Yoga and Time Management

As days became weeks, and weeks became months, I found that I was taking longer to do things than I should, and that my to-do lists were frequently longer at the end of the day than in the beginning. Then I took the Sri Sri Yoga course. I learnt a lot of useful tricks, but my biggest takeaway was that feeling of pure enthusiasm and dynamism that I felt after every session. For three days, after every yoga work out, I found myself feeling inspired and focused throughout the day. I was efficient and helpful, and effortlessly so! I wanted to see if the same phenomenon could be achieved every day, so I decided to try out a few things, and it worked wonders! Here are my cherished tips; it is now the only list I carry around with me.

    Well begun is more than half done – Start the day off with some yoga and meditation. Basic yoga stretches and warm ups help loosen me up and the meditation refreshes me, so I know that I am fully charged and ready to tackle the rest of the day!

    A mind that says, “YES!”. A positive attitude fosters success and yoga fosters a positive attitude.

    The balancing act – Yoga and time management are both all about balance. My yoga teacher taught me that the poses we adopt must be stable and comfortable (Sthiramsukhamasanam). I make sure that my plan for the day keeps me occupied properly, but leaves enough time for recuperation and entertainment.

    Intuition helps prioritize well – A very powerful yoga and breathing technique, the Sun Salutations (suryanamaskar) has innumerable benefits, one of which is developing your intuition, your third eye center. This helps you choose your activities with wisdom and foresight.

    The two o’ clock power down – After lunch, our body is spending its energy in digestion, and we tend to feel a little tired and lethargic. Yoga Nidra is a super-nap. In less than twenty minutes you feel deeply rested and fresher than from drinking any energy drink, without the unwanted side effect of a sugar or caffeine crash.

    Smile, smile, smile! Sometimes, things just take longer than we expect, the day goes in unpredictable ways, and there are unavoidable delays and last minute changes. But as my yoga teacher would remind me as I would strive to hold my body in naukasana (boat pose), keep smiling!

Meditate into Higher Consciousness

We live most of our life through three states of consciousness: waking, dreaming and sleeping. In the waking state of consciousness, we experience the world through the five senses through which we seek elevation and joy. If any one of the senses is missing, the entire dimension of that sense is lost. When you cannot hear you are bereft of the whole arena of sound. Similarly, when you cannot see you are deprived of all beautiful sights and colours. So, the sense is more important and much bigger than object of sense.

The mind is higher than senses; it is infinite, with many desires but the capacity of senses to enjoy is limited. Greed wants more and more of sensory objects. Even though you can only enjoy a limited amount during a lifetime, you want all the wealth in the world.

Giving too much importance to sensory objects leads to greed; giving too much importance to the senses leads to lust; and giving too much importance to the mind and its desires leads to delusion.

We cling to mind concepts and want things to happen in a certain way. Thus, they impede us from perceiving infinite consciousness that is part of us. All mind senses are not bad; learn to discriminate and be aware of what is happening at all times so that there is clarity. This is the first step towards higher state of consciousness.

In the waking state, you are constantly engaged in looking, eating, working and other pursuits. Sleeping state is where you are completely cut off and dull. Dullness and heaviness linger even after waking. The more you sleep, the duller you feel since much energy is expended in sleep. In the dreaming state you are neither asleep nor awake. Here, you neither feel at rest nor are aware of your surroundings.

Higher state of consciousness is somewhere between the waking, sleeping and dreaming states. Here, we know we ''are'' but we don't know ''where'' we are. This knowledge i ''am'', but don't know ''where'' i am or ''what'' i am, is called Shiva. This state gives the deepest possible rest that one can experience. And you can achieve this through.

Meditation prevents stress from entering the system and also releases accumulated stress. With the assimilation of meditation into daily life, a higher, cosmic state of consciousness dawns within. Cosmic consciousness perceives the whole universe as part of oneself. Then love flows between us and the world, empowering us to overcome opposing forces and disturbances. Anger and disappointments become fleeting emotions.

Higher state of consciousness will not suddenly happen one fine morning. The sapling of consciousness is within you - nurture it through spiritual practices like meditation. Some coconut trees yield in three years, some in 10 years. And those that are not nurtured never yield, they simply exist.

Attaining higher states of consciousness demands no complicated strategy; just learn the art of letting go. The confluence of knowledge, understanding and practice makes life complete. When you grow into higher states of consciousness, you are no longer thrown off-balance by situations and disturbances. You become strong yet soft - a delicate and beautiful individual capable of accommodating different values in life without conditions. As your consciousness opens and you get physically, mentally and spiritually elevated, life truly becomes worth living.

Know More Meditation from Art of Living