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The purpose of any true spiritual path is to raise our awareness to allow us to directly perceive the spiritual dimension. Being spiritual means to recognize one's own spiritual identity and recognize the transcendental essence of all others. It also means to realize that we are all parts and parcels of God and to respect each other in that regard. That is one of the objectives of Yoga. But how can we be certain that there even is a God?

This comes by a reawakening of our higher sense of awareness and the perception of our spiritual identity. It is through the practice of yoga and the pathway of Sanatana-dharma that we can achieve this higher consciousness and comprehend exactly who we are. The Yoga-sutras of Patanjali form the basis of yoga practice. However, yoga itself is a deep, serious process, and there are multiple 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 the nature of reality.

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

There are many other forms of yoga, but they are usually considered branches of these four pathways.

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

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

But despite all of these benefits, many people find it quite difficult to take this path. This is due to the fact that they lack the motivation to exercise. 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 systems. Yoga can become a lifestyle because there is no pain involved.

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

In Yoga practice, positive energy is all around the room. Positive energy generates exercise motivation and generates strong visions of success. The next step is to believe in the powerful visions of success, which form a mental picture. Some people are afraid to succeed. Perhaps 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 keys to success.

So we can say that consistency is essential as far as the benefits of yoga are concerned while we are in the process of learning yoga positions. We cannot benefit from yoga if we are not consistent with our routine. If we fail to do so, then it is difficult to derive positive results and yoga cannot be blamed for it. To stay motivated, a beneficial technology is motivational hypnosis therapy.

Self hypnosis has proven to be extremely effective in getting and keeping us motivated. Self hypnosis is based on the formula of auto suggestion and visual imagery, and it works on deeper unconscious levels than one can imagine. Self hypnosis for motivation engages with your unconscious mind, and compels it to 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 behaviors will change too. You will have the desire to understand the true potential that lies within each of us, and by using a hypnosis program you can tap into that potential. Through positive affirmations such as "I can do it" along with powerful visual imagery, hypnosis CDs can recondition your mind into believing that anything is possible, and nothing is impossible. This means that yoga combined with hypnotherapy can help us to swiftly achieve long-lasting success.

Alan B. Densky, CH opened his hypnotherapy practice in 1978. He offers a broad range of self-hypnosis CDs for all aspects of self development, including hypnotherapy for exercise motivation.