The power of the mind is truly incredible once you research and really find out what people have achieved through training the mind.  There is everything from total body control, body temperature control like Wim Hof (The Ice Man) who hiked Mount Everest in Shorts (link), there are also psychic abilities that can be awakened, healings and other crazy things that seem completely miraculous and unbelievable.  Especially if you read Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda.  My favorite miracle is people who are paralyzed regaining movement in their bodies by thinking about walking and moving.  (link) and (link)

I’m not going to sell you on the miraculous stuff but truly even the little stuff is quite miraculous.  The fact that we are here on a planet living, thinking and conscious is a miracle.  But we have yet to truly explore that miracle; science still has barely a clue.  There have been those before us that have attained great mastery by exploring consciousness and performed miracles and shared this wisdom but sometimes it gets lost in time, shrouded in culture and mystery or held to be of the gods and unattainable by mere humans.  They are sometimes miracles beyond what we experience in everyday life.  What I want to show you is the miracle of everyday life.  Once you understand the power of the mind, what it is, how it affects your body and your life you will be able to take control of the mind and use it to affect your life positively and explore it to discover greater miracles or what I like to call, the magic of life.

We have all heard stories of clairvoyance, telepathy, extrasensory perception and spontaneous healings.  In martial arts the development of a sixth sense is common.  Yogis are well known for miracles and among the last chapters of the Patanjali sutras he talks about psychic powers.  They do happen, they do exist, but western science still doesn’t understand why or how.  I am surprised about this myself.  Even though modern psychology has a vast understanding of the human mind and how life and the body effects it, they still only see it in a material realist way; chemical processes in the mind and body.  I don’t think they have really explored the opposite, mind over matter, the mind affecting the body and life.  Of course stress releases chemicals in the brain and creates emotions and can wreak havoc on the body and mind but this can be controlled by thought.  It just seems that psychiatry today only treats the brain and illness with more chemicals to solve things like depression, anxiety, stress and mental illness.  I do believe that in some cases mental illness comes from a chemical imbalance in the brain but I do believe that by understanding and controlling the mind that a person can use the mind to affect the brain and the body to create balance.

We as a humanity need to reengineer our way of thinking to realize our own power.  How?  By understanding the mind, its relationship to your body, life and spiritual energy; Chi.  The first step is to realize that you the observer are separate from the mind.  I am sure you have experienced observing your thoughts.  Simply put, those thoughts create emotion and action which in turn affect your body and your life.  This is a big reason why Buddha created the 8 fold path and taught meditation.  Meditation strengthens the mind giving you control but sitting meditation won’t always do the trick.  One must willfully choose to create positive thoughts and actions in life in order to help strengthen the mind and create a good life.  By strengthening the mind you are able to control it and not let it control you.

The next step is to practice breathing and relaxation.  This practice alone can change your life vastly.  Once you can learn to breathe deeply and fully you will be more relaxed and alert.  Once you practice relaxation you will find yourself with a lot less stress and anxiety.  A lot of people take drugs, prescription or otherwise in order to feel relaxed.  If they just practice to be relaxed they will feel relaxed and they will feel life on a deeper level and more joyfully.

The next step after that is to understand the mind’s relationship to energy; Chi/Prana.  The mind is made of this energy and through your consciousness you can effect it and in turn it will affect your thoughts, body and life.  Once you realize this you realize that you are moving Chi/Prana all the time.  This is very important because whatever you think and do becomes a practice and what you practice becomes a skill.  Is anger and sadness the skills you want in life?  I understand that thinking positive is hard in the face of great depression and anxiety, this is why you need to strengthen the mind and use your will to stop it.  All we truly want is happiness.

This is why we need to let go of the past, heal our past traumas and think positive.  I understand this is no easy task, but practice and effort goes a long way.  There was a time that for years I felt that everything was always going wrong for me, and every time I would get back up I would get knocked down.  This is very frustrating, especially since I was try to be a truly good person and do good things in the world.  And even though I fought depression, anxiety, hurt and anger and it seemed I was going insane I stood up and said not anymore and I continued to get back up and think positive and trust in myself and practice as much as I could and I turned my life around.

I realized that the anger, fear and anxiety were working against me no matter how hard I worked at my job and being a good person.  It still manifested and things went wrong.  Once I put a stop to it, my life changed.  I used a mantra to focus my mind on something positive during the day.  I exercised and practiced my yoga.  I started writing again and found inspiration in finishing my book.  These are all just examples of how it is possible to change your life without drugs.

Meditation is a good way to strengthen the mind.  When I say meditation I mean concentrated meditation, purposefully focusing the mind on a single thought, idea or mantra.  Meditation is very versatile and can be done anywhere and almost at any time.  Focusing on relaxation is the best for beginning.  Then I would start practicing Chi.

Practicing Chi is a great mediation because it builds awareness in the body, awareness of energy, teaches you how to affect the body with the mind. And while cultivating it, you get numerous health benefits and healing.  This is truly the first step in exploring the mind and your own consciousness and reaching your human potential.

To discover your Chi, I like to use the simple technique of awareness.  Put your hand in front of you palm facing in.  Try not to look at it and a take a few deep breaths, relax your body and your hand.  Then feel the palm of your hand, without using your other hand.  You should feel your palm, you may feel a slight tingling or a light static or warmth, this is great.  Now feel the inside of each finger, then move to the back of the hand.  There you have it, that is Chi and you are now moving Chi.  The next step is to move it along your arm to your elbow.  Make sure to follow the feeling up your arm.  Then move that awareness all over your body and take note to what you feel.

Now that you are moving Chi you are on your way.  But literally you have just scratched the surface, by moving chi along your skin.  Next would be to start bringing that awareness deeper into the body, muscles then bones.  Techniques like condensing breathing and breathing the limbs are extremely helpful for this.  Then learn mapping and patterning for moving the Chi around your body.

There you have it, a good summary of the power of the mind and how to start cultivating it and gaining control of your mind, your life and your power.