Many people try for years to lose weight or to make other positive changes in their lives, but never succeed. There is plenty of information on the subject of weight loss in particular and self-improvement in general, but it is the implementation of the good advice that is the stumbling block to most people.I am convinced that the place to start when you want to lose weight is in your mind.

Weight loss is not rocket science, it is not calculus, in fact it is based on simple arithmetic.  If you can reduce your calories by either lowering the calorie consumption of your food, or increasing your exercise to burn up calories then you will lose weight. A bit of subtraction on the food side and a bit of addition on the exercise side will do the trick. Very simple to say, but it is not so simple to do and that is why I say we have to begin in the mind.

It is a question of determination and will power. If you are determined to lose weight and if you have the strength of mind to consistently substitute a donut with an apple, for example, you will start to lose weight, it is practically guaranteed.

In case you are ready to give up, saying “I just don’t have the willpower,” then you should consider that no one is born with iron willpower. You can develop the strength of your mind just as you can develop the strength of your muscles, through methodical exercise.  That is why I wrote a book on weight loss and it is based on yoga and meditation.

Yoga exercises do not burn up many calories but they influence your glands in such a way that your mind will become more balanced.  Meditation is an exercise that can help you to build up your power of concentration as well as achieve inner balance and peace.  Yoga exercises combined with meditation are a great way to build up your mind’s “muscle” and equip yourself to go out and put your best intentions into practice.

I recommend mantra meditation, and that is what I teach in my ebook and also in personal instruction. But there are other meditative methods that are also useful.  In teaching meditation to young children I have seen how effective visualization exercises are, and recently I spoke with some psychologists who have applied the power of visualization to help people control their weight.

Here is a visualization practice that could be helpful to you.

Envision an image of yourself at the exact weight you want to be, for instance “The 140 pound image of myself.” See yourself weighing 140 pounds. Try to get into how it would be to weigh 140 pounds (or whatever your target weight is); how it will affect you in various ways physically, emotionally, socially, mentally, etc. Keep that 140 pounds image of yourself in your mind whenever you plan to eat. Let this visualization practice gradually and gently influence what you eat, how much, when, etc. It may also happen that you practically include exercise into your routine. Just keep holding that image in front of yourself and see what it can do for you. In time you will weigh 140 pounds and things will stay that way in a natural way.

Try out the visualization or go for a more formal kind of meditation and yoga practice. In either case, the effort you make in the mental arena will eventually help you to make positive changes externally.

]]> http://www.dadaveda.com/yogablog/2008/08/03/want-to-lose-weight-it%e2%80%99s-all-in-your-mind/feed/ http://www.dadaveda.com/yogablog/2008/07/06/yoga-for-inner-and-outer-beauty/ http://www.dadaveda.com/yogablog/2008/07/06/yoga-for-inner-and-outer-beauty/#comments Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:48:43 +0000 dadaveda Yoga Health http://www.dadaveda.com/yogablog/2008/07/06/yoga-for-inner-and-outer-beauty/ by Dada Vedaprajinananda

Sometime back I read an anecdote concerning Bill and Hillary Clinton. It seems that one time, many years ago, Hillary dragged Bill to a yoga class. Bill remarked that he was the only man in the class. In many countries, that is the way it is, with women being the primary enthusiasts at yoga classes. One of the main reasons for this may be that yoga is seen as a way to lose weight and become more beautiful. Let’s take a look at this and see what role yoga has to play in making someone look beautiful.

No doubt yoga can help a person to become healthy, and fit. If someone practices the postures, does meditation, and follows the yogic prescriptions for eating, sleeping, hygiene and exercise it is almost certain that he or she will end up in great shape and look better.

In fact, our concept of beauty is in large part biological and part of the evolutionary process. Clear skin complexion, for example, is an indicator of good health and for our ancient ancestors it made good sense to choose partners who were healthy and could pass on their genes to future generations.

However the beauty of a person is not just based on physical factors alone. Just as internal physical factors, such as digestion and the proper functioning of physical organs, are reflected in the outer “look” of a person, there are internal psychic and spiritual factors that play a big role in how we feel and how others see us.

Although the physical practices of yoga, such as yoga postures (asanas) are the best known part of yoga, at the heart of yoga is a moral code which defines a way of life in which a person can live in harmony with herself and with society. This set of lifestyle instructions is know as Yama and Niyama.

Yama which means “that which controls” has five parts and the main function of these five practices is to help an individual achieve harmony with his or her external environment. One of the most important parts of Yama is a practice known as Satya.

Satya is loosely defined as “truth” but in fact there is no exact English equivalent for this term. In his book A Guide to Human Conduct, my guru Shrii Shrii Anandamurti defines satya as “action of mind and right use of words in the spirit of welfare.” That is, we should do whatever we can to promote the welfare of others, by keeping good thoughts in mind and by speaking in the spirit of helping others.

