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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 ourselves and others. It also means to see that we are all connected to God and to respect each other in that light. 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 pathway of Sanatana-dharma that we can reach this higher awareness and comprehend exactly who we are. The Yoga-sutras of Patanjali make up the essence of yoga practice. However, yoga itself is a deep and serious practice, and there are a variety of forms of yoga that can be performed. There are four primary types of yoga with varying yoga positions. There is:

Jnana-yoga is the pathway of intellectual growth and understanding what is real and what is not.

Karma-yoga is the pathway of right action, detachment from the fruits of one's deeds, and committing our activities to a higher, spiritual purpose. Astanga or Raja-yoga is the pathway of inward meditation and the attainment of higher states of consciousness through various practices. Bhakti-yoga is the pathway of raising our consciousness, and developing our devotion and love for God and decreasing our attachment to aspects of the temporary material energy.

There are additional forms of yoga, but they are typically considered branches of these four pathways.

However, in the earliest stages, yoga is, simply, a tool for controlling the flickering nature of the mind, and for developing one's finer qualities and expanding one's awareness from material to spiritual awareness. It is known that Yoga is the process of calming the movements of the mind, which include perceived knowledge, misconception, imagination, sleep, and memory. When these are stabilized, then it is called yoga, which offers the opportunity for the seer to become fully aware of his own essential and fundamental nature. Yoga is the attempt to realign our individual Selves with the Supreme Self, God.

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

But despite all of these benefits, people frequently find it difficult to follow this path. This is simply due to the fact that they lack the motivation to exercise. Once you start practicing Yoga on a regular basis, it will itself keep you motivated. The benefit of motivation from Yoga practice is what makes Yoga unique among health maintenance programs. Yoga can become a lifestyle because there is no discomfort involved.

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

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

So we can say that consistency is the key as far as the benefits of yoga are concerned while we have to take care of the yoga positions. We cannot benefit 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 cannot be blamed for it. Another beneficial technology is hypnotherapy.

Hypnosis has proven to be very effective in keeping us motivated. Self hypnosis is based on the combination of visual imagery and auto suggestion, and it works on a deeper unconscious level than one can imagine. Hypnosis therapy for motivation engages your unconscious mind, and compels it to positively alter self-perception and self-image.

Unbeknownst to us, our unconscious is largely responsible for how we think and react; if we train it to think along a different line, your corresponding behavior will change as well. You will feel motivated to understand the true potential that lies within all of us, and by using hypnotherapy techniques you can tap into that potential. Through gentle affirmations such as "I can do it" along with positive visual imagery, hypnosis CDs can retrain your mind into believing that everything is possible, and nothing is impossible. This means that yoga combined with hypnotherapy can help us to move towards success more quickly.