By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

A yogic mind is quiet, peaceful and capable of focus. It applies itself to the task at hand: it doesn’t fritz off in a million directions at the same time.  

When the task at hand is completed, a yogic mind is restful and serene. If this is not your mind’s usual state, it needs help. Yoga’s lifestyle practices help make your mind more yogic.

A yogic lifestyle is a way of living that contributes to a quiet mind. An unyogic life is a way of living that contributes to busy mind. You should not stop working, shopping or gardening. You need not give up all your relationships.  Surprisingly, these are not the things that make your mind busy. 

 Certain internal processes keep your mind spinning. Daily, you do things that churn your mind. Everybody lives this way because everybody has a busy mind: yet everybody has a busy mind because they live this way. Where can you interject into that busy loop? How do you derail that repetitive and painful internal process?

Excerpt from A Yogic Lifestyle, page 39