Who cares loses. . . .

Go to bbc i player and type in yoga. and listen to the whinging.....

Don't you get fed up listening to people ask 'what type of yoga do you do?'

There isn't any type of yoga, there isn't even any yoga.

If you can imagine going way back into the mists of time. One day someone was sitting around and had a back ache. This person twisted the spine and found it eased the pain, so this person did it over and over until the back pain went away. This same person met someone else that had a pain, but in another part of the body. The originator of the twist taught the other person to do a back-bend to ease the pain in the upper back. This went on and on until one day 100 years later somebody made a whole system out of it. Different people discovered different things over many years, as people tend to do, and so out of all of this we have now got a highly complex system and philosophy of yoga. Lovely.

Coming up to today we have (still) different people telling us that their way is the right way. Not only that but we have other people telling these (still different) people that they can get more people to do their style of yoga if they listen to them. Meanwhile the people that 'do' the different types of yoga have no idea what it is they are doing. All they probably know is that what they are doing is good, because everybody keeps telling them it is good. Plus it's nice to be sociable - which most of the mare not!

If you sit down and shut up. If you sit down and shut up and keep very still. If you sit down and shut up and keep very still and breathe in and out through your nose, you will be doing more for yourself than if you went to 1000 silly yoga classes with a teacher that knows nothing about yoga.

If you think I am talking rubbish try it for yourself.

Sit down - Keep quiet - Keep still - and breathe in and out of your nose for one hour.

Now you do not need a brand name or a type of yoga for this.

You do not need a guru or teacher to tell you what to do.

You just do it and deal with it. You have a mind to think. A body to feel. And breath to breathe.

What more do you need?

BUT - If you (think) you do need someone (still) to tell you what to do you must ask (you) what it is that (you) really don't know.

Once (you) know what it is that (you) don't know (you) can then ask the 'appropriate' person the right question.

It could save you allot of time!!

It seems to me that if we all were following our bliss. (William Blake). We would not be worried about what other people were doing - would we?

It could save you allot of time!!

'Don't worry about it, it'll be fine.' Richard Nixon.

The task at hand.

Yoga practises are designed to help you decide/find out who you really are. As you continue to practise you must surely become more aware of who you are not. This may come about by the simple realisation that you are not happy. You may find that you are not happy because of this, that or the other. Then you continue to practise and go deeper into wanting to know why this, that or the other makes you unhappy and then - DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT !!

The other option is to pretend. This is commonly known as 'living a lie and trying to believe it'. This way of life doesn't generally last too long because it is based on 'what is not'. If something is based on 'what is not' it must collapse because there is nothing solid (the authentic you) to support it etc.

Some people it seems are born happy and their life seems to go along calmly and smoothly all the time, they are always happy and never seem to have any problems. (Think of three people that you know who are like that).

There are some people that just seem to be in a mess all the time, always upset, moaning and complaining etc. (Think of three people that you know who are like that)

Then there are those of us that fluctuate more or less between these two extremes. You can probably think of more than three people that are like that.

Now decide which one you are, or make up your own category.

Yoga can help two of the above categories, but not the third. Which one do you think yoga cannot help, and why?

Anyway - after you have done that ask yourself if you can be bothered to GET YOUR PRANA UP!

Then - GET YOU PRANA UP!!

If you do not know how to get your prana up! - FIND OUT HOW and SOON.

Hari Omz

Either/Or

'For those of us that know, there is no answer necessary. For those of us that don't know there is no answer possible."

But if we have the ability to be honest as to whether we are a knower or not a knower we can do something.

If you are a knower you will know, so no explanation is necessary.

If you are a non-knower, you may need to find out what it is you do not know and then ask the relevant questions.

Remember: DO NOT GO TO A PLUMBER IF YOU NEED TO ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT ELECTRICITY!!!

How much simpler can it get ?

Om ShazAM !!

Detect the bull-shit now!

How has the human race survived so far? You would think, if you listen to the gloom-mongers, and preachers of disaster, that we are stupid and incapable of doing anything intelligent whatsoever.

But if you open your eyes and look around, what do you see? You will see what you have been programmed to see. Human programming operates through the same processes as a modern computer, and that is - Information in = information out. In other words whatever goes into the computer (brain) as information, is what informs the computer of it's software reality. The computer (brain) is now programmed to operate using the information it has been given. It will see what it has been programmed to see.

