Yoga as a tool for Manifestation?

I'm sure that you have heard of ¨Manifestation¨. It's the magic ability to be able to manifest your own reality through thought. Yes, get what you want just by wishing for it and I believe that Yoga holds the key to making it work.

Science can't provide any specific proofs but many in the spiritual community will swear by it and there are all kinds of rituals and tools to help you to manifest your own reality. People use vision-boards, rituals, pieces of paper that are burned in the fire. In most religions around the world people pray, asking their gods and goddesses to help them manifest a certain reality, maybe for a sick relative or a son going through an exam, lighting incense for a successful business is a daily practice in many Asian countries. All of these things are to help you to focus your mental frequency on this one outcome thus making it more possible.
Quantum Physics is showing us through the scientific model what yogis have been saying for hundreds or even thousands of years; that reality is much stranger than it appears and that it is very likely that the baseline of reality is actually consciousness and not matter. This could mean that if we can tune our mental frequency in a certain way with our consciousness then we can learn how to hack the code and manifest our own reality here on the physical plane.

We can choose how our life expresses itself, where we live, what our work is, how our partner is, our finances etc. This is called personal level manifestation. When we work to manifest peace and harmony on earth for all living beings this is working towards a global level manifestation.

So how does yoga help with the actual manifestation? Yoga in this post-modern, post-magic world is known principally for it's physical benefits; it will fix your back pain and your migraines, it will give you a flexible and toned body etc. etc. After practicing for some time many people realize that it is also very beneficial for the Emotional and Mental bodies, leaving the practitioner calmer and clearer.
Well, of course it goes deeper than that as well.

As you align your physical, emotional and mental bodies bringing harmony and lightness through the physical practice you are also aligning at a deeper level with your own personal connection to the invisible network that connects us all to all things.

At this deeper level you are using the spiritual or 'causal' body. A characteristic of this level of reality is the unseen strings that we have attached from our bellybutton (literally, according to old texts, thousands of anecdotes and the teachings of shamanism!) to different objects, beings, places, ideas and other things in our lives.

If we can harmonize the outer bodies (physical, mental and emotional) then this deeper energetic level also harmonizes bringing us ever closer to our true blissful nature.

This is when things just begin to fall into place. Our new frequency is incompatible with old problems. The solutions come or the problem just fades away as if by magic. Worries fall away and are replaced by joy. It takes work but yoga is the work.

Yoga is designed to align and harmonize the bodies. This is just one of the ways yoga makes it easier to manifest your reality. If you are going to work on a vibratory level to do that then you need your instrument, your 'Self' which is made up of the different bodies, to be finely tuned to produce the most harmonious results. A clean and clear mind will manifest a clean and clear result. Your present life is a reflection of your manifestation so far, whether you have been actively thinking about it or not, whatever we are living is what each one of us has brought into being. So have a look at that and if you are content with the result then well done! If there are still things that you would like to be different then maybe begin by fine-tuning your manifestation instrument.

So when you practice make sure that you integrate at least a little bit of the Cosmic Awareness that gives yoga the potential to change your whole life. If you don't love your job and/or your general life situation but you're not sure what to do or how to change it, try doing yoga every day for a month with this as your goal. I am sure that the answer will present itself in an easy and effortless manner if that is what you want.
You can change your reality from the inside out, not just at a superficial level.

Disclaimer: I speak as one of those people who swear by manifestation, I have seen so many things happen in my life that are to me really inexplicable but they have somehow occurred and are now fixtures in my life. I can only credit Yoga with creating the balance that was needed in my life to help with these events. i still have a long way to go and I look forward to the journey. I now try to turn my mind more and more towards manifesting a state of peace and harmony on the earth as there can’t really be true harmony until all are in harmony.
There are some important other ways that yoga can help with manifestation. These have to do with the philosophy and I will talk about them at a later date.

3 ways to use Yoga for Anxiety

Yoga works on many levels. Obviously the physical body is affected by the repeated practice of asanas. It is strengthened and toned. Part of every yoga class has at least 3 ways of toning the mind. One of the notable effects of this is lowered levels of anxiety. Here are some of the ways yoga helps:

1. Awareness of the present moment:
In every yoga class you will be learning to connect with your body. The poses allow you to fill your mind with what your body is doing and in that way you are more in control of your thoughts. This inward focus is a necessary part of life if we want to free ourselves from the constant fluctuations of the mind. By maintaining a focus on our present moment we are able to turn our physical practice into a dynamic form of meditation. The poses are designed to pull our body in different ways so that it becomes necessary to learn to stretch and relax. For that we need focus. This is the starting point of training the mind to go in the directions that benefit us.

2. Learning relaxation:
During the practice of the poses we are reminded to relax our shoulders, our faces, our sense organs so that we eventually become aware of hidden tension and we can remove it easily.
This loosening of the muscles allows blood to flow in a different way. The final relaxation (Shavasana) at the end of each class deepens this activation ensuring that the benefits will remain with us for the rest of the day. Even if you don’t have time for a full yoga session, you can still do a Shavasana a few times a day if necessary to maintain a good mental/emotional balance.

3. Deepening the Breath: During your yoga practice you are encouraged to become aware of your breathing. Even just the awareness of the breath will help it to slow down and deepen. These longer slower breaths activate the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for lowering cortisol production.

4. Humming. At the beginning of a class where you are chanting OM or at the end of a class where you are practicing the Pranayama known as Brahmri Breath you are closing your mouth and humming. This practice immediately lowers cortisol production and humming is a practice that is used by surgeons to help them keep cool under pressure. The vibrations that the brain receives during humming will leave you feeling uplifted and mentally clear and clean. 30 seconds of humming will have an immediate effect. you can try it now.

There are other ways in which yoga helps our mental health but I will leave them for another day.