Concentration:

The Key to Success in Life's Endeavours

What is yoga? Yoga is a personal spiritual development program. Literally yoga means to unite, or to become one. In yoga's context, this union refers to the yogi achieving oneness or uniting his or her consciousness with God. This in fact is the goal of yogic practice, which is God Realization and spiritual enlightenment.

According to yoga philosophy, the soul reincarnates on earth many times to evolve spiritually. The ultimate goal of the soul on Earth is to complete its spiritual evolution and gain liberation from the process of reincarnation. This liberation from rebirth is known as moksha. After moksha the soul lives in the Heavens until it unites in undifferentiated Oneness with God in the state of vishvagrasa.

Yoga practices are the practical application of yoga philosophy which lead to the attainment of God Realization (samadhi) and liberation from the cycle of reincarnation (moksha). In the pursuit of these goals developing concentration is cardinal.

While meditation and hatha yoga exercises are central to the practice of yoga, yogic practices also contain worship, virtous living, performance of penance and scriptural study. Yoga is in fact the science and art of God Realization. Most of the Eastern religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Taoism and many other mystically inclined cultures are directly based on or have close correlation to yoga philosophy.

The entirety of the practices in yoga are contained in the system codified by Sage Patanjali in the Patanjali Yoga Sutras more than 2,000 years ago that he called Ashtanga Yoga. Ashtanga means eight limbs or eight parts. The eight parts of Ashtanga Yoga are 1. Yama; 2. Niyama; 3. Asana; 4.Pranayama; 5.Pratyahara; 6. Dharana; 7. Dhyana; and 8. Samadhi.

By the end of this series of six seminar all the eight limbs of ashtanga yoga will be revealed. For this seminar, we are going to focus on 3 parts of ashtanga yoga that are most pertinent to developing concentration. They are asana, pranayama and pratyahara.

Asana are yoga exercises contained in hatha yoga. Hatha Yoga is an exercise system that harmonizes the physical body with its spiritual energies. When done properly hatha yoga is able to remove stress, lethargy and depression from the mind. It is also a form of physical exercise for the body to keep it fit and healthy. When done in sync with breathing techniques and colour visualization related to a particular asana, hatha yoga can bring about amazing mystical and health benefits for both the body and mind, including enhancement of concentration.

Pranayama are breathing techniques that can enhance concentration and effect physical health positively. Pranayama can focus the mind into deep states of concentration. There are hundreds of pranayama techniques that create all sorts of effects from increasing the bodies heat output to stimulating the kundalini force. In, and of itself, pranayama is a very potent practice.

Pratyahara are techniques that concentrate the subconscious minds into a singular focus. There are many varied techniques in pratyahara to achieve concentration of the subconscious (which is a much more powerful state of concentration compared to the concentration of the conscious mind). These techniques include japa yoga, colour meditation and affirmations. Pratyahara techniques aim to temporarily clear the mind from cumbersome or negative tendencies that obstruct the ability to concentrate the subconscious.

In this seminar, we will learn six hatha yoga poses:

Pavanasana, siddhasana, janu sirshasana, paschimotanasana, sarvangasana and sarvaasana;

2 pranayama techniques:

Yogasana pranayama and nadi suddhi;

1 pratyahara technique:

Affirmations.

Before we learn these techniques we need to understand the yogic perspective of concentration and how concentration effects life.

Yoga is a holistic science. Thus the yogic perspective of the mind is divided into the physical and spiritual components. The physical component of the mind consists of the conscious mind and part of the subconscious mind; while the spiritual component consists of a deeper area of the subconscious mind and the superconscious mind.

The conscious mind constitutes the entire physical body, not just the brain. The brain and the rest of our body are the receptors of the conscious mind for sensing our physical surroundings. The conscious mind is governed by the five senses of sight, touch, smell, hearing and taste. According to Patanjali's teachings the conscious mind is the smallest part of our mind. My guru often said that the conscious mind is only 10 percent of the entire mind.

