Mind

All of our emotions and perceptions originate in our Minds, our brains. The events we experienced yesterday, last year and ten years ago no longer exist except within the confines of our brains in the form of memories.

Memories are real. They're stored in the molecular and neural structures in our brains. And memories can be recalled in a manner similar to the way a computer recalls a file to get a job done.

We need our memories to increase our knowledge and improve our skills. The only way we learn is through the capacity of our brains to store memories about what we pay attention to - what we see, hear, feel, taste and smell.

But memories can also keep us from clearly perceiving the world around us. Strong, negative memories have the capacity to distort our perception of reality and prevent us from living in the moment.

You may have heard a lot of people talk about the value of living in the moment. You hear it so often it becomes like a New Age cliché. But living in the moment is nothing more than the ability to see, hear, feel, taste and smell without all of the distortions caused by negative memories and emotions.

A lot of people say "perception is reality" because we do, in fact, live according to our perceptions. But our perceptions occur only within the confines of our brains. The best way to think about the difference between perception and reality is that perception occurs only within the realm of our brains, while reality occurs everywhere else.

When there's a severe disconnect between perception and reality, life can become a burden, even depressing. If you feel that life is getting you down, you have to try to reconnect your perception - your senses - to reality.

What's happening to you right now is reality. What happened to you in the past is nothing more than memories - chemical, molecular and neural activities in your brain that are competing with your senses to command your attention.

Can you imagine what your life would be like if you could erase all of your negative memories and emotions like a computer erases its memory? Yoga won't erase your memories, but it can retrain your Mind to focus on the present.

Have you ever really been in the present moment? Most of us have minds that run a mile a minute - worrying about if you left the oven on, if the kids are safe, why your boss yelled at you, and the list could go on and on. These constant thoughts all have one thing in common: they take you away from the present moment.

Eckhart Tolle beautifully teaches the art of living in the present moment in "The Power of Now." Once you shine a spot light, or consciousness, on the overactive negative mind, a sort of "vampire in the light" effect occurs; the negativity and chaos sizzle away, leaving only peace and happiness. Yoga will help you shine this spot light on yourself and reclaim the now, clearing the mind, thus bring your true inner self outwards. We are in complete control of our lives; yoga puts us back behind the steering wheel.

And just like cardiovascular conditioning and resistance training can strengthen your Body, yoga can condition and strengthen your Mind. Yoga can not only train your Mind to focus on the present moment, it can also alter the way your brain processes your perceptions so that you can perceive the world and your life with much less of the distortions brought about by negative memories and emotions.