don't/do

Brain - Mind - Body - Breath . . . . . . . . . All of these working together will give you a better and more enjoyable experience of living.

Enjoy Your - Self - by breathing and relaxing, make this a priority then everything else will come.

You have the tools and the maps now all you need to do is use them.

It really is not that difficult.

Is It ?

who knows ?

What do we really know for sure? That we are going to die sometime and we were born sometime ago. We know we need to eat, sleep, drink and go to the toilet. I'm sure there are more things and those wise souls of you reading this can make a longer list if you like.

Once we have decided what we know for sure. We then could experiment with what we are not too sure about.

If you are a practising Yogi can you be very honest with yourself and ask if you have really achieved anything worthwhile from the practising you have done? Make another list if you like!

We have a brain and we have a nervous system we do know that for sure, for sure.

How is our brain function at the moment, is it a happy brain, an unhappy brain, a needy brain? The brain is us, I think that can be stated as more or less a fact too. How do we treat our brain and nervous system?

I think we need to get to a point of realisation in seeing that 'we' are responsible for our own lives. If you need a teacher that's great, but have you asked what you may be learning from this teacher. If you need a plumber you would not call an electrician would you? So if you think you 'need' a yoga teacher, you really 'should' ask yourself why it is you 'think' you need a yoga teacher, be very clear indeed.

If you don't know what it is exactly what you need you may be going to a plumber when you really need an electrician.

If you know what you need then you can ask 'the yoga teacher' in question if they can provide it.

Now there's a thought!

Happy/Not Happy ?

"All I want is to be happy". This is a common answer when people are asked what they 'really' want. We are told that the 'Royal road of Yoga' leads to Enlightenment/Samhadi/Bliss absolute and we have been given the maps to get there. This is very good, now all we have to do is get on with it!

But a small voice in me says, "Yea right" in a kind of dismissive tone. Well ok then, if this voice is there in me all I need to ask is, does it have any relevance to my ongoing well being? It is a voice I know well, it is part of my personality make-up, it has been with me a long time, so can I afford to ignore it?

'To be or not to be. That is the question'. Well he knew what he was saying when he said that didn't he?

The question, "Who am I" if uttered outside of the yogic arena would seem a little disconcerting. Imagine standing with friends and saying that, they would probably think you were joking and if they considered you were serious would probably tell you of a psychotherapist they know. 'But' within the realm of the 'inner work' of Yoga/Meditation this question has a profound significance. We all, I believe, have roles to play and we can be many things to many people, father, mother, brother, sister, friend, work colleague, employer, employee etc, and In order to exist relatively comfortably we have to learn to adapt to our differing situations and relationships. Even those that have 'found themselves' I would say would have to compromise at certain points to 'play the game of life' with others.

In our practise, whatever it may be, aren't we looking for a 'place to be peaceful' with ourselves and others? We start with ourselves working through postures some of which we may find very challenging. In starting with the dis-comfort of certain postures aren't we learning to 'handle' our discomfort? We all have our favourite postures as we have those we avoid and dislike, this is the same with our lives too isn't it? We have things we 'love' to do and we have things we 'have' to do. We may love going to the movies but don't relish the thought of getting on the tube on Monday morning in the rain and cold, or it may be the opposite, whatever turns you on. So in effect the Asana practise is seen as metaphor. Hanging out in our least favourite posture first thing on a Monday morning for half an hour takes us straight to the core of our resistance to 'FEEELINGSSSS'.

So you could use the adage; If you're going to suffer get on with it! Otherwise enjoy yourself!

I am not being unsympathetic I know exactly what it is like to 'have to' do some thing I don't really want to do. This is a basic fact of life that I have taken many years to come to terms with. Suffering in the short term to achieve the long term goal, whatever it may be.

'A human being can only achieve full stature by living with dignity in the face of absurdity' Albert Camus.

Energy from breathing

Most of the energy we use is somehow linked to breathing. We eat food and the food is combusted by the heat of the body to produce energy. Do you ever really think about breathing? If you wake up in the morning and make it your mission to breath fully and deeply you will have a deeper experience of yourself. When we are on automatic pilot all of the habits are 'acted out'. This is our 'condition'.

Doing Yoga is 'going against the grain' to our habituated patterns and it is not so easy to go against the grain, is it?

This morning my 'ego' defences were on fine form. I woke up at 6.30 and started to think about things randomly, as I usually do. I thought I could go back to sleep, but couldn't and eventually 45 mins later I 'got up' and went into the other room to breathe. My 'ego' then said. "Hmmm why is it you have to do all this stuff just to have a reasonably normal day? Normal people don't have to do this!" This got me for a minute or two as I started to look for evidence inside my memory as to why I wasn't 'normal' like other people. I stopped doing that after a minute or two and started to breath a little deeper. I did the usual kapal and alternative nostril breathing and watched as my mind jumped around looking for reason to stop doing this. At a certain point after 15 minutes or so I started to laugh. This is a good sign for me.

That's it.

What is the secret of Yoga? There is no secret. Just do it!

Ego-Prana-Feelings.

The body emanates feelings if you let it and the mind spends most of the time thinking, whilst the breath goes in and out through the mouth or nostrils. This is more or less the case for most people.

Once you step into the arena of Yoga these same processes continue but (hopefully) there is a subtle difference. What is it that is different?

The thing that is different sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly is that awareness of these processes, i.e, thinking, feeling and breathing is increased.

To 'transcend' is to go beyond normal limits and transcendence is 'surpassing the ordinary'. Once we become more focused and aware we can learn to transcend our 'ordinariness'. This is rather a profound thing to do is it not? To transcend our ordinariness takes us more or less beyond being human. If we consider this seriously, would we want to do it?

When we read of Guru Saints and Yogic masters we have to assume that they have transcended the ordinary. They have gone beyond our understanding of what it is like to be human or beyond human. Again, if we take this idea seriously we have to appreciate that 'we' as mere ordinary humans, if we are 'doing' what it says in the Yogic manuals, are becoming transcendent.

This to the ordinary so-called ego perspective is allot to take on. We may scoff at such an idea and we will definitely scoff at it if we have not done yoga before or know nothing at all about it, and, why wouldn't 'we'?