The subconscious mind is the storehouse of our memories and personality. All impulses that pass through the conscious mind gets stored in the subconscious mind as memory. The subconscious also stores our response or reactions to incidents in our life and conclusions we develop from our experiences. This is the functioning of the external part of the subconscious mind. There is a deeper, more spiritual part to the subconscious. This is the place where our tendencies are stored. These are the tendencies that form our personality. If we could liken our mind to a computer, then the system and programs that run this computer is what is within this deeper part of the subconscious mind. (The keyboard, mouse, monitor and CPU are the conscious mind). My guru coined the term 'sub of the subconscious' to name this part of the subconscious. The sub of the subconscious develops as a consequence of life experiences. It is a more subtle part of our subconcious mind and is more difficult to access and tinker with compared to the conscious mind and the external part of our subconscious mind that holds raw memory. The yogic preparations in this seminar is intended to prepare us to access this deeper part of our subconscious so we can work on the program of our personality. I call this process subconscious concentration. In its entirety the subconscious mind is much bigger than the conscious mind, constituting about 40% of our mind.

The deepest part of our mind, where lies our ultimate unity with The Divine is the superconscious mind. It is thus the most spiritual part of our mind. The superconscious mind has many names such as the mind of the soul, the mind of light, cosmic consciousness, etc. In the analogy of the computer, the superconscious mind consists of the electricity that runs the computer, the architecture of the microchip and the language that the system and applications are written in. Within the superconscious mind is the ultimate form of intelligence that is wisdom. The superconscious mind is our link to God's presence within us. It is here that the goals of God Realization and enlightenment are uncovered. This is the biggest part of our mind according to yoga philosophy; in its scale consists of 50% of the entire mind.

A dictionary definition of concentration is "the action or power of focusing one's attention or mental effort." In other words concentration is something we do to keep our awareness on one subject or pursuit. According to yoga philosophy if we keep our mind focused on one subject, keeping at bay distractions and not giving up, we will naturally and eventually meet our goals. Thus yoga deems concentration as the foundation for success. Meeting our goals is the easiest way to identify success. Generally society recognizes that the more personal, social, academic and professional goals that one achieves the more successful one is. Therefore the greater ones ability at concentration is, the higher the rate of success.

On the surface concentration seems elementary. Everybody is expected to posses it and learning concentration is expected to be natural. Thus there is no subject in school called concentration nor do parents teach concentration to their children. However we do recognize that people have varying degrees of concentration capabilities and in why this is so is generally understood as a mystery.

One of the biggest value of yoga, since yoga practice is primarily dedicated to enhancing to powers of concentration of the yogi, is that yoga recognizes that concentration can be developed and improved. Yoga also recognizes the potency of the power of concentration from a more spiritual level, for according to yoga philosophy concentration enables one to unlock latent spiritual powers within the mind (these powers originate from the superconscious mind) which enhances our thinking with inspiration, ingenuity, creativity and confidence.

We have all developed concentration to some extent. We begin as early as learning how to walk when we were toddlers. It takes a lot of concentration to focus the coordination of our muscles to begin to walk though much of this concentration occurs at an unconscious level. It is when we begin to talk and study language, when we begin to organize our thoughts that we start to develop conscious concentration of our mind. Conscious concentration of our mind is using our intention to focus our mind to achieve or learn something. Thus communication skills can indicate ones concentration abilities. In general people with good communication skills have good concentration skills. Thus one of the keys to developing conscious concentration is the study and proficiency in the use of language. This, of course, applies to any language.

Another way one can develop conscious concentration is to keep the mind on one subject for a set duration of time without allowing any distraction to break the continuity of the concentration. A simple practice to develop conscious concentration goes as follows.

Take a small object that can be made a subject for concentration. For instance you can use a flower. Use a small object that that naturally draws your interest. Sit in a quiet place and put the object in front of you and gaze at it. Set at time limit for yourself. A good start is between 2 and 10 minutes initially. Set an alarm so you don't need to be distracted by keeping the time. For the duration of the time limit, stay focused on the object of concentration. You may close your eyes and occasionally open just to gaze at the subject. During this time the mind is only permitted four activities, they are:

Avoid being distracted from the subject of concentration for the duration of the concentration exercise. If you get distracted, then stop the exercise and take note of the time immediately. Lets say that on your first attempt you were distracted after 3 minutes. Then the next attempt you should set your goal to 4 minutes. (You may change your subject of concentration after even one session but do not change your subject while a session of the exercise is in progress.) It is good to do this practice at least once a day, twice is optimum. Move your time period up by a minute every time you are successful in maintaining your conscious concentration. Your ultimate goal should be 15 minutes of unbroken concentration. When you reach this ultimate goal or even longer, you should observe enhanced ability of conscious concentration.

A few rules to observe when doing this practice are as follows.

