certain asana, your brain relaxes, and you become quiet. This is the
beauty of yoga. If you do Halasana (Plough Pose) your brain becomes
completely quiet. If you are dejected mentally, you can do Setu Bandha
Sarvangasana (a pose in which the body is arched like a bridge) for ten
minutes, and your depression disappears, though you do not know
how this transformation has occurred. This is how the body is used to
cultivate the mind. When the suffering, depressed mind is cured, the
light of the soul can itself radiate to the surface of our being.
WHEN YOU ARE EMOTIONALLY DISTURBED, insecurity and
anxiety from the conscious mind is converted into the unconscious
mind, which is actually hidden in the heart not the brain. Dread of the
future, insecurity over whether the necessities and requirements of life
will be met and fulfilled or not, and fear of losing what one has are
worries that plague people around the world. These worries may come
from money, house, job, friends and relatives, and community.
Whether from name and fame (work) or near and dear ones (family),
we all face the same troubles. Humans innately resist change because
we feel safe with what is familiar and fear the insecurity that comes
with something new. We tend to live in a familiar fixed routine and try
to avoid accepting or even feeling what is beyond the known. But life
inevitably oscillates, moves, and changes between the known and the
unknown. So often we are not ready to accept the flow of life. We seek
freedom but cling to bondage. We do not allow life to "happen" and
take on its own shape. Conflicts, opposition, clash of interests and
ideas, collision of ego (personal and collective), and limited under
standing are all inevitable parts of life.
The yogic solution to all these vicissitudes is to study how to adapt
and build ourselves up. The key is to control the emotional distur
bances and the mental fluctuations. Conscious self-control will savt·
many a situation. When we have done all that can he dont·, wt• an·
V I T A I I T Y T II F I' N 1·: 1\t; Y II II II Y ( /' /1 .1 N .1 I