Someone who practices satya and always keeps positive thoughts in mind develops will power and straightforwardness. This practice is actually going on in the subconscious mind, and results in an internal effulgence or glaze known as Ojas. This inner effulgence is expressed outwardly as a vigor that definitely contributes to the attractiveness of a person. If you practice satya you will achieve a glow that cannot be duplicated or achieved with any kind of makeup!

When you are twenty years old you are helped out by Mother Nature, as the hormones of your body are helping you to blossom and enter your years of peak physical well-being. However, this help from Nature is not indefinite and also must be supported by a proper way of life.

If you practice the outer aspects of yoga (postures, diet, fasting, hygiene) then you will be able to make the most of what God has given to you in the way of a physical body. If you practice the inner aspect of yoga (meditation and balanced conduct) you will bring forth an inner effulgence and beauty that will remain with you long after you physical body begins to wind-down.

]]> http://www.dadaveda.com/yogablog/2008/07/06/yoga-for-inner-and-outer-beauty/feed/ http://www.dadaveda.com/yogablog/2008/06/26/like-dylan-dada-veda-gives-voice-to-enduring-issues/ http://www.dadaveda.com/yogablog/2008/06/26/like-dylan-dada-veda-gives-voice-to-enduring-issues/#comments Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:16:05 +0000 dadaveda Music http://www.dadaveda.com/yogablog/2008/06/26/like-dylan-dada-veda-gives-voice-to-enduring-issues/ Here is a review from All Access Magazine:

reviewed by Rob Swick

Recorded in Tirana, Albania, Brighter than the Sun…
Recorded in Tirana, Albania, Brighter than the Sun is a set of 13 acoustic songs that should leave the listener uplifted, refreshed, and hopeful for the future.

All tracks were written, sung and played by Dada Veda, an idealistic troubadour who was born in New York in 1946 and grew up through the formative years of rock-’n'-roll.

He hitchhiked to California during the fluorescent flower-power era of the Sixties, and ended up becoming a dedicated yogic monk in the Ananda Marga Society. Ananda Marga, which means “Path of Bliss,” is a fellowship devoted to peace, health, and harmony among humanity.

Currently residing in Albania, Dada Veda helps to manage kindergarten operations for underprivileged children there, and proceeds from his CD will help to support those educational efforts.

Each song on the album has a positive title and theme, including the title cut, which was inspired by meditation, encouraging people to go deep within themselves.

“Common Home” is an ecological song, while “For Everyone” is, just as implied, for all people, everywhere. “Crimson Dawn” and “In the Stillness of the Morning” speak of bright times to come, and “I Don’t Eat Meat” addresses the goodness of a vegetarian diet.

The songs are all based on folksy chords played by Dada Veda on the acoustic guitar, accompanied by Redi Dashi on bass and additional guitars, plus drums and percussion by Andi Haxhihyseni, and background vocals by Vasudeva.

Yes, there’s sometimes a childlike innocence to Dada Veda’s singing, and his pitch may not be always perfect, but — look at how enduring a singer such as Bob Dylan has proven to be, also without an opera-quality voice, while inspiring a boatload of imitators and tribute-payers along the way!

Like Dylan, Dada Veda gives voice to enduring issues such as social justice, reminding the listener, in “The Wise Ones Say,” that one should do good things immediately, but should delay doing anything that is bad.

The world can use more inspiration and direction such as that found on Brighter than the Sun. Info on kindergarten education in Albania is found at www.albaniansunrise.com; more on yoga and meditation is available at www.anandamarga.org; the singer’s own site is www.dadaveda.com

After seeing all that he did and compared my own work to his, I began thinking, next to him “I’m nobody” and I kept thinking “I’m nobody” and again “I’m nobody”. Finally I was reminded of an old story:

Once there was a Rabbi who wanted to impress everyone with his humility and spiritual attainment. So one day he threw himself on the floor next to the altar, in front of the congregation, and began to wail “Lord, I’m nobody”, “I’m nobody”. He kept on, and then the congregation’s Cantor was so impressed that he also threw himself on the floor and started to say “Lord, I’m nobody.” Out in the hallway there was a janitor who heard the commotion and he peeked in to see what was happening. He became so inspired that he too, entered and threw himself on the floor and began saying “Lord, I’m nobody.”

When the Rabbi saw the janitor on the floor he became irritated and said to the Cantor, “And look who thinks he’s nobody!”

(this another article in our Yama-Niyama series)

Many years back when I was just beginning the practice of yoga, someone came to me and asked how he could begin yoga. As I was not a teacher at that time, I recommended a popular book with yoga postures. My friend looked at me and in all seriousness said, “Where can I steal it.”

