The Luck Secret: Get The Knack Of Being Lucky

Well, all of us want to be lucky. Who doesn’t? I usually play Table Tennis after office hours and most of my backhands and forehands never hit the table. Duh!

The other day, I was at India Internet Day and listening to what Sachin Bansal has to say. He’s the co-founder of Flipkart, India’s biggest e-commerce website. He gave us his secret of success – being lucky. He insisted that he made it big because he was in the right place at the right time.

Let me confess I have a bad habit – I’m an avid reader. I read a lot. So do my brothers. And believe me, it’s not that good. It’s always better to read less and do more.

Recently, one of my brothers was reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. He told me, according to Gladwell, likes of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and many others are so successful because they were 1955 born. “What about me?”, I muttered, “What to do if I am not born in 55?” My elder brother replied, “Chill! You aren’t lucky enough.”

So, what can we do about being lucky? How to be in the right place at the right time? Can we be lucky at all? My answer – of course, we can.

Luck Rubs Off

Yea, it does. Believe me! How? Let me tell you about myself.

Know Your 2023 Horoscope Here

I am one of the directors of Ojas Softech Pvt. Ltd. We have created AstroSage.com, world’s largest astrology website. Do I know astrology? Nah. Do I know how to code? Not much. Am I very experienced in online business? Not at all. I’ve become the part of this company as soon as I finished my studies – see, not much of experience.

How did I manage to become a part of such a great success story? I was just telling you about my elder brothers and their equally bad habit of reading. Yup, you got it right. They formed the company and I just jumped on the bandwagon.

They’re those rare individuals who we refer to as “genius”. Punit, my elder brother, is a born entrepreneur, a master astrologer and a geek – I know, a deadly combo. He created this awesome website called AstroSage, made India’s biggest astrological mobile app and what not.

Piyush, my eldest brother, is one of the most creative minds I’ve ever met. He’s a prolific writer and also one of the sharpest brains in media industry today. Talk with him for half an hour and you will get at least ten disruptive business ideas.

Both of they founded this extra-ordinary company and guess what! Their success rubbed off on me! As simple as this. I learned a lot from them, they made me one of the directors of the company, taught me entrepreneurship, proved excellent mentors and imparted writing skill – everything invaluable.

But, what if you don’t have brothers who are genius and lucky?

The Ancient Secret That Will Make You Lucky

If you don’t have a genius brother, what to do? Well, find one. That’s the key – going out and finding someone who can help you become successful. Whose luck might rub off on you. And do not restrict yourself to just one, because there’s no point in taking unnecessary risks. Find as many smart people as you can and befriend them. It’s called “Satsanga” in Sanskrit.

“Sat” means good and “Sanga” means to accompany, so “Satsanga” means keeping a good company. You are who your friends are – a great and yet mostly ignored psychological truth. Dr. Amen, author of the best-selling book “Change Your Brain, Change Your Life”, stresses:

Taking stock of who you spend time with and spending more time with positive people will keep your brain healthy and make you more productive and happy.

The more exceptional and happy people you know, the more chances you have to be lucky and successful. Find many such people and you are gonna be lucky for sure. Yup, I know what you are thinking now. Why should anybody help you – is it what you’re assessing? The Vedas say:

ॐ संगच्छध्वं संवदध्वं सं वो मनांसि जानताम्।

देवा भागं यथा पूर्वे सञ्जानाना उपासते॥

May you move in harmony, speak in one voice; let your minds be in agreement; just as the ancient gods were worshiped because they were united.

This is something most smart people already know. Harmony and unity, says Vedas, gave that exalted status even to gods. They’re always looking to connect with those who can provide some value to them. So, if you are generous enough, it is not very difficult to be a part of their circle. Keith Ferrazzi, author of the New York Times bestseller “Never Eat Alone” doles out his secret of getting Satsanga:

When you help others, they often help you. “Reciprocity” is the gussied-up word people use later in life to describe this ageless principle... Over time, I came to see reaching out to people as a way to make a difference in people’s lives as well as a way to explore and learn and enrich my own; it became the conscious construction of my life’s path.

Isn’t it deceptively simple? Seemingly small things matter a lot. The world is interdependent. If you help others be more successful, obviously you’re gonna be more yourself too.

If you can tell someone where to find a good book, what’s best restaurant for Italian cuisine, an app that would be very useful, or any value-addition for that matter – you earn the right to be a part of his or her company, his or her Satsanga.

But it isn’t enough. You need one more wonder ingredient for Satsanga and for getting lucky – serendipity. You need serendipity to meet awesome people.

Take Control Of Attracting Serendipity

The dictionary defines “serendipity” as “good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries”.

Doesn’t it look like the chicken and the egg problem, eh? You need to hang out with great people to be lucky, and you need luck to meet great people.

Yea, I know. It sounds absurd – How can I control serendipity! Of course, you cannot. No one can. But, you can attract serendipity. Let me tell you how.

I’m not a great fan of mathematics. Most of us are not. But it answers a lot of our questions. And it also tells us how to attract serendipity. The answer is quite aboveboard – probability. That’s it. Probability leads to serendipity.

If you try to meet one successful person, you might fail. If you try to befriend just one smart chap, you might flunk; but if you try it out with umpteen number of people, your success is assured.

I can tell you this because I did it myself. And I can tell you this too – the more experience you have, the more probability of your success is there. With the time, we learn how to get along with people better, how to make friends with more ease, how to touch their hearts and how to attract serendipity in meeting people. Just improve the probability by giving a bit more effort.