So what then are 'we' as 'neophyte yogi's' doing? The yogic path can be seen as a bit like and elevator ride in some respects. If you 'go up' too high and you are not ready to go 'too high' you will know it instinctively. It's as if there is a 'natural' governor within our system that will not allow us to go 'beyond our limits' as they exist at any given moment. As we continue to progress in our practise, undoing muscular tensions and releasing trauma/s from the system, on a mental, physical and emotional level, we will create more room to move, but we will also keep coming up against limits certain limits. It is at this point of the game that we need to learn something else about practise and that is acceptance and patience. Which is very different from procrastination, apathy and laziness :)

Surely it stands to reason, that if you have muscular conditioning in the form of chronic tension, muscular conditioning and chronic tension that has been in place for many years. Then it is highly likely it may take some time for it to be released. So stop pushing for results and try not to form another addiction to avoiding feeling, the only place to be is here and now. What you 'choose' to do in the here and now is another matter and it is relative to the amount of consciousness you have available to you at this time. The amount of consciousness that is available to you is dependent on; A. Luck or Karma. And B. Your commitment and 'will' to transcend.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

OM

Breathe !

The yogi's nose is the pathway for energy, is it not. The nostrils 'should' be cleared on waking. Splash some cold water around the face, this will get the blood supply to that area more vital. blow out any excess mucus, then use the 'neti'. Then do some kapalbhatti pumping 20 - 30 - 50 - 100 pumps, or more depending on your skills. Repeat for 3 -4 rounds or more depending on your skill. Do this with the window open preferably. Then spend some time sitting and breathing in and out through both nostrils. Inhale and exhale at an even ratio, inhale 4, exhale 4, or if more skilled for 8 or more. Do this for as long as you have the time or inclination. Stay focused and keep the mind on counting. Then do some asana practise with the mind focused on the breath.

Then enjoy the day ahead. If you notice the nostrils blocking do something about it. The nostrils are the main source of oxygen intake. Mouth breathing brings in more oxygen but it also carries more particles into the throat and beyond because it bypasses the filtering process of the nasal passages and sinuses.

Do it everyday! Why Not ??

Ego and meaninglessness

I'd prefer it if you didn't believe anything I say- I would prefer it if you didn't believe anything anyone said.

What is reality?

When we enter a deeper or different 'reality' through effort or luck we see things in a new way usually. When we are 'moved' by a good 'movie' or some piece of music, art or poetry, we can see and feel things differently. A shift seems to take place somewhere in our chemistry and our perception is altered through some means we don't quite understand. These experiences enable us to question 'what is real?'

Once you know you can enter these states at will through yoga practise what is stopping you?

Think about it!

Believing something does not make it so, and by reading some of the vast treatise's on Yoga and surrounding topics we can get overwhelmed by some of the information. Some of the seemingly 'outrageous' statements by some of the more 'way out teachers' leave us a little bemused and sceptical. Such as stories of Yogi's being buried underground for days on end with no food, oxygen or water and stories of levitation can leave us feeling a little bit unsteady so we skim past these subjects and think no more of it. Or maybe even feel a little embarrassed that these people who seem so great in most respects have to go mentioning things like this.

But until we try we do not really know do we? So believing something or disregarding it because it doesn't fit our frame of reference is not good enough, especially since we have entered the 'arena' of yoga practise. Anyway who wants to levitate and hold the breath for an hour, why would we want to do that?

Once we begin to question things a little more deeply, and I think we will, we 'can' become unsteady. Our old references are no longer useful. This is where the 'guru' comes in, the 'weighty one', the 'knower', He/she becomes our guide and/or teacher, leading us through the strange landscapes of our inner world. Some people seem to need a guru and some don't, check yourself, what is it you think you don't know? Probably the last thing anyone needs at times of uncertainty is someone heaping more uncertainty and confusion onto us. At times of uncertainty and at any time in fact 'keeping it simple' is very useful.

If you have life threatening addiction problems a 12 step programme would be a good place to start. If you feel you cannot find the right support there are professional therapists to help you.

YoGa iS Not For EvErYon£!!! is IT? Yes it is . . . . . when y o u ArE Ready. . . .

Beware of the hazards of the teacher/guru's ego.... If it sounds like 'bullshit' it probably is!

'Bliss absolute' is the pinnacle of the practise. Supposedly it awaits us at the top of the mountain. But what if we never get to the top of the mountain, what if we never get near the top of the mountain? What if it's all a big hoax to keep us moving forward and the mountain is merely the carrot dangling in front of our donkey brains to keep plodding on towards this destiny of infinite possibility. But why would anyone want us to do that? The swami's of 2 thousand years ago had no vested interest in 'conning us' did they? Why would they? Or maybe they were all mad, driven insane by these deep breathing practises and strange twisting and bending postures they did.

What do think?

Don't believe it, try it! Your body/mind is the laboratory, this is where you can try out some of these techniques. What are you waiting for?

Why am I writing this?

Through the practise we are 'undoing ourself/s'. We are undoing years of conditioning. Do you think that is going to be easy? Start with what you can manage. Got to an Asana class or two, look around for a teacher you like. Then try doing some at home. If it doesn't seem to be working after 6 months go back to what you were doing before.

'A human being can only achieve full stature by living with dignity in the face of absurdity.' Albert Camus.

'Human life begins on the far side of despair' Jean-Paul Sartre.

'There's a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in' L. Cohen.

Shanti.

ego and meaning

When we were very young we were clear, we were like an un-programmed computer, clean and clear. As we slowly grew we were informed of a 'reality'. We were informed of a 'reality' by our immediate surroundings, by our parent/s or guardian/s . We were shaped, in a sense, by the chance of our birth, i.e, where and with whom we were born to! In yoga this could be called 'karma', it's as good an explanation as any. If it's not 'karma' what is it, blind chance? It really doesn't matter does it? The one fact is that we are here and we have been 'shaped' by circumstance. Our computer (brain and nervous system) has been loaded with software, (beliefs, opinions, prejudices), which themselves have coalesced into habits, addictions etc.

