2. Alcohol, meat, Rajasic foods, cinema, novel-reading, obscene songs, obscene sights, evil company, obscene talks will make the wheel of mind revolve very rapidly whereas fruits, Sattvic food, company of Mahatmas, study of religious books, solitude, Japa, Kirtan, concentration, meditation, enquiry of ‘Who am I?’ will slow down the wheel and eventually bring it down to a standstill.

3. Identify yourself with the Immortal Self. Enquire ‘Who am I?’ whenever thoughts arise in your mind. All the thoughts will gradually die.

4. Fewer the desires, lesser the thoughts. Become absolutely desireless. The wheel will stop entirely. If you reduce your wants, if you do not try to fulfill your desires, if you try to eradicate your desires one by one, your thoughts will diminish in frequency and length. The number of thoughts per minute will also decrease. Fewer the thoughts, greater the peace. Remember this always. A wealthy man who does speculation in a big city and who has a large number of thoughts has a restless mind, in spite of his comforts, whereas, a Sadhu who lives in the cave of Himalayas and who is practicing thought-control is very happy in spite of his poverty.

5. Concentration will increase by lessening the number of thoughts. Certainly it is an uphill work to reduce the number of thoughts. In the beginning it will be taxing you much. The task will be very unpleasant. But later on you will rejoice as you will get immense strength of mind and internal peace by reduction of thoughts. Armed with the patience, perseverance, vigilance, fiery determination and iron will, you can crush the thoughts easily just as you crush a lemon or an orange with ease. After crushing, it will be easy for you to root them out. Mere crushing or suppression will not suffice. There may be again resurrection of thoughts. They should be totally eradicated, just as a loose tooth is rooted out.

6. When you give a blow on the head of a snake with a stick and crush its head, it remains absolutely motionless for some time. You think it is dead. All of a sudden it raise its head and runsswiftly. Even so the thoughts that were once crushed and suppressed by you regain strength and raise up their heads. They must be destroyed totally beyond resurrection.

7. It is very difficult to fix the mind on one thought in the beginning. Diminish the number of thoughts. Try to have thoughts on one subject. If you think of a rose you can have all sorts of thoughts connected with rose only. You can think of different kinds of roses that are grown in different parts of the world. You can think of the various preparations that are made out of roses and their uses. You can allow even thoughts of other kinds of flowers to enter; but do not entertain thoughts of fruits and vegetables. Check the aimless wandering of the mind. Do not have thoughts at random when you think of a rose. Gradually you can fix the mind on one thought. You will have to discipline the mind daily. Eternal vigilance is needed in thought-control.

8. Fewer the thoughts, greater the mental strength and concentration. Suppose the average number of thoughts that pass through your brain within one hour is one hundred. If you succeed in reducing them by constant practice of concentration and meditation to ninety you have gained ten per cent of power of concentration of mind. Every thought that is reduced adds strength and peace to the mind. Reduction of even one thought will give you mental strength and peace of mind. You may not be able to feel this in the beginning as you do not possess a subtle intellect; but there is a spiritual thermometer inside to register the reduction of even a single thought. If you reduce one thought the mental strength that you have gained by this reduction will help you to reduce the second thought easily.

9. In rubber plantation, planters take recourse to the method of thinning out the rubber trees by cutting the small surplus trees which stand in the vicinity of big trees. By so doing they can tap more milk or rubber juice from the big trees. Even so you must thin out the thoughts by destroying them one by one to drink the ambrosial milk or nectar of Immortality.

10. When the tail of a lizard is cut, the cut end will flutter about for some time, as there is still a little residual Prana in the tail. After one or two minutes all motion will cease. Even so, even after thinning and reduction of thoughts, some thoughts will move about like the tail of the lizard. But they are powerless. They cannot do any serious havoc. There is no vitality in them. Just as the
drowning man tries to catch anything to save himself, so also these lifeless thoughts try their level best to come back to their previous state of life and vigour. If you go on with your daily practice of concentration and meditation regularly, they will die by themselves like a gheeless lamp.

11. In the beginning of your practice of thought-control you will experience great difficulty. You will have to wage war with them. They will have to struggle their level best for their own existence. They will say: “We have every right to remain in this place of mind. We have a sole monopoly from time immemorial to occupy this area. Why should we vacate our dominion now? We will fight for our birthright till the end.” They will pounce upon you with great ferocity. When you sit for meditation only all sorts of evil thoughts will crop up. As you attempt to suppress them they want to attack you with redoubled force and vigour. But positive always overcomes the negative. Just as darkness cannot stand before the sun, just as a leopard cannot stand before the lion so also all these dark, negative thoughts, these invisible intruders, enemies of peace, cannot stand before the sublime divine thoughts. They must die by themselves.