As you get serendipitous in accompanying great people, luck inevitably rubs off. All of a sudden, you find yourself surrounded with great ideas, amazing opportunities and intelligent people. The only thing required is helping and caring for people from the bottom of your heart. Adam Grant, author of best-selling book “Give and Take” puts it the best:

You never know where somebody’s going to end up. It’s not just about building your reputation; it really is about being there for other people.

Once I was reading Swami Vivekananda's Karma Yoga in Hindi. He says very similar thing there:

दूसरों के प्रति हमारे कर्तव्य का अर्थ है–दूसरों की सहायता करना, संसार का भला करना। अब प्रश्न उठता है कि हम संसार का भला क्यों करें? वास्तव में बात यह है कि ऊपर से तो हम संसार का उपकार करते हैं, परन्तु असल में हम अपना ही उपकार करते हैं। हमें सदैव संसार का उपकार करने की चेष्टा करनी चाहिए, और कार्य करने में यही हमारा सर्वोच्च उद्देश्य होना चाहिए।

It means, "Our duty to others means helping others; doing good to the world. Why should we do good to the world? Apparently to help the world, but really to help ourselves. We should always try to help the world, that should be the highest motive in us."

By the way, I’ve recently befriended some of very deft Table Tennis players. I’m sure you will find me hitting impeccable forehands and backhands pretty soon. Come to my place; we’re gonna play a game or two for sure. For me, “Satsanga” with you really matters. :)

And yea, as I always say – just do it, do it, do it!

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4 Little Yoga Secrets To Be A Success Magnet

Two guys were walking through the jungle. All of a sudden, a tiger appeared from a distance, running toward them. One of the guys took out a costly pair of shoes from his bag and started to put them on. The other guy, with a surprised look on his face, exclaimed, "Do you think you will run faster than the tiger with those?"
His friend replied, "I don't have to outrun it, I just have to run faster than you."

It’s one of the most pervasive jokes about success. I googled “success joke” and found it everywhere over Internet. And this is precisely the idea of success for most people these days, albeit a very mediocre one. True success comes with excellence where you do not outperform someone else, but use your own full potential. When you want to outperform others, you don’t explore tremendous possibilities lying dormant inside. Success, at the end of the day, isn’t about others - what others achieve and what they don’t. It is about you. It’s about discovering the powers within and activating these powers. If you can do it, you can succeed in whatever you do.

The Secret Ingredient Of Success

This heading - The Secret Ingredient Of Success - is inspired by Kung Fu Panda. Those of you who have watched it, would be able to relate. Here, I’ve used it to activate your taste-buds too, because I’m feeling quite hungry while writing this article (Why should only I suffer?).

Well, Yoga is the science to unlock these inner resources that you have and putting them in use. In Gita, Krishna says, “योग: कर्मसु कौशलम्”; i.e. Yoga is the excellence at work. Whatever you do, Yoga transforms quality of your actions and lead you toward excellence and success. But, how can it be achieved? How to bring highest excellence in your actions?

Patanjali, author of Yoga Sutra, provides answer for it. He, in his Yoga aphorisms, says, “योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः”; i.e. Yoga is restraining the mind from wavering or taking various forms. So, if when used both of these Sutras together, we find the crystal-clear answer for our question:

∵ Yoga = Excellence at work
∵ Yoga = Restraining the mind from wavering
∴ Excellence at work = Restraining the mind from wavering

Therefore, while performing any action, if you are able to restrain your mind from wavering and can focus completely on action taking place in that moment, quality of your action transforms. In East, this complete awareness toward the actions taking place moment-to-moment is called “Ekagrata” or one-pointedness. At times, it is loosely translated as “concentration” in English.

Swami Vivekananda’s Formula For Success

I’ve been a fan of Swami Vivekananda since my childhood. Other than his amazing talks, tales of his unbelievable feats always made me awestruck. Here’s one that tells about his success formula:

Once, in America, Swami Vivekananda was watching some boys. They were standing on a bridge trying to shoot at egg-shells that were floating on the river. The egg-shells bobbed up and down. The boys could not hit any of them. They fired the gun many times, but always missed the target! They noticed that Swami Vivekananda was watching them. So, they called out to him: “Well, you are watching us. Do you think you can do better?”
Swami Vivekananda smiled and said: “I will try.”
Then the boys said: “It’s not so easy as you think!”
Swami Vivekananda took the gun and aimed at the egg-shells. He stood very still for a few minutes. Then, he fired the gun. He fired twelve times, and every time he hit an egg-shell! The boys were very surprised. How could any man shoot egg-shells like that? They thought. They said to Swami Vivekananda: “Well, Mister, how did you do it? You must be a practised hand.”
Swami Vivekananda laughed and assured them he had never handled a gun before.
“Whatever you are doing,” he explained, “the secret of success lies in the power of concentration. Put your whole mind on it. If you are shooting, your mind should be only on the target. Then, you will never miss. If you are learning your lessons, think only of the lesson. In my country, boys are taught to do this.”

India, the land of Yoga, has long tradition of such practices that sharpen the mind and make it focused. Though, modern education system completely neglects this aspect of education that, according to me, is essential for learning any new skill and performing to the best of our abilities. Swami Vivekananda says:

The main difference between men and the animals is the difference in their power of concentration. All success in any line of work is the result of this. Everybody knows something about concentration. We see its results every day. High achievements in art, music, etc., are the results of concentration.

