Urdhva Yoga

FINDING CLARITY IN CHAOS

Are you struggling with maintaining focus on your work? Do you face challenges in maintaining clear thinking? Has the management of your time and work posed difficulties for you? Do you find that your thoughts seem scattered or unfocused?

We all have experienced the randomness of thoughts. A multitude of unconnected thoughts of various kinds flow in and out of the mind without rhyme or reason. There is no harmony or structure, only a state of complete disorder and disarray in our thought process. Ideas remain unclear and muddled in such a state.

THE CAUSE OF CHAOS

  • The mind is incessantly engaged in external stimuli received through the senses. Experiences of sight, taste, touch, sound and smell are flowing in and the mind is in turn flowing toward them and seeking more and more of them.
  • Information received through the senses in the mind activates past experiences and desires stored in the memory.
  • When Rajas (active) and Tamas (inert) quality dominates our sensory experiences, food, lifestyle, and activities the mind becomes, excited, agitated, dull, or depressed.
  • Yoga Sutra of Pātañjali says, Vṛittisārūpyamitaratra, when not in the state of Yoga, the mind identifies itself with the vṛittis or the quality of arising thoughts. In an unaware and passive state, the mind then runs incoherently riding on the turbulence of thought waves.
When prana move, chitta (consciousness) moves. When prana is without movement, chitta is without movement.

Hatha Yoga Pradipika 2.2

FINDING CLARITY

  • Yoga practices introduce a deliberate intervention in the automatic stream of thoughts originating from our ingrained patterns. This is achieved through pranayama, pratyahara, and other limbs of Ashtanga Yoga.
  • To gather the scattered mind and calm the emotions, one of the first things is relaxation of the body and breath awareness. Wherever you are, become aware of your body, relax all the muscles and your forehead, and become aware of your breath.
  • When the breath is slow, even, and regular without jerks our brain produces Alpha waves indicating a relaxed, meditative state. They can enhance creativity, reduce stress, and improve concentration.
  • Improving our lifestyle and attitudes to a higher, more purer state. When the share of Sattva (purity and luminosity) increases in our thoughts, food, media we consume, and the company we keep the mind becomes lighter, more present, and pleasant.
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