Well, you can’t begin your practice of yoga with an act of theft as good conduct is the base for all yoga practice. It is impossible to attain harmony with others and inner peace if you ignore the fundamental principles of morality. In yoga, as in many other traditions, non-stealing is an important element of proper living. Let’s take a look at Asteya (non-stealing) as seen by yoga.

Not to take possession of goods that belong to others is called Asteya in Sanskrit. We all know that if someone goes into a shop, takes something and leaves without paying, then it is stealing. But how about the case where someone goes into a shop and has the idea of stealing something but refrains from doing so when he sees a guard looking at him? My guru, Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, in his book A Guide to Human Conduct, says that not only should we refrain from actual theft, but that we should also from the mental form of stealing.

Taking or plotting to take something that belongs to someone else is one kind of theft, but there is another kind of indirect stealing which we should also not do. If you deprive someone of something that is due to them then that is also a theft. You did not take anything from them, but you didn’t give them something that they were supposed to get.

For example, if you ride on the bus without paying, you have deprived the transportation agency that runs the bus the fare that they were supposed to get. If you do not pay the proper amount of taxes then you have deprived the government of an amount that they were owed. Actions like this are also against the concept of Asteya, or non-stealing and should not be done.

Finally, if you mentally plan to deprive someone of what is due to them you are again violating Asteya even though you may not physically carry out your plan.

According to Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, the easiest way of practicing Asteya is through auto-suggestion. If you remember the items of the code of conduct, such as non-stealing, right from childhood then you will be able to remind yourself what is correct and what is not correct all through your life, even in the face of the temptation to get “get rich quick” with direct or indirect theft.

So, of course you can’t begin yoga by stealing a yoga book, and you can’t attain inner peace if you do actions that are harmful to society.

]]> http://www.dadaveda.com/yogablog/2008/05/22/non-stealing-asteya-a-key-component-of-yoga%e2%80%99s-code-of-morality/feed/ http://www.dadaveda.com/yogablog/2008/05/22/find-tranquility-with-50-simple-thirty-second-methods/ http://www.dadaveda.com/yogablog/2008/05/22/find-tranquility-with-50-simple-thirty-second-methods/#comments Thu, 22 May 2008 10:13:23 +0000 dadaveda Health http://www.dadaveda.com/yogablog/2008/05/22/find-tranquility-with-50-simple-thirty-second-methods/ It is easier than you think to find happiness and avoid stress in your daily life. That is the message of a blog post on one wellness site that was brought to my attention. I looked at it and sure enough, the methods are good, so here is the link in case you are wondering:

A lot of people think that yoga is just a system of stretching exercises. However, yoga is in fact an all-out system of improving the human condition, turning an ordinary human being into an extraordinary human being. The foundation of yoga is good conduct. That is, we should live our life in way that puts us in harmony with our society and with our own inner self.

One of the principles of good conduct is known in Sanskrit as “Sayta.” There is no English synonym for Satya, but the yoga master Shrii Shrii Anandamurti has defined it as “proper action of mind and the right use of words with the spirit of welfare.”

The essence of Satya is that we should use our thoughts and words to bring about the welfare of others. Oftentimes Satya is equated with “truth” or “truthfulness.” In most cases when you are truthful with someone, then you are sincere, honest and acting in a way that will promote welfare.

But this is not always the case. For example, suppose someone is being chased by a thug and that thug comes to you asking where his intended victim has fled. If you tell the truth then an innocent person will be injured. In this instance exact truthfulness does not promote welfare, and a proper response would be to tell something that is not a true fact. Saying that the intended victim went “south” when in fact he went “north” would be the proper response and would be in accordance with Satya.

It is for this reason that Satya is also translated as “benevolent truthfulness” in some cases.

Thinking, speaking and acting in the spirit of welfare is perhaps the most important of the set of principles that comprise the yogic moral code. If you are thinking about the welfare of others then it is impossible to commit theft or to harm another. Beyond this, there is even another reason why establishment in Satya bolsters a person’s moral strength.

Whenever our thoughts, actions and deeds are aligned our will power is strengthened. Our inner mental stamina becomes strong when we remove contradictions and inner conflicts which are naturally created when we tell something to someone but are thinking something else inside and when we do something entirely different.

This strengthened mental stamina is what gives the glow to a person who is fighting for a just and moral cause and is the reason why good ultimately triumphs over evil. A tyrant may appear strong on the outside, but inside he or she may be thinking “yes, I have cheated the people. I am wrong” Conversely, a simple person, fighting for just cause is thinking “I am fine, I am doing the right thing.” If there is any inner doubt or inner conflict then it can contribute to defeat on the battlefield (or in the field of life). Similarly, the strength that one gets from having constantly worked for the welfare of others leads to victory.