4 Yoga Techniques To Kick-start Success Roller Coaster

Whatever you want to succeed at - business, sports, studies, scientific endeavours or any other pursuit of life - this is the secret of Yoga. Sachin Tendulkar and Tiger Woods know how to ‘get in the zone’ by paying 100% attention. Steve Jobs knew how to unleash his creative genius by concentrating all his energies. These 4 simple techniques will help you concentrate and stay in the moment to transform you in a success dynamo:

1. Nadi Shodhana

Nadi Shodhana or alternate nostril breathing purifies the nerves in your subtle body or Sukshma Sharira. These nerves are pathways or channels of Prana, the basic unit of energy. You should understand this – performing Yoga generates a lot of energy, but if these nerve pathways are blocked, this energy cannot reach at the right spots and, therefore, no benefit can be reaped. So, in order to unblock these energy channels, this technique of Nadi Shodhana is not only important, but necessary too. If you practice Nadi Shodhana twice a day for about 15 minutes, your nerve pathways will be unblocked in 3-4 months and then, you will be able to reap the immense benefits that Yoga has to offer. Your senses will become sharper and you will be healthier, and harshness of your voice will be reduced. Once it happens, you can ascertain that nerves in your subtle body are opening up. This is an open secret and if you do not know this secret, you cannot become a Yogi.

In case, you do not know how to perform Nadi Shodhana, please watch my video on the same topic: Nadi Shodhana Yoga - Boost Your Brain Power.

2. Bhramari

The nature of mind is to wander incessantly. Bhramari Pranayama is a very effective method to relax your mind and let it be focused internally on its own. In this technique, a sound like a Bhramar (the carpenter bee) is produced that brings relaxed focus. Place your index fingers on your ears. There is a cartilage between your cheek and ear. Place your index fingers on the cartilage. Breath in deeply and make a humming sound like a bee while exhaling along with gently pressing the cartilage. This simple technique does wonders and one finds that his actions are becoming better as mind gets more and more relaxed. It will be great if you can do it 11 times twice a day. However, it also depends on your convenience.

3. Rhythmic Breathing

Have you ever paid attention to your breathing? Observe it deeply. Breathing takes place because of the motion of our lungs. There is a rhythm in natural breathing. But, we have lost it and our breathing is irregular now. Interestingly, breathing is only phenomenon in our organism that is both conscious and unconscious, i.e. we can control the flow of our breath if we want to, or it takes place automatically. So, by making our breathing rhythmical, we can slowly bring in the harmony in our entire organism that makes us healthy and youthful. Also, it makes our mind one-pointed and invigorated. With a one-pointed attention, mind will not be able to waver incessantly and whatever you do will be transformed into excellence. Remember, breathing is a very delicate process. We must not use any force to regulate our breathing. Exertion of force can harm your inner organs irreparably. Though it will be perfect if you can do it throughout the day while doing your regular stuff, but giving 10 minutes twice a day for bringing your breath into rhythm can really do wonders for you.

To know more about rhythmic breathing and how it should be performed, please visit - Rhythmic Breathing: A Key to Unlock Your Potential.

4. Meditation

As per Yoga, meditation is complete attention without any flickering. Meditation, if practiced properly, prolongs attention span and transforms the quality of perception. It sharpens your intellect and balances your emotions, which are very important traits for effective communication. There are several different methods of meditation, but their core is same. Be a witness to any object, inner or outer, in your consciousness. This object can be anything – a Mantra or Chakra or stream of thoughts. Just observe it by paying your full attention and do not force your mind at all. After some practice, you will be surprised to see that chattering in your mind is getting lesser and lesser. Your expressions are getting impactful, your words full of energy and your understanding in-depth. Meditation changes your entire consciousness. To start with meditation, you may perform it 10 minutes twice a day. Further, you may increase the timings as per your convenience.

To know more about meditation and how it is performed, you may like to visit the “Meditation” section of post – Improve Your Communication Skills with Yoga.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – says Lao Tzu. Seeking success, at the end of the day, is a very small goal. There are many grand things that Yoga can lead you toward. However, even taking the first step will set your direction. Immerse in the ocean of Yoga to find peace, happiness, to ultimately find what can be found, to find yourself. It’s the first step, also the ultimate – Do it! Do it! Do it! – Arise, awake and stop not, till the goal is reached.

PS. Get new updates/articles on Yoga and Vedanta
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5 Secrets to Be a Yogi

There are 5 secrets of Yoga – once you know these secrets, you can start your Yoga journey and become a Yogi or a Yogini. You will be able to unlock the infinite potential in you. You will get unseen treasures buried deep in yourself. These secrets and truths, if you do not know them, Yoga will become a cobweb of techniques. You will get stuck there with no progress. So, you must know these hidden truths.

Click here to watch this video

Secret No. 1: No progress in Yoga can be made without purification of nerves 

Many people claim – “Yoga is not effective. What Yoga says aren’t true and Yoga just gives a bit of flexibility – that’s it, and nothing more.” Actually, these people aren’t wrong, they’re right. You cannot reach the Himalayals if you start walking in opposite direction. And even if you reach, as earth is round, it’s going to take a lot of time. Similarly, no progress in Yoga can be made in right direction, if you do not purify your nerves using the method of Nadi Shodhana. Nadi Shodhana purifies the nerves in your subtle body or Sukshma Sharira. These nerves are pathways or channels of Prana, the basic unit of energy. You should understand this – performing Yoga generates a lot of energy, but if these nerve pathways are blocked, this energy cannot reach at the right spots and, therefore, no benefit can be reaped. So, in order to unblock these energy channels, this technique of Nadi Shodhana is not only important, but necessary too. If you practice Nadi Shodhana twice a day for about 15 minutes, your nerve pathways will be unblocked in 3-4 months and then, you will be able to reap the immense benefits that Yoga has to offer. Your senses will become sharper and you will be healthier, and harshness of your voice will be reduced. Once it happens, you can ascertain that nerves in your subtle body are opening up. This is an open secret and if you do not know this secret, you cannot become a Yogi. In case, you do not know how to perform Nadi Shodhana, please watch my video on the same topic: Nadi Shodhana Yoga - Boost Your Brain Power.

