Paramahansa Yogananda

What yoga teaches us about youth and the power of the mind*

Reading time: 3 minutes

Health and youthfulness depend on being happy within. As your body ages, so your mind, through bad habits, puts on the condition of the body and also begins to grow old.

Why allow this? Your mind can remain young in spite of the body. And if you can make the mind youthful, the body will put on the same mood. Thoughts are marvellous. If you affirm a thought strongly enough, it will become real to you.

Always think: “In my mind I am ever young. I am lasting youth, untouched by time. There is no reason for me to be otherwise, for I am Spirit. I am mind; I am consciousness. Consciousness is ever young. I can be old right now if I choose to be so; and I can be young in mind and heart, no matter what my body goes through, if I choose to be so. Lord, make me as happy as Thou art. Make me realise I am made in Thine image.”

Try affirming these thoughts for six months and see what happens. Everyone you come in contact with will be drawn to your magnetic aura of youthful vitality and happiness.

Happiness is like the iceberg — three fourths of it lies within, while one-fourth is revealed on the surface. Be happy within. Fill yourself with the abundance of joy that is deep within your heart.

For more information on the divine methods of good health and the yoga meditation teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, please visit: Yogananda.org. * This excerpt is taken from the chapter ‘The Divine Art of Erasing Age and Creating Vitality,’ which appears in Solving the Mystery of Life, Volume IV of Paramahansa Yogananda’s Collected Talks and Essays book series, published by Self Realization Fellowship.