The problem isn’t that you don’t have enough will power to achieve what you want. You have will power, but it’s not will power you need, it’s want power.
You have to first want
You must want to change your habits, want to lose some weight, want to give up your evening snacking before your will comes into play. Once you want a thing badly enough, you will do whatever it takes.
If you think you want something (to make a change in your eating habits perhaps), but then find it difficult to follow-through with your plans, most likely you simply want your current reality (your current habits and patterns) more than you want your goals (less weight, better health, etc.)
I can hear you all the way over here, telling me I’m wrong: “No, that’s not right! I want this more than anything, I just don’t have any willpower!” Round and round you go, but the truth is, you will get what you really want. Think back, has there ever been a time when you really wanted something? A certain piece of clothing, a certain house, car, job, spouse? Hum… Yes, we go after what we want, if we really want to acquire or achieve it we do. Nothings going to fall in your lap, you’ve got to go get what you want.
What’s Going on?
Put another way, you may want to avoid the pain (breaking old habits, avoiding some favorite foods, simply not overeating…) more than you want to gain the pleasure (losing some weight, gaining new habits, eating favorite foods in moderation …)
Since losing weight takes time, from weeks to months to years, it’s easy to fall off the path. It’s always easier to get back into our old habits of eating, eating, and more eating. There’s always more food. Unless you are too poor to purchase it, there’s plenty food in America - in fact, too much food, and so it becomes even more necessary to keep the longer-term goals in mind.
How do you keep the longer-term goals in mind, when the short-term food is staring you in the face? What about all the treats offered, what about the commercials, the billboards, the signs everywhere that say EAT?
Wanting, in fact, is the “W”, the first step in the W.H.A.C.K approach. See it in the free e-book, Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss.
Think back to when you last really wanted something. Wanted it more than anything, had to have it, would do just about anything to get it. To want is a mighty powerful motivator, but surprisingly we aren’t all motivated by what we want. Some of us are motivated by avoiding what we don’t want.
What is your Motivation Strategy?
Motivation comes in two (or more) flavors. You can be motivated towards something (what you’ll gain) or you can be motivated away from something (what you’ll lose). This desiring to avoid can be confusing. I’m saying you must want something, and you’re thinking, but I don’t want to be fat. I can’t think about my future, only what I don’t want. Here is what’s going on:
Motivation: Toward
If you are motivated by what you’ll gain you find it easy to look ahead and see your future shapely body, you’ll see people around you with admiring glances, you’ll hear their compliments, you’ll smell the good food and feel good knowing you can eat enough to be satisfied, and then say you’re full. You’ve had enough, thank you. You’ll be in control of your life. You’ll want what you visualize more than anything, and you’ll do whatever it takes to get it. If asked what movie to go see, they’ll have a few ideas, and tell you why.
Motivation: Away
If you are motivated by what you’ll lose you’ll focus on what you want to avoid. For example, you want to avoid dying, you want to avoid being too heavy to enjoy playing with the kids, you want to avoid gasping for breath when you climb a flight of stairs. You want to avoid the embarrassment, the humiliation of other people’s remarks and rude glances. You don’t want any of that anymore, and you don’t want it to the extent that you’ll do whatever it takes to avoid these things. If you ask them what they want for dinner, they’ll tell you they don’t want Chinese, or pizza. It can be difficult to get someone motivated this way to actually say what they do want!
Knowing your motivation strategy makes it easier to find methods that support your preferred strategy. If you are motivated toward, you may enjoy cutting our pictures of people in great shape with similar body types to yours. Find models wearing clothes that would look good on you, pictures of swimming pools, holiday places you’d enjoy; the types of things that go into a dream board.
If you motivated away, then make a list of what you want to avoid and elaborate on that list. Why don’t you want these things? The more detailed you are, the more likely you’ll truly do what it takes to avoid them.
Hopefully these ideas will get you thinking, and much about making changes in our lives comes down to thinking it through. Realizing what we really want can get us past the hurdles of what we already have. To affect change isn’t necessarily comfortable, until you’ve worked at it for awhile, and then suddenly your changed behavior has become your new behavior and the effort is over.
Kathryn Martyn, is a Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, and author of Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss. Visit OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com?to see how she gave up 80 pounds over 20 years ago and how you can do the same.
