Today morning, one of my breathwork group participants sent me an interesting question:
Q. Sir, how can I learn breathing to (be) better and mentally strong(er)?
Here are my thoughts…
First you need to explore and understand what the mind is. This in itself can be a huge undertaking but for our immediate purposes, we can start by assuming that the mind, in a sense, is a powerful software program that directs and runs our lives.
Since the mind is a powerful software program that runs and directs our lives, naturally, it affects the quality of our lives and what we experience in life.
If the mind is like a friend to us, it can help make our lives better, meaningful, rewarding and richer. If it acts like an enemy then it can ruin our lives in innumerable ways, making it a miserable and even depressing experience.
Unfortunately, for most it acts like an enemy because one has not been sensible and careful what they have written or allowed to be written in the program of their mind.
Most of the software of the mind comprises second-hand ideas and choices which we allowed to become part of the mind because we had little to no understanding of our own selves, our own truth. So, we like or dislike something for whatever reason and the mind records it for subsequent use.
The other things in the program include innumerable impressions from childhood onwards. All major life’s experiences leave an imprint on our minds. Most of them comprise strong emotions and feelings. When our experiences leave an imprint they combine and set in motion Karma. But that’s a whole topic in itself and we’ll not go deeper into that here.
The main point is that the mind is like a software program where emotions, desires, memory of past experiences together bring a certain energy to which the mind responds in special ways.
The other constituent of mind is thoughts and these thoughts are generated from one’s consciousness….depending on one’s levels of consciousness. Human consciousness may be thought of as files or drives on a computer. Depending on the files or drives that one normally accesses, their thoughts are affected or triggered by them.
In this way, think of the mind as a combination of consciousness and energy or Shiva and Shakti. Both our consciousness and our special energy affect it.
In many ways, most of Sanatana or Hindu dharma is a collection of systems that helps all learn ways to deal with their mind.
When human beings learn ways and techniques to gain control of their mind they can, not only achieve moksha or nirvana, they fulfill themselves in all ways and even come close to their highest potential.
Making an enemy strong is not wise. However, making a friend stronger is definitely a better choice.
So, wisdom lies in first turning an enemy mind into an ally or friend. To do so, having explored and understood the nature of mind, one needs to reduce the role of the ego or lower self which is what turns one’s mind into an enemy. As the influence of ego on the mind reduces, the mind will slowly gravitate towards the higher self where it begins to turn into an ally.
The ego is usually most active in lower chakras or lower levels of consciousness which is where old tendencies, habits, karmic bonds, desires etc are found in greatest abundance.
In higher chakras, these begin to automatically reduce but not fully. So, constant awareness and conscious choices always play an important role if one wants to gain control over their mind and turn it into a friend.
Once the mind becomes a friend, even gentle suggestions from the higher self will add to its muscle, will power. The stronger one makes their will power, the stronger the mind will become…
The important thing to remember is to ensure that you don’t end up strengthening an enemy mind…
– rajyogi (rajesh kanoi)
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