Read through that again and see if you agree or disagree or otherwise with this idea before moving on.

What is the point of life? Have you ever been confronted with that question in a profound way?

We are great emulators us humans, we watch and we try out what we have seen. We copy and see if what we copy works for us. We become who/what we are over time. As time moves on we become (literally) less flexible. We become more entrenched in our views. Our need to belong to something enables us to 'fit in', even sometimes when we don't really want to 'fit in'. It seems to go that we either conform or rebel against authority and paramount reality.

In my opinion when we 'do' yoga we are doing something very radical. We are 'shaking ourselves up'. We are looking into the nature of 'who we are, who we have become'. It's quite literally an 'eye opener'. It is or can be also disturbing in varying degrees to 'see' what we 'see' with our vision turned inwards.

It's not for everybody and I don't blame anyone for saying; "To Hell with it I'm just gonna enjoy myself".

If one thinks about life from the ego perspective 'enjoying ourselves' is really the only conclusion we can come to. The alternative would be to suffer and be miserable. If we can be honest with ourselves we could ask; "Am I happy or miserable, really?" The answer to that of course is very personal. We may be, like most of us are probably, a bit of both, according to 'time of the month, year or day and of course the weather etc.

In the truest sense of the word I believe there really is no template for reality. You can read a million different interpretations of what reality is or may be, but as Leonard Cohen said; "Just according to who's plan?"

I have found that life seems to 'work' better for me when I do yoga practise everyday. But I have also found that there are times when for some reason I haven't been able to practise. I didn't die and my life didn't fall apart because of this.

As we go deeper we will 'go deeper', into the muscular layering (Reich) and body memory. We may even start to see where our programming began and our authenticity ended.

School, remember that place? All of this undoing and getting upset and disturbed is all part of the (or) deal of living isn't it? When you 'do' yoga practise you will feel a bit more and it may feel a bit more 'acute' but when you 'feel' you 'release', you literally 'let go' of holding.

So 'do' a few downward facing dogs and a cat or two, then a shoulder stand a plough and a fish. Do some Kapalbhatti and alternate nostril breathing, then if you still feel ropey, do it again. Keep doing it until you can't or don't want to, I dare you! But of course if you are happy and content then it is unlikely you will even consider such an idea.

Ego death

Death is something to think about isn't it and It's something we are all going to face at some point. If we meditate on our own death it will help us to appreciate our lives a bit more. But death is with us all the time in a sense. When we become more aware of our mortality it can help us to see the precious gift of time. How much of it we spend sleeping is quite startling.

If we sleep an average of 8 hours per night and live to the age of 90 we will have been asleep for 30 years. That makes me want to laugh!

I keep saying that I think the yogic path/process is the practise of waking up. I have said too that I think that the process of waking up can be very painful. It's painful because we start to see things that we may have been consciously or unconsciously avoiding seeing, things about ourselves and others that we do not like.

As we start to wake up to these ideas about ourself/s we may feel that we have to 'let go' of some of the conditioning that we see, things that are no longer serving us. Habits and addictions that have dubiously helped us to get to where we are now may become a handicap in our new found awakening and death can enter the field now in a more apparent way, if we let it.

A habit is formed through a part of our personality makeup, and so when we 'let go' of this aspect of ourself we are letting it die aren't we. We have to stop feeding that part of our-self in order to overcome the habit/addiction or whatever you want to call it that is now a hindrance to our well being.

It is all relative (I love this statement) and we deal with ourselves in our own sweet time. This is generally the way it goes and why some of us move quickly while others move a little slower.

From the perspective of the mind beyond ego we 'know' that there is no such thing as time. There is only now and there will always be only now. The profundity of this is staggering if we can let it sink in. So there is no rush from this perspective and we have infinity to sort ourselves out. Ha!

Well we can laugh at that because it's true that if you 'do' your practise, whatever that may be, you will be taken care of. That does make it sound easy and I'm of the opinion that it isn't easy, but it is do-able.

Where does the drive to change come from? And what are we going to change into?

I think the drive to change must come from seeing first of all that there is a place within ourselves that is 'peaceful and still' under certain conditions. When we are not in the 'peaceful and still mode' it is because? Now we all have to fill in our own answer there don't we!

The 'because' is the 'cause' and the 'symptom' of our suffering. And if we can stay with the practise and look at the 'because', we may start to see that it is 'only an illusion'. We may see that it is like this because we are habituated to seeing the 'because' in this way.

This is hard to accept and the 'ego' will jump to it's own defence and lay out before your very eyes all of the reasons you have got for holding on to the 'because'. Of course it will do that it has to. But the 'deeper you' that is evolving out of the 'illusion' of stuck-ness starts to get stronger and starts to see that 'it' is a habit/addiction/illusion that is not necessary for the greater good of you and your ongoing transformation and well being.

'Simple but not easy'

We are changing into (if thats the right term) our authentic self-ness, and only you know what that is. We have the maps (books etc) and we have the guides (various guru's and teachers) all we have to have now is the stamina and commitment, but you know what it's the same as in everything, if it's meant to be it will be, if it isn't don't worry, have a good time while you still can.

People that are 'sorted', or think they are, will never 'do' yoga, it's impossible!

Shiva - Shakti

Ida - Pingala

Prana - Apana

Unifying the opposites is Yog!

Hatha Yoga

Hatha Yoga - Is enough to keep you busy for the rest of your life.

If you don't do it you'll never know the benefit of it.

Kapalbhatti then Aluloma Viloma. Then a posture or four. Then sit still and see where you are!

Takes about half an hour at the least and four hours if you're keen.

Do it every day. Why not?

Om

in-tell-I-gence plus prana

Awareness is a psychological constant. That is, we are 'always aware all of the time', even at those times when we might consider ourselves not so aware, we are aware. When 'you' are in a deep relaxation condition, perhaps during a 'nidra' meditation, you can, if you are lucky, experience yourself as 'being' rather than 'doing'. In this state of deeper relaxation, surrendering to gravity, you can 'let go' and experience a way of 'doing absolutely nothing'. This is amazing and quite a rare condition for most if us. Of course it is quite relative, and some would say that we are 'doing' even when we are not 'doing'. After all we are still breathing and our heart is (hopefully) still beating. But in this deeply relaxed state we do not 'have' to be involved in the process of breathing. We can 'allow' the autonomic nervous system- the Para Sympathetic branch, to 'breathe for us'. We are at this moment being breathed.