If I was a person that never went out and watched Tv all day. I would probably imagine that it is very dangerous out there and would never go out. I go out allot, in fact I travel all over London and I do not see murder and violence everywhere. What I do see are people being people and even though I have been doing yoga now for a few years I still cannot look inside of a persons head. I can surmise by looking at their facial expression and posture how they must be feeling but in all honesty that is about as far as it goes.

Well 'we' are doing yoga so 'we' are ok aren't 'we'?

'We' are above it all aren't 'we'?

Ahem!!

So all we need to find out is - What is the truth?

We could put it more succinctly and ask - Is there any such thing as objective truth?

Even simpler, we could say - Can I trust my eyes and my ears to see and hear reality?

And there we are faced with another question - What is reality?

What I find is that if I sit up straight and breathe in and out through my nose for a period of time (unspecified) I start to look at the nature of my thoughts and my thinking in general in a different light. I begin to see that my thoughts are exactly that, i.e. (just) my thoughts. And then I usually deduce that some - but not all - of my thinking is rubbish :))

As I continue to breathe I feel my brain getting and loving the oxygen I am giving it via breathing deeper. This feeling takes me beyond thought and into a sense of enlightened experience. I look at the world in a fresh way. My mind is not clouded with my prejudices and habitual jumping to conclusions cynical way of thinking.

I like it - That's why I do it - Everyday :))

teacher - student - prana

When you think about it, there is always someone that is better or worse off than you are. How you are and how you feel is all relative, to what exactly? Perhaps it's relative to how you think someone else appears to be or the way you felt yesterday, last week or last year. In your mind you may have an ideal image of the way you want to be, and again, in your own mind you keep coming short of the mark of this idealised image. Doing this kind of thing can make you constantly miss the point of who you really are.

If you find yourself in trouble in any way today you know you can get help. There is a whole army of willing people that will help you. People all over the world will tell you that they have the answer, the drug, the cure, the whatever, whatever that you need and they will give it to you if you are willing to pay a price for it.

Workshops on 'new-age' subjects abound. A new book comes out almost every week telling us that someone else knows the way forward.

On the other hand the tv stations and newspapers seem to trade in the doom and gloom of it all. Predicting disaster around every corner. Weather fronts that will drown us or scorch us to death, virus's carried on the wind that will kill us all. Economic disaster is everywhere, no one has any money, over population, not enough food. No power, or power that is killing us all on a daily basis, well need I go on.

And we are in this mix somewhere trying to live as best we can. What are we supposed to do? Read another book? Do another course? Laugh? Cry? Ignore it? Do something about it, and if so where do we start?

Well I've got nothing to sell. Everything I give out on here is second hand news. It's already been said. But you have to have your ears open.

This is a Yoga based website. So if you are on here looking, you are probably interested in yoga. If you are interested in yoga, it may mean that you may actually practise it too. If you are practising it, then you must be in a better position to see what I'm talking about, and to realise that you really need nothing at all, let alone more answers. You have what you need , you have your breath and the ability to use your God given intelligence to see through the bullshit. If you do not choose to do that simple thing then you may as well go and do another course, or buy another dozen or so books . . . . . . . . . . .

GET YOUR PRANA UP !!!

Ommmmmmmm

Points of view . . . .

We can talk about yoga forever. BUT - if we don't practise it there's not much point !

IS ThEre ?

What is the point? Of anything . . . . . . . . . . ?

Life can seem a bit pointless sometimes can't it . Working - worrying - buying things we don't really need . . . . . . .

Yoga (the practising of) seems to make a difference.

Or

Maybe

It is just a kind of sedative that enables us to cope with the tedium of existence.

Whaddyathink?

All I know is that it I would prefer to be happy in the tedium than miserable and resentful . . . . .

And I know now what it is I need to do to bring about that condition.

Lucky Me !!!

Ommmmmmmmm

Pre-yoga

Before I came into contact with yoga I used to do many things to keep myself together. After 15 years of practising yoga, more or less consistently, I now find that I don't do anything other than yoga. I don't even take food supplements now.

I'm saying this because when I think about it, I wonder what it is that has essentially changed. The first thing I think of is that I am older, and getting older has made me realise many things about myself, not always good things, but things that have enabled me to make the changes that have made my life better.

The only other thing is the fact that I have continued to do Yoga as a practise.

