Spiritual yoga practices that will help you rise above the noise of everyday life and move toward self-mastery.

We live in a noisy world. The crescendo of technology challenges us to find the time and space to develop a spiritual practice.These tips will help  you to get started in your spiritual practice.

After many years of having a dedicated spiritual practice, I still find it challenging to tune-out the noise.  Daily I prepare and tweak how I can better, ‘turn-off’ the everyday commentary.

There are only two ingredients in personal alchemy, and they are thought and feeling. It is the combination of these two critical elements which defines absolutely our entire lives. What most people fail to realize, however, is that self-mastery is a natural consequence and also a pre-requisite for walking a successful spiritual path. Self-mastery gives us the ability to change at will the way we think and feel. 

The Master sees things as they are, without trying to control them. She lets them go their own way, and resides at the center of the circle. —Lao-tzu, Tao Te Ching 29,

Generally speaking, we have become addicted to stimulation of the senses, and our sense of self has become over identified with thinking and doing rather than stillness, allowing, and being. The magnificent instrument of our psyches, rather than being like a pure prism for the light of Spirit, has become a distorted projector all tangled with its own misconceptions and seemingly running all of the time. 

Here are 4 Spiritual Yoga Practices that will help you change your alchemy and become closer to your True Self or God.

  1. Bhakti Yoga- This is the cultivation of a devotional relationship with God through prayer, ritual and worship. Human emotions are turned Godward and in ward. The energy of Bhakti is used in search of God within. It is perfectly fine for a Christian to use Jesus as his or her divinity and seek for the kingdom of heaven within.  
  2. Jnana Yoga- This is the approach through discrimination and reason. The goal is liberation and freedom. Suffering in life is due to seeing separation and difference so the Jnana yogi tries to break through the delusion by only seeing God in everything and everyone.
  3. Karma Yoga– This is the path to God through selfless service to others.  The God within each person is worshiped.
  4. Raja Yoga- This is sometimes called the Yoga of meditation.  The focus here is keeping the mind fixed on God and truth through meditation and concentration.

“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” 

—Matthew 6:22 

Spiritual Yoga Reflection:

“If I do not get established in wisdom now, when shall another opportunity arise? For, indulgence in sense-pleasure poisons the mind in such a way that its effects last several lifetimes. Only the man of self-knowledge is free from this. Therefore, O sage, I pray to thee: instruct me in such a way that I may forever be free from anguish, fear, and distress. With the light of your instruction, destroy the darkness of ignorance in my heart.” ―Vasistha’s Yoga, by Swami Venkatesananda