At its very essence, life is a process of consuming and restoring energy. Throughout the day, a constant mechanism unfolds, programming our mind and its needs. The moment we open our eyes after sleep, needs immediately arise within us: staying in bed, getting up, moving, washing, eating, and so on.
When we sleep, we do not experience any needs. Only during a conscious dream can certain desires appear: seeing something, doing something, or experiencing a particular situation. But in ordinary unconscious sleep, we simply live through whatever experience arises, without asking whether we like it or not, without feeling hunger, fatigue, or any other state that would compel us to act.
Thus, it seems that our mind itself creates our activities and concerns in life. The lack of certain hormones, fatigue, boredom, pain, and fear are among the main factors that drive us to act in this world. Society imposes the necessity of working and thinking about the future; it also instills in us the fear of suffering. The instinct of self-preservation pushes us forward as well.
The same applies to other aspects of our existence: love, children, the search for fame, respect, recognition, and so on. Everything seems to be governed by programs that have been imprinted within us since childhood. But who are we truly beyond these programs? And what would happen if we began to rewrite them—or even remove them?
Generally, whenever we go against one of these programs, suffering appears. The organism activates its defense mechanisms, and very few people are able to withstand this resistance for a long time. Eventually, we usually give in and begin following one of these programs again.
Is it possible to reach an agreement with nature, to establish a kind of contract with it: you satisfy my needs as much as I am able, and in return, you do not inflict suffering upon me?
At certain moments, we may reach a state of balance, and suffering can even disappear temporarily. But is this not yet another illusion? Nature does not know compassion. It follows its own purpose and does not concern itself with the amount of suffering it imposes on human beings. No organism can truly endure hunger, pain, or other forms of deprivation indefinitely.
So how do yogis accomplish actions that seem to go beyond human limitations? The answer lies in energy. In the face of nature, there is only one way: to possess a force greater than it.
Psychic energy is a particular form of energy capable not only of blocking the body’s nervous reactions but also of influencing hormonal levels, slowing the heart rate, controlling blood circulation, and more. Through this energy, it becomes possible to free oneself from the control and domination of natural mechanisms.
However, accumulating this energy unfortunately requires a great deal of time. At a certain point, one must accept passing through pain and suffering, because resistance to natural forces allows a greater amount of energy to be accumulated.
For those who possess good karma and do not waste their strength in constant struggle against nature, the path may be easier. Their lives contain less negativity and fewer conflicts. But can they nevertheless create the level of resistance necessary to accumulate the energy required to transcend the limitations of nature’s programs?
Yoga gives us hope, as well as the experience passed down by our ancestors, that through specific techniques it is possible to transform our energies into higher forms of energy, which in turn possess greater power.
Daily practice and the regulation of our prana allow us not only to better cope with illness but also to regain mastery over our fears, hunger, and many other impulses that usually govern our existence.