15 years in yoga is not along time really, but it may seem that way if you've only been doing it for 5 months. With hindsight we can get perspective. I can look at some of the things I have done and said as a yoga teacher and squirm with embarrassment, but we live and learn. Well we do if we wake up!

I discovered a level of contentment with my yoga practise that I never found anywhere else. Contentment by the way is very different from complacency, I have seem plenty of that in my time as a student and teacher of yoga. It looks to me as if some peoples have found a nice level plateau in yoga and have stayed there forever, clinging to an idea that they found 20 years ago, while the world move on without them.

As far as I can see there is no 'final destination' in yogic terms, (Samadhi) not for most of us at least. It seems it is an ongoing process of illumination and endarkenment as far as I can tell so far. We go in and we come back out of our stuff and the more stuff we clear the less we go into it, simple.

Unless you are prepared to make some fundamental changes, such as, at the very least giving up smoking and/or drinking large quantities of booze, then you might as well forget about it. But that, as they say, is just my opinion.

Om shazam :))

OMMMMMM

If you find you cannot, for some reason stop thinking about something, use the Om mantra, inhale Ommmmmmm exhale Ommmmmmmm.

You may still find that you think, but if you persevere, you may find that you can detach a little easier for what it is you are thinking about.

Very simple = Very effective too!

Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Pranic ignition

Get up - Get real

Get up - sit up straight, and breathe.

Sit up straight and do 30, then 50, then 100 pumps of kapalbhatti.

Then lie down, relax and have a stretch, then relax a bit more.

Then sit up straight and do either 5 - 10 or 20 rounds of alternate nostril breathing.

Lie down and relax, really relax, and let go of everything.

Then do 5 rounds of sun salutation minimum.

Lie down and relax, let go and breathe deeply.

Just do it, just try it and see.

Then write down 5 ways you can make your life better. I'll give you one of them.

(No.1) - do yoga practise everyday, even if my arse is falling off!

The alternative is to think of a really good excuse as to why you can't do it, thats it really, nothing else. You are now choosing, this is your life, when are you going to start living it?

"It's life captain but not as we know it" Spock.

"This is not a rehearsal, this is the real thing". H. Springer.

"Why? Why not?" Leary.

OM :))

What you think is what?

Raja yoga is...... what? People have different ideas about all sorts of things, none less so when it comes to yoga.

If you go to a yoga teacher that is married with 2 or 3 children, that is the type of yoga you will get. If you go to yoga with someone that has failed miserably at everything they have ever tried to do and has tried yoga as a last attempt, that is the type of yoga you will get. If you go to yoga with someone that has led a charmed life, someone that has had a difficult life, or anything in between, that is the type of yoga you will get.

But: There are really no types of yoga, just different interpretations of the same thing. An old saying I used to hear serves well in this case. 'We all come in different ships, but we all end up in the same boat!'. Lovely to know that we are all, at some unknown point in the future, going to die.

Yoga means, (to yoke) - which more or less means union or bringing together - joining and uniting. So in this sense you could say that yoga is a joining together of, what - the mind - the body - and the breath? I like this, but you could say uniting of anything if you want!

Hatha = Ha (sun) and Tha (moon) in Sanskrit, sun/moon.

So Hatha yoga means Uniting the sun and the moon. Taking it further, if we say that the moon and the sun are opposites, i.e. day and night. We could also say in a more succinct way that Hatha-Yoga is the union of opposites.

And there you have it!

But of course the mind and the body and the breath, although separable to some extent, are part of the same thing - our physicality.

So if we keep it simple and think of harmonising our mind/body/breath and we can 'feel' the effect of that process from the moment we sit or stand to begin our 'daily' practise, we begin to understand yoga as more than just P.E!

I spoke t0 someone the other day. He is a health practitioner, and he asked me do I ever get bored teaching yoga? I said that because everything is different at any given moment there is no chance to get bored, is there. Boredom is an inability to be emotionally honest with yourself, I think. So no, I never get bored with teaching yoga. The reason I mention this is because we really 'should' appreciate how we change (in our mind and outlook at least) almost moment to moment. One minute we can be very positive and the next very negative about the very same thing, and what has changed? Our viewpoint and our perception, that's all. What has brought about this change? It could be anything that triggers our subconscious to react, anything at all, including the weather, the way someone speaks to us, anything at all.

So each time you practise, check in with yourself, how are you, what are you thinking about ,etc. Otherwise it all becomes another routine you 'act out' in order to 'get away' from your deeper self, the part that is trying to tell you something and the part that you keep at bay with various habitual tendencies, usually very unique personal tendencies.