Showing posts with label Pleasure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pleasure. Show all posts
March 5, 2009
March 1, 2009
Yoga Teacher Retention Tips
How can Yoga teachers make new students realize the value of long-term training? Is it just luck, or where you are located, that draws appreciative Yoga students? Is there a method for teaching Yoga to new students, without scaring them off? Let?s look at many solutions to keep the interest of your established Yoga students and those new Yoga students, who just walked in the door.
When a new student arrives to learn Yoga, he, or she, may not have any previous Yoga experience. When teaching Yoga to new students, it is wise to see it from their viewpoint. Everything is new, including your staff, your system, and your method of teaching Yoga. It is up to the Yoga teacher to make of all these components ?user friendly.?
Here are some tips for you, your staff, and the way your facility is run. Remember that these guidelines also apply to your existing Yoga students too. Never take them for granted and your Yoga students will stay with you ?through thick and thin.? Always show appreciation to your existing Yoga students.
Always give Yoga students your complete attention and make sure your teaching method for Yoga is the best it can be. If you are feeling ill, or are in pain, you may have to let a substitute Yoga teacher, teach your Yoga class, in your place. All of us want to teach our own Yoga classes, but the quality of your teaching should always be the best it can possibly be.
Do not get caught up in ?penny pinching.? Some Yoga teachers become adversarial about fees for every little thing. If you teach Yoga for a living, charge a fee that you can live with. Do not ?short change? yourself, but avoid the perception of a ?money hungry? salesperson. Do not hire pushy sales people either. Your Yoga teaching service depends on a professional image that is seamless, compassionate, truthful, and a pleasure to work with.
Make sure you can deliver on all of your promises. Never talk about Yoga as a cure. This implies that we cure our students of ailments. Yoga definitely does help with many ailments, but when you make guarantees, you leave yourself open for ?legal grief.? A promise is a guarantee, and can potentially put you out of the Yoga business permanently.
When you teach Yoga, stick to the facts, and know the exact sources of research, before making a statement. Most Yoga teachers do not have a medical degree, so avoid medical opinions, unless you are a medical doctor. A wise Yoga teacher would tell his, or her, Yoga students to seek medical advice from a physician. Yoga students should also look into the value of a second opinion from a qualified medical professional.
Make sure your staff, and the person who answers the phone, are very friendly. If this is not the case, find replacements. A rude receptionist will scare off existing, and new, Yoga students. Your receptionist is the ?keeper of the gateway? to learning Yoga from you, and gives the first impression of what you are all about. You will never get a second chance to make a first impression.
Lastly, always return phone calls. At our North Providence wellness center, we constantly get calls from new, and eager, Yoga students who called another Yoga teacher first.
However, the first call was not answered, and then, we get the second call. I cannot complain about this, it works to the advantage of my staff, but not answering phone calls, at any Yoga studio, gives all Yoga teachers a bad image.
If you follow these basic guidelines, you will keep more of your existing Yoga students. New Yoga students will want to repeat a good experience, so you do not have to preach them about the value of long-term Yoga practice. They will eventually see it for themselves and will come to appreciate your teaching method.
Always remember: Becoming a successful Yoga teacher is not luck, it is a formula that you must practice every day.
? Copyright 2006 ? Paul Jerard / Aura Publications
Paul Jerard is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center, in North Providence, RI. He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. To receive a Free e-Book: “Yoga in Practice,” and a Free Yoga Newsletter, please visit: http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html
When a new student arrives to learn Yoga, he, or she, may not have any previous Yoga experience. When teaching Yoga to new students, it is wise to see it from their viewpoint. Everything is new, including your staff, your system, and your method of teaching Yoga. It is up to the Yoga teacher to make of all these components ?user friendly.?
Here are some tips for you, your staff, and the way your facility is run. Remember that these guidelines also apply to your existing Yoga students too. Never take them for granted and your Yoga students will stay with you ?through thick and thin.? Always show appreciation to your existing Yoga students.
Always give Yoga students your complete attention and make sure your teaching method for Yoga is the best it can be. If you are feeling ill, or are in pain, you may have to let a substitute Yoga teacher, teach your Yoga class, in your place. All of us want to teach our own Yoga classes, but the quality of your teaching should always be the best it can possibly be.