If you have never done this before it can be quite an extraordinary feeling. You are now in this condition, literally being breathed, and not only that also aware of this process at a much deeper then usual level. At this point the, for want of a better term, deeper part of our 'awareness' is allowed to come into the foreground of our mind as we observe ourselves being breathed.

The same is true for thinking. If we can 'let go' enough into a state of deep relaxation, we can literally watch our thoughts, in much the same way that we can watch our breath. We are now 'detached' from our thoughts. This too is an incredible experience because we are now seeing that our thoughts are 'not us', and if we allow the possibility of the idea that you/we are more than our 'conditioned' thoughts, we/you could at this point experience it as a deeper reality of being. We are now watching our thoughts rising and falling, coming in and going out. Amazing!

From this perspective 'we' have now become aware of being aware of ourselves. This is intelligence observing intelligence. We are now aware of ourselves thinking and breathing. We are now deeply relaxed and allowing ourselves to be. This experience then begs the question; "Well who am I then? If I am not my thoughts and I am not my breath then what/who am I?" Well of course the obvious answer is we are all of this and more. This is what makes 'us' who/what we are, a living breathing, thinking, feeling human bean.

The mind and the breath working together is the centre of the practise of yoga. It doesn't matter too much how flexible or fit you are, it is this incredible experience of connectedness that takes our consciousness into new and unknown realms. Asana practise is part of the 'full picture' and we use Asana to strengthen the body in order to contain these energies that we are now starting to familiarise ourselves with during Pranayama.

Purusha = Consciousness (being)

Praktiti = Action (doing)

Consciousness without action isn't much use. Action comes through the breath. It's as if we are literally blowing life into the dormant fires of our consciousness/spirit, our deeper being and animating consciousness.

What do you think those guys (Yogi's) sat around in caves for? Do you think they were worrying about how good there downward dog was? They were moving into another realm of being that we can only get a glimpse of if we are lucky. And in our modern highly technical/intellectual age why would 'we' want to get into a cave?

The way I see it is that necessity seems to be or 'is' the mother of invention. When life if going smooth we cruise along and it's all good and we are cool and chilled and having a good time. Then the arse can drop out of our world for 'some reason' and we get totally discomverberated. We literally don't know our arse from our elbow at these times, so we look around for comfort and reassurance from our friends and family, if we are lucky enough to have friends and family. Or we may seek 'professional' help if we don't. But - if we can manage to continue practising in some way at least, either Asana, Meditation or Pranayama, we will still see that is is 'only' our mental conditioning that is being challenged.

There is no defining blueprint for how our lives 'should' be is there? There are guidelines in the Yamas and Nyamas, but generally what happens to us, happens to us because of choices we have made, conscious choices, or not so conscious choices. We are here now because of various choices we have made or have allowed others to make for us. It's a hard call to admit it, but it's all our own fault.

'What?! My fault?!'

If your choices can become more conscious and animated by practise and pranayama then you may find that you will do something different.

"Insanity is repeating the same things over and over and expecting different results" ?

Get up and do some practise and stop moaning and complaining. :))

With the greatest love and respect. Om

As we go deeper. . . . .

As we continue into our 'practise' we will be faced with much resistance at certain times. Resistance is cunning and it will nearly always give you very reasonable and valid excuses for giving up practising and going 'back' to the places that you (used) to find comfortable. But when you try this, more often then not, it becomes apparent, for 'some' of us, that this is not an option.

Prior to yoga you may have been functioning at a very low energy level for many years, using various addictions to keep you going, alcohol, drugs, overworking, underworking, eating, etc . Once you started to do yoga you probably found that your energy levels rose and that became the incentive to keep practising, a new 'healthy' addiction is formed. In other words yoga got you high and you liked it and so kept doing it. As you continued with the practise, the various old 'fixing' techniques became redundant and the habits started to drop away over a period of time. This can be a very challenging time because usually our attachment to habit involves other people and our attachment to other people as 'friends' and 'co-addicts' can be a tricky thing to manouver. But a true friend wouldn't try to put you off the path you are on, would they?

if you are uncomfortable with the word 'addiction' you can replace it with 'habit'.

After some time the 'high' you have been on becomes normal, and what was at one time a 'high' is now another mundane experience. The 'boredom factor', especially in our 'current' culture of 'quick fix', is the most cunning form of resistance known to man/woman. So at this point if/when we become bored we look for the next thing 'out there' in the 'getting high' spiritual/health supermarket where the super quick fix artists dwell in multitude.

Some of the 'snares' of the ego for putting a stop to the practise are many fold. Some of the more popular are; Getting too busy. Social commitments suddenly become more important than practise. Falling in love and getting swept away by the luurve factor. Losing a job. Getting a job. Getting sick/ill or breaking something and many more. Now you may say that this is unfair and untrue, and it may not be true for you. 'You' may have very valid reasons to 'give up' practising for months or even years or even forever. But I know for myself that once I had been given a taste of what was possible from yoga that was 'the' incentive to keep going, no matter what!

At this point I have to say that I'm not completely sure that yoga is for everybody as an ongoing practise. It may just be a stopping off point for some people before they move into the next phase of 'the game of life'.

BUT> If you stay with the path of yoga (which in my opinion contains 'all' you need), then you will eventually move through the layers of resistance to newer levels of consciousness/intelligence.

But having said all of this about resistances, what about those of us that are commited

to the ongoing journey, to the long haul, where do 'we' think 'we' are going to get to? In answering this question myself I find that the only valid answer I can give is that I do it because I do it. I don't (yet) find the need to do anything else. At the 'bottom line' yoga keeps me sane, and above and beyond that I find it a fascinating journey.

