| When the ancient Yogis gathered to share information | | | | practice to tame the mind. |
| about this science of life we know as Yoga, the idea | | | | Anyone who is successful in a leadership role is living |
| of harnessing thoughts must have been of paramount | | | | proof that you can put aside distractions and |
| importance. Most of the world sees Yoga as a | | | | accomplish goals through intense focus. How can we |
| physical activity. | | | | get rid of confusion and distractions? Confusion stems |
| Yet, so much effort and progress has been made | | | | from living life without a plan. A written plan of the day, |
| over the past 5,000 years in focusing the power of | | | | week, month, and year, is your template toward |
| the mind through Yogic principles. To achieve | | | | progress. Some will say - time spent planning is a |
| self-mastery is to fully concentrate in the present, and | | | | waste of time. |
| focus on your primary objective. | | | | If you are going to construct a house, you will need a |
| Wishful thinking, visualization, affirmations, positive | | | | plan, and you will most likely have to hire professionals |
| thought, mantra, japa, and prayer, are very powerful | | | | to help you. The same principle applies in our daily lives. |
| methods. Each one of these methods, can carry any | | | | Now, let's say we have a young student, who is |
| one us, toward our objective. They are more powerful, | | | | restless and easily distracted. |
| when practiced in combination with each other. | | | | One suggestion would be for him or her to do Surya |
| However, many people do not take action. Some | | | | Namaskars (Sun Salutations) in the morning, eat a |
| people take action without practicing any of the | | | | Sattvic diet, and meditate before bedtime. In the |
| above-mentioned methods. If you practice visualization, | | | | morning, the mind is restless because the body craves |
| affirmations, positive thought, mantra, japa, prayer, and | | | | physical activity. |
| take action, you have a better chance of reaching | | | | Surya Namaskars, for at least 20 minutes, will enable |
| your objective. | | | | the body to exercise first, and to relax later. This will |
| What holds us back from taking action? The truth is - | | | | bring about mental focus. For children: Running, |
| there are too many thoughts going on in our heads. It | | | | swimming, soccer, biking, or any aerobic sport, which |
| has been speculated that the average person has | | | | uses energy, will enable the body to relax and the mind |
| 5,000 to 65,000 thoughts per day. The exact number is | | | | to focus. |
| not really worth debating. Suffice to say: we have | | | | Is this a complete cure for concentration? Not entirely, |
| many thousands of thoughts per day. | | | | but it is one major leap forward. If people practiced the |
| No wonder we have difficulty taking action. That much | | | | above-mentioned Yogic principles, they would easily be |
| thought is a serious distraction. In Yoga, the mind is | | | | in the top ten percentile of achievement within their |
| compared to a monkey, but now we realize that we | | | | current field. |
| are dealing with a troop of monkeys. It takes a lot of | | | | |