Secret No. 2: Yoga isn’t gymnastics 

Yoga is not what most people think it is. It is NOT gymnastics. You can perhaps become a gymnast by getting into all sorts of weird poses, but you can never become a Yogi by doing all this. What some phony Gurus teach on the name of Yoga these days, that’s crap. Vinnyasa is absolute crap. But, I don’t mean that it’s of no use. It might be a good exercise, but it is NOT Yoga. Whether you like it or you do not, but the truth is – Vinnyasa has nothing to do with Yoga. Yoga has been developed by those who were enlightened and groups of several such people worked over thousands of years one after another to come up with single Yoga technique. This is how Yoga developed. But, these days so called Gurus create their brand of Yoga without understanding it. They even do not know basics of Yoga. Unfortunately, Vinnyasa is one such bluff. If you want to get a good workout, it’s fine. But if you think you’re doing anything related to Yoga, it isn’t. It doesn’t even come under the limb of Asana as per Yoga. So, on the path to be a Yogi or Yogini, it’s of no help. Do not get misled by all these so-called Yogas gurus. To tread the path of Yoga, you must practice “Yoga”.

Secret No. 3: Rhythmic breathing transforms you inside out 

You have immense potential, but it is yet to be explored. You have not tapped even a minuscule amount of your inner resources. Rhythmic breathing is the key that can help you unleash your hidden powers and lead you toward health, creativity, everlasting youth and self-realization. Breath is the bridge that connects body with mind. If you can breathe properly, you can control your body and mind. Our breathing is very haphazard. Yoga says – you should breath in a measured way, in and out. Join some mantra like Soham or Om while you breathe in and out. It’ll make your breathing more harmonious. The more your practice, the calmer you become. You will become full of energy, you’ll become healthy with a still mind and a healthy body, you will be prepared for advance techniques of Yoga to be a Yogi. If you want to know more about it, you can check out my blog-post on rhythmic breathing.

Secret No. 4: Meditation is True Yoga 

Why to meditate, hmm? Do you want good health? Do you want a vibrant, yet peaceful mind? Do you want to be stress-free? Do you want to explore the realms of your consciousness, the unseen treasures that you possess, but you know not – meditation is the key.

As per Yoga, meditation is complete attention without any flickering. Meditation, if practiced properly, prolongs attention span and transforms the quality of perception. It sharpens your intellect and balances your emotions. There are several different methods of meditation, but their core is same. Be a witness to any object, inner or outer, in your consciousness. This object can be anything – a Mantra or Chakra or stream of thoughts. Just observe it by paying your full attention and do not force your mind at all. Just be aware of wandering mind. By and by, the quality of your consciousness will be transformed. By and by, more and more of your subconscious mind will come under conscious control. By and by, you will realize that you are beyond body and mind. By and by, you will get transformed into something, for which Vedas say – neti, neti – it cannot be described using language, beyond limitations. Meditation is yoga, yoga is meditation.

Secret No. 5: Do it, do it, do it – this is the biggest secret 

Last, but not the least – A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step – says Lao-tzu. Take that step and immerse in the ocean of Yoga to find peace, happiness, to find what can be found, to find you. It’s the first step, also the ultimate – Do it, do it, do it!!! – arise, awake and stop not, till the goal is reached. Om!!!

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I write profound articles on spirituality, and on ancient sciences such as Yoga, Vedanta, Mantra and Tantra covering how you can transform your life with this timeless wisdom. You may want to subscribe my blog:

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How to Be a Genius with the Help of Yoga?

How to activate dormant parts of brain by Yoga?

By Pratik Pandey

“When the mind is silent, beyond weakness or non awareness, then it can enter into a world which is far beyond the mind, the highest end”

~ Maitreya Upanishad

Human brain is the most complex mechanism in this world. Science is trying to delve deeper into it and find the hidden secrets, yet there is certainly a long way to go. We know very little about the nature of human brain and how it works. As you are reading it now, you might be wondering – What makes one a genius – this is something wrapped in the covers of mystery and most people are not aware about it. According to Yoga philosophy, all of us have the seed of being extraordinarily genius. We have most powerful mechanism of the world – human brain. But, we do not know how to activate it, how to ignite its dormant powers. Scientists estimate the processing power of an average brain to be about 100 million MIPS (Million computer Instructions Per Second). Which means the brain is like a 1,68,0000 MHz Pentium computer. And mind you, this is a very vague calculation.

Most of the human beings share quite similar structure and size of the brain. The most probing questions that arises here is – what makes one extra-ordinary and outshine others? Obviously, it is not biological factors as most of us have same sort of brain wirings. The biological models of the brain would have to include some 225,000,000,000,000,000 (225 million billion) interactions between cell types, neurotransmitters, neuromodulators, axonal branches and dendritic spines, and that doesn’t include the influences of dendritic geometry, or the approximately 1 trillion glial cells which may or may not be important for neural information processing. Because the brain is nonlinear, and because it is so much larger than all current computers, it seems likely that it functions in a completely different fashion and all the existing computers of the world combined together cannot match the capacity of a single human brain. Yoga gives us the key to activate this dormant capacity.