Thus, Sayta, thinking and acting in the spirit of welfare, is a cornerstone of morality and proper conduct and is one of the key ingredients to living an ideal life.

So, what is the information and guidance that can make the difference between ultimate success and failure?

According to the sage Veda Vyasa (the reputed author of many of India’s ancient epics and mythological texts) “doing good to other’s is virtue and doing harm to others is vice.” My guru, Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, has said, that of all the eighteen mythological texts of Vyasa, this one sentence on virtue and vice is the most important.

Another sage, Shankaracarya, carries this further and advises people to “do good actions day and night,” 24 hours. If anyone follows this advice then there is little chance that his or her life can go wrong.

However, it is not always easy to keep engaged in activities that will bring about the welfare of ourselves and others. This world is a battlefield between two tendencies: a force that pushes us and attracts us towards knowledge and union with the Ultimate Reality and a force which pulls us towards ignorance and separation from the Supreme Consciousness.

This battle is going on in the world and in our own minds. Sometimes you may have a thought to do something that is obviously good, something that will help you to develop or that will be helpful to others. And the next moment you may have a desire to do something that you know will end up in your degradation. This is natural, everyone experiences this. The trick is to always choose and carry out the actions that will bring about your welfare and the welfare of others.

In this respect I would like to leave you with one final piece of advice from the sages that can help you to always make the right choice. This one originates in the ancient Indian epic, The Ramayana.

The Ramayana is the story of a struggle between a king named Rama, who is taken by many to be an incarnation of God, and his adversary Ravana. Ravana was a king who kidnapped the wife of Rama which set off a long war. In the end Rama defeats Ravana in battle. “Good” in the form of Rama overcomes “evil” who is personified by Ravana. However there is an interesting twist at the end of the story. Rama goes to the dying Ravana and says to him “You are a senior person, can you give some advice that will be useful to us and to future generations.”

Ravana replied by telling about his own life. He said that as a youth he had some good ideas about how he could help people reach Heaven. But he postponed doing anything about them. On the other hand, later in his life he got the idea to kidnap Rama’s wife, and this he did immediately, and it led him to defeat and death. So, he said, my advice is “good actions should be done immediately and bad actions should be postponed.”

There it is; the ultimate piece of advice. Don’t delay in doing good actions (who knows you may not get a chance in the future) and if you get an idea that you want to do something bad, just say in your mind “OK, but I will do it some other time.” If you keep postponing it, you will probably not do it.

I wrote a song about it and the chorus goes like this:

If you’ve got something good, do it today.
Gonna do something bad, make a delay.
This is what the wise ones say.

Dada Vedaprajinananda is a senior teacher with the Ananda Marga Meditation Society, http://www.anandamarga.org . He is the author of books, numerous magazine articles and is a singer-songwriter as well. You can read his articles and hear his songs at www.dadaveda.com (This article may be reprinted as long as this paragraph and website links are left intact)

Many years ago our Guru, Shrii Shrii Anandamurti answered the first part of the question directly He said that “In meditation there must always be the feeling that you want to serve Him. If this is the feeling, immediately the mind gets concentrated. If in meditation there is the culmination of service, everything will be achieved. Even through the preliminary lessons of meditation a spiritual aspirant can get salvation, but even one practicing higher meditation cannot attain it if there is no feeling of service.”

So, if your approach is correct you can get liberation with the simplest form of meditation. However, whenever possible it is also good to learn more advanced lessons of meditation because they will help you in your practice.

If you are not near a center, you can still request a visit from one of our traveling teachers. And if that doesn’t bring immediate results there is one more thing you can do. Make yourself “ready.” Practice whatever you can in the most sincere manner possible and cultivate your yearning for liberation. Again the words of the Guru are instructive. He said “when the vehement desire for liberation arises in a person, that person attains the Sadguru on the strength of that desire.”

This is similar to famous phrase “when the student is ready, the teacher appears.” So make yourself ready, prepare yourself, and before you know it you will be face to face with a spiritual teacher. You don’t have to travel anywhere!

I have already written extensively on the matter and you can go and read about it, but now I want to present it from the another angle. There is an old saying “Man proposes and God disposes.” So often our best laid plans do not come to fruition, despite hard work and good intentions.

In the field of devotional yoga (bhakti yoga) there is an important concept that deals with this. It is called Prapatti, and it means that whatever happens, happens according to the will of God. Not even a blade of grass can move without having the backing of the Cosmic will.

Understanding this, then the best way to be successful is to align your will with the cosmic will. Instead of swimming against a river learn how to find the cosmic flow and go with it. And that is what spiritual practice (yoga, meditation) is all about, getting in tune with that Cosmic flow.