Be more aware of the small things that happen to you.

Om

It's only words . . . . . not prana.

From the famous bee gees (remember them?) song, are the immortal lines. 'It's only words, and words are all I have, etc .'

Once you 'really know' something, then you will usually 'really know' something forever. Knowing is different from believing. Believers are usually people that find a theory (or religion, or doctrine of some kind) that they like, and then believe in it.

Whenever I have attended talks and discussions on things, such as consciousness, spirituality, etc, I usually get bored very quickly. Words can confuse and obfuscate the reality of who 'you' really are, in my humble opinion.

Essentially if you are needing to attend a talk on these subjects, it means that as yet you do not know something. Because if you did, you would have no need to attend. Fair enough, if you do not know, and still need a mummy and/or daddy to tell you how to live your life then that's ok.

I know I'm being a bit harsh but it's only me, and it feels true know matter how you say it.

Learning to sit with the discomfort of silence, on the other hand, by yourself and looking into the nature of your own thoughts and processes, is not something that would make you feel too excited, probably. But this is the fast-track to knowledge, and sooner or later, once you get fed up with second-hand information, you may have to face the fact that you need to face yourself, alone. What a terrible proposition to look forward to. Ah well.

Relax, if you can, and put your feet up, if you can, as often as you can, and allow your real essence to shine through. You never know you may feel something you have not felt for a long time.

There is a very big difference between being creatively active, and being compulsively busy. Being compulsively busy allows you 'not to feel', and as we know, feelings can be difficult to manage. Unless feelings are allowed to be expressed in some way, they will stay buried in the muscular armouring, (See Wilhelm Reich). This armouring is chronic muscular patterns that are concretised into the physical structure to 'support' your mental and emotional conditioning.

Asana and Pranayama are certain to shift these blocks to awareness and joy. Unfortunately you almost certainly will 'feel' things in a more acute way as the muscular layers begin to release and surrender to a more healthy and natural tone. This is probably why when you stay in an ashram you are 'usually' kept very busy. You are usually kept very busy under the guise of karma yoga, which is 'selfless service', but usually becomes and opportunity to exploit and undermine someones natural drives, i.e, natural creative drives.

Remember, there is no sex allowed in the ashram! :((

Channel that Prana straight up the spine and into the brain, become enlightened now! :))

Ommm

get your prana up!

We can pontificate all we like about all sorts of things, but really, when it comes to the nitty gritty, it is the 'yogic' practise that gives us everything we need. What use is it knowing the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali if you're a miserable soul and have no energy, which is the same thing really.

'What profit it a man (or woman) if he/she owns the world and has not peace in his/her heart?' Bible.

So go for it, what have you got too lose, except a bit of misery? It seems to me that the idea of suffering gets compounded into, 'unless I suffer I am not authentic'. Which is not true, in my opinion.

Suffering comes from the 'thinking mind', and being fixated on all of the illusions that spring up in front of the minds eye, and then 'thinking' that 'this' is real. Well it is real insamuch as it is there now in your mind, but where did it come form, why is it there? If you really try to look at it in a more detached way, it is just illusion, it is the mind making up a dream.

It seems to me, that the more one thinks, the more one's energy is drained. The more one's energy is drained the more one becomes dependent on outside sources for energy, e.g, caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, compulsive exercising, overworking to get the money, to buy the things that we don't really need, etc. But, (here I go again), if you just find a quiet place, a place where you know you will not be disturbed for 30 minutes and lie down, or sit down, or even stand, and breathe in and out through your nose you can change everything very quickly.

If you can manage to do this, you will find that your energy will start to shift from a mental thinking mode, to 'pranic-feeling' mode, which feels very different. You may go through a period of inertia, moving from one state to the other, and that can be quite difficult to move through sometimes. But if you keep going, keep relaxing through it, soon you will wonder what all the fuss was about, as the thinking mind abates and the 'pranic-mind' moves forward and energises you.

The human body can be compared to a kind of bio-energetic-battery. If you keep the battery charged up it has the effect of magnetising towards you the things that are beneficial for your well being. That may sound a bit new-agey, but in my experience, it still seems to be the case.