Yoga is not for the feint hearted. But having said that do I mean that you have to be 'tough' to do yoga? Well not really, you just have to be you and try be honest with yourself about it, about where it is taking you, and by 'doing that' you may find that 'doing this' yoga stuff will take you to another level, and once you are on this other level you will see things with different eyes.

It's true I think to say that; "You either is or you ain't, and if you is you is lucky".

Unless you place your awareness somewhere it will place 'you' somewhere.

I took the weekend to look through all of the old blogs and I had intended to delete it all. I was going to do that because I was starting to think It was rubbish/I was rubbish. But I was impressed with what I had written. It's tricky to know for sure sometimes what is the right thing to do!

Pranayam - Pranayama - Pranayama.

Is there anybody out there ??

Is anyone reading these blogs ????

Are we not commenting because ????

Just wondered :))

Pranayama, Pranayama, Pranayama mk4

When we breathe we oxygenate the blood.

When the blood gets more oxygen.

So does the brain!

The brain loves oxygen.

When the brain gets more blood with oxygen in it.

It works better.

Don't you agree?

When you do pranayama breathing you are giving the body lots of lovely oxygen. This is very good!

When you wake up in the morning you 'should' just sit or lay down on the floor and breath deeply.

This will completely change your way of life if you do it everyday.

When the brain is working better it means that we become more intelligent.

If we become more intelligent we 'must' surely start to see things that we never noticed before.

This may be challenging.

But you now have the practise to support you.

All the way to wherever you are going/want to go.

Don't worry about the results.

Just do the practise.

Enjoy the journey.

Even when it's hard and tricky.

EVERYDAY!

Pranayama, Pranayama, Pranayama mk3

1. First decide if yoga is for you.

2. Then commit to a daily practise.

3. Do 'some' yoga practise everyday.

It will give you energy if you are tired.

It will relax you if you are stressed.

It will comfort you if you are disturbed.

It can disturb you if you are comfortable.

There are 8 limbs and only one of them is a physical practise, Asana.

Pranayama is breathing with complete awareness.

Where you place your awareness is of paramount importance.

Otherwise you will drift into the unconscious.

The rest of the process is about paying more and more attention.

This will take you into 'who you are'.

This is challenging.

That is why you need a teacher.

If yoga is not for you then don't do it!

Get some therapy instead if you need help.

Or

Go on holiday!

Freud apparently said; "The unconscious is like an ocean. If we can process one teaspoon in a lifetime we will be lucky" Not very optimistic is it!

Ommmmm

Pranayama, Pranayama, Pranayama mk2

1. Get up and sit down.

2. Breathe in and out though your nostrils.

3. For as long as you can stand it.

4. Then do some Asana's.

5. For as long as you can stand it.

6. Then sit still again.

7. Then breathe in and out through your nostrils.

8. For as long as you can stand it.

9. Then get a life :))

Ommmmmmmmmm.

money where mouth is!

What is it then that is exactly being given (taught) to you in a yoga class? If you can get past your yoga teachers ego, and they are of various shapes and sizes, you will find that there isn't much to it really.

There is 'the 'posture'. Well what is this? A posture is a position, a positioning of the body, placing the body into a certain shape. So what is this all about? '

Stretching the muscles innit, stretchin the joints and stuff innit!'

Indeed it is stretching the muscles and 'opening' the joints. The joints are held together by soft tissues such as ligaments and tendons and muscles. Synovial fluid exists within the joints and acts as a lubrication for smooth movement. If we do not use our joints 'properly' they will cease to function 'effectively' and will become less flexible and stiff. Anatomy books will tell you precisely how much 'range of movement' a joint should have if and/or when it is working effectively. It is a precise science and this is called 'normal range of movement'. Some of us are 'naturally' more flexible than others. This is due to certain physiological dynamics to complex to go into here and now. But some of us are stiffer, and always will be, than others and this is nothing more than an inherited tendency that we have no control over. Don't worry about it.

So you go to your class and get an ex-dancer or gymnast that has been doing yoga for a while and decides to become a yoga teacher. Ex-dancers are very bendy and can do all the postures very easily. But what do they know about yoga? I would like to say here of course just to remind you that 'Yoga Asana' is one eighth of the 'bigger picture' of yoga. But unless you know that, you would think that this is all there is to it! I ask again what do they/I/We know about yoga,

and what is it exactly this yoga stuff?

Asana practise is merely a preparation for the practise of sitting still. Which ain't easy at all for most of us.

For me it's a bit like the phenomena of DJ's that get mega-wealthy for playing other people's music, I could never get my head around that. The yoga teacher isn't anything other than a plagiarist of the highest order. It's ok to be a plagiarist but at least acknowledge now and again that you are borrowing most, if not all, of your info from people that have gone before you. All the great yoga books have been written, done and dusted. It's all out there already, why do we need more? It's a bit like saying; 'Well these guys kinda knew what they were saying but I think I should write a book to tell them how it's really done'. Enough!!

So there we go, we have an industry made out of people teaching something that cannot be taught. What? You cannot teach someone to 'do' yoga. You can show them some postures and enable them to feel better by showing them how to breathe a bit deeper but you cannot make them 'do' yoga. Mores the pity really. And if your wondering why I'm bothering to say all this it's because I can. It may be because I haven't got anything better to do, it may be because I mean it or I may be just having a wind up. Either way some of it may resonate with you and some of it may not, that's not my problem I'm just saying it because I want to, which is really pretty amazing I think! :)

So what else is there to this yoga lark? Oh yea I know, Breathing. Well now we have a whole 'can of worms' to be opened. Breathing in and out also has a precise science to it. Look at an anatomy book for a while. We breathe in oxygen and various pollutants and we breathe out carbon dioxide and (hopefully) various pollutants. The physiology books describe a process of gaseous exchange that takes place at the lung alveoli. The oxygen is then taken to the heart carried by the haemoglobin molecules and from the heart is transported around the body feeding the various tissues and organs O2. Simple but effective isn't it the human body, why do we need to mess with it. The answer to that for most of us is cos we've fucked it up! We've done that cos we didn't know any better and now we arrive at a yoga class and have some idiot telling us off for being a beginner and being a bit stupid. "I'm afraid this class is not suitable for beginners" What?? The Beginner is the most important person in the room mate!