• Do not attempt this practice if you are sleepy or if you feel exhausted.

• Do not attempt right after eating a heavy meal or after having drinks that contain alcohol. Allow at least an hour after a heavy meal, one half hour after a light meal, at least three hours after having alcohol.

• Avoid this practice if you have a headache or fever. Forcibly focusing the mind for conscious concentration can in some cases aggravate headaches or migraines. It is alright to do this practice after taking pain or fever relief medicine.

• If you are emotionally disturbed, settle the matter first before doing this concentration exercise.

• Do not allow your mind to go blank during this exercise. The mind must be constantly engaged in creating thoughts, visualizing or even feeling the subject of concentration.

While conscious concentration is a good ability to master, it has little effect on ones ability to concentrate the subconscious. However when the subconscious mind is concentrated, conscious concentration is an automatic and effortless byproduct. It is not necessary to master conscious concentration to be able to concentrate the subconscious.

This interesting dynamics of how the different levels of concentration works is caused by the functioning of the two different areas of the mind. The conscious mind does not effect the subconscious. All the conscious mind does is to pass along impressions from experiences into the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind however effects the conscious mind as it directs how we react to situations in life. Thus when the subconscious is concentrated the conscious mind follows.

The steps to concentrate the subconscious is more complicated than conscious concentration because we have to access a specific area within the subconscious, that is the sub of the subconscious, before we can begin concentrating the subconscious.

Subconscious Concentration is a deeper level of concentration compared to conscious concentration. As the word subconscious suggests, it is the foundation of the conscious mind. The subconscious mind governs our memory, intellectual abilities and personality. As in the analogy given earlier, where we liken the mind to a computer, the subconscious mind holds the system that runs this computer and organizes memory in its hard drive. Thus our subconscious mind inteprets what we see, feel, touch, smell, hear and determines how we react to these stimulus.

The conscious mind is a go-between to the physical world for the subconscious, while the subconscious has the potential to be a intermediary to the physical world for our soul. The reason I use the word 'has the potential' is because, in order for the subconscious to be this intermediary, it has to be programmed in such a way. This programming of the subconscious is what subconscious concentration is about. Subconscious concentration involves more than just keeping your awareness focused on one object, which is the case with conscious concentration. Before we get into the process of subconscious concentration it is important to understand how this level of concentration can effect us.

The subconscious mind is a powerful area of the mind that not only determines how we react to situations around us but it can also 'create' situations in our life. Here are some examples to explain this statement:

• Some people are magnets for success. Just about any endeavour they get into is successful. This doesn't necessarily mean that success comes easy to them, they do work for it. When we meet such people they are always beaming with confidence and no matter how difficult the challenge, success seems effortless. This is explained as a function of their subconscious mind. One might say that their subconscious has the program for success.

• Some people seem more lucky than others. They always seem to be winning lucky draws, prizes and simply have the knack of being in the right place at the right time. Again, a subconscious trait causes this.

• While the above two are positive potentials that arise from the subconscious, there is also a dark side to the subconscious. Phobias are one of them. Some people are mysteriously afraid of certain situations. They may or may not know the reason for it, but their reactions to the situation is so extreme that it is seems unreasonable to someone who does not have the phobia. These extreme reactions because of phobias are negative functions of the subconscious.

• Just as a person can be a magnet for success because of the subconscious, the opposite subconscious trait can cause a person to be a magnet for failure.

These are some examples of the workings of the subconscious. According to yoga philosophy, the subconscious mind holds the seeds of sprouting karma. This means that some of the traits that we carry in the subconscious are inherited from karmas of our past life. Therefore they appear naturally to us as a result of the manifestation of the karma in this life.

Thus the subconscious is a very powerful area of the mind. You may be thinking, "I already have some negative and positive traits in my subconscious. Does it mean that I have to live with the negative ones for the rest of my life?" I can tell you confidently from my personal experience that the answer to this question is a definite NO. The subconscious mind is a part of you, it is not something out of your reach. Thus you have the power of mastery over the subconscious. We can change the contents of our subconscious at will, keeping the traits we want and throwing away the traits that we don't want. The question is, how?

The area of the subconscious mind where our latent traits lie is not as easy to access and develop compared to the conscious mind. This is where the techniques of subconscious concentration comes in. The goal of subconscious concentration is to positively reprogram the subconscious–that is to insert a new positive program within the sub of the subconscious mind so that it will automatically effect changes within ourselves and also in the situations around us.