Do not get caught up in ?penny pinching.? Some Yoga teachers become adversarial about fees for every little thing. If you teach Yoga for a living, charge a fee that you can live with. Do not ?short change? yourself, but avoid the perception of a ?money hungry? salesperson. Do not hire pushy sales people either. Your Yoga teaching service depends on a professional image that is seamless, compassionate, truthful, and a pleasure to work with.
Make sure you can deliver on all of your promises. Never talk about Yoga as a cure. This implies that we cure our students of ailments. Yoga definitely does help with many ailments, but when you make guarantees, you leave yourself open for ?legal grief.? A promise is a guarantee, and can potentially put you out of the Yoga business permanently.
When you teach Yoga, stick to the facts, and know the exact sources of research, before making a statement. Most Yoga teachers do not have a medical degree, so avoid medical opinions, unless you are a medical doctor. A wise Yoga teacher would tell his, or her, Yoga students to seek medical advice from a physician. Yoga students should also look into the value of a second opinion from a qualified medical professional.
Make sure your staff, and the person who answers the phone, are very friendly. If this is not the case, find replacements. A rude receptionist will scare off existing, and new, Yoga students. Your receptionist is the ?keeper of the gateway? to learning Yoga from you, and gives the first impression of what you are all about. You will never get a second chance to make a first impression.
Lastly, always return phone calls. At our North Providence wellness center, we constantly get calls from new, and eager, Yoga students who called another Yoga teacher first.
However, the first call was not answered, and then, we get the second call. I cannot complain about this, it works to the advantage of my staff, but not answering phone calls, at any Yoga studio, gives all Yoga teachers a bad image.
If you follow these basic guidelines, you will keep more of your existing Yoga students. New Yoga students will want to repeat a good experience, so you do not have to preach them about the value of long-term Yoga practice. They will eventually see it for themselves and will come to appreciate your teaching method.
Always remember: Becoming a successful Yoga teacher is not luck, it is a formula that you must practice every day.
? Copyright 2006 ? Paul Jerard / Aura Publications
Paul Jerard is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center, in North Providence, RI. He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. To receive a Free e-Book: “Yoga in Practice,” and a Free Yoga Newsletter, please visit: http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html
February 25, 2009
Yogic Way of Controlling of Thoughts
As described in my earlier article… thoughts in the mind generate because we have five senses. So broadly there are five kinds of thoughts. Again each thought may either be of pleasure or of pain. This way there are ten types of thoughts. Patanjali further describes each of these ten types of thoughts may be based on proof(pramana), or an opposite(viparyay), or an alternative(vikalpa), or forming sleep(nidra) or forming memory(smriti).
Patanjali emphasized that thoghts based on proof should be accepted, because these are directly perceived. There are six things in the world which can be directly perceived; these are sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and soul(true self). While senses perceive sight, sound, smell, taste and touch, soul(atman) is perceived in the mind through total concentration(samadhi). No seventh thing exists in the whole universe that can be perceived directly. The thought of God and heaven as separate from soul is opposite to proven thought. This is because those who are unable to realise true self or are ignorant about the greatness of true self, depend upon alternative thought or dualism where soul is separate from and inferior to God. Such people remain in constant sleep and bear in themselves all past memories which include all traditional and religious believes and practices.
In order to control thoughts Patanjali teaches - thoughts may be controlled throgh practice(abhyasa) and detachment(vairagya)(I.12). Then he describes what practice is. Practice is to stay there carefully(I.13). But where is to stay? The answer lies in his previous instruction. A seer or practitioner should try to reach or stay there in true self.
In order to practice controlling of thoughts, one has to practice eight limbs(parts) of Yoga. The eight limbs of Yoga shall be described in a later article. At present, there are numerous Yoga shops operating accross the globe and selling yogic exercises, breathing exercises and meditation practices. But these are flawed and hazardous. Practitioners shall get the benefit of exercise only. They may not achieve the aim of Yoga, which is to realise true self.
This practice should continue regularly for a long time with sincerity and confidence(I.14). The final result may come later; but once a seeker starts practicing, he feels the difference. The body and mind becomes pure and light by dispelling undesirable elements like germs and disease from the body and evil thoughts from the mind. Mind becomes pure and intelligence becomes sharp. Such a mind overcomes ignorance, bondage and fear of death.