My personal opinion is that a yoga class 'should' be useful for anyone from the first timer to the 'so-called' advanced. But to be honest my experience of 'advanced' yoga classes in London is terrifying. What you actually get are bendy people that think they know more than the teacher and are there to prove it to them. If your an advanced yogi the last place you will be is in a yoga class!

"Its life captain but not as we know it" Spock.

Sorry back to breathing. Well what is there to that? You inhale and you exhale. We do it all day long don't we? Yes we do, but we never really think about it do we. We never really breathe with any awareness do we. And that is all a yoga teacher 'should' be telling you, to breathe with some awareness. Lung capacity also has pretty specific dynamics and according to anatomy books the lungs capacity is between 5-6 litres, slightly more for men for some reason. So no matter how long you 'do' yoga you will never greatly improve lung capacity beyond it's natural borders. You may increase the flexibility of the lung tissue, and the ribcage dynamic of the intercostal muscles and diaphragm will increase in flexibility too, but the capacity will remain more or less the same. It's what you do with that capacity that is important.

Sitting still for an hour and breathing, fully inhale and fully exhale for an hour. Try it now!

"Ego what Ego?"

Sit still - Shut up - And breathe in and out just to see what happens. You might get dizzy. You might get upset or irritated and say to yourself; 'This is bloody stupid". Then you might watch the telly for three hours and tell yourself it's all ok. You could also eat and drink till you become fat, stupid, lazy and depressed. You could also have a drink and comfort yourself with the knowledge that it's normal to have a drink and relax, every night of the week.

Sorry x

Ommm

Cart before horse!

Apparently way back in the ancient days in India where yoga was born, if you wanted to do yoga you would seek out a yogi and ask him/her, (not sure if there were female yogi's then) if he/she would take you on as a student. They may or may not take you and even then there were certain things that might need to be considered. One of these things was if you were ready to do yoga in the first place?

How different it is now. I saw another yoga centre opening and read the blurb, te'world renowned yoga teachers'. I looked and vaguely recognised a few names, hardly world renowned. The money has got in the door. People having yoga and wine tasting holidays! Where does the joke end, when will the joke end?

'Cheer up mate'

If you are going to a yoga class the chances are you will not be doing yoga but something that has been adapted to suit western sensibilities. 'We don't want to upset anyone' is the unspoken tenet of many yoga centres and so-called health clubs. If you upset someone they won't come back and give you the money, it's a hard life. So they play you entertaining music and serve tea and biscuits and etc, etc. And wow you with the next great yogic visitor, usually from America, leaving a huge carbon footprint in the process.

Well of course we have to start somewhere I guess. Would we go to a class if it was on a hard stone floor at 6 in the morning? Maybe?

This is my own issue here in case you didn't know.

But what about me then? What am I doing that's different? Not a allot really.

I think the point I am trying to make is that unless you are getting up and doing your own practise you are NOT doing yoga. You are going to someone that is teaching you their version of what they think yoga 'should' be. And believe me there are many, many people who think they know what is right for you. This is all fine too, but if they disempower you, it is not good.

The praise you heap onto your yoga teacher should be given straight back to you, with interest. Why should people be put up on a pedestal for doing something that is so great as teaching yoga. They 'should' be praising you! But the age of celebrity is with us. . . . . . . . . . .

People are addicted to sensory enjoyment, eating, drinking, sex, having fun, hmmmm what am I advocating then?

Try doing nothing for a week/month/year? Nothing is good for you! Or t least get real about it.

There's a kind of dilemma going on in general. The old rules no longer seem to apply. We can mix yoga with wine tasting, and other pastimes. It's a bit like saying; 'well yea you've got everything in this book that will tell you all the secrets of the universe. But in case you get bored with that here's a little colouring book for you to fill in.'

"The truth will set you free but first i might really piss you off!"

Love/Hate

My oldest influence within the world of healing or human potential or whatever other name there is for it, is Wilhelm Reich. He was an incredible person and was strongly associated with Sigmund Freud way back when. After disagreeing with Freud's theories on 'libido' and splitting off from him, he discovered a great many things, branching out from psychology into science. He was also 'the' pioneer into the murky world of psycho-dynamics, or the way our mental programming affects out physicality and health. If you want to know more about this man there are many books available about him and by him. For the serious yoga teacher it's a must I think.

Don't get me started about 'serious' yoga teachers!!

Conditioning is apparent in our behaviour, all we have learnt we treasure as being 'us'.

"I am therefore I think".

William Borroughs was another genius and he compared the 'thought processes' to a kind of virus. That is, he felt that the whole issue of thinking was like having a virus of some kind. Imagine what it would be like to 'not think', to not have to listen to our mental chattering all day and night, our thinking convincing us of our personal theories/paranoia's and greatness and in the next instant letting us know in no uncertain terms what an idiot/genius we are.

"Confusion is a high state" Confusionus.

When we become 'confused' we are merely experiencing a disagreement between two different elements of our mental make-up. One part of our reality is at odds with another part. "I'm confused!" Becomes irrelevant as a statement once 'we' realise that it is 'us' that is doing the thinking and 'us' alone that can also put a stop to it.

BUT! Can you be bothered because in a way it's much easier to listen to the chatter, it's much easier to debate and counter-debate all day long because that is what we have always done. And in order to 'switch off' some of us have to 'get drunk' or 'have a smoke', because that's what people do so it's alright. Doing what you like all the time only leads into ever decreasing circles.

"Moderation in all things will never get you enlightened!" Twattus Horrenedius the third.

Love is funny when it can turn instantly into hate. We love someone or something until that someone or something does something we do not like or agree with. Ah now I thought he/she was ok until he/she did that thing. Put them on the 'hate list' now! But apparently there is something called unconditional love. I wonder what that must be like?

Boredom is another word that is much praised as a panacea for all ills. It covers over many of our issues. To say I'm bored of this that or the other is so commonly accepted that is justified as a valid excuse for giving up a career, a relationship or even yoga! But it is an excuse to not look deeper into what it is you may be feeling underneath. Blaming this that or the other for not being able to accept that 'you' may be an idiot or even worse a normal human being!