Hatha yoga are yoga exercises. For the purpose of subconscious concentration we will learn six hatha yoga asanas (poses). They are pavanasana, siddhasana, janu sirshasana, paschimotanasana, sarvangasana, and sarvasana. Hatha yoga is an essential element of this subconscious concentration technique because it calms the conscious mind and clears it effectively of emtional disturbances. With clarity in the conscious mind one can access the sub of the subconscious.

When doing these hatha yoga poses try to breathe diaphragmatically. Diaphragmatic breathing or yogasana pranayama is the most basic yogic breathing technique. Try your best to breathe diaphragmatically. If it is difficult to do initially, you can fall back to your normal breathing. Eventually you will get the hang of it. For Step One of Subconscious Concentration, the breath should be inhaled and exhaled deeply and slowly at an even and relaxed pace.

Below are the description of  the hatha yoga poses to do in sequence to prepare ones body and mind for subconscious concentration.

1.3.2 Step Two: Pranayama

After doing hatha yoga, the mind should be naturally calm and collected. It should be easy to focus the conscious mind. This is the optimum time to begin concentrating the subconscious. The best way to access the sub of the subconscious, which lies beyond the subconscious area that stores memories, is through pranayama. For our purpose of programming the sub of the subconscious the best pranayama is nadi suddhi.

Nadi suddhi is a common pranayama technique used in yoga practices because of its broad scope of application. Nadi pronounced naadi, in Indic languages means nerve channels. It refers to both the spiritual and physical nerve channels of our body that carry electromagnetic and spiritual currents. Suddhi, is the verb for the word suddha which means pure. So nadi suddhi means nerve channel purifier.

The effect of nadi suddhi is to focus the mind to a soft point (as opposed to a sharp or intense point), energize the mind with prana shakti (life-force) and harmonize the mind and body to a calm equilibrium.

In english nadi suddhi pranayama is generally known as alternate breathing. What alternates is the inhalation and exhalation of the breath that switches from right to left nostril and vice-versa.

For subconscious concentration purposes it is optimum do nine cycles of nadi suddhi. You will be able to feel the effects of nadi suddhi after the practice. You will feel very calm, collected and concentrated. If you are sensitive to it, you will feel the sushumna nadi, which is located within your spine's core, get stimulated and energy in the form of prana (life-force) rush into the brain.

Pranayama is important for subconscious concentration because it is the key for accessing the sub of the subconscious mind where lies our personality traits. When the conscious mind and the surface level of the subconscious (memories) are quiet–meaning not filled with distracting thoughts and emotions–our awareness will naturally be in the sub of the subconscious mind.

Now that you are in the sub of the subconscious mind with a cache of prana energy generated from the pranayama, your next step is to use this energy to 'burn' an impression in the sub of the subconscious of what you want to manifest in your life. This takes us to Step Three.

Additional note on nadi suddhi: If either or both of your nostrils are blocked you will not be able to do nadi suddhi. In this situation take some remedial measures such as sinus clearing medicines so the sinuses are clear before doing nadi suddhi. Do not do nadi suddhi with blocked nostrils by forcing the breath in or out. It will not bring about the desired effect from this practice. The breathing pattern for nadi suddhi should always be deep, relaxed, unimpeded and comfortable. If you are not able to clear the nostrils when required, then it is best to continue the practice of subconscious concentration at a time when your nostrils are clear. If your sinuses are perpetually a problem and you have no other options, skip the pranayama and go to Step Three, though this should be the very last resort.

• The most obvious difference will be that mantras are general, whereas affirmations are very specific. For instance, when we chant the gayatri mantra for learning, the impression that goes in the mind is to become generally learned and wise. Whereas with affirmations, we can concentrate the subconscious on specific goals. For instance if a law student wants to obtain her degree with distinction, she will then create an affirmation with this goal incorporated into it. An example of such an affirmations: "I can and I will obtain my law degree with first class honors this year." Affirmations can also be time specific, such as in this case where the goal is to be reached within a year. Basically mantras are used for long term and general goals, whereas affirmations fulfill our short term and specific goals.

