If you participate in a Yoga practice, you hear terms related to negative or positive energy. Negative energy is most commonly seen as worry, anxiety, pains, aches, pessimism, and doubt. Negative energy prevents progress and can bring your life to a standstill.
Positive energy is an arousal within the mind that causes action and creativity. Sometimes, problem-solving skills are enhanced, due to a surge in positive energy. Religious theologians, of all faiths, call positive energy divine guidance. Positive energy has been the driving force behind creativity, positive action, art, music, and writing.
During a Hatha Yoga training session, we can feel the difference between negative and positive energy within the body. Do you feel muscles and joints that are stiff? This is an area that needs work - in the form of massage, asana, and pranayama techniques.
Muscular tension, inside the body, creates excessive tension on the joints. It may cause a delicate joint to be pulled out of alignment. Some of us get a massage, visit a chiropractor, or participate in a Yoga class, with a clear intention of purging negative energy and bringing the body into balance.
Yet, how often is the mind forgotten? The mind may be the source of all the physical tension. Granted, there are other factors that cause physical tension, such as the body alignment during sleep, genetics, lifestyle, illness, and trauma. These factors can play a major role in throwing the body off balance. These factors can also wear on the mind.
This is why an optimist has a better chance at a quicker recovery, when he, or she, is struck by illness or trauma. A balanced state of mind is often taken for granted by many of us. Those who suffer various degrees of mental illness are all too familiar with an unbalanced state of mind.
In Yoga, the easiest way to cultivate positive energy may be through pranayama (Yogic breathing) practice. From the outside looking in, pranayama may look quite easy; but after ten minutes, one learns a state of humility. Most Yoga practitioners experience the mind / body connection during pranayama practice.
This mind and body connection creates a state, where we are living in the moment, while competition is put aside. We may think clearly, during or after pranayama practice, because we are able to control the flow of positive and negative energy. Yet, this is only the gateway to a Yogic lifestyle filled with many rewards.
© Copyright 2009 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications
Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500, has written many books on the subject of Yoga. He is a co-owner and the Director of Yoga Teacher Training at: Aura Wellness Center, in Attleboro, MA. aurawellnesscenter.com aurawellnesscenter.com He has been a certified Master Yoga Teacher since 1995. To receive Free Yoga videos, Podcasts, e-Books, reports, and articles about Yoga, please visit: yoga-teacher-training.org/member-offer.html yoga-teacher-training.org/member-offer.html
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