'Resistance is futile' Daleks.

'Of war and peace the truth just twists, it's curfew gull it glides.

Upon four legged forest clouds, the cowboy angel rides,

With his candle lit into the sun,

Though it's glow is waxed in black,

All except when 'neath the trees of Eden.' Gates of Eden. Bob Dylan.

'Wassa goin on?' Wally the walrus.

Ommmmmz

Altered States

Is there a place within that we can seriously call peaceful? I hope that 'you' aspiring yogi's have started to be able to create this for yourselves. I'm sure some of you have, and if you have you know that if you can get a little you can also, with a little more commitment get allot more.

The bookshops are full of self-help books to help you get the short cut route to peace. The best short cut is to do some asana's, do some pranayama, and then sit still for a while. All you need to do this is about 6feet of space and a yoga mat, but that's not really necessary either.

That really is very simple isn't it? Apparently there are 24 hours in a day. It could take an hour or less out of that time to do some asana', pranayama and sitting still for a while to gain the most important product available, peace!

Will you do it everyday? I doubt it. Why Not ? Who knows, who cares, it's just the way things are. I'll do it when I've got time, I'll do it when I'm ready, or rich, or older, or .......mental!! How long do you want to wait to get peaceful? This is a serious question.

Of course there may be some of you who find being peaceful easy, lucky you! There may be those of you that have never had a peaceful day in your life, poor you. Either way you are here now to do something, what is it you are going to do, now?

You really can have some say over how you feel and how you react to certain situations that challenge you if you just commit a little time every day. And that's me being very generous. Cos I really should say what the f--- are you doing? Get on with it.

The most ludicrous thing I hear as a yoga teacher is: I love yoga so much! Oh really? Yes I love it so much it's fantastic! Want to do a workshop or retreat then? Oh no I haven't got time! Have you done any yoga this week? No I haven't got time! Oh well anyway I'm glad you love it. . . . . . .

That's quite profound to see insanity that clear :)

'I was up there waiting, for the miracle, for the miracle to come. . . . . ' Leonard Cohen

Ommmmzzzzzzz.

THe biggest paradox

The biggest paradox is, or so it seems to me, that the human mind is capable of flying to the moon, building super-computers, discovering incredible medicines and cures of all kinds and yet when asked to sit still and be quiet for half an hour. . . . . . . What??

I love this fact. It is a very humbling fact.

I realise that I seem to say and have said quite a few times that 'it's simple but not easy'. When I have said this in the past I have been referring to yoga practices. But I suppose you could apply it to anything that is a challenge. And one of the most challenging things is learning something new. The older we get the more conditioned we become to being the way we are and the less likely it becomes that we will learn something new. Of course i'm generalising (again).

So we seem to become set in our ways, as the saying goes. Or we have at some point woken up to the fact that we are living out a habitual routine and we decide to put a stop to it and change with some awareness of what it is we do, say and think, and the implications that has on ourselves and others. Well maybe a bit of both. But we could say that as we get older we become less inclined to change and more addicted to comfort as inertia asserts it's influences on our physiology.

The mind affects the body and the body affects the mind. Function governs structure and vice-versa. We become shaped by our psycho-emotional experiences, we are literally shaped by out life. What shape are you in? Is a question that is generally asked from the point of view of physical fitness and health. We become aware only when we become aware, before that it is impossible.

The shame is that there are no 'pat' answers to the problems of life. We can seek answers through books or therapy or even from a yoga guru. But even then we are being influenced in our questioning by our 'biased' searching. What is it that is missing from our lives that makes us need to search anywhere else.

There's a story I heard somewhere; A guy is walking home late at night and he sees another guy under a lamp-post looking for something on the ground. He asks him what he's doing searching under the lamp-post. The guy searching replies, "I dropped my key and I'm looking for it". The first guy starts to help him and after a while he says, "ARe you sure you dropped it here?" And the searching guy replies. "No I dropped it over there but it's too dark to see anything, so I came over here".

If there is a lack of some kind there is surely a need to know what it is. And as we are chemically generated organisms we may find we have a lack of a particular chemical/hormone. We may have been conditioned by an unhappy childhood to only create negative feelings, through negative thinking, we know where we stand with negative feelings, we are safe with these feelings. We cannot understand happiness because we may never have experienced it, ever.

Yoga asana's and pranayama breathing definitely change something in the psycho emotional construct of our being. So when I say it is simple but not easy this is what I am referring to, i.e the dynamic split between the conditioned self (ego) and the authentic self (heart/body/mind).

The conditioned self is trying to discover the authentic self, a part of our mind is dissatisfied with itself. This is a major problem because as soon as we start to get too close to unravelling the conditioned self it distracts us in some way. The conditioned self of course is only doing what is right for it's own protection.

Of course this is what we are seeing in the cultures and conditioned constructs of the world. We have the capitalist versus the fundamentalist split. Neither is completely right and neither is completely wrong. We have an emerging consciousness, all of us have this, and we are all at different points along the way. But we are definitely moving in a direction that we have never known before.

'I am sure there is intelligent life on this planet somewhere.' Zarborg the living Robot.

Who knows really?

Ommmmz

WHO< WHAT> WHERE > WHY > HUH> ?????

Life goes up and down it seems to me, one moment, day or minute is great and another is utterly miserable some or all of the time. We move through these various states without too much awareness most of the time and we say that this is just the way things are. This is true to a certain extent isn't it? And who can be bothered to try and change anything, huh?

Some of us are more fortunate than others it seems, with more of the happiness chemicals flowing through our system than other poor misfortunate souls. Some of us are very fortunate to be more intelligent and gifted than others, or so it would also seem. Do we have anything in common us humans, anything?

Why do we do yoga? Why do we do anything? Because it's just what we want to do? Because we get something from our actions? Why? What? Who cares?

What do 'you' want? What are 'you' doing about it? What are 'you' doing about getting what 'you' want? What if 'you' look and find that 'you' don't want anything? Is not wanting better or worse than wanting, is knowing better than not knowing?

