Ravi Valluri speaks about ways in which one can harness one’s mind through the practice of yoga,

Ravi Valluri speaks about ways in which one can harness one’s mind through the practice of yoga, pranayama, contemplation, meditation.
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A thorough going teacher of psychology, blessed with a fertile mind and revolutionary concepts always looked for out of the box solutions in the estimable school where he imparted education. He repeatedly attempted to capture the imagination of his tutees by bringing something noteworthy to class and trying to create an ‘Aha!’ moment for the students.
He realised that wisdom delivered with an element of theatre and those riveting moments kept alive the interest of his students. Once he was discussing various attributes of the human mind within the four walls of the classroom and found the response of the students to be tepid, a trifle jejune.
So he embarked upon the idea of taking the students for an out-of-classroom ‘class’. This included watching the animation movie Jungle Book, a visit to a zoo followed by a rendezvous to a sanctuary.
The students were enthralled by the movie.
The adventures of Mowgli, a human cub raised by a pack of wolves, his interactions with the panther and the free spirited bear, the encounters with a venomous python and a treacherous tiger kept the students on the edge.
The teacher then asked the students to ponder on the not-so-obvious differences between a zoo and a sanctuary. The now energised group replied in unison that as animals are caged in a zoo it affected the psyche of the animals, while perhaps that was not the case in a sanctuary. The reply of the school children was no rocket science, but the palpable enthusiasm was discernible. The spark of creativity was thus ignited among the neophytes.
Taking the topic further the teacher compared the students to the human cub and the animals in the movie; the zoo and the sanctuary representing various facets and dimensions of the human mind. He juxtaposed these on the study of the chambers of the human mind.
The teacher posed a few questions to the students- which were the largest, swiftest, wisest and the tallest creatures in the animal kingdom. The prescient students once again in unison replied they were the elephant, cheetah, owl and the giraffe respectively.
A robust mind necessarily needs to enhance the qualities of becoming lightening swift, streaked with attributes of being large in size, tall and wise. The chambers of the mind evolve by possessing these traits. However, the educator felt that his protégés had something more to learn.
The lion was missing from the picture and so was the leonine aspect of the human mind. The lion is the emperor of the jungle. The monarch of the jungle moves with utmost majesty-almost disdain- but with enormous grace.
This species is extremely courageous, bold, an intrepid warrior, ready to embrace an assortment of challenges, unstoppable in the moves it undertakes, has enormous self-belief and faith and never allows an opportunity to slip by. It is extremely charismatic and every animal is its food and prey.
Therefore, drawing upon this analogy the educationalist exhorted his students to lionize their minds.
The instructor in a facile and telling manner homed in on the point that while speed, alacrity, brilliance and wisdom occupy certain chambers of the human mind, the most consequential and illustrious attribute of the human mind must be its intrepid nature and self-belief.