When the famous saint, Swami Vivekananda, was living in Chicago, USA, he used to go to the library, borrow large volumes of books, take them home and return them the next day. After some time the librarian became curious and asked him, "Why do you take out so many books when you can't possibly read them all in one day?" Swami Vivekananda replied that he read each and every page of every book. The librarian could not believe it, and so Swami Vivekananda asked her to test him. She opened a book, selected a page and paragraph, and asked him to tell her what was written there. Swami Vivekananda repeated the sentence exactly as it was written in the book, without looking at it. The librarian was astounded and did more tests. Each time Swami Vivekananda repeated the exact words written in the book.

Later the librarian discovered that Swami Vivekananda had a photographic memory. Whenever he wished, he could just recall - a book, a page, a sentence. That was the capacity of his brain and mind. Swami Vivekananda said many-a-times that it was not a unique ability he possessed and many Yogis could do the same with equal ease.

We do not perceive anything completely, i.e. usually we are not 100% present in the action. While listening to someone, while looking at something, while working or playing, several thoughts constantly tinker in the background. Yoga insists that this continuous flow of thoughts consumes most of our energy, captures vast amount of our active brain and works as a hindrance in activation of the dormant parts of our brain. “Effort or thought is a distraction from ‘what is’. The moment I accept ‘what is’ there is no struggle.” says J Krishnamurti, “When mind is quiet and sees ‘what is’ without any distortion, true understanding takes place instantly.” This is the key that a genius, a Yogi uses instinctively, while others miss altogether. A Yogi perceives the world as it is, without any layer of thought, and accesses the instant insight that invokes the spark of creativity.

There is a popular story that Newton was sitting under an apple tree one day. It was a pleasant day and he was in the mood to relax. An apple fell on his head, and he suddenly flash of the Universal Law of Gravitation. He discovered all the mathematical formulae to prove this assumption later. Let me tell you another intriguing, but true story about another great scientist. One day in 1895, a boy was gazing toward the sky and all of a sudden wondered what the universe would look like if he could travel on a beam of light. That sixteen year old boy was Albert Einstein and that one flash got him on the road to discover his Theory of Relativity.

Do you see a striking similarity between both of these incidents? All of us have witnessed such moments in our life. One of the most famous Hypnotists of all time Milton Erickson calls it a ‘creative moment’. Scientists say that we usually use only 10-12 percent of our brain at most. But during these creative moments, our entire brain becomes active and unconscious is no more dormant. Yoga is a scientific method to initially prolong these moments and make it a permanent state of your consciousness with the time. Yoga says - when you are free from any thought and just observing with a quiet mind, mind reaches to its full potential and gets the access to what Jung calls “collective unconscious”. Carl Jung says, “In addition to our immediate consciousness, which is of a thoroughly personal nature and which we believe to be the only empirical psyche (even if we tack on the personal unconscious as an appendix), there exists a second psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is identical in all individuals. This collective unconscious does not develop individually but is inherited. It consists of pre-existent forms, the archetypes, which can only become conscious secondarily and which give definite form to certain psychic contents.”

As our unconscious mind stores, categorizes and analyzes everything happened in our individual life, similarly the “collective unconscious” stores, categorizes and analyzes everything happened with humanity. So, when the surface of our brain has no activity of thought, we get access to collective unconscious that let us do wonders. The immense knowledge and wisdom of collective unconscious gives us great understanding, unbelievable creativity and insight into the secrets of universe. It makes great scientists, unparalleled painters, wonderful artists, and amazing musicians out of common men and women. This is the door to become a genius. But this door is locked, and to tap this unlimited potential and enter into it, one needs to unlock it using meditation.

Till the time we conceive ourselves as ‘doer’ and feel involved in activities, we cannot be an observer, and therefore we cannot get access to collective unconscious. An observation can only be objective when one is unattached. To do this is a practical problem and Yogis say the solution of this problem lies in meditation. Meditation is that key which can unlock the riches that are ours, but still out of our reach. Meditation helps us drop the efforts and see clearly ‘what is’.

Philosophy of Yoga says that everything is interdependent. As a small plant is dependent on the light of Sun, so is the situation of Sun. It is also somewhere dependent on that small plant. There is always a balance. If this balance is disturbed, things would start going awry. And this is the reason, Yogis say all of us are associated with each other. Meditation expands the consciousness and you may feel the same after a while.

As per Yoga, meditation is complete attention without any flickering. Meditation, if practiced properly, prolongs attention span and transforms the quality of perception. It sharpens your intellect and balances your emotions, which are very important traits for effective communication. There are several different methods of meditation, but their core is same. Be a witness to any object, inner or outer, in your consciousness. This object can be anything – a Mantra or Chakra or stream of thoughts. Just observe it by paying your full attention and do not force your mind at all. To know more about meditation and how it is performed, you may like to visit the “Meditation” section of my previous post – Improve Your Communication Skills with Yoga.

To understand meditation more clearly, we can imagine a seesaw. You must have seen children playing on it in the parks. To get things going, child on both sides depend on the other one. If even one of them is not there, the balance is broken and seesaw stops. Entire universe is like this only. Through meditation, when we understand clearly whatever we do is the outcome of the efforts of entire universe, and not our individual efforts, we cease to imagine ourselves as ‘doer’. Meditation shows us that we are a part of cosmic play that is going on every moment. And when we come to understand this simple truth that we are not doer, we become objective and we start observing things as they are, without any distortion, without any layer of thoughts and without any fancy of imagination. We clearly see ‘what is’ and awake the genius in us at that very moment.

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Improve Communication Skills with Yoga

By Pratik Pandey

Effective communication skills are necessary if you want a successful life, fulfilling relationships, spiritual progress and creative actions. Yoga is the science that improves your communication skills and gives you power of effective communication.