What if you are too arrogant and self-centred to see past your self-centred wants and ambitions?

How would you know that this was the case? How would you be able to admit to yourself that you are a self centred person and couldn't give a damn for anybody but yourself? If you could see this what would/could you do about it?

If you are loving and peaceful all of the time are you certain that there isn't a part of you that is lurking just out of sight within the domain of the so-called unconscious, that is not so loving and peaceful? Are you really that sure of yourself? Do you really know who you are, and do you really care?

So-Ham. . . . . . . . . .I am that I am..........Om.

Hedonist - - - - - Ascetic

Love -------------Hate

Inhale -------- Exhale

Guilt ---------- More guilt.

Freedom ------- Pain

Worry ---------Lack of Worry.

Who aRe YuO ? ? ? ? And WhY ? ? ? ? ?

It's been a funny week...... so far. What can you/I/Me/ We do about it ?

"It's alright ma I'm only bleeding' Bob Dylan.

Don't forget to laugh out loud !!!!

shanti shanti shanti.

looking for answer?

I don't know about anybody else but sometimes I'm not too sure about anything. The age old questions of; 'What's it all about?' or 'What is the meaning of life' have no defining answers 'out there'. If we find ourselves in the dubious position of losing our way along life's narrow pathway we have to go to the maps. The maps are the 'detailed' impressions written in various languages from the time the written word began. The philosophers, the seers and prophets have all given us something in the way of 'information' to ease our troubled brows when we find ourselves with a bad case of 'existential angst' and some of the philosophers are more well known than others.

Then we have the various religions and all the answers they provide to the 'chosen' believer of whichever religion suits them best. The confusion only begins when we see that some religions are very different from other religions, and yet they all purport to own the rights to the one true God!

In spite of this seeming paradox the world is more or less governed from a religious perspective by three or four main camps. The people that belong to these camps become believers of their chosen deity or God. I'm not a religious expert or any other expert but I do see that this need to belong to something seems to be a 'human longing', a need to belong to, or be a part of something. We join religious and political party's so that we can make a statement that we belong in this place with all of these other like minded people's. It feels good, especially if you are lonely, to belong to a group of like minded people. This is how cults are formed.

When we sit still for a few minutes we seem to allow a part of the mind to come through that is otherwise blocked out by the 'static' of our constantly jabbering thoughts. The longer we sit still the more we start to see the nature of 'OUR', not someone else's, thoughts. These thoughts are how we generally perceive our-selves. By our-selves I mean the multi-faceted layers of the ego structure. The excuse of 'I haven't got time' suits the ego very well, and it is here we see the problem which can be answered by a very simple question; How does a sick mind heal itself?

Once, if ever, you move from being a 'believer' to being a 'questioner' you are now going to start finding out a few things about yourself and others. When we were children we could without hesitation, most of us anyway, run to our parents and ask them questions when we were troubled, and more often then not we would be soothed with answers. This was enough for us, we felt comforted. We see here how it all starts. The discomfort is triggered somehow, perhaps watching a disturbing news item, this is the 'input'. We are disturbed, our nervous system is activated to respond to these threats, hormonal reactions occur and we are further disrupted on a physiological level. Of course the 'size' of the impression is equal to the effect it will have on the nervous system.

'I could go on but you know what I mean, don't you?' Norman Einstein.

Anyway the thing is we now know, don't we as Yogi's?, that we can have some control over ourselves most or some of the time. I know that being 'controlling' has become another label to be added to the daily growing list of things it is wrong to be, but in relation to the operating of our own nervous system I feel it is an entirely acceptable way to be. The opposite is to give 'free reign' to your emotions. My experience of this way is that it becomes a bottomless pit of drama re-enacted over and over again. Plus it is very tiring. But feel free to try it.

So we have one idea that it is healthy to express ourselves freely, and we have the idea from yoga, at least this is the way I see it, that we are learning how to contain ourselves in order to build up our energy. We are building up our energy in order to evolve out of the conditioning placed into our nervous system way back in the past. Of course it may be appropriate to 'express freely' for a period in order to clear some of the pent up tension that we have stored up. But I personally feel that this idea of shouting and screaming or 'emoting' as it is known if continued over a long period of time leads to further levels of immaturity and self-indulgence.

The self-control is taken to new levels once we become prepared to sit-still and see who/what we are or have become as a result of our personal experiences so far.

Then . . . . . . .

Om

more and more of less and less

In the previous blog I stated that as we move deeper into ourselves, our true authentic self, the part of the mind that is attached to being a particular way will try to hold us back. For example if you smoke cigarettes there is a part of you that likes to smoke, there is another part (probably) that would like to stop smoking. The trouble is if you do yoga the part of the mind that likes to smoke will be constantly challenged, on some level, by this new emerging part of the mind, the yogi.

This seems to be the way it goes I think. We go to or for some reason or other find ourself doing a yoga class, we like it and we go back. As time goes on we start to take it a bit more seriously. We buy some yoga pants and a few yoga books. We look at the pictures and wonder if it's possible that one day we can do these things. We may buy a yoga mat to put in our cupboard for a few years, before we actually use it. We start to do some yoga at home, we get more interested in the philosophy, we wonder if could ever have real peace of mind or if we could ever stop worrying, smoking, drinking, eating too much. We continue and sooner or later we hit certain blocks and resistances. We are faced with ourselves and sometimes it is not a pretty sight. We are shocked and appalled by our realisations. We feel joyous and sad, angry and frustrated. We hate our yoga teacher, we love our yoga teacher. Oh my God what is going on?

'If you wait long enough the miracle is just around the corner'. Anon

I can sometimes look at myself from another perspective and say. "Why don't you shut up about yoga. You sound like one of those fanatics" But believe it or not Yoga teaching is just a small part of who I am. It's important to realise that Yoga practise is a tool for transformation. Changing you into ??? It is not here to make you peaceful, it is not here to make you anything actually, it is just here and so are you.

If you choose to use yoga, get on with it! Stop dithering around, try it and see where it takes you!

And please stop saying you don't have time. I will accept that if you are lying on your death bed but otherwise you have all the time in the world. Use it!

Om Om Hari Om.