks, process a huge amount of information and try hard to succeed in different areas of our lives. It seems impossible to achieve all goals and objectives without forcing ourselves and without losing out on our health and happiness.

Each of us has a different level of health and wealth, some of us see the world in shades of grey whilst for others it looks colorful and bright. Some people achieve their goals easily and quickly and it could take years for the others to progress towards even modest objectives. What do all these differences depend on? Is it possible to become healthier and more successful?

According to Yoga, each of us has a Higher Self, which is absolutely free, Almighty and All-knowing. It manifests itself in cosmosphere as prana. The word «prana» translated from Sanskrit means «breath» or «life». It is also called «vitality». In Yoga it is recognized that prana pervades the Universe, although it is invisible to the eye. In this world we can see and perceive different objects, amend them, as well as change ourselves.

The ability to spot the objects, therefore «freezing» or forming them is called the principle of Consciousness, and the ability to transform and change these objects is the principle of Energy. The mixture of these two principles represents prana.

In modern society, people are often faced with multitasking. Solving several problems at a time became normal and watching those, who succeed in being all over the place, we admire them and think, that it is effective. But is it right? What is multitasking? Where did this behavior pattern come from? Is it possible to become the modern Julius Caesar? What advice does yoga give us?

We can find the definition of this term in computing: «Multi-tasking is an attribute of an operating system or a runtime environment to provide the possibility of parallel processing of different actions.»

Multitasking is not a quality of a person. But sometimes, it seems that a person is solving different problems at a time, like a computer, processing different actions simultaneously.  However, it is not as it looks. The attention of people is just switching from one subject to another.

Today the representatives of many professions, for example, a secretary or operator, always face the problems, which need simultaneous solving. In such a regime, the attention splits up between incoming information flows, but the concentration on every problem is seriously reduced. Just think, not for nothing, it is forbidden to speak on the phone while driving.