mind, mind and more mind. . . .

The ideas of time and mind are both constructed to make us feel safe, us poor mortals. We toil and sweat our way through life only knowing that at some point in some unknown future we will perish. We are (as the saying goes), born to die. And there is nothing we can do about that, or is there?

Well of course mind being what it is to us, we may see things in a different way to another mind.

If you haven't got the point yet that 'our' mind is a conditioned thing, then you aren't listening, or you don't agree, in which case why are you still here?

When I was flying back from India there was little turbulence, not much, in fact a very little. But it is very disconcerting because it makes you remember that you are flying through the air at 500 mph, give or take a few mph's, and you are 5? miles up in the sky, hmmmmm.

As the turbulence struck, my mind and body shifted gear, this is called the fight or flight syndrome funnily enough. "Air travel is very safe, oh my God, I can't remember the last time I heard of a plane crashing, at least not in the Uk! Arrrrgh, Oooooooh. I don't like this" etc. I'm laughing now, of course, but there it was, the dreaded death anxiety full in my face, heart beating and sweating..........

As we moved through the turbulence I quickly regained my composure and started to breathe again. Every now and again an image of me hurtling through the sky would encroach on my mind and to be honest, the heart rate went up again, but after a while I forgot all about it.

The easiest, (read), probably, the commonest way to deal with anxiety, of any kind, it to distract oneself from it. In a situation like the one above this is useful, if you can do it. But on another level constantly distracting oneself from the angst of existence can lead to a sense of being ungrounded, living in cuckoo land. We see these people everywhere, don't we? :}

'Neurotic suffering is created to avoid authentic suffering.' S. Freud.

('I' am very happy), is a very powerful statement. Try it some time.

Shanti

prana and mind

The mind, if you care to think about it is a very strange thing indeed. What is the mind? We all refer to having things 'on' our mind or 'thinking or worrying' or even 'creating', but what is it we are using to do these things?

The 'I' is the centre of consciousness. Without 'I' there is no sense of being separate from anything or anybody else. This 'I', otherwise known as 'Ahamkara' is the being and the end of 'us'. Without 'I' we do not exist.

If one can sit and meditate on this 'I' ness, this sense of ourselves as 'being' an 'I'-dentity, we must surely appreciate that it is a very powerful thing. In time we hopefully realise that every-time we say 'I' we are actualising our true self, our centre of creativity.

'We' are an 'I' is a very real statement, isn't it? How much weight and credence you give to this fact can make or break you, can't it? In other words unless you know you're true 'I'-dentity you cannot actually really use the word 'I' with any real sense of certainty, can you?

The statement 'I am' can be a very real statement of fact. The chicken and the egg phenomenon comes back to us (again). From such a statement as 'I am unhappy', we can ask is it the statement 'I am unhappy' or some predisposition to 'I am unhappy' that causes us to make this statement. In other words is the statement the 'cause' or the 'effect' of this condition of 'not happy'.

The only way to find out is to go deeper into meditation. Sit still and shut up!

Are you living or just going through the motions until you can find something better to do?

Sorting the 'real' from the 'unreal' is the ultimate challenge for all of us.

In other words find out who you are and then have the courage to be that person.

Yoga will do that for you. And then it will support you along the way.

It's all in the mind (really)

How we are and how we see and experience the world is, whether we like it or not, processed through our nervous system and mind. Information is received through the senses and processed via our brain and nervous system (our conditioned brain and nervous system).

From this perspective we are prejudiced to see what we expect to see.

Once you move through the obsession of the body and servicing it's needs you will probably become a little disturbed. If you think about it a little the whole material experience of the world is based on 'getting out needs met', in other words self satisfying pursuits in one form or another are all we are interested in. This is more or less accepted as 'being the way things are'. Ask your self here if you agree with this or not.

Of course personal pursuits needn't all be unhealthy. For example higher education and study, keeping fit etc, are worthy causes, I am merely making the point of the generally accepted way of the world.

So what happens when you are no longer interested in the general way of things, or suddenly realise that self serving is ultimately unsatisfying, however 'high minded' you judge it to be, what do you do then?

It is no joke to know that this is a place many people arrive at only to be told that there is something wrong with them, it could be called an existential crisis or even a nervous breakdown.

It is at this point that those of us with the tenacity are grateful for books, such as those written by Gopi Krisna for example, that avail us of the knowledge that there is more to life than the mere mundane.

'Yoga is there for you to use, or not. It is not wrong that you are still ignorant of the full use of yoga it is merely karma.' Hari Om.

In India!

Here I am in the heart of it all, all yoga that is, India.

It is certainly easier to do Asana practise when the sun is shining everyday and it's always warm. Although that isn't really what it's all about is it? The internet is rubbish here though because of the constant power cuts etc. Oh Well

Ommmmmm