The way I understand things is that evidently all things vibrate. All things that exist have a certain vibratory rate, I'm not sure how complex this is. But even if we use it as metaphor, we could say that low energy vibrations, such as inertia - apathy - depression and misery in general are surely going to lead us into making different decisions as to our life and well being, than decisions made when we are feeling positively energised and happy (relative).

So back to the point; if you make 'it' a priority to keep 'your' energy as high as 'you' can then 'you' are doing the work as far as 'I' can tell, and studying the scriptures and becoming an 'smart ass' may give you something, but it won't necessarily make you happy, will it?

More on studying the scriptures later........ :))

Aye up!

Om

Do it now . . . . Ommmm

Whatever it is you are thinking of doing. If it is going to be good for you, do it now, or as soon a possible. Or another 5 years might just whiz past, whooooosh.

If you cannot do whatever it is right now, just sit back, or lie down, if you can, and relax, and breathe, and relax a bit more. Until you realise that it's not a problem.

If you don't get to the point where it's not a problem, learn how not too worry about it or anything else for that matter.

Oh Om Om Om

Prana and -How High can you be ?

As we will soon see, if we get real, it really is up to us, as individuals, to keep our energy high. I say this, because, to me, if your energy is low, you will probably be in a more negative place, (relative), to a higher and happier place. I may be wrong though.

So from this perspective 'I' feel that as long as 'I' make my primary task to keep 'my' energy 'good' as opposed to 'low' (words fail me sometimes), then 'I' will be more aligned as a 'human being' to be in the right place at the right time for 'my' optimal evolutionary status, whatever the ? that may be!

Put another way, I believe that there 'must' be a natural template for 'being human' and the more we stay tuned to that 'way' of being then we are more likely to have a 'better time' as a human.

Put another way, what is the point in living, if the life we have, is making us miserable? Now I know that sounds a bit harsh because some people seem to have not too much of a choice as to their karmic predisposition. Thinking of the suffering in parts of Africa for example. I choose to say here that I have no opinions about these situations, except to say, 'what can I do?' And that as they say, is another story.

I am really addressing those of us that are, more or less, in a position too choose our own destiny, as much as we can. Which may actually mean moving to Africa to help those that are suffering there. But what is it we are really doing with this precious gift that we have been given, this life?

So back to the point, how do we keep our energy up, in spite of the way things seem to be right now, e.g, recession, global warming, extinction of species, ozone depletion, terrorism, political corruption and all of the consequences of that, how do we do that? How can we afford to laugh in the face of all that 'seems' to be wrong in this world?

Breathing is one of the more direct ways of keeping one's energy high. Oh sorry is that too simple for you, did you think I was going to give you a quantum formula to work out? No. We see some people doing all sorts of so-called cardiovascular exercises, but essentially they are breathing more and getting more O2 into their brains, that is what makes them feel good, isn't it?

Pranayama 'IS' the science of 'BREATHING' and you absolutely 'SHOULD' study it, if you know what's good for you! But you probably don't, so probably won't :)) never mind.

Just take some time to think of all of the ways, subtle, and not so subtle, that you get yourself high and how much effort that takes. Whereas, if you just relax, and accept your condition, whatever it is, and breathe from that place, you may find, that you will be amazingly surprised. It's so simple it really is. I watch people pouring large amounts of alcohol down there necks, to get high, and I really find myself thinking, idiots, what a waste of money and you wake up feeling sick, usually. Ha ha ha . . . .

If you are doing pranayama you need to do Asana as well to keep the container strong. The body is a temple, look after it!

Oh well, that's just me.

Prana - prana - prana.

You must know this!!

The important thing about all of this 'stuff', is that you have to do it to see if it works. You may have to do 'it' a few times to see if it works. What have you really got to loose?

I would very strongly suggest that you get up in the morning and 'do' some Kapalbhatti, 30 - 50 -100 x 3 pumps, then have a stretch out and relax. Then do some alternate nostril breathing, 5 - 10 -20 rounds. What have you got to loose? Go on ask yourself what excuse you have to 'not' do this.

Possible answers may be: I'm too tired - I don't have enough time - I'm a bit scared of what might happen - It's all bollox - What's the point - Yoga is rubbish - I don't need to cos I'm already happy.

These are possible answers, but if you look at them, all of them, they are still really excuses. How can you know until you try something what the out come may be.

If you are 'not' a yogically oriented person you won't have a clue what I am talking about and so it won't matter to you anyway will it?

If you are a yogically oriented person the onus is really on you to get on with waking up a bit more isn't it?