12. Just as the warrior chops off the heads of his enemies one by one, when they come of a fortress through a trap door, so also chop the thoughts one by one when they emerge out through the trap door to the surface of the mind. 13. The substitution method is very easy and effective in the destruction of evil thoughts. Cultivate positive virtuous thoughts of mercy, love, purity, forgiveness, integrity, generosity, humility, etc., in the garden of your mind. The negative vicious thoughts of hatred, lust, anger, greed, pride, etc., will die by themselves. It is difficult to destroy the evil thoughts by attacking them directly. You will have to tax your will and waste your energy.

14. Suppose the evil thoughts stay in your mind for twelve hours and recur every third day. If you can make them stay for ten hours and recur once in a week by daily practice of concentration and meditation that is a decided improvement. If you continue your practice, the period of stay and recurrence will be gradually lessened. Eventually they will disappear altogether. Compare your present state of mind with that of last year or year before last. You will be able to find out your progress. The progress will be very slow in the beginning. It will be difficult for you to gauge your growth and progress.

15. Thoughts gain strength by repetition. If you entertain an evil thought or a good thought once, this evil thought or good thought has a tendency to recur again. Thoughts crowd together. Just as the birds of the same feather flock together, so also if you entertain one evil thought all sorts of evil thoughts join together and attack you. If you entertain any good thought, all good thoughts join together.

16. Like attracts like. If you entertain evil thought that thought attracts all sorts of evil thoughts from others. You pass on that thought to others also. Thought moves. Thought is a living dynamic force. Thought is a thing. If you allow your mind to dwell on a sublime thought, this thought will attract good thoughts from others. You pass on good thoughts to others. You pollute the world with your bad thoughts. You help the world with your good thoughts.

17. When you reach the spiritual summit of thoughtlessness you will reach the abode of Immortality and eternal peace and supreme bliss. O Ram! Start your homeward journey. March boldly in the spiritual path. Be not afraid of difficulties. Be bold. Ascend peak after peak. Cross the deep ravines of subtle Moha and pride that come on your way. Take a long jump and cross the mystic frontier of Avyaktam. Chop off the thoughts that wage again and again a guerrilla war. Enter now the infinite domain of pure bliss and highest knowledge. Regain your old pristine divine glory. Rest in your Sat-chit-ananda Svarupa.

Rude behaviour and crude comments at home or in our work place, can lower both our self confidence and our performance. It creates depression in people and low self esteem.

Be kind in your speech, in your behaviour, in your dealings.

Remember how we liked the subjects that our favourite teacher used to teach? Why? Only because she taught so lovingly.

Try not to be rude and run down someone in front of people or even otherwise. Explain their mistakes to him/her in private, gently but firmly.

Bring in awareness of it, around you. Make an effort to practice kindness. Parents and elders can practice it at home, so children learn it automatically and effortlessly.

A home is our first school. This kind behaviour becomes a habit and continues.

Teachers can practice it in class, with students. Running down a student, demeaning him in a class, can be a lifelong hurt and a very painful memory. Show it in simple practical ways and small instances and the lessons become eternal.

Everyone soon realizes how good it feels and what a difference it makes in our daily doings and dealings.

Giving instructions in a loud and rude tone, does not make it more effective, as we choose to think. On the contrary, the opposite happens.

There is anger, resentment, rebellion and rage.

Try not to be sarcastic when you talk.

Also try not to answer a question with a question. Small behaviour and attitude changes act like grease in a machine. Every machine needs to be oiled and serviced for optimum functioning, the most important machine being ourselves, on which everything depends to bring a difference in our daily doings and dealings.

One of the key causes of stress is anger which gets built up inside us in our day to day interactions with certain individuals and from real life situations. The inculcations of the innate virtues of the soul-compassion, forgiveness and tolerance-not only in our words and our actions but also at the level of our thoughts, helps us relax.

Anger gives rise to stress.

How to Control Anger
Sit comfortably upright in your chair. Make sure you are in a position to breath easily

Allow your breathing to slow down…gently out…and in… with your own natural rhythm.

Think of a situation when you were angry with another person and follow these words. Pause for 1 complete breath after each step

As I breathe out I release my anger…as I breathe in I fill myself with compassion…

As I breathe out I let go of resentment…as I breathe in I fill myself with tolerance….

As I breathe out I release feeling of revenge…as I breathe in I gain understanding…

As I breathe out I let go of all worries…as I breathe in I experience peace…

See the other person and send good wishes and feelings of compassion to him/her…to the situation…to all involved(pause for 10 seconds)

Breathe easily. Be calm…at peace… Experience the qualities of forgiveness and tolerance.