A glorious sunrise

It was a beautiful morning – unadulterated and mystical. While strolling along the pavement on a long road, I could witness orange color being sprinkled on canvas of dark eastern horizon. This vastness that was visible outside was also taking birth within, giving a sense of pervasive silence to entire consciousness. Some cars, passing by on the road, were breaking this silence momentarily. But silence had this tendency to restore itself quickly and spread even more. Breeze was cuddling with skin giving rejuvenation to entire being. Birds, drenched in their own melody, were singing beautifully all around. Surprisingly, their song was communicating presence of the silence even more strongly.

What Impedes Your Communication Skills?

Unlike the chirping of birds, chirping thoughts destroy this silence that is essence of true communication. Because, true communication takes place in complete silence – inner and outer. When there is constant chattering in mind, there is no possibility of true communication. Silence is the medium that connects two people. It is the medium that facilitates flow of profound emotions between two individuals. People keep chattering mentally all the time. And, most of it is complete garbage, nothing important or worthwhile most of the time – not even a single useful thought. There are some for whom this constant chattering is so loud that they have to verbalize it; they start talking to themselves.

I've heard somewhere that a young father was pushing the crying baby down the street in a pram with what appeared to be absolute calm and self-assurance. People on the street could hear what he was. saying as he passed. “Take it easy, David,” he said. “Don't let it get you down, David, you will soon be safe back home. Things will be all right, David, if you just keep calm.” One motherly type woman waiting for a bus, heard and saw the young father and said to him, “I think you are wonderful the way you are taking care of the baby.” Then she leaned over to the baby and said, “Now, don't cry, David, everything is going to be all right.” “Lady,” said the father, “You have got it all wrong. His name is Tommy - I am David.”

Most of us are like this young father, always engrossed in our own thoughts. We create a wall of thoughts around us and deprive ourselves of all the sunshine, all the richness that this world has to offer us. We live in our self-created cages and the other person lives in his or her cage of thoughts, and when we try to communicate this way, misunderstanding is inevitable. It is bound to take place, no matter what. Why are there so many problems in this world? Why are so much hatred, jealousy, despair and loneliness around? Miscommunication is the root cause of all these problems. With improper communication, we hurt others and we get hurt. And, still we do not know how to communicate, how to learn the art of communication. Yoga gives a solution for stopping this seemingly unceasing chattering of mind that causes miscommunication.

Yoga to Hone Your Communication Skills

Patanjali, in his aphorisms on Yoga, says – “योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः” (yogaś citta vṛtti nirodhaḥ). This is a very profound statement, a Sutra that you should learn by heart and you should ponder upon. What does it mean? It means Yoga is restraining the mind-stuff (Chitta) from taking various forms (Vrttis). To understand it more clearly, visualize mind as a lake. When you throw a stone into it, stone creates ripples. These ripples are uncontrolled thoughts that keep rushing in our mind and stone may be any object. Any object can start a train of thoughts that goes on and on. Suppose you looked at a glass that created a thought that you’d seen beautiful glasses in a certain restaurant, which, in turn, can ignite a thought about the quality of food there that might lead you to the thought of your spouse who cooked nicely last weekend. It is a nonstop process that most of us are trapped in, isn’t it?

Rhythmic Breathing for Effective Communication

Yoga can help us to break out from this process and reach a state where our mind is uncluttered, with no ripples of any kind. In such a state of mind, you will be able to understand clearly what is being said and what is being communicated by the other. There will be no inner chattering that can distort the real meaning of said words and expressed gestures. It will help you to be on the same wavelength with a person you’re communicating to. Without this uncontrolled train of thoughts, you will be able to express yourself more clearly and effectively. People will begin to perceive you as a charismatic communicator. Yogis have developed several techniques for this state of mind to come into being. One of the most important methods to achieve it is rhythmic breathing. In my last post, I had discussed about it:

“There is one cosmic rhythm that manifests itself in nature, in body, mind and all other things. When this rhythm is disturbed in nature, there are consequences like famines, earthquakes, epidemics. When it is disturbed in the body, there are various diseases. When it is disturbed in mind, there are depression, illusion, stress and all sorts of mental troubles… Rhythmic breathing calms your mind and relaxes your body. Keep practicing and soon you will feel joy and peace rising in your heart. There will be no negative thoughts and you will become more creative.”

To know more about rhythmic breathing and how to do it, you may like to read my last post – Rhythmic Breathing: A Key to Unlock Your Potential. 

After practicing it even for few days, you can notice calmness descending on you. As you progress in your practice, you will be able to see the quality of your communication improving by leaps and bounds. Your words will become more meaningful and have deeper impact on others. Your voice will begin to carry certain vibration, which will make it relaxing and melodious. 

Rhythmic breathing is essential for being a good communicator. If you study all the good communicators of the world, you will find one common thing – they had rhythmic quality in their voices, albeit very different sorts of rhythms. Practice it as much as possible, and you will reap immense benefits.

Meditation: Transform Yourself Into a Master Communicator

Meditation improves communication skills

According to a study conducted by researchers in 2012, average attention span of an individual is merely 8 seconds, i.e. we usually do not pay attention to anyone or anything for more than 8 second at a stretch. No wonder our world is full of agony and conflict created by miscommunication and misunderstanding. Yoga says this attention span can be improved immensely. If it can be done, all the problems in a relationship can be cured; you can eliminate misunderstanding from the very root and bring insight in all your communication.

