The purpose of any true spiritual path is to raise our consciousness to allow us to directly perceive the spiritual dimension. Being spiritual means to recognize one's own spiritual identity and recognize the transcendental essence of everything around us. Additionally, it means to see that we are all parts and parcels of God and to respect each other in that regard. That is one of the goals of Yoga. But how can we be sure that there even is a God?

This comes by a reawakening of our higher consciousness and the knowledge of our spiritual identity. It is through the process of yoga and following the pathway of Sanatana-dharma that we can achieve this higher awareness and comprehend exactly who we are. The Yoga-sutras of Patanjali comprise the basis of yoga practice. However, yoga itself is a deep and serious process, and there are numerous types of yoga that can be performed. There are four main types of yoga depending on the yoga positions. There is:

Jnana-yoga is the pathway of intellectual development and understanding the nature of reality.

Karma-yoga is the pathway of right action, detachment from the fruits of one's deeds, and committing our activities to a higher and spiritual purpose. Raja-yoga, also known as Classical yoga, is the pathway of internal meditation and the attainment of higher states of consciousness through various different practices. Bhakti-yoga is the pathway of raising our consciousness, increasing our love and devotion for God and decreasing our attraction for aspects of the temporary material energy.

There are many other types of yoga, but they are usually considered branches of these four paths.

However, in the preliminary stages, yoga is, simply, for controlling the flickering nature of the mind, and for developing one's positive qualities and expanding one's consciousness from material to spiritual awareness. It is explained that Yoga is the process of completely calming the activities of the mind, which include sleep, misconception, imagination, memory, and perceived knowledge. When these are stabilized, then it may be called yoga, which offers the chance for the seer to fully realize his own fundamental and essential nature. Yoga is the attempt to realign our Selves with the Supreme Self, God.

When you practice yoga you can feel the unwanted burdens of the mind fall away, such as hate, discontent, envy, greed, anxiety, anger, etc. Then other qualities like peacefulness, blissfulness, contentment, and tranquility will be felt. These are qualities sought by everyone and are some of the many things that can be accomplished through yoga, at least on the elementary level. As you make further progress, you may enter into the deeper levels of awareness and transcending the mind and eventually go so far as to realize your own spiritual identity and what your relationship is with the Absolute. Becoming free from material life and regaining one's spiritual identity is the aim of all forms of yoga.

But in spite of all of these benefits, people frequently find it difficult to take this path. This is simply because they lack the motivation to exercise. But once you start performing Yoga on a regular basis, it can itself keep you motivated. The benefit of motivation from Yoga practice is what makes Yoga unique among health maintenance systems. Yoga can become a lifestyle because there is no pain or discomfort involved.

Why do most diets fail? Why do most exercisers quit? Lack of motivation is the reason for exercise and diet failure. People already know they ought to walk more, drink more water, exercise, and eat better, but they must maintain their level of motivation without "burning out."

When performing Yoga, positive energy flows throughout the room. Positive energy creates exercise motivation and creates powerful visions of success. The next step is to believe in the powerful visions of success, which are formed in your mind. Some people are afraid to succeed. Maybe they inherently feel a lack of self-worth, but Yoga also works on boosting one's self-esteem. It is normal for people to feel apprehensive about change, but change is often one of the keys to success.

So we can say that consistency is the key as far as the benefits of yoga are concerned while we are in the process of learning yoga positions. We can't benefit from yoga if we are not consistent with our routine. If we fail to be consistent, then it is very difficult to derive positive results and yoga can't be blamed for this. Another beneficial technique to use is hypnosis i.e. Hypnotherapy.

Hypnosis has proven to be extremely effective in keeping us motivated. Self-hypnosis is based on the formula of visual imagery and auto suggestion, and it works on a deeper unconscious level than one can imagine. Motivational self-hypnosis engages with your unconscious mind, and compels it to positively alter your sense of self-perception and self-image.

The unconscious mind is largely responsible for the way we think and react. If we train it to think along a different line, your subsequent behaviors will change too. You will want to understand the true potential that lies within each of us, and by using hypnosis techniques you can tap into that potential. Through positive affirmations such as "I can do it" along with positive visual imagery, hypnosis CDs can retrain your mind into believing that everything is possible, and nothing is impossible. This simply means that yoga in conjunction with hypnosis can help us to achieve success more quickly.