Who said checking the impulses of mind is yoga

“Like the air, God's Grace is available to us. It is permeating every fibre of Being and the Being of the entire universe. When we take our attention to that Being, finer than the finest, then we establish ourselves on the level of God's Grace. Immediately we just enjoy. Life is Bliss!” ― Maharishi Mahesh Yogi “Experience shows that Being is the essential, basic nature of the mind; but, since It commonly remains in tune with the senses projecting outwards toward the manifested realms of creation, the mind misses or fails to appreciate its own essential nature, just as the eyes are unable to see themselves. ” ― Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, “This OM that is eternally going on at the basis of all creation, Hum, this is 100% OM. Now there can be 75% OM and there can be 50% OM and there can be 25% of OM. But this 100% OM is life supporting; 75% OM supports life but it has a destructive quality too. Because something that is eternally going on, that upholds creation and some impulse like that but broken. When it is broken then it will have the influence of breaking life, life damaging influence to some degree. 50% OM will have a more amount of breaking effect. 25% OM will have a more amount of breaking effect. This OM, what we say OM, OM, OM, this is 25% OM, it has more breaking effect. And how does it break life? By reducing brilliancy, reducing dynamism, reducing interest in life. This is how it starts to break. Peace, deeper peace leading to inertia. This is how it breaks life.” ― ...

Some pretty important people have said some pretty impactful things about silence: • “The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear” – Rumi • “Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know” – Lao Tzu • “The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind” – Albert Einstein People around the world have been practicing intentional sustained silence for centuries. As someone who has been in the yoga world for 15 years, extended periods of silence isn’t a new concept to me. But when it is presented to people not entrenched in the yoga world, I often hear things like: “Oh, I could NEVER do that!” “Hey Jess! A silent retreat. You should try that! Ha!” “Why would ANYONE want to do that!?” Why practice sustained silence? Mauna is a Sanskrit word meaning silence. Chances are you have experienced the power of silence in small slices, like to honor someone’s passing or in prayer. Maybe you’ve stood somewhere with an awe-inspiring view that left you speechless. Maybe you’ve watched dancers move in a way that left a long pause before the applause. So often we say things like,“there are no words to describe…” Mauna is a way to gain an understanding of that which is beyond words. Swami Sivananda said: “Energy is wasted in idle talking and gossiping… By practicing mauna, the energy of speech is slowly transmuted into spiritual energy. Mauna develops will-force, curbs the impulse of speech, and gives peace of mind.” Will-force: The third Niyama, or mor...

Marcus Aurelius (121—180 C.E.) The philosophy of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius can be found in a collection of personal writings known as the Meditations. These reflect the influence of Stoicism and, in particular, the philosophy of Meditations may be read as a series of practical philosophical exercises, following Epictetus’ three topics of study, designed to digest and put into practice philosophical theory. Central to these exercises is a concern with the analysis of one’s judgements and a desire to cultivate a “cosmic perspective.” From a modern perspective Marcus Aurelius is certainly not in the first rank of ancient philosophers. He is no Plato or Aristotle, nor even a Sextus Empiricus or Alexander of Aphrodisias. To a certain extent this judgement is perfectly fair and reasonable. However, in order to assess the philosophical qualities that Marcus does have and that are displayed in the Meditations it is necessary to emphasize that in antiquity philosophy was not conceived merely as a matter of theoretical arguments. Such arguments existed and were important, but they were framed within a broader conception of philosophy as a way of life. The aim was not merely to gain a rational understanding of the world but to allow that rational understanding to inform the way in which one lived. If one keeps this understanding of ‘philosophy’ in mind, then one becomes able to appreciate the function and the philosophical value of Marcus’ Meditations. Table of Contents • • M...

