Stay Positive

In today's world sometimes it is hard to stay positive when there are so many seemingly negative things going on around us such as the pollution of the world, poverty, wars and selfishness.  However negative emotions can invariably have an adverse effect on our bodies, the same as the food we eat effects our emotions, the emotions we feel effect our bodies.  Feelings of anger, frustration and jealousy can induce the body to produce more cholesterol, bile production becomes unbalanced and impares digestion and blood stagnates in the liver reducing its ability to detoxify the body.   Fear can cause disorders to the nervous system, the body becomes acidic and causes knots in the stomach, a feeling of loss of energy or life force and a loss of sexual energy can be felt.  Sadness and depression can cause breathing problems, constipation and decreased oxygen in the blood.  Worry, anxiety and mistrust can induce difficulty eliminating waste produced by digestion.  Hate, cruelty and impatience can cause heart palpitations, chest pain and high blood pressure.  So as you can see negative energy not only vibrates from within to the world around us, but also causes a whole host of physical problems within, not only is it unhealthy for the mind and the external world but also it is unhealthy for us internally.  We all have our ways of trying to stay positive in our daily lives but at some point those negative emotions do flair up and we have to find a way to bring them back down and turn the negative to positive.  For me personally the practice of yoga has brought so many positives to my life, firstly learning how to simply breath properly has helped immensely, remember when you are small and you have fallen and cut your knee and your tears are welling up, your mum tells you to breath deeply, well it works and is a simple technique you can easily apply in life.  Swami Vishnudevananda says, 'mental health is more important than physical health.  If the mind is healthy the body will be healthy.'  Through the practice of yoga we can find a very happy place, turning our minds inward to simply spend time with ourselves is very important, to reconnect with all of nature that surrounds us, to learn our lessons from the birds and animals, sometimes it is the mind that is our real enemy and we have to learn to conquer it.  Associating with the inner pure self can bring much peace and strength over the mind, the practice of yoga sharpens the intellect, thins out the ego and purifies the mind to which there is much pollution.  For me the practice of yoga is such a beautiful thing, I couldn't live life without it, life is yoga and through yoga I have been able to turn many a negative emotion to a positive one, making myself and those all around me more healthy.  As the great poet Rumi says, 'Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.'  So here is to everybody taking up the practice of yoga, learning to heal themselves and the world around them making the world a more joyful place, hoping to see you on the mat for a whole session of nothing but positivity!

Om Om Shanti Om 

love and light always