A restless soul is a real problem for some people, but for the yogi it is imperative. Without a restless and enquiring soul/mind the so called yogi becomes smug and self satisfied, resting on some little plateau that they have found and calling it enlightenment or something and then pontificating all sorts of rubbish about what they think they know about everything. And of course making loads of dosh in the process.

'Trust no one'. paranoiac motif from 60's

'Trust yourself' Anon.

Pranic brain

An old adage from the world of the new age is that 'energy follows thought'. Which means that wherever you place your attention so will your energy follow.

You may need to review your idea of what 'energy' is if you don't understand the above statement.

So if you focus you attention, for example, on a small worry for long enough, sooner or later it will take up all of your time and energy, it will possess you literally, and possibly make you sick. People that suffer from depression syndromes, or low energy syndromes seem to get stuck in a negative thinking groove. They get stuck there and cannot dis-identify with this small part of them that is stuck in this groove of 'negatively' thinking.

If we come back to the idea of the 'central 'I', which I talked about recently, we can see that this part of us that is worrying, is not us at all, it is just a fraction of us that we have over-identified with. It's the dominant voice in our range of sub-personalities that seems to be running the show right now. There are many frames of reference you can choose for this phenomenon, take your pick.

Now we know, or at least are led to believe, that doctors have drugs that can work on the brain chemistry. These drugs somehow alter the chemistry of the brain and make the taker of said drugs, who is depressed etc, supposedly feel better. We also know or are led to believe that therapies of different types are supposed to enable people that are depressed change the thought programming and therefore make themselves better.

So it seems that a so-called negative script running on our mind, (worrying), somehow affects the chemistry of the brain/body and makes the negative script owner to feel 'bad' or 'low', or whatever, but not too happy at least. And that if we can reverse this process, either through changing the chemical outcome of negative thinking, or the negative thinking scripts themselves, we can reverse the process, simple :))

I saw a programme on BB4 recently that was about the brain and intelligence. It focused on the whole phenomenon of 'brainwashing'. Brainwashing is the process of quite literally changing a persons personal reality through a series, according to this programme, of bizarre experiments, including, sleep deprivation, electric-shock therapy and psychedelic drugs. According to the programme the outcome over the long term of brain change through these extreme methods was negligible.

Anyway getting to the point. Yoga is a brain change process par excellence. The owner of said brain and nervous system throughout the ongoing evolving period of Yogic practise is learning to control and change his/her behaviour. The great thing about this is that 'you' are in charge of your own process.

This is of course over-simplified to a degree but overall this is the way it is. 'YOU' are responsible for every single thing that you think, do and say, whether you like it or not and the practise of yoga should/can/will make this fact more evident.

One of the more recent experiments on the BB4 programme was a process of piercing the cranium and placing probes and/or electrodes into the brain and stimulating specific areas to see the response in the person being probed. Certain areas of the brain did give some definite 'positive' reactions.

I feel very strongly that by doing pranayama we are not just oxygenating the whole body, but mainly and more importantly, we are sending vital supplies of 'energy' - 'prana' - 'oxygen' to the very part of us that is the hardware and control centre, our core - The Brain. Continuing with practises involving concentration and awareness we are literally placing our-selves deep within the brain's vital centres, the pineal gland, the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland etc.

You know the most important thing about all this is that 'you' really can do it, there is nothing but your own inertia stopping you. Oh yes I forgot, you also may 'not' be Karmically pre-disposed to self-evolving practises (yet), in which case you will need to find a good and knowledgeable and competent yoga teacher.

Om Om Om

Inhale deeply. . .

This time of year brings it's fair share of inertia, apathy etc. The inhale (if you think about it) is your commitment to living. If you don't inhale you will drop dead very quickly.

As I mentioned, coming back from the ease of Indian sunshine etc, to the cold grey damp of London is a real contrast. So the despond is very close to me, and like I've said I am a person that (conditionally) sees the glass as half empty. So it takes a real effort for me to inhale.

It helps of course to do Neti, and to do some Kapalbhatti, in fact it is essential, for me at least, to do these things. Especially if I want to feel good and connected.

One of the things I have noticed in my years of being a student of yoga is the tendency of teachers, especially yoga teachers it seems, is for them to pretend that they are ok all of the time. I suppose a certain amount of professionalism is required to keep people coming back to your classes, but come on!

