The Yoga Teachers' Fellowship Brings together teachers and students whose passion is yoga

Change, in any form, is a challange. We have all changed either by force or naturally to get to where we are today. However, what if we want to go farther than we have in the past, what if we would like a better life, a better relationship, more money, to start our own business or just be a stronger person? We have to make a conscious quantum leap including our mind, body and soul.Most of us want to change some aspect of our life. Change means doing major work on ourself, making a concerted effort to affect that part of life, it means growing as a person, and maybe discovering a few things about ourself we would rather not know. For this reason many people live within their comfort zones, it’s easier than having to challenge oneself and make the changes necessary to live a happier life.

Forced change Versus desired change:

Forced change, however harsh, can be easier than desired change, as the event/change is taken out of our personal control. We have no choice but to change our life in some way. Crisis ignites change: Trauma is usually cathartic, the catalyst for change. For example, you may lose your job and are forced to change your life in some way; if you  divorce, you are forced to make rapid changes.

Desired change is like a fantasy, a daydream while you are doing something else; what you think about as you drive your car to work, unless you live in Johannesburg and need to totally concentrate on the driving.

Conscious choice: Do I like the pipe dream simply because I like having something to dream about or do I really want the pipe dream in my life?

Here is where we can talk about changing any aspect of your life. It’s called the three pillars of change.

3-pillars1The Three Pillars of a Quantum Leap

Desire

One of the first things you have to ask yourself is:

*is my desire to change strong enough for the effort required? Only you can answer this, think of these points

* How long have you wanted to make this particular change?

* Have you done anything about it up until now?

* What are you willing to sacrifice to make the change?

* Is it going to affect others in a significant way?

* What would it be like when desired change happens?

You can’t measure desire on any kind of scale as it is purely subjective, but asking yourself the questions above will at least give you some indication of thye strength of your desire. The questions will also help you look at the desired change in an objective way - but you have to be 100% honest with the answers.

Belief

Without belief we would not be who we are today. Our whole life has been shaped by our beliefs from a very young age. The subject of belief is my passion and it amazes me how many people don’t question the beliefs about their life, from religion to why they listen to a certain radio station. Many beliefs have been instilled in us from an early age and we saunter along quite happily not questioning them, until the day comes when we are forced to question them.

Beliefs are a powerful force, this is why Hitler was able to get into power as he installed his own ideals into millions of Germans; it’s how big brands  can ask, and get, us to pay unsubstantiated large prices; it’s how some of us are extremely confident and some of us have very low self esteem. We have all been led to believe certain things as we have grown up and some of the beliefs are outdated.

If you want to change an aspect of your life you have to really believe you can do it. Once you know you have the desire and you want to go for it, you have to install the belief pattern to make the change.

Installing a belief
This might sound a little crazy: how on earth can we install a belief? well, if you think about it all the beliefs you have at this very moment have been installed in some way. There are two steps to install a belief: rote learning and evidence.

Rote learning is basically when you tell yourself over and over again that something is true. However, this is not enough to install a belief, if it were, I would be able to fly without the help of British Airways. The other part of installing a belief is evidence: you have to find evidence to make the new belief believable.

So installing a new belief really is simple, all you have to do is repeat the belief to yourself over and over and then go out and find evidence to support the belief. Think that’s oversimplifying it? try it for yourself.

Passion

Once you have the desire and you have installed the belief, the passion will come a lot easier. When you have the passion you will have the drive to keep going, you love what you are doing, and it doesn’t seem like hard work even though you may be putting in eighty hours a week to make your desire happen.

Passion can’t be learned, but it can be harnessed. The simple fact that you love doing something and love learning as much as possible about it will keep your passion alive as long as you want it to be alive. There might come a time when the passion burns out and leaves you altogether but that will be a choice.

Conclusion

Think about something you’d love to change about yourself, look at the three tenets above and work your way through a new belief you want to install. Do it for only 1 belief at a time to start with, and then progress from there. Small realistic actions that can be quantified make you feel more confident and motivated to continue

Are you willing to take a quantum leap?

I think it is so interesting to witness the dynamics of change. There is so much to absorb to not only see the larger picture but to also see parallels in other collective and individual situations. Time for truth, accountability, and compassion seem to transcend the power of the status quo. What an exciting time to be alive! Thank you for your insights.

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