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The goal of a spiritual path is to raise our awareness to the point of allowing us to directly perceive the spiritual dimension. To be spiritual means to recognize one's own spiritual identity and recognize the transcendental essence of everything around us. Additionally, it means to see that we are all parts and parcels of God and to respect each other in that regard. That is one of the goals of Yoga. But how can we be convinced that there even is a God?

This comes by a reawakening of our higher sense of awareness and the knowledge of our spiritual identity. It is through the process of yoga and following the path of Sanatana-dharma that we can achieve this higher awareness and understand exactly who we are. The Yoga-sutras of Patanjali make up the basis of yoga practice. However, yoga itself is a deep and serious practice, and there are a number of forms of yoga that can be performed. There are four primary types of yoga depending on the yoga positions. There is:

Jnana-yoga is the path of intellectual development and understanding the nature of reality.

Karma-yoga is the path of right action, detachment from the fruits of one's labor, and dedicating our activities to a higher and spiritual purpose. Raja-yoga or Astanga is the path of internal meditation and the achievement of higher states of consciousness through various different practices. Bhakti-yoga is the path of raising consciousness, and developing our love and devotion for God and decreasing our attraction for aspects of the temporary material world.

There are additional forms of yoga, but they are often considered branches of these four paths.

However, in the earliest stages, yoga is, essentially, a tool for controlling the flickering nature of the mind, and for promoting one's positive qualities and expanding one's awareness from material to spiritual awareness. It is taught that Yoga is the process of calming the activities of the mind, which include misconception, perceived knowledge, sleep, imagination, and memory. When these are stabilized, then it may be called yoga, which offers the chance for the practitioner to fully realize his own essential and fundamental nature. Yoga is the attempt to realign our individual Selves with the Supreme Self, God.

When you make progress in yoga you can feel the unwanted burdens of the mind melt away, such as anger, anxiety, hate, discontent, envy, greed, etc. Then other qualities like contentment, tranquility, blissfulness, and peacefulness will be felt. These are qualities sought by all and are some of the many things that can be achieved through yoga, at least on the rudimentary level. As you make further progress, you may enter into the deeper levels of awareness and transcending the mind and eventually go so far as to realize your own spiritual identity and what your relationship is with the Absolute. Becoming free from material life and regaining one's spiritual identity is the goal of all yoga.

But despite all of these benefits, people frequently find it difficult to take this path. This is because they lack the motivation to exercise. But once you start performing Yoga on a regular basis, it can itself keep you motivated. The benefit of feeling motivated by Yoga practice is what makes Yoga so different from all other health maintenance programs. Yoga can become a lifestyle because there is no pain or discomfort involved.

Why do most diets fail? Why do most exercisers quit? Lack of motivation is the reason for exercise and diet failure. People already know they ought to eat better, drink more water, walk more, and exercise, but they need to stay motivated without "burning out."

In Yoga, positive energy is all around the classroom. Positive energy creates exercise motivation and creates strong visions of success. The next step is to believe the powerful visions of success, which you see. Some people have a fear of success. Maybe they inherently feel a lack of self-worth, but Yoga also works on improving one's self-esteem. It is normal for people to feel apprehensive about change, but change is often one of the gateways to success.

We can say that consistency acts as the key as far as the benefits of yoga are concerned while we have to take care of the yoga positions. We can't derive benefits from yoga if we are not consistent with our routine. If we fail to be consistent, then it is very difficult to get the positive results and yoga can't be blamed for this. Another beneficial technique to use is hypnosis i.e. Hypnotherapy.

Self hypnosis therapy has proven to be very helpful in getting and keeping us motivated. Self-hypnosis is based on the combination of visual imagery and auto suggestion, and it works on deeper levels than one can imagine. Motivational hypnosis converses with your unconscious mind, and urges it to positively alter your sense of self-perception and self-image.

The unconscious mind is largely responsible for how we think and react. If we train it to think along different lines, your corresponding behaviors will change as well. You will be motivated to understand the incredible potential that lies within us, and by using hypnotherapy you can tap into that potential. Through gentle affirmations such as "I can do it" along with powerful visual imagery, hypnotherapy CDs can retrain your mind into believing that anything is possible, and nothing is impossible. This means that yoga in conjunction with motivational hypnotherapy can help us to quickly achieve long-lasting success.

Alan B. Densky, CH started his hypnotherapy practice in 1978. He offers a broad range of hypnosis CDs & DVDs for all aspects of self improvement, including hypnosis for exercise motivation.