Yoga is more than just asana — the practice of physical poses. It’s a means of accessing our infinite possibilities and power. You can hear a voice in your head reading this sentence right now. Trippy, right? Maybe go back and read that again. That voice you hear is your mind. Your mind’s job is to receive information through your senses and either send impulses to your body to respond to this information or store it for later use. But who is the one listening to these words right now? That silent observer and listener of your mind, according to yoga philosophy, is your consciousness. Consciousness, the mind, and the body are separate entities. The mind and body are limited by the confines of their physical nature, while consciousness is all-pervading. It’s said that consciousness is the light that emanates from within the body. Some people call this our soul or higher self. Meditation is a tool that we can use to better access our higher self — our soul self (atman), also known as our pure conscious state. It’s important to understand that we’re able to perceive reality beyond the physical. This idea alone expands our awareness past the ego toward the infinite nature of our consciousness. After we understand that atman is beyond mind and body, we can test this theory through pratyahara (i.e., cutting off our senses). For example, when we limit our senses by closing our eyes or blocking out hearing, we’re essentially starving the mind of information. We notice that we’re s...

Abstract Yoga as a practice and philosophy of life has been followed for more than 4500 years with known evidence of yogic practices in the Indus Valley Civilization. The last few decades have seen a resurgence in the utility of yoga and meditation as a practice with growing scientific evidence behind it. Significant scientific literature has been published, illustrating the benefits of yogic practices including ‘asana’, ‘pranayama’ and ‘dhyana’ on mental and physical well-being. Electrophysiological and recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have found explicit neural signatures for yogic practices. In this article, we present a review of the philosophy of yoga, based on the dualistic ‘Sankhya’ school, as applied to consciousness summarized by Patanjali in his yoga sutras followed by a discussion on the five ‘vritti’ (modulations of mind), the practice of ‘pratyahara’, ‘dharana’, ‘dhyana’, different states of ‘samadhi’, and ‘samapatti’. We formulate the yogic theory of consciousness (YTC), a cohesive theory that can model both external modulations and internal states of the mind. We propose that attention, sleep and mind wandering should be understood as unique modulatory states of the mind. YTC allows us to model the external states, internal states of meditation, ‘samadhi’ and even the disorders of consciousness. Furthermore, we list some testable neuroscientific hypotheses that could be answered using YTC and analyse the benefits, outcomes and poss...

NCERT Revision Notes for Chapter 5 Yoga Class 11 Physical Education Topics in the Chapter • Meaning and importance of Yoga • Elements of Yoga • Introduction of of asanas, Pranayama, Dhyana & Yogic Kriyas Asanas related to meditation - Sukhasana, Tadasana, Padmasana and Shanshakasana • Relaxation techniques to improve concentration -Yog Nidra Meaning of Yoga • Yoga is word derived form a Sanskrit word "Yuj' meaning to join or union. Yoga is defined as joining the individual self with the divine or universal spirit. • It is a science of development of man's Consciousness. • Yoga is ancient Indian Practice. The definition of Yoga given according to the different ancient Philosophers are given as under: → Patanjali - “Checking the impulse of mind is yoga” → Maharishi Ved Vyas - “Yoga is attaining the pose”’ → Lord Krishna (as quoted in Bhagwat Gita), “Skill in action or efficiency alone is yoga.” Importance of Yoga

Some pretty important people have said some pretty impactful things about silence: • “The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear” – Rumi • “Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know” – Lao Tzu • “The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind” – Albert Einstein People around the world have been practicing intentional sustained silence for centuries. As someone who has been in the yoga world for 15 years, extended periods of silence isn’t a new concept to me. But when it is presented to people not entrenched in the yoga world, I often hear things like: “Oh, I could NEVER do that!” “Hey Jess! A silent retreat. You should try that! Ha!” “Why would ANYONE want to do that!?” Why practice sustained silence? Mauna is a Sanskrit word meaning silence. Chances are you have experienced the power of silence in small slices, like to honor someone’s passing or in prayer. Maybe you’ve stood somewhere with an awe-inspiring view that left you speechless. Maybe you’ve watched dancers move in a way that left a long pause before the applause. So often we say things like,“there are no words to describe…” Mauna is a way to gain an understanding of that which is beyond words. Swami Sivananda said: “Energy is wasted in idle talking and gossiping… By practicing mauna, the energy of speech is slowly transmuted into spiritual energy. Mauna develops will-force, curbs the impulse of speech, and gives peace of mind.” Will-force: The third Niyama, or mor...