As per Yoga, meditation is complete attention without any flickering. Meditation, if practiced properly, prolongs attention span and transforms the quality of perception. It sharpens your intellect and balances your emotions, which are very important traits for effective communication. There are several different methods of meditation, but their core is same. Be a witness to any object, inner or outer, in your consciousness. This object can be anything – a Mantra or Chakra or stream of thoughts. Just observe it by paying your full attention and do not force your mind at all. 

If your mind wavers a lot initially, be patient and observe it without forcing your will on it. After some time, it will start to become steady and you will be surprised to see that chattering in your mind is getting lesser and lesser. Your expressions are getting impactful, your words full of energy and your understanding in-depth. Meditation changes your entire consciousness and gives you extraordinary communication skills, which cannot be defined. Swami Vivekananda says:

“The Yogis claim that of all the energies that are in the human body the highest is what they call "Ojas". Now this Ojas is stored up in the brain, and the more Ojas is in a man's head, the more powerful he is, the more intellectual, the more spiritually strong. One man may speak beautiful language and beautiful thoughts, but they, do not impress people; another man speaks neither beautiful language nor beautiful thoughts, yet his words charm. Every movement of his is powerful. That is the power of Ojas.”

Meditation facilitates aforementioned process; by and by your entire personality becomes magnetic. The ancient Yoga practices of rhythmic breathing and meditation do not just change the periphery, but also transforms the core of your being. Yoga turns you into a powerful communicator helping you create an everlasting mark wherever you go. Om!

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Rhythmic Breathing: A Key to Unlock Your Potential

By Pratik Pandey

You have immense potential, but it is yet to be explored. You have not tapped even a minuscule amount of your inner resources. Rhythmic breathing is the key that can help you unleash your hidden powers and lead you toward health, creativity, everlasting youth and self-realization.

Dark clouds enveloping Sun

I got up a bit early in the morning today. Sun was still looking like a small orange ball, playing hide and seek with the clouds. The majestic clouds were dark and vast, enveloping most of the dawn sky. It was an unusual sight, especially in the month of May in a tropical country like India. Breeze was carrying freshness and was delivering touch of invigorating zest every now and then. Silence was wrapping entire vicinity in its immensity. A beautiful dawn like this makes song of silence even grander, intoxicating your entire being with inexplicable bliss. What was this bliss? Why was there sheer sense of joy that words cannot describe?

I pondered on it for a while and unknowingly drifted back into grandeur of nature. Nature has the power to direct one toward perennial bliss, which is always there within but you tend to forget that. Rhythm is the key that nature holds. If you observe nature closely, you will find everything is rhythmical. Look attentively toward a river and observe how it flows. There’s a rhythm in it. Listen to the sound it makes, there’s music in it; perhaps the most melodious music that you ever heard.

If there is anything grand in this life, anything worth living for, anything that touches your heart and leaves you anew, it has to contain the rhythm. If you are in love or you have ever been, you know what a precious feeling it is, don’t you? What is the secret of love? It is this rhythm that makes world go round and helps the flower of love to bloom. Scientists claim that two people in love are completely in sync with each other. They always make rhythmic movements and even speak in a sort of rhythm. In studies after studies, researchers found that a subtle dance took place when two people in love communicate with each other. Not only lovers, but whenever two people communicate deeply with affection, rhythm is created. Malcolm Gladwell, in his famous book “The Tipping Point”, says:

“Subsequent research has revealed that it isn't just gesture that is harmonized, but also conversational rhythm. When two people talk, their volume and pitch fall into balance. What linguists call speech rate — the number of speech sounds per second — equalizes. So does what is known as latency, the period of time that lapses between the moment one speaker Stops talking and the moment the other speaker begins. Two people may arrive at a conversation with very different conversational patterns. But almost instantly they reach a common ground. We all do it, all the time…

When Tom Gau and I sat across from each other in his office, then, we almost immediately fell into physical and conversational harmony. We were dancing. Even before he attempted to persuade me with his words, he had forged a bond with me with his movements and his speech. So what made my encounter with him different, so much more compelling than the conversational encounters I have every day? It isn't that Gau was deliberately trying to harmonize himself with me.”

Yogis say when whole of your being is in rhythm; you reach to a state of perfect health, you feel divine ecstasy in your heart and you connect to the cosmic consciousness. What are diseases, but breaking of rhythm of vital energy or Prana in some organs of your body. What is stress? What causes lack of happiness in life? The moment there is no harmony or rhythm in your psychological structure, happiness ceases and clouds of gloom surround you. When there is no harmony between two people, you face a lot of problem in your relationships. This lack of harmony mars your communication skills and creates friction with all sorts of relationships - with your beloved, with your boss, with your parents, with your neighbor. To understand and learn the techniques to improve your communication, you might also like to read - Improve Your Communication Skills with Yoga.

In our lives, we focus on material things and sensate pleasure, and strive to achieve these things. I wonder sometimes how childish we are. We are like the person who lives near Ganges, but digs a well to satisfy his thirst. We already have the perennial source of happiness, unbound creativity and power to get what we want in us. Unfortunately, we have lost the rhythm in our lives and it is the source of all our miseries, be it illness, stress, depression, dullness or many of the other problems that we face in our daily routine. There is this one cosmic rhythm that manifests itself in nature, in body, mind and all other things. When this rhythm is disturbed in nature, there are consequences like famines, earthquakes, epidemics. When it is disturbed in the body, there are various diseases. When it is disturbed in mind, there are depression, illusion, stress and all sorts of mental troubles.

