For a good life, we need mental strength, and that must be developed holistically

We all need a steady mind. Whether we are looking for successful engagement with the world or inner calm away from the distractions around us, we need a stable mind to make that happen.

The heart of yoga is exactly that: mental strength, a steady mind. Our mind is repeatedly agitated or dull throughout every day. In between, there are times when we are calm and focused. Yoga is fundamentally to increase the time when the mind is calm and focused and decrease the time when it is agitated or dull—and make that calm focus our natural state of being.

The challenge is that we cannot simply “will” our mind to be steady. We all know that. We can tell our mind, “Don’t wander” or “Don’t think of that.”  But as we all know, that is no magic bullet to remove unsteadiness. Our mind will wander. And it will think of what we tell it not to!

The effective pathway to increase our inner steadiness is through a more intelligent and holistic approach. This is why yoga has meditation at its heart, but it is not just meditation. We must consider that our mind is not floating in a space of its own: we are anchored to our body and our senses.

What we do and feel with our body and with our eyes, ears, speech, taste etc. has a strong impact on our mind. And our mind in turn has a powerful influence on our body and senses. If we understand and leverage this mutual connection, so that our mind, body, and senses support each other in the journey towards greater strength and steadiness, we will have much greater quality of life, every day.

This is why we need a balanced and comprehensive approach, considering many domains of wellbeing: movement, breathing, feeling, thoughts, lifestyle and so on. Used intelligently together, they should all help increase our mental strength. And through that mental strength, we will find it possible to reach meaningful goals in life: both in the world outside and our inner self within.