164 – Take care of your mind as you do of your body

We all take great care of our body. We use fragrant soaps, lotions and perfumes. Our desire is to look good and attractive. We touch up and blow-dry our pictures on facebook and want to present a beautiful persona to the world. We eat healthy as we aspire to be full of energy and have a glow of wellbeing. We exercise and many of us came to Yoga because we wanted to remain fit. When we are unwell, we go to the doctor and take care of ourselves. We are completely involved with our external appearance.

Have we paused to consider what is happening with our mind?

Our mind is influenced by our senses and our thoughts are dedicated to confusing us, confronting us, and playing games with our feelings and emotions. We rarely address our mind directly. External stimuli are preying on us. Our mind is the controller and we have let it run wild. We are dedicated to our worldly success and aspirations. Our desires and pleasures govern us. Now we come to an important question.

How are we sanitizing our mind?

In times of Covid we are disinfecting our hands and wearing masks, but what about our mind. It is also burdened with worries about infection and how our life will be affected. We must step back and work on refining our mind. We have ignored the heart and the feelings which are dominant are related to us alone. Let us focus on our breath, which never forsakes us.

It is always with us and practice the samvrit pranayama. Samvrit pranayama is the balancing pranayama. We inhale to the count of 5, pause to the count of 5, exhale to the count of 5, and pause outside to the count of 5. We can add a mantra. In order for the practice to be beneficial, do it 27 or 54 times, counting backwards. This is our normal way of breathing but we are not aware of it. This pranayama balances our prana and enables us to ignore our thoughts. It also develops our ability of not engaging with our thoughts and enhancing our skills of being non-judgemental and empathetic.

Swami Sivananda quotes from the Upanishads,

“Mind alone is the cause of man’s bondage and liberation.
Who has conquered the mind, has conquered the world.”

Aim Hrim Klim

 

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