Now let us see what detachment(vairagya) is. Patanjali teaches - to remain dispassionate and to subjugate those things that are seen or heard of, is detachment(I.15). The world constitutes of all living beings and material things and to bring this world under control is subjugation(vashikara). Subjugation is not to bring everything under control through power, but to remain dispassionate to everything. This subjugation is detachment. One does not have to run away from the society; but by remaining in the society one may subjugate everything and develop detachment. Detachment is non-attraction. One should not be attracted to those things that are seen or heard of.
We see the attractive and beautiful objects of the world. But we should not be attracted towards them. Because the world is ultimately false. Objects that are seen and thoughts relating to them are based on proof. But they are of no use in realisation of true self. Similarly we should not believe those things that are heard of only. Gods and Goddesses, heaven and hell, angels and ghosts are only heard of. So Patanjali instructs a seer should not be attracted to those things that are either seen or heard of.
Author Mr Premansu Chand, 40, is and Indian and Govt. servent. He reads scriptures and practices Yoga. He has published a book “Quest for Truth: the spiritual and yogic way” recently. The aim is to spread true spiritualism and yoga.
http://www.bookstobelievein.com/questfortruth.php
premansu_chand@rediffmail.com
Patanjali emphasized that thoghts based on proof should be accepted, because these are directly perceived. There are six things in the world which can be directly perceived; these are sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and soul(true self). While senses perceive sight, sound, smell, taste and touch, soul(atman) is perceived in the mind through total concentration(samadhi). No seventh thing exists in the whole universe that can be perceived directly. The thought of God and heaven as separate from soul is opposite to proven thought. This is because those who are unable to realise true self or are ignorant about the greatness of true self, depend upon alternative thought or dualism where soul is separate from and inferior to God. Such people remain in constant sleep and bear in themselves all past memories which include all traditional and religious believes and practices.
In order to control thoughts Patanjali teaches - thoughts may be controlled throgh practice(abhyasa) and detachment(vairagya)(I.12). Then he describes what practice is. Practice is to stay there carefully(I.13). But where is to stay? The answer lies in his previous instruction. A seer or practitioner should try to reach or stay there in true self.
In order to practice controlling of thoughts, one has to practice eight limbs(parts) of Yoga. The eight limbs of Yoga shall be described in a later article. At present, there are numerous Yoga shops operating accross the globe and selling yogic exercises, breathing exercises and meditation practices. But these are flawed and hazardous. Practitioners shall get the benefit of exercise only. They may not achieve the aim of Yoga, which is to realise true self.
This practice should continue regularly for a long time with sincerity and confidence(I.14). The final result may come later; but once a seeker starts practicing, he feels the difference. The body and mind becomes pure and light by dispelling undesirable elements like germs and disease from the body and evil thoughts from the mind. Mind becomes pure and intelligence becomes sharp. Such a mind overcomes ignorance, bondage and fear of death.
Now let us see what detachment(vairagya) is. Patanjali teaches - to remain dispassionate and to subjugate those things that are seen or heard of, is detachment(I.15). The world constitutes of all living beings and material things and to bring this world under control is subjugation(vashikara). Subjugation is not to bring everything under control through power, but to remain dispassionate to everything. This subjugation is detachment. One does not have to run away from the society; but by remaining in the society one may subjugate everything and develop detachment. Detachment is non-attraction. One should not be attracted to those things that are seen or heard of.
We see the attractive and beautiful objects of the world. But we should not be attracted towards them. Because the world is ultimately false. Objects that are seen and thoughts relating to them are based on proof. But they are of no use in realisation of true self. Similarly we should not believe those things that are heard of only. Gods and Goddesses, heaven and hell, angels and ghosts are only heard of. So Patanjali instructs a seer should not be attracted to those things that are either seen or heard of.
Author Mr Premansu Chand, 40, is and Indian and Govt. servent. He reads scriptures and practices Yoga. He has published a book “Quest for Truth: the spiritual and yogic way” recently. The aim is to spread true spiritualism and yoga.
http://www.bookstobelievein.com/questfortruth.php
premansu_chand@rediffmail.com
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