Anyway as I was saying, if you feel low, or tired, or even depressed then if you can make the effort, and I know how hard it is, to get up and walk around and start to breathe. Once you have loosened up the breath a bit, do some Kapalbhatti. Then lay back and relax, have a stretch. Then more pumping of the breath, then some alternate nostril breathing. Maybe even making your way towards a sun salutation or 3! Then you are off, now you have got the engine running, and now can either go back to thinking about how hard it all is or carry on, carry on until you feel better or fall asleep trying. Go on I dare you. . . . . . .

For those of you that are all smug and beyond the need to do anything - Enjoy, it won't last.

Ommmzzzz

Facebook prana.

The only reason I started to do yoga was because it made me feel good. I liked the way I felt after my first class and decided to go back. I never did yoga because I wanted to save the world or become a better person or become spiritual, I did it purely because I liked the way it made me feel.

I've been 'doing' yoga now for 15 years or so and I find if I don't practise for a week or two I don't suddenly plunge into insanity and chaos, but the quality of my awareness seems to be compromised. It's very subtle this shift in awareness. And as time moves on further away from a decent practise session, i'e a 'prana infusion' I start becoming addicted to my 'head trips'. At these times of non-practise I start to see how easy it is to be swayed by the older thought processes that used to run my life.

'Your Thoughts Are Not You!'

Prior to yoga I was able to tolerate life most of the time, that was as good as it got for me. But I can hardly say I enjoyed my life.

This post has been inspired by reading a 'facebook' entry by somebody that is 'looking forward' to August - 8 months away! So they can go on holiday.

After my periods of non-practise, I'm usually very happy to re-connect to it again. Coming back from India recently and having jet-lag was like being in a walking coma for a week. Then one morning I sat down and did some serious pranic breathing and I literally felt the pranic energy moving back into my head and brain, and I had the thought 'Aahhh Yes'. It's like an old friend that you forgot about turning up again, amazing.

Facebook is ok if you like to talk smalltalk all the time, but it's nice to shut up now and again and 'really' ask yourself what you are 'really' doing, here and now. See how that makes you feel !!

Hari Om Om Om

Brahman - Atman

According to the yogic tradition or philosophy or way of thinking there is something called Brahman and there is something called Atman.

Brahman - is (in my own words) beyond a comprehensive explanation. But it is more or less the infinite intelligence of the infinite, the infinite bliss of the absolutest bliss, and it is everywhere at all times.

Atman- is a tiny spark of Brahman that lives within all of us.

You don't need to be religiously oriented to understand this idea. You don't even have to be spiritually inclined to believe this idea. After all we have heard the scientists conclude, more or less, that the Universe, as far as they can see so far, is made up of a number of elements, and these elements themselves are made up of smaller particles. These particles are made up of even smaller particles until a place is found where so called consciousness and matter co-exist. This is in the realm of quantum physics, I am not a quantum physicist so I am giving you my version of my understanding based on books and articles that I have read etc. Nevertheless even in metaphor it serves a purpose of describing something that isn't easy to describe.

Anyway, the point is, again this is according to the yogic scriptures etc, that 'Brahman cannot be fully explained or described, but it can, by those of us that are pre-disposed to it, be experienced. Shazam!!

Atman is said to reside within all of us and can be experienced. It is best (in my opinion) to think of Atman as the central 'I'. This central 'I' as a spark of Brahman, is the only thing that is really, real. Everything thing else we are is part of our conditioning, i.e, our ability to survive as a race have been built on these lower constructs, instincts, emotions, reasoning, etc. This is not to say that these things are not useful, it is just pointing out that they are not permanent, as is this central 'I' or Atman.

This point helps 'me' at least understand the idea from the definition of the true purpose of yogic practise. 'To sort the real from the unreal'.

As we advance through our practise we become more aware of ourselves and as we become more aware of ourselves we may start to 'evolve' in a more conscious and faster fashion.

The tools we have been given are clearly laid out - Yamas, Niyamas, Asana, Pranayama, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi.

Samadhi is the last step on the upward path to realising the truth, the realisation that we are 'Atman consciousness' and not all the other stuff that we 'think' we are.

Of course to our precious, biased, prejudiced, habituated personality, it is an outrageous concept. But if you have ever experienced, perhaps at the end of a practise, or a class, if you still go to classes, that wonderful sense of connected surrender you will know what 'they' are talking about.

EGO

"Wherever I go so does EGO !!!"