The recipe is simple indeed. Making it working – that is a challenge – like most of the things in life that worth “fighting for” require investment on our side…
In my opinion the most important gift Yoga helps us to develop – is mindfulness. And it is not an abstract thing, it’s real and it is working. – Yoga helps us to connect to our mind through our body. That’s the beauty of Yoga – if we practice asanas right – even that part of Yoga already helps us to develop some control over our minds. Simple instructions like following the breath when practicing asanas – is the first step towards meditation and mind control. Even if some are not inclined to practice meditation at all – good Yoga asana practice already does it… 
So, we follow our breath and time and time again we catch ourselves wondered away and starting to think about something else, remembering events of the day, etc. – then, once we notice that – we return to breath again… And we continue doing this breath after breath, session after session… thousands of times… again and again… Gradually, one may notice how time he/she keeping attention with the breath becomes longer… control develops, mindfulness develops.
Of course, when we improve awareness – everything changes in our life. We have more freedom to decide whether we want to react in a negative way to a comment from a colleague or not, whether we want to get depressed over rainy weather or stay cheerful, etc. Gift of mindfulness is a gift of freedom… And it starts with proper asana practice. By proper asana, Patanjali Yoga, practice I mean rhythm and physical-load compatible with comfortable practice, practice at our own level – when we are not dying for an extra breath soaking-wet in our own sweat, but practice with the pace at which mind has at least occasional moments of calm peace. It’s that easy (and that hard for many of us nowadays).
What weight control has to do with all this? – Well, I mentioned it as it seems to be one of the major issues of modern Western society. – Mindfulness is just as effective here. When there is an urge to go for a cake in the middle of the night, awareness of the thought process and understanding of the ways of a wild-monkey-mind we are training gives as a chance to stop before eating extra, eating junk food, etc.
It is an easy recipe, and yes, it takes time. Great thing about daily investments into Yoga practice is that they permanently change, improve our life (even if it takes time at first to notice difference)…
Does this make sense? What is the most important gift of Yoga practice for you? – You are welcome to share in the comments below (registration and posting blogs/comments in this Yoga Community Blog is open and free).
Good luck with your practice! All the best!
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December 28th, 2009 | Tags: 
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