Rhythmic Breathing: Secret Formula for Health, Fitness & Vigor

Rhythmic Breathing harmonizes body, mind & soul

How to restore this primordial rhythm? The wrong ways of living have destroyed inherent harmony and created strife. Happiness, joy, ecstasy, health, creativity, success, peace and zest are our birthright, and we must reclaim all of these. Yogis say that there is a simple method to get this rhythm back that holds the key to solve all our problems – our breathing, motion of our lungs. Arthur Avalon, in his book Shakti and Shakta, says, “Breathing is a manifestation of the Cosmic Rhythm to which the whole universe moves and according to which it appears and disappears.”

Have you ever paid attention to your breathing? Observe it deeply. Breathing takes place because of the motion of our lungs. There is a rhythm in natural breathing. But we have lost it and our breathing is irregular now. Interestingly, breathing is only phenomenon in our organism that is both conscious and unconscious, i.e. we can control the flow of our breath if we want to, or it takes place automatically. So, by making our breathing rhythmical, we can slowly bring in the harmony in our entire organism that makes us healthy and youthful. In Raja Yoga, Swami Vivekananda explains:

“The nerve centre that controls the respiratory organs has a sort of controlling effect on the other nerves, and rhythmical breathing is, therefore, necessary. The breathing that we generally use should not be called breathing at all. It is very irregular. Then there are some natural differences of breathing between men and women. The first lesson is just to breathe in a measured way, in and out. That will harmonize the system. When you have practiced this for some time, you will do well to join to it the repetition of some word as "Om," or any other sacred word. Let the word flow in and out with the breath, rhythmically, harmoniously, and you will find the whole body is becoming rhythmical. Then you will learn what rest is. Compared with it, sleep is not rest. Once this rest comes the most tired nerves will be calmed down, and you will find that you have never before really rested. 

The first effect of this practice is perceived in the change of expression of one's face; harsh lines disappear; with calm thought calmness comes over the face. Next comes beautiful voice. I never saw a Yogi with a croaking voice. These signs come after a few months' practice.”

How to Breath Rhythmically?

In order to breathe rhythmically, we should breathe using our diaphragm. Rhythmic breathing using diaphragm is sometimes called “diaphragmatic breathing” too. In this method, chest should not move much. Swami Rama describes process of rhythmic breathing using diaphragm as follows:

“We all are breathing but we are not breathing correctly, that’s why we suffer. Diaphragmatic breathing—how healthy it is. If you do not do diaphragmatic breathing, no Pranayama can be learned by you. The teachers cannot teach you properly. Many teachers do not understand the importance of deep diaphragmatic breathing and they teach many methods of Pranayama and these won’t help. Deep diaphragmatic breathing is primary, something basic, that will help you prepare for Pranayama, for higher methods of breathing exercises. Now watch the movement of your abdomen as you breathe. When you push in your abdomen it will help your diaphragm, the healthiest muscle in your body, to push in your lungs which will help you to exhale completely, expelling carbon dioxide. When the abdomen moves outward, it will expand the lungs and create more space for the oxygen. Deep diaphragmatic breathing is very good for your health.”

In order to make breath rhythmical, we should avoid following four bad habits:

• Noise in the breath
• Shallowness
• Jerkiness
• Pause between inhalation and exhalation

These four habits rip off our breath with rhythm. While inhaling and exhaling, there should be no sound. Presence of any sound shows that air is not moving naturally and there is some obstruction. On the other hand, shallowness causes lack of oxygen in our system. Therefore, we should avoid shallowness at all cost. Jerk in breathing process is the biggest enemy of natural rhythm. If there is jerk during inhalation or exhalation, rhythm is destroyed. If you observe your breathing, you will find that sometimes there is a pause – either before exhalation or before inhalation or anywhere else during breathing. This pause that takes place unconsciously is detrimental for restoring rhythm. Therefore, we should avoid aforementioned four poor habits for practicing proper rhythmic breathing.

Remember, breathing is a very delicate process. We must not use any force to regulate our breathing. Exertion of force can harm your inner organs irreparably. Here, patience is the key. First of all, start observing your breathing for some time twice a day. Sit comfortably keeping your head, neck and spine straight for 10 minutes and just be aware of your breathing – inhalation and exhalation, and the pause between the two. After few days, try breathing rhythmically for 5 minutes. Slowly, the duration can be prolonged. Keep practicing and soon you will feel joy and peace rising in your heart. I am just reminded of a joke:

The FBI was hiring for a high position and after basic training they had three people left, two men and a woman. They asked the first man to come to HQ and told him, “Your wife is in the next room, we need you to take this gun and shoot her”. He wouldn't do it so they sent him home. They asked the next man the same thing but he said he couldn't do it so they sent him home. Then the woman came and they gave her a gun and told her that her husband was in the next room and needed to be shot. She went in and there were clicking noises then crashing noises in the room. She came out and said, “The gun was loaded with blanks, so I had to kill him with the chair”. :)

Unceasing determination is a must for success. No matter what happens, keep practicing and you will get such rewards that you wouldn't have imagined in your dreams.

While I was walking on a long road in the morning, enjoying the richness and beauty of the nature, it occurred to me that path of Yoga was also quite long. Rhythmic breathing is the first and most important step on this road. It is going to unlock your immense potential and transform your entire being. Do not let the clouds of doubt and complacency loom over your head. This is where metamorphosis begins – welcome to the life of adventure, bliss and ecstasy. Let’s breathe rhythmically now. Om!

PS. Get new updates/articles on Yoga and Vedanta
I write profound articles on spirituality, and on ancient sciences such as Yoga, Vedanta, Mantra and Tantra covering how you can transform your life with this timeless wisdom. You may want to subscribe my blog:

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