Fire burns!

"I want to do yoga because I am stressed", this is the most common thing I have heard when asking, 'why do you want to do yoga?'. But if we look a bit deeper at this answer we see it is meaningless.

What is stress? What is life without stress? Have you ever not had stress?

The path up the mountain is a treacherous one, we don't know what is coming around the next bend, over the next incline, so we just focus on where we are now.

It seems to me, and I know I have said this before, that we think life should somehow be easy and that everything should flow. I really don't know where this message comes from, but I see victims of it all the time.

Bookshops are full of books from people that have all the answers, 'I can make you thin/rich and happy in 7 days'. Well if you believe that you need therapy, and then when you realise that doesn't work either you may try something else, on and on, until one day................ you go to the market and some one gives you 5 magic beans, ahhh If only this could be true.

We choose our beliefs and as grow older we sort through these different beliefs as we re-formulate a system of ideas that fits our experience. For example, if we have lived in a culture that truly believes that red jelly is the work of the devil, then we will inherit that belief as a truism, and we may never question it for fear of going against the culture we live in that supports that belief, otherwise we would be cast out or rejected. But if we moved to a culture that said that belief was false we would have to (maybe) re-evaluate our belief about red jelly and the devil, hmmmmm.

There is always someone who will tell you what to do. Anthony Storr's book 'Feet of Clay' tells us of the 'Guru' culture and the way it can influence vulnerable minds to become literally 'brainwashed'. The more infamous of these was Jim Jones and the Jonestown massacre. He convinced people to poison themselves and die in a mass suicide! Stoor does give some quite extreme examples of this idea of (faith-full) belief as opposed to reasoning and the free ability to question what we are hearing and experiencing within our own body/mind. One thing he points out is that many people have very profound spiritual experiences but not all of them find the need to come out of it and tell the world. He also funnily enough includes Freud and Jung, which is an interesting view on so called modern day psychology as being 'just another belief system.

What am I going on about? I suppose what I am saying is that if you think it should be easy, forget about it, which does not mean that is 'should' be difficult either. But that it will sometimes be difficult and it will sometimes be hard. This is true for the 'crack addict' and the guru, how could it not be? And by 'it' I suppose I am referring to life as we know it captain.

'I think he is trying to confuse us'. Moriarty.

If you find yourself drawn to a particular 'guru' or belief system it is probably because there is something for you to learn in that place. My only question is; Are you happy or not, and if not why not, what is it you think you are lacking? Once you know what that is you'd better move yourself into getting whatever it is fast, why suffer?

Why suffer?! HA!!

' There's room at the top they are telling you still' John Lennon.

Do Shalabhasana Now !!!

Hari Om