• Another difference is language. Subconscious concentration and 'programming' works best when we understand what we are saying. In fact, in affirmations, the choice of words used is very important. Affirmations have to be in the language we are most familiar with. This is the language we think in. Secondly the choice of words have to be words that evoke emotions in us. Because of this, if two people are creating affirmations for the exact same purpose, they will most likely create different affirmations. The affirmations created by one person will probably not have any or much effect for the next person, simply because the choice of words do not stimulate the same feelings as it does with the author. Sanskrit mantras on the other hand are largely not understood by most users. The reason they are still effective is because the language has incorporated into it mystical syllables that can stimulate the necessary emotions in most people. This mystical capability in sanskrit is what makes the language so enduring despite not being used in conversation for centuries. It is also not customary to modify traditional sanskrit mantras to fit one’s personal needs, thus it is not as flexible as affirmations can be.

Once you have created your affirmation, which is the crux of the practice of subconscious concentration, the next step is to use it. You need to know how many times to repeat the affirmation, what you should do while saying the affirmation, how many sessions a day to do and for how many days.

So remember when reciting an affirmation: Say It, See It and Feel It.

My guru advises, and I can say from personal experience, that an affirmation should be done everyday for nine days to create a strong impression in the sub of the subconscious mind. This means, even if you are looking to achieve your goal within six months of starting the affirmation, you don't need to do the affirmation everyday for six months. Nine days is sufficient. After that you can work on a different affirmation. Occasionally if you feel like you need to do the affirmation again, a three day booster can be done. You just have to feel it out after the nine days. Your own inner wisdom will be your guide on this.

It is not recommended to work on more than one affirmation at a time. It will in fact be counter productive as the impressions in the sub of the subconscious can get mixed up and end up with a confused or aimless end result. This is a firm rule. Work on one for nine days and then move on to the next one. Prioritize your needs and work it into your schedule appropriately.

One of the challenges a beginner might face about subconscious concentration techniques such as affirmations is the seeming simplicity of the process compared to what they want to accomplish. For instance the beginner might doubt, how can repeating a statement over and over again effect change in my life and even move forces of the world. To answer this doubt one must explore how affirmations really work.

To answer this doubt we must quell some misconceptions we may have about the ability of our mind. The first misconception is that our mind is only a thinking machine that can only passively process thought. The second misconception is that thoughts are imaginations of our mind, which in and of themself are inanimate and physically nonexistent. These are misconceptions from the yogic point of view because according to yoga philosophy all elements of Creation, both physical and spiritual are real. My guru taught me that the whole universe is contained within oneself. He explained that perception is the 'real' reality. Without perception we cannot experience the world outside or inside us and it is the power of perception that shapes reality. The byproduct of perception are thoughts. It is through thoughts that we devise plans and learn to manipulate the world around us. If not for thoughts as the vehicle for intelligence there can be no invention or innovations by humans. It is through the power of perception which transforms to thoughts that we have all the modern conveniences we are used to which allow us to live life on earth as super-intelligent beings instead of simple animals. Thus thoughts are real and have the power to create and shape the world around us.

While it is easy to grasp how thoughts have the ability to shape the world around us, the theory of how affirmations work takes this further by implying that change can also be effected through the 'unconscious' realms of the mind. The sub of the subconscious realm of our mind is an area of the mind that we are rarely if ever, aware of. How then can this area of the mind be even more powerful than thoughts and perception as yoga philosophy suggests? It is the realm of the 'unconscious' within us that drives the very way we perceive and therefore think. As explained earlier, a successful person, has the program of being successful within his or her sub of the subconscious. Because of this program they have a natural and powerful drive succeed. They are not disheartened by challenges or hiccups in their plans. Failure is not in their vocabulary. They are driven by a feeling that comes from deep within them that keeps the light of success and confidence shinning. This is their real power, and this power goes even beyond their physical and mental abilities and attracts successful situations to them. We normally know this as luck but it actually has nothing to do with luck. Instead it is the innate forces within the subconscious mind obeying the program of success within the person.

Yoga philosophy points out that the potent forces within our subconscious comes from the superconscious mind, or the mind of our soul. The ultimate source of this power is God Himself–Who resides deep within the core of our soul. In other words the affirmations that we place in our sub of the subconscious draws its ability to manifest the situations in our life from God Himself. Thus through subconscious concentration we can realize our dreams by utilizing the God-given powerhouse of a tool within us, our mind, to its fullest potential.

In the next proceeding three seminars of this six part series we will be exploring another potent force within us–willpower. In these seminars we will see how subconscious concentration plays an essential part for developing willpower.