Benefits:
The key to dealing with anger is that we acknowledge that it is our anger and caused by someone else. When we are angry we blame something or someone. Yet we are the ones experiencing anger; we have the choice to change how we feel and respond.
By recognizing that we are responsible for our own anger and the stress resulting due to it, we can decide to let it go. This can be done when we are inwardly calm and reflecy on the anger. The above breathing practice helps us in this process.

Stress is a natural and an inevitable process of adapting by human beings, to the constantly changing mental and physical challenges at work and home. It is an integral part of life which demands efficiency and effectiveness. Attaining relief from stress through progressive physical and mental relaxation is essential for finding creative solutions to day-to-day problem.

A variety of studies have shown that a natural stress process is the sequence of tension and relaxation – of spending and regaining energy thus keeping the body-mind system joyful. Often, this balance is disturbed as people fail to take the required time for relaxation. The results are well known-physical illness, emotional tension, and psychological disturbance. Stress has now turned into an “epidemic”, Pushing individuals into a state of constant agitation. Pressures of job, family and other external sources, which are beyond one’s control, along with internally generated stressors like self image, jealousy, self-criticism, low self esteem, put a lot of strain on the person.

We need to take time out of our busy schedules to give attention to the body. Paying attention to the body is not the same as being lazy. Stress need not be seen as something stone a creative opportunity to transform stress into relaxation through simple techniques of awareness. Here are some simple tips for relaxation.

1. Do it as many times as you can during the day
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2. Ideally. the meditation should be at least for 40 minutes

3. Sit on a chair, close your eyes and put your palms on your eyes without pressing.

4. In a relaxed mind, thoughts get frozen. They live through tension. When the eyes are still, and the energy moves inwards, thoughts will stop. You will feel a certain euphoria which will deepen daily.

The Balancing Act:
Balance is not something we generally think about as being part of overall fitness-but it should be. Balance training facilitates movement skill and raises athletic and functional movement potentials to new heights.

Why Balance?
All our daily activities requires balance. Even walking which we take for granted is the act of losing balance as one foot lifts up, and regaining it by stepping down. We often take our body’s ability to balance for granted As we age, our natural ability to maintain good balance as well as quick reaction time diminishes. According to American Running board member Ron Laurence M.D., “balance ability diminishes as we age, and can be improved with practice”.

Stand on one leg, roller blade, wind surf, ride a bike, inline skate of ski to maintain and improve your inherent balancing abilities.

Sports Performance:
Balance is an important factor in any type of sport, be it clearing a hurdle or reaching to catch a ball. fit individuals have a better balance, respond to training and learn sports skills more quickly.

Benefits of Balance Training
1. Improves posture and body alignment
2. Improves day to day functional stability
3. Strengthens core muscles
4. Improves co-ordination and self-awareness
5. Enhances neuron muscular awareness
6. Increases strength

Two Yoga Asanas to Improve Balance:
The Lord Of Dance:
Stand tall. Lift your right leg off the floor and hold your ankle. Arch your back and move your torso forward while raising the right leg behind you. Create a smooth arch through the right side of your body. balancing on the left leg. Hold for 10 breaths or longer if you can. Repeat with the other leg.

The Tree:
Stand tall with the right leg against the left inner thigh. place your hands in the namaste position and then slowly raise your hands up. Hold for 10 breaths or longer if you can. Repeat with the other leg.

CONTROL ANGER BEFORE IT CONTROLS YOU

1. Relax. Think of a place or a time that you particularly enjoy.

2. Counting from 50 backwards shifts brain activity from the emotional to the analytical part of the brain, decreasing the intensity of the unwanted emotion.

3. Laugh often and watch movies that tickle your funny bone.

4. Don’t jump to conclusions. listen to others.

5. Instead of revisiting hurtful events in your mind, forgive the person who wronged you.

6. Have a healthy diet. Adequate vitamins are vital for your body.

7. With children, don’t over stimulate them with school, hobbies and tennis lessons. A child needs time to relax.

To have a calm mind you can do meditation, yoga or you can also do a breathing exercise like pranayamas. these are the well known powerful practices to manage anger, control your mind and can live peacefully.

Deal with humiliation
Know that humiliation does not weaken you, it strengthens you. If you are afraid of humiliation, you can neither make progress in your material life nor in your spiritual life. When you stand above humiliation, you get closer to the Self, to God.
So, the way out is:
1. Get humiliated!

2. Be child-like

3. Get steeped in love with the divine

4. Total commitment to Truth

Conquer Jealousy
1. Know that the people you are jealous of have done some good karma in the past and they are now reaping the fruit.

2. Take it as an inspiration to gain merit now.

3. Create a sense of belongingness with them.

4. Think of all that you have, that they don’t have, and feel grateful.

5. Simply observe the sensations.

6. Join hands and form a team

7. Realise that with the passage of time, all will perish