Abstract Yoga as a practice and philosophy of life has been followed for more than 4500 years with known evidence of yogic practices in the Indus Valley Civilization. The last few decades have seen a resurgence in the utility of yoga and meditation as a practice with growing scientific evidence behind it. Significant scientific literature has been published, illustrating the benefits of yogic practices including ‘asana’, ‘pranayama’ and ‘dhyana’ on mental and physical well-being. Electrophysiological and recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have found explicit neural signatures for yogic practices. In this article, we present a review of the philosophy of yoga, based on the dualistic ‘Sankhya’ school, as applied to consciousness summarized by Patanjali in his yoga sutras followed by a discussion on the five ‘vritti’ (modulations of mind), the practice of ‘pratyahara’, ‘dharana’, ‘dhyana’, different states of ‘samadhi’, and ‘samapatti’. We formulate the yogic theory of consciousness (YTC), a cohesive theory that can model both external modulations and internal states of the mind. We propose that attention, sleep and mind wandering should be understood as unique modulatory states of the mind. YTC allows us to model the external states, internal states of meditation, ‘samadhi’ and even the disorders of consciousness. Furthermore, we list some testable neuroscientific hypotheses that could be answered using YTC and analyse the benefits, outcomes and poss...

Marcus Aurelius (121—180 C.E.) The philosophy of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius can be found in a collection of personal writings known as the Meditations. These reflect the influence of Stoicism and, in particular, the philosophy of Meditations may be read as a series of practical philosophical exercises, following Epictetus’ three topics of study, designed to digest and put into practice philosophical theory. Central to these exercises is a concern with the analysis of one’s judgements and a desire to cultivate a “cosmic perspective.” From a modern perspective Marcus Aurelius is certainly not in the first rank of ancient philosophers. He is no Plato or Aristotle, nor even a Sextus Empiricus or Alexander of Aphrodisias. To a certain extent this judgement is perfectly fair and reasonable. However, in order to assess the philosophical qualities that Marcus does have and that are displayed in the Meditations it is necessary to emphasize that in antiquity philosophy was not conceived merely as a matter of theoretical arguments. Such arguments existed and were important, but they were framed within a broader conception of philosophy as a way of life. The aim was not merely to gain a rational understanding of the world but to allow that rational understanding to inform the way in which one lived. If one keeps this understanding of ‘philosophy’ in mind, then one becomes able to appreciate the function and the philosophical value of Marcus’ Meditations. Table of Contents • • M...

NCERT Revision Notes for Chapter 5 Yoga Class 11 Physical Education Topics in the Chapter • Meaning and importance of Yoga • Elements of Yoga • Introduction of of asanas, Pranayama, Dhyana & Yogic Kriyas Asanas related to meditation - Sukhasana, Tadasana, Padmasana and Shanshakasana • Relaxation techniques to improve concentration -Yog Nidra Meaning of Yoga • Yoga is word derived form a Sanskrit word "Yuj' meaning to join or union. Yoga is defined as joining the individual self with the divine or universal spirit. • It is a science of development of man's Consciousness. • Yoga is ancient Indian Practice. The definition of Yoga given according to the different ancient Philosophers are given as under: → Patanjali - “Checking the impulse of mind is yoga” → Maharishi Ved Vyas - “Yoga is attaining the pose”’ → Lord Krishna (as quoted in Bhagwat Gita), “Skill in action or efficiency alone is yoga.” Importance of Yoga