Fitness Mantra: Positive thoughts help you focus and keep calm

The mind is like drunken monkey, it’s all over the place and stress is nothing but an over-active mind. Meditation is the method used to calm the mind and help it focus. Regular practice promotes not only mental equanimity, but physical and spiritual well-being as well. 

Before we can meditate, though, we need to centre the mind through concentration techniques and positive thinking. A mind full of negative thoughts and feelings is hard to calm down.  A good way to get into the positive mood is by consciously taking time off every morning and starting your day with a minimum of ten minutes of silence. 

If you don’t have ten minutes to spare, you should then sit for a minimum of 20-30 minutes. The busier you are, the more you need this practice. If you could practice pranayam like an ulom-vilom (alternate nostril breathing) before you sit for few minutes of silence. It instantly calms your mind. 

Once the mind is calm, you can tune the frequency of your mind to a more positive one. Another way of instantly switching your mind from looking at a glass half empty to half full, is by doing the practice of ‘The attitude of gratitude’. 

The minute you list ten things you are grateful for, starting with the very mundane of things; you will notice your mood automatically changes to a positive one. The calmer and more relaxed you are, the better control you have over your mind and your decision-making skills. You are more motivated to exercise and you are more likely to choose a healthy meal over an unhealthy one too. It will help you keep your weight in check. There are plenty of intangible benefits to a complete your yoga practice.

Slowly this practice can help you take up meditation or sometimes even drift into meditation. You can start by the simple technique of breathing awareness and move into focusing on the point between your eyebrows or what is called your ajna chakra, your eye of intuition if you are a more intellectual person or your anahata chakra if you are a more emotional person. People who meditate, look significantly younger than those who don’t. It knocks off years and